Shi Buyu was born smiling.

At that moment, lightning flashed and thunder roared, collapsing an entire row of shacks belonging to the Shi family. Days of torrential rain followed, bringing catastrophic floods and countless victims. Rumors began to spread in the capital that she was a cursed star come to life.

Yet she was uncannily precocious—sharp as a demon, with a photographic memory, quickly picking up both good and bad things. The rumors only grew more ominous, eventually reaching even the palace.

As if granting everyone’s wish, Shi Buyu, gifted to the extreme, died young at the age of three.

Fifteen years later, the Marquis of Loyal Valor, who guarded the border, betrayed the nation and lost his city. The entire Loyal Valor Marquisate was implicated and condemned. No one spared the Shi family from scorn, denouncing them as traitors and ingrates. Even the long-dead “cursed star” was brought up once more.

Sitting by the window, Shi Buyu chuckled when she heard this.

Cursed star? Then she might as well live up to the name.