Dark clouds, like roiling black waves, crashed down upon the city walls. A fierce wind, carrying bits of gravel, howled past, scraping painfully against one’s skin.
Within the imperial city of Nanxiao, the powerful and wealthy had long since packed their valuables and fled with their families.
A junior official, bowing, held up a yellow casket as he hurried into the imperial palace. “Your Majesty, a state letter from Beiyuan.”
The Emperor on the dragon throne, his brow furrowed with sorrow, said in despair, “Read it.”
The junior official opened the casket. “Within three days, send Princess Changning for a marriage alliance. Otherwise, one hundred prisoners of war and refugee commoners will be executed daily, until there is no one left to kill.”
A glimmer of light suddenly appeared in the Emperor of Nanxiao’s murky eyes. He muttered to himself, “Changning.”
His fingers tapped a steady rhythm on the table. “This is the only way.”
“Sacrificing one person can preserve the foundation of Nanxiao and bring peace to the common people.”
The Crown Prince, standing below in the hall, felt an expectant gaze from above. He had no affection for this daughter of his; what mattered most was preserving the dynasty’s foundation and his own honored status as Crown Prince.
“Rest assured, Imperial Father. Your son will persuade Changning to marry the Emperor of Beiyuan!”
Receiving this affirmation, the Emperor’s face instantly lit up with joy. He grinned and said, “In that case, We shall immediately grant Changning the title of Princess.”
The verbal edict of her enfeoffment arrived at the Crown Prince’s Mansion along with the dreadful news.
At that moment, Princess Changning was in a back alley, distributing congee.
The elderly in ragged clothes, the disabled with missing limbs, and wailing infants filled street after street.
Her handmaid, Ali, hiked up her skirts and ran over. “Princess! Princess! Something terrible has happened!”
Xiao Changning, her face etched with exhaustion, glanced at her. Her cherry-red lips parted. “Our grain is depleted and the war is critical. Could there be anything more terrible than this?”
Tears welled up in Ali’s eyes and fell uncontrollably. She pulled Xiao Changning into a corner, and after confirming they were alone, she whispered, “When your servant went to the mansion to fetch water and rice just now, I heard…”
Ali’s words caught in her throat. Xiao Changning, however, grew impatient and asked urgently, “Heard what?”
“His Majesty is sending you to Beiyuan for a marriage alliance, to marry that tyrannical Emperor of Beiyuan!”
After saying this, Ali broke into choked, wailing sobs.
“What? A marriage alliance?” The ladle in Xiao Changning’s hand instantly clattered to the ground. Her head was buzzing, and her heart felt as if it had been violently struck.
“It’s true!”
Ali’s voice pulled Xiao Changning from her stupor back to reality. “His Highness the Crown Prince returned from the palace with His Majesty’s verbal edict.”
Xiao Changning’s mind reeled with the “glorious deeds” of Beiyuan’s new emperor, Murong Yao. Originally an unfavored prince of Beiyuan, Murong Yao had slaughtered all his siblings to ascend the throne and was known for his tyrannical nature.
Ali, her eyes red from crying, shook Xiao Changning’s arm. “Princess, you have to think of something.”
“We… we can go to His Majesty and beg him to retract the order.”
“A monarch does not go back on his word.” Xiao Changning knew this clearly. “Imperial Grandfather would never plunge the people of Nanxiao into misery for my sake.”
“Sacrificing me to save the realm is the inevitable choice.”
Ali opened her mouth, but in the end, said nothing. “How could this happen?”
“The Princess and Vice Minister Yuan are childhood sweethearts, deeply in love, yet you cannot be together.”
Hearing Yuan Yanchen’s name, Xiao Changning snapped back to her senses. She began untying her apron as she said, “I have to find him.”
Xiao Changning broke into a run, but just as she turned out of the alley, she was blocked by the Crown Prince’s guards.
A troop of menacing guards stood in her way.
The leader cupped his hands in a salute toward her. “Princess, His Highness the Crown Prince has ordered his subordinates to escort you back to the mansion.”
“This way, please!”
Knowing she could not escape, Xiao Changning obediently followed them.
When the Crown Princess heard the news, she rushed back from the temple outside the city without a moment’s delay.
Xiao Changning heard her parents arguing. She put a finger to her lips in a “shush” gesture and stood silently in the corner, listening to the conversation inside.
The couple, whose hearts had long since drifted apart, were rarely in the same room. The Crown Princess clutched a handkerchief, her tone firm. “I do not agree to Changning marrying the Emperor of Beiyuan.”
The Crown Prince stood with his hands behind his back, his back to her. “This is a last resort.”
“Beiyuan’s army is camped beneath the imperial city walls. Even if Changning doesn’t marry him today, when the city falls, she will be captured by the Emperor of Beiyuan all the same.”
As the Crown Prince spoke, he adopted an air of indifference and plopped down into a chair. “Rather than becoming the slave of a fallen nation, it’s better to trade her for a few days of peace.”
The Crown Princess looked sideways at the man she had once been so desperate to marry, and an inexplicable fire rose in her belly. “All men are the same.”
“When you marry them, they treat you wonderfully, but in a few days, they have wives and concubines in droves.”
The Crown Prince, catching a stray arrow, clicked his tongue. “We’re talking about Changning. What are you dragging me into this for?”
“So you do know it’s you?”
The Crown Princess flew into a rage. “In the past, because she was a girl and couldn’t help you secure your position, you disliked her. That was one thing.”
“But Changning is your own daughter. Can you truly bear to watch her leap into a pit of fire?”
The Crown Prince lowered his head and sighed helplessly.
Looking at her weak-willed husband, the Crown Princess suddenly felt she must have been out of her mind back then. How could she have been so blind as to fight so bitterly with her own father for his sake?
The hall gradually quieted down. Xiao Changning straightened her clothes, knocked, and entered.
She gave a slight curtsy to the two people in the main hall. “Father, Mother.”
The Crown Prince looked at her and said, “His Majesty has already given the order. In three days, you will depart for the marriage alliance.”
“Don’t go anywhere these next few days. Stay obediently in the mansion and stop going out and showing your face all the time.”
“Yes.”
With that, the Crown Prince rose and left without a backward glance.
In the hall, the Crown Princess covered her face with her handkerchief, her eyes red from crying.
Xiao Changning walked over and gently tugged on her sleeve. “Mother, I don’t want to marry him. I want to sneak out tonight.”
“I must ask for Mother’s help.”
The Crown Princess looked at her daughter and nodded in agreement.
In the dead of night, as the north wind howled, a figure in a black conical hat slipped out of a side door of the Crown Prince’s Mansion and headed straight for Vice Minister Yuan’s residence.
But she failed to notice a shadow quietly taking flight from a rooftop, following her from a distance.
Xiao Changning ran all the way, pushing open the familiar door.
Inside the room, Vice Minister Yuan Yanchen was scribbling away, writing something.
“Brother Yanchen, I…”
Yuan Yanchen cried out in surprise, “Changning?”
Then, he glanced around, and after confirming no one was there, he swiftly shut the door.
Xiao Changning took off her hat. “Brother Yanchen, time is short. Can we elope tomorrow night?”
“Ah?”
Yuan Yanchen’s eyes widened in shock. Then he took Xiao Changning’s hand and said, “I’ve already heard about the marriage alliance. Don’t be anxious.”
She shook her head and said, “The only thing I can do is run away, run to a place where no one can ever find us.”
Xiao Changning wiped away a tear. “Tomorrow night, at the midnight hour, in the small alley by the South City Gate. I’ll wait for you.”