Hearing this, the little princess looked at her father differently, trying to act obedient in order to get a decent name. Seeing his daughter like this, for a moment the king also thought she was cute.
The empress was immediately both delighted and curious, asking what name the king wanted to give.
He opened his mouth with a smile and said one word. He named her Southern Palace Anissa. The word Ani, he said, sounded the same as the word meaning wisdom.
Hearing this, the empress thought he had named his daughter Anissa for wisdom, and praised him. What a wonderful name — could Ani mean wisdom?
But that wretched father said Ani was from the ominous word, the one meaning troublesome and unlucky.
Hearing her father name her like this, the princess absolutely could not accept it. She could not believe there was a father in this world who could name his own daughter something like that.
In the king's mind there were still countless prejudices, because he believed that as soon as this child was born, the Western Country had declared war on his country. Three hundred officials were pleading for him to execute her.
He gently put his daughter down on the bed, still not forgetting to curse her as unlucky.
The princess now felt that, having just been born, her fate as a short-lived beauty was already decided. The heavy shackles of feudal ethics pressed down hard on her shoulders. She was extremely angry, just wanting to yell at her father to please, please use his brain and think a little. If they wanted to start a war, whether or not she was born, they would still fight.
After finishing his business he walked out, but before leaving he said one more thing to reassure mother and child. He said that before he returned, no one would dare do anything to the empress and her child. He said that if someone really dared make a move against them, when he returned he would definitely blow them into a hundred pieces.
The empress was overjoyed, pressing her palms together in thanks to the king for protecting them. The princess also felt that what he said made him seem a little more like a man, because good men should protect their wives and children unconditionally.
The suffering mother now held her child in her arms as tears fell again. Although she was a daughter — although the king detested the princess — he still protected her. The empress felt Anissa was truly her blessing.
Anissa pushed her mother's hand away, looking disgusted, denying it, because she thought the old woman was overdoing it. Even if that scumbag father was a bit handsome, there was no need to be so touched.
Anissa wiped her mother's tears. Though she was a daughter, she was still his own flesh and blood; he had no right to detest her. She wanted to tell her mother that, boy or girl, as her father, the emperor should protect her.
But in reality that king still looked down on women as troublesome, only knowing how to cry and never accomplishing anything.
Hearing this, Anissa could only look at him with angry eyes. Sure enough, this man still despised women deep down.
Three months later, the day came when Anissa had to take the IQ test.
An overflowing tub of water was also prepared, ready to drown her at any time. The maid held the little one in her arms, comforting the princess.
"Don't be afraid. This slave will definitely protect you."
Anissa was also very scared. She looked around. According to the agreement, today was the day to test her IQ. If she was judged not to have enough points, she would be drowned.
But they had waited a long time and that dog king still had not arrived. Below, people were also starting to gossip, because the king had been fighting the Western Country for three months and still had not finished. They even heard the king himself was injured. They blamed all of that on the inauspicious princess.
A rabble-rouser used that as a pretext to pick up rocks and throw them at the princess, and her actions were like a spark setting the crowd aflame. All of them began shouting to kill the little princess. Moreover, in this archaic, diseased country there was a tradition: when faced with the people's anger, the princess could take her life voluntarily, or be forced to apologize.
Anissa now also started crying in fear. Although she was also very worried about that dog king, his getting injured just showed his incompetence and inexperience. What did it have to do with a newborn baby like her?
At this time a frenzied madman wanted to take action directly, his face purple with rage. He said that if Anissa died, the Southern Country's fortune would change, they would defeat the Western Country, and the king could return.
The maid held on tight to Anissa, constantly backing away, trying her best to protect the child.
"No, you can't. Besides the king, no one is allowed to harm the princess," said the maid, clinging onto the princess for dear life.
The brute began physically assaulting her, shouting harshly for the maid to let go, cursing Anissa as an ominous princess who must be killed, who was inferior. Despite his shouts and threats the maid remained loyal, clinging firmly onto Anissa.
A tug of war began. Anissa felt extremely miserable, being pulled like a loaf of cream cheese bread. She felt it would be better to just be executed swiftly and go sell salt.
Yet again, during such a crucial moment, someone had come to save Anissa.
That savage brute was suddenly attacked by someone, his face clearly showing pain as blood spewed from his mouth. Who would have thought that punch came from a four-year-old boy?
It was Prince Dietrich of the Southern Palace, also an intermediate mage. The boy had struck to protect Anissa, his attitude very arrogant.
"Whoever dares touch her, this prince will kill them."
The brute who had just been hit also immediately cowered in fear, and bowed to pay respects to the crown prince.
Dietrich stretched out his hand forward. Mystical light at his command flew toward Anissa, lifting her up and back into her mother's arms. The empress's face was now full of worry.
Anissa looked at Dietrich, not expecting that boy to be her older brother. She had to say, his temperament really resembled the dog king's, her scumbag father. But to Anissa the boy looked quite cute.
The empress now tearfully pleaded with the frenzied crowd. She said that the injured king also made her very sad, but she only asked that they not harm her daughter.
She had just made one plea when those wolves immediately shouted for the empress to shut up, calling her useless, blaming her for continuously birthing girls and thus affecting the country's fortune. Among the vile rebels, the three most prominent said that if the empress wanted to apologize, she should take her life along with Princess Anissa to atone.
Dietrich bravely stood like a man, protecting his family in place of his father. He said that with him here, let's see who dared make a move against his sister and mother.
The three knelt down together, using slippery tongues to try and fool Dietrich. They told him he was still young and did not understand; women harming the country had nothing to do with age.