Irene

“People love to ogle pretty girls, but they love to hate them even more. There's no one the masses are more obsessed with railing at than the women who dare to stray from the docile ideal of wives and mothers.”
― Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow

“So many attempts to stop me from existing comfortably in my own skin, yet here I am, doing what I want with a boy nobody appointed to me. And it's not dirtying me. It will not ruin me. It is not obscene, filthy, or shameful.”
― Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow

“Infinite possibilities open to me at once. That's right, I'm no longer human. I've been set free from my broken body, that husk of flesh and bone that has been prepared all its existence to be used for the whims and pleasures of men.”
― Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow

“I've been told endless lies since I was born. That I was not kind enough, considerate enough, humble enough, honorable enough, pretty enough, pleasing enough. And if I failed to meet the needs of those around me, I did not deserve to live.
Propaganda. All of it. Propaganda to keep me chasing after the approval of others on my bound and broken feet, as if being a good servant is the only thing I should be proud of.”
― Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow