“Lord Bai Ye! Lord Bai Ye, where are you?”

“Lord Bai Ye, please come out!”

Early in the morning, countless attendants and servants called Bai Ye’s name throughout the imperial palace of the Holy Radiance Empire. They hurried through the palace, searching every corner of its vast grounds, but found nothing.

A beautiful, shapely blonde girl sat on the throne in the palace. Her name was An Jieli. She was the queen of the Holy Radiance Empire and the highest authority in the land.

And right now, that all-powerful queen was in a state of restless frenzy over Bai Ye’s disappearance.

“You still haven’t found her?”

An Jieli’s voice was razor-sharp. The maid kneeling before her couldn’t help trembling, as if Her Majesty might devour her alive at any moment.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty! We’ve searched every corner of the palace, but we still haven’t found Lord Bai Ye!”

The maid trembled from head to toe, her voice shaking too. She knew Her Majesty’s temper and was terrified of angering her by making even the slightest mistake.

“Your Majesty, perhaps...”

The maid stumbled over her words, looking as though she had something to say but didn’t dare say it.

“What are you trying to say? Stop beating around the bush!”

An Jieli’s patience was nearly gone. What a pack of useless idiots! They couldn’t even find one person in the palace!

For once, there was little court business today, leaving her plenty of time to be “lovey-dovey” with Bai Ye. But those useless fools still hadn’t found Bai Ye, wasting all the precious time she should’ve spent with her!

“Please calm down, Your Majesty!”

The maid, who had served An Jieli for many years, could already hear the anger and displeasure in her voice.

“I was just thinking, perhaps we should search outside. Lord Bai Ye might have left the palace.”

“Left the palace? What kind of joke is that?”

An Jieli furrowed her lovely brows.

“With so many checkpoints and magical wards in the palace, do you think they’re just for show?”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty! But you know Lord Bai Ye’s strength. The palace checkpoints and wards can’t stop her!”

“...”

An Jieli knew perfectly well that the palace checkpoints and magical wards couldn’t stop Bai Ye. As fellow Saint-Tier powerhouses, she understood Bai Ye’s strength.

But if Bai Ye had forced her way out of the palace, An Jieli should’ve noticed.

How could the checkpoints have shown no response, the wards never activated, and Bai Ye simply vanished as if she’d disappeared into thin air?

An Jieli knew she couldn’t have pulled off something like that herself. They were both Saint-Tier powerhouses—how could Bai Ye possibly manage it?

Bai Ye, my Little Bai Ye! You really are such a naughty girl.

Do you like making me worry this much? Just wait until I find you. I’ll have to “teach” you a proper lesson.

You belong to me. Your beautiful silver hair, your fair skin, your sparkling eyes—all of you belongs to me!

Bai Ye, my Little Bai Ye! You can only ever belong to me...

An Jieli’s eyes lost their light and focus, and a heavy shadow fell across her face. She simply couldn’t bear the thought of days without seeing Bai Ye!

“...Mobilize everyone in the palace and keep searching. If you don’t find her, you know what will happen!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The maid had just risen from her knees when an attendant entered the palace hall.

“Your Majesty, we have a new lead regarding Lord Bai Ye.”

......

In a small alley not far from the palace, a silver-haired girl lay sprawled on the ground, so beautiful that words could hardly do her justice.

Her silver eyelashes shimmered, delicate and bright. Her eyes were as elegant and luminous as blue gemstones, and a faint blush touched her fair, soft, heart-shaped face. Her beauty held a hint of cuteness, too. Though she wore no makeup at all, she had an otherworldly grace.

Every word used to describe beauty fell short when it came to this silver-haired girl.

She was like an angel fallen to earth—unearthly, breathtakingly beautiful.

Her fair skin and delicate features gave her a frosty, distant air.

But look closer, and beneath that quiet, cool exterior, you could find a touch of warmth.

Her name was Bai Ye—the very person the queen of the Holy Radiance Empire was searching for.

“Mmm... ngh...”

Bai Ye slowly opened her eyes.

“Did I... make it?”

She looked around and confirmed that she wasn’t in the palace.

She’d spent months plotting how to escape the palace without anyone noticing. It looked like all that effort hadn’t been wasted.

“Why does my chest feel so heavy?”

Just after waking, Bai Ye realized something about her body felt wrong.

She looked down at her chest and was stunned to find two “peaks” standing proudly there!

“Huh! Huh! Huh!”

Bai Ye was shocked. She reached out and gave them a squeeze.

“That feels so real... These are the real deal!”

The feel in her hand and against her chest made it clear: the two things standing proudly on Bai Ye’s chest were the real deal, not breast pads or anything like that.

“And my voice, too...”

Bai Ye covered her mouth. Her voice sounded completely different from usual—soft and sweet, lilting like a nightingale’s song. It was unmistakably a girl’s voice.

“How could this happen?!”

Bai Ye looked around and spotted a pile of junk someone had left behind when they moved out of the alley. Among it was a full-length silver mirror.

She hurried over to the mirror and finally saw what she looked like now.

“Is... is this me?”

A girl dressed in black appeared in the mirror.

Sapphire-blue eyes, milky-white skin, delicate features that looked as if they’d been perfectly formed from birth, and a curvy figure—everything told Bai Ye that she... had become a girl.

“Could this be the effect of that magic array? I knew it might cause unexpected side effects, but I never thought it would turn me into a girl!”

To escape the palace without a sound, Bai Ye had needed the help of a teleportation array.

Ordinary teleportation arrays were useless against the layers of magical wards surrounding the palace.

So Bai Ye had searched through ancient texts and found an extraordinary teleportation array—one powerful enough to break through the palace’s magical wards and let her slip away unseen.

But the array had one drawback: it would cause unknown changes to the user’s body.

Until now, Bai Ye had no idea what those changes might be. Now she understood. The array turned its user into a girl.

Who designed this array? What a pervert!

Using the array to escape the palace without knowing what it did was a bit of a gamble for Bai Ye.

But she was out of time. She had a lot to do over the next month, and An Jieli would never let her leave the palace. With no other choice, she’d had to resort to this.

“I feel a little bad about this, An Jieli, but I have my reasons. I hope you can forgive me.”

For some reason, An Jieli had been keeping a much closer eye on Bai Ye over the past six months. She wouldn’t even let her leave the palace. If not for that, Bai Ye wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.

“By the way, if my gender changed, why did my clothes change too?”

Bai Ye was wearing a black pleated miniskirt and a plain black sleeveless top. The outfit looked simple, but against her fair skin, it had a beauty all its own.

“This skirt’s way too short. I feel kind of drafty.”

Before activating the array, Bai Ye had clearly been wearing long pants. Now she had a short skirt that ended ten centimeters above her knees.

“If you were going to turn my pants into a skirt, you could’ve at least made it a long one!”

Even if the array had turned his clothes into women’s clothes, it could’ve at least left the amount of fabric alone. Whatever happened to the law of conservation of mass?

“Sigh... I can’t worry about all that now. I should get out of here first.”

She still couldn’t figure out why the array was so bizarre, but now that she’d escaped the palace, there was no turning back.

Bai Ye was short on time. She had a lot to do over the next month, so she needed to get moving as soon as possible.

“First... I need to get something to eat.”

Even though time was tight, Bai Ye decided to fill her stomach first. She hated being hungry; she couldn’t get anything done on an empty stomach.

Having made up her mind, Bai Ye steeled herself against the chilly feeling down below and walked out of the alley.

She went to a breakfast stall and casually ordered a bowl of noodles that cost two copper coins.

They were the cheapest thing on the menu. The upside was the generous portion, enough to fill you up. The downside was that the broth was thin and bland, and the noodles weren’t very tasty.

It wasn’t that Bai Ye couldn’t afford something better. She’d brought a decent amount of money out of the palace; she just didn’t want to waste it.

Unless something unexpected happened, she’d have bigger expenses ahead. For now, she might as well save where she could.

Besides, before meeting An Jieli, Bai Ye had lived a hard life. A bowl of plain noodles was more than enough to satisfy her.

“Have you heard the latest palace gossip?”

Bai Ye was working her way through her bowl of noodles when a middle-aged man at the next table started chatting with the breakfast stall owner. Their conversation caught her attention.

“Gossip? What gossip?”

The owner looked puzzled.

“The Black Night Knight. You haven’t heard of her?”

“Huh? They’re talking about the Black Night Knight again?” At those words, Bai Ye froze for a moment and pricked up her ears.

“Of course I’ve heard of the Black Night Knight. Is there anyone in the Empire who hasn’t?”

The Black Night Knight was the most mysterious knight in the Holy Radiance Empire. Most people had only ever seen her fully covered in heavy armor, and very few knew her true identity.

Most people knew only that the Black Night Knight was a powerful general who led the Empire’s army in campaigns against other nations. Her Black Night Knights might be few in number, but they’d won battle after battle against other countries and were hailed as the strongest knight order on the continent.

About six months ago, however, the Black Night Knight was summoned to the palace. She hadn’t been seen since.

No one outside the palace knew the exact reason. Some said she’d retired and returned to her hometown. Others claimed Her Majesty had grown wary of her and secretly had her executed.

In any case, the Black Night Knight had never appeared again. Even her Black Night Knights had been sidelined and were no longer sent to the front lines.

“There’s a rumor going around that the Black Night Knight’s still in the palace. The queen just doesn’t send him out anymore. She’s keeping him as her own personal ‘plaything’ and won’t let him lead troops into battle.”

Pfft!

At the man’s words, Bai Ye spat noodle broth all over the table. His comment had truly shocked her.

As for why she’d reacted so strongly... Bai Ye was the Black Night Knight herself.