The sky was overcast, thick with leaden clouds. Bearing a resplendent bridal sedan, the imperial soldiers trudged forward through the pouring rain with great difficulty. Further ahead lay the territory of the Xiongnu.
Inside the sedan, soft velvet lined the interior, and the drawn curtains kept the torrential rain at bay. Dressed in her crimson wedding attire, the delicate, beautiful princess sat alone inside. As she thought of the words her beloved younger imperial brother had said to her, two lines of clear tears ran down Jun Suining’s cheeks.
“Imperial Sister, the new Chanyu of the Xiongnu harbored ill intentions toward our dynasty. Yet we cannot mobilize our troops without just cause. Imperial Sister, would you be willing to enter this marriage alliance to secure a century of peace along our borders?”
Her brother, draped in dragon robes, had looked at her with an earnest expression. It couldn’t help but remind Jun Suining of three years ago, on a rainy night just like this, when he had nestled in her embrace and pleaded—
“Sister, Imperial Brother ascended the throne and wants to banish me from the capital. The Nine-Thousand-Year Lord holds the court in an iron grip; only he can change Imperial Brother’s mind. Sister… are you willing to help me…”
History was repeating itself. The difference was that three years ago, she had been willing to clear the obstacles ahead for her brother.
This time, however, she was unwilling. After being married to the Nine-Thousand-Year Lord for three years, love had blossomed between them over time. Now that he was dead, she wished to remain faithful to his memory.
Yet, disregarding her wishes, her imperial brother had forcefully placed her into this bridal sedan for a political marriage alliance.
From the wide sleeves of her wedding robe, Jun Suining retrieved an exquisite dagger. Since she could not live on to honor his memory, she would follow him in death. To die in Xiongnu territory would still grant her brother a pretext to send troops against them. She had no fear of death.
Thinking this, she felt much more at peace. Yet, for some reason, the sedan suddenly came to a halt. Inertia caused Jun Suining to lurch forward. After steadying herself, she called out in suspicion, “What has happened?”
Aside from the sound of the pouring rain, there was nothing else.
Jun Suining pulled back the curtain, and the sight before her chilled her to the bone. She was in a desolate wilderness—perhaps already within Xiongnu territory—while the soldiers escorting her all lay sprawled in the muddy puddles of water…
“Eldest Princess, this subordinate is under orders to send you on your way.” A shadow guard clad in black suddenly appeared before her eyes.
Jun Suining looked at the familiar shadow guard, turmoil churning in her eyes.
This was her imperial brother’s shadow guard. But…
“Why…” Jun Suining’s eyes reddened. She could not believe her full-blooded brother wanted to silence her. If that was the case, why go to such great lengths to send her away in a marriage alliance…
A flash of insight suddenly struck Jun Suining’s mind.
Of course! The marriage alliance! Her imperial brother’s plea echoed in her ears once more—
“Yet we cannot mobilize our troops without just cause. Imperial Sister, would you be willing to enter this marriage alliance to secure a century of peace along our borders?”
Without just cause… Indeed, even she had thought of committing suicide within Xiongnu territory to give her brother a justified pretext to wage war. How could he not have thought of it as well!
“Princess, you and the Nine-Thousand-Year Lord will die by the very same sword. Perhaps in the next life, you two may be together again,” the shadow guard said solemnly, stepping closer with his blade raised.
What! Jun Suining pressed in disbelief, “Did he not die while suppressing bandits?!”
“Suppressing bandits?” The shadow guard tilted his head in thought for a moment before sighing with regret. “Given the Nine-Thousand-Year Lord’s martial prowess and courage, how could he lose his life suppressing bandits? It was His Majesty… who ordered us to loose cold arrows amidst the chaos. Even then, he refused to let go of your token of love. It was only after I delivered the finishing blow that I could wrench it from his grasp to report back.”
Fury surged straight to her heart, and a mouthful of blood welled up in her chest. Amidst her hatred, anguish, and regret, a sharp blade swept across her neck. Blood sprayed outward, drenching the crimson bridal sedan with a thick stench of gore.
She closed her eyes weakly, feeling as though she could see her soul rising into the air. After what felt like an eternity, she returned to the imperial palace where she had grown up…
An elegant, middle-aged woman wearing gold hairpins and jade ornaments looked gently toward “her.” Just as Jun Suining was about to go over and weep, pouring out everything she had suffered, someone stepped straight through her body. The Emperor, bearing an unsightly smile, walked up beside the woman and said in a relaxed tone—
“Imperial Mother, she is dead.”
“Had you not still needed her over the past few years, this dowager would never have tolerated her beneath my nose for so long,” the Empress Dowager said, unable to conceal her smile. She patted her son’s shoulder, but noticing his strained expression, her smile vanished at once. “What, does my son feel pity for her?”
Hearing this, the Emperor curbed the emotions in his eyes and sneered, “How could I? A bastard child. If not for her good fortune of being born from the belly of Lady Peach Blossom to win Imperial Father’s doting affection, when would she ever have had the right to hear me call her sister?”
The translucent Jun Suining looked at her once-harmonious mother and brother, her heart aching as if sliced by knives, yet she took in every single word they said without missing a syllable.
So she had not been born of her mother after all. They had been using her all along! Using her to win the late Emperor’s favor, and then using her to win over the Nine-Thousand-Year Lord to consolidate imperial power. The life she had thought was filled with happiness and love was entirely cruel and false.
But who was Lady Peach Blossom? She had never heard of a Lady Peach Blossom in her imperial father’s harem…
“Now that she is dead in Xiongnu territory, my son can command the General Who Suppresses the North to attack the Xiongnu,” the Empress Dowager continued. “That fellow has always been loyal to the Nine-Thousand-Year Lord. Now, it is his turn.”
The voices reaching her ears grew fainter and fainter, and darkness engulfed her sight. Jun Suining’s body grew lighter and lighter, as though she were floating once more…
The pain that had long vanished struck her again. She felt hot and in agony, as if being boiled in scalding water. She snapped her eyes open, and what met her gaze was the familiar yet foreign canopy of a grand mahogany bed. Flimsy gossamer curtains hung down around her; this was the boudoir she had occupied before her marriage.
Had she failed to die, or had she been reborn?
Sweat drenched the back of her inner garments, and stray strands of hair clung damply to her forehead. A breath felt stifled in her chest. These were real physical sensations. Jun Suining stared at the bed curtains for a long time without regaining her senses, until a gasp by her ear dragged her back to reality—
“Princess! You are finally awake! You fell into the water at noon. It was fortunate that the Nine-Thousand-Year Lord discovered you in time, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable!”
Jun Suining turned her gaze upon her personal maidservant, Cang Ling. Cang Ling, who had been dead for years, now stood before her safe and sound. Feigning composure, she asked, “What year and month is it now?”
A youthful, delicate voice reached her ears—this was not her voice! No, it was her voice, but not that of her twenty-year-old self.
“Princess, today is the first day of the second month of the fifteenth year of Shunyuan,” Cang Ling said with deep concern. “Have you forgotten? Shall this servant summon the imperial physician to examine you once more?”
The fifteenth year… That was when she was fifteen years old! Her imperial father had once said she was the first child born to him after his ascension to the throne, which was why he favored her so much.
So she had returned to five years ago. Her imperial father was still alive, and she had not yet lost the one she loved. At this time, her imperial brother was merely the mediocre Fifth Prince among the imperial sons, and her imperial mother had not yet ascended to the seat of Empress Dowager, but was merely the Concubine Shu who had fallen from favor.
This time, she would protect the people she loved, and she would protect herself. Every single thing her imperial mother and brother had done in her past life, she would return to them in full!
Outside the hall, a sharp, panicked woman’s voice pierced the air—
“Lord Nine-Thousand-Year, th-this is the Princess’s residence! You cannot kill someone here!”
The Nine-Thousand-Year Lord!
Jun Suining’s eyes lit up. Barefoot, she scrambled out of bed, grabbing an outer robe to drape over herself. Ignoring Cang Ling’s attempts to stop her, she bolted toward the outside of the hall, as if the world would collapse and vanish if she were a moment too slow.
Yue Tingyu wore a black velvet brocade robe bound at the waist with a dark cloud-patterned leather belt. A pair of black boots embroidered with golden pythons was stained with dark red blood. His ink-black hair was tied up beneath a jade crown, yet his handsome, breathtaking face bore an air of gloom and darkness. His eyes, dark as the night, were devoid of warmth, seeming to harbor boundless murderous intent.
Standing eight feet tall with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, he possessed the very build that men of this era dreamed of having. Yet it belonged to an eunuch. Even so, others dared not look at him for long, for to be fixed by his gaze was like having a venomous serpent slither across one’s skin, sending shivers down their spine.
In her past life, the fifteen-year-old Jun Suining would have certainly been terrified. But now, she only felt that this familiar silhouette was extraordinarily warm. He was the one she had yearned for day and night, the one who had shielded her with his own body time and time again, one of the few people in this world who treated her with genuine sincerity.
Yue Tingyu pointed his sword toward the black-clad shadow guard kneeling in the courtyard. Suddenly, he felt a gust of wind sweep past, and someone threw their arms around him from behind. He knitted his brows, just wondering who was courting death, when a soft, sweet voice tinged with a hint of grievance sounded from behind him—
“A-Yu, I missed you so much.”