The Beginning of a Fateful Bond

Although Great Xia is relatively open-minded, unmarried women still need to wear veils when they go out. As a princess, Qin Guo'er naturally follows this custom.

Her face was hidden, but throughout all of Great Xia,

there were very few women who could ride the Phoenix Chariot or command the Azure Luan to pull their carriage.

Apart from the sacred ones,

there was only the Anle Princess who alone enjoyed the divine favor.

“Princess?”

“Are you the Anle Princess?!”

Lin Hao, who had recognized Qin Guo'er and thought he was doomed, suddenly glimpsed a ray of hope in the endless darkness. “Princess, it’s me! Lin Hao!”

He scrambled desperately toward Qin Guo'er.

Qin Guo'er covered her mouth and nose with disgust. “Don’t let him come near.”

No sooner had she spoken,

two female attendants in cyan robes drew their swords from their sheaths simultaneously.

There was a sharp “crack”!

Lin Hao’s legs were broken off brutally, bloodied broken bones piercing through his flesh. He curled up in the snow, trembling all over from the pain, cold sweat pouring down his forehead, emitting a heart-wrenching howl like a slaughtered pig, “Ah!!!”

“So noisy. Lan, make it quiet!”

Qin Guo'er spoke impatiently again.

The cyan-robed attendant named Lan obeyed, stepping behind Lin Hao and skillfully pulling out a white silk ribbon from her sleeve to wrap tightly around his throat.

As the silk tightened,

a suffocating sensation surged upward. Lin Hao’s cries choked off in his throat.

Silence fell instantly.

In no time, the terror of impending death helped Lin Hao temporarily forget the agony in his legs. His bloodshot eyes welled with tears, and from his throat came pitiful whimpers of pleading.

Lan asked, “Calmed down now?”

Lin Hao blinked hard.

“The Princess will ask you questions, and you will answer. Can you do that?”

Lin Hao was utterly terrified.

As long as he could survive, even if she ordered him to kill his own parents, he wouldn’t utter a single refusal.

He begged, patting Lan’s arm desperately.

“Useless trash.”

Lan cursed, withdrawing the silk and stepping back to Qin Guo’er's side.

Lin Hao lay panting heavily on the snow,

his tears and snot smearing his face.

He heard Qin Guo'er speak slowly, “There’s been something troubling me lately. Rumors are spreading that I intend to take you, this worm, as my consort?”

“Hmph!”

Just mentioning it

made Qin Guo'er furious beyond measure, utterly disgusted. “Hmph! Even insults aren’t this vile! Manman, what do you think?”

Beside the Phoenix Chariot,

Manman, Qin Guo’er's personal attendant, was focused on eating a baked bun, not even hearing what was said, but obediently murmured a couple of “mmhm”s.

“Since ancient times, beauties have had short fates~”

“Sigh, I’m probably the most ill-fated one~”

Qin Guo'er sighed self-pityingly, her delicate hand, fairer than the surrounding snow, propping up her fragrant cheek. Without bothering to glance at Lin Hao again, she said with a faint gaze,

“You’re the one who spread this rumor, aren’t you?”

“Trying to force me into a done deal?”

“You worm, though stupid and lowly, you’re as timid as a mouse. Such a brazen idea could never have come from you alone. So tell me, who’s behind this?”

With all his subordinates killed,

and his legs broken as well.

After circling the Gate of Ghosts once more, the entire ordeal completely shattered the courage Lin Hao had accumulated over more than a decade of lawlessness when facing Qin Guo’er.

He didn’t dare lie, not even a little.

Tears streaming down his face, he pleaded, “Princess, it’s not my doing! This whole thing… it was forced upon me by your father, Prince Jing, and your elder brother, the Crown Prince!”

“They told me to say it!”

“No matter what it takes, as long as I… I… I get you, they will do everything in their power to make this happen before the Great Xia!”

“Please, Princess, have mercy on me!”

The ruthless nature of imperial families was laid bare.

Though Qin Guo’er had suspected early on that her father and brother were involved, hearing it confirmed from Lin Hao’s trembling lips still sent a chill through her heart.

“What a fine father I have,” she muttered bitterly.

“And what a fine elder brother.”

Princess Anle smiled coldly, her voice devoid of any emotion as she continued to interrogate Lin Hao. “One is a prince of Great Xia, the other commands tens of thousands of elite troops as a military governor. Why would two such powerful men scheme against a weak woman like me? What exactly are they after?”

Lin Hao hesitated for a moment, his voice quivering as he spoke.

“Prince Jing wants to win over my father…”

“They plan to launch an attack on Chang’an during the princess’s wedding…”

Lin Hao shrank back, his voice growing weaker.

He dared not say more.

Princess Anle declared, “Speak, or die.”

Lin Hao trembled but hurriedly said, “Princess, your father, Prince Jing, was the Crown Prince appointed by the late emperor.”

“Prince Jing should be the rightful emperor of Great Xia.”

“The current emperor of the Holy Empire is unworthy—he not only deposed the late sovereign but also exiled him to remote Jingzhou. And her ascension as a woman is illegitimate and unjust.”

“Now, the Holy Empire favors you above all!”

“If you agree to this marriage, when the Holy Empire arranges the wedding, they will be careless. Using the bridal procession as cover, it will take only two or three days for my father to lead the Yunzhou cavalry to strike beneath the walls of Chang’an!”

“This will certainly help your father, Prince Jing, reclaim the imperial throne!”

“Your father—the emperor himself—has promised that once this succeeds, my family, the Lins, will be granted a princely title.”

“At that time, our Qin and Lin families will share dominion over the realm!”

“Isn’t that a glorious future?”

As he laid out this grand vision, Lin Hao gradually forgot his fear and grew more impassioned, his excitement so intense that if his legs weren’t broken, he might have jumped for joy.

“Please, Princess, help Prince Jing! Help the emperor!”

Lin Hao kowtowed deeply, as if already envisioning the day he would marry the princess and be granted a royal title despite his different surname.

Qin Guo’er had seen fools before, but never one this utterly idiotic.

She laughed quietly to herself.

Yet in her distant eyes, there was not a trace of amusement.

“Why should I help him?”

Lin Hao answered without hesitation, “The emperor is your father! How could a daughter not help her own father?”

“Your father?”

“The father who sells his daughter for soldiers and horses?”

With a sharp clang, Qin Guo’er flicked her sleeve, sending a gleaming dagger spinning through the air to embed itself in the bluestone just before Lin Hao.

“End your own life.”

Now that she knew the full truth, Qin Guo’er had no desire to waste another word on this foolish insect.

“Kill… kill… kill yourself!”

Lin Hao snapped out of his grand delusions, glancing at the dagger before him. The chilling gleam it emitted terrified him so much that he collapsed onto the snow-covered ground.

His face drained of color.

He cried out in panic, “Princess, you promised me mercy if I confessed honestly!”

“When did I ever say that?”

Qin Guo’er sneered coldly, “Either you take this dagger and end your own life, or I’ll have someone do it for you. Make your choice.”

Lin Hao didn’t have the courage to pick up the dagger.

His whole body trembling like a leaf, he crawled up and kowtowed to Qin Guo’er, banging his forehead against the snow with muffled thuds.

“Please, Princess, spare me!”

“This has nothing to do with me! I’m just following orders! You can’t kill me! If you do, my father will avenge me!”

“Then let him come and seek revenge against me.”

Qin Guo’er lifted her eyes lazily, propping her delicate cheek on her palm with disinterest. “Qiu’er, Dong’er, go help this Lin gentleman.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Two maidservants in azure robes responded immediately, drawing their swords as they glided forward gracefully.

It was true!

Princess Anle really was going to kill him!

Lin Hao, his legs broken, clawed at the snow desperately, crawling away with all his might. As he crawled, he shouted, “I am the son of Lin Yeping! The Commander of Yunzhou’s forces! You can’t kill me! Stay away! Don’t come any closer!”

“Father! Come save your child!”

“Someone—anyone—please help me!”

His hoarse screams tore through the cold air.

Qin Guo’er paid him no mind, nor did she fear that he could call for reinforcements. Although Lin Hao was foolish, Lin Yeping commanded troops and was not to be underestimated. That was why she had made meticulous plans before deciding to kill Lin Hao.

The snowy mountain ridge they were on had been closed off for half a month.

The mountain stretched for hundreds of miles, desolate and uninhabited. Not even a bird could be found, and no one would hear a single word no matter how loud he screamed.

Besides, Lin Hao had been foolish enough to think ahead.

He had wanted to kidnap her but feared making a scene, so he only brought a dozen or so men on this secret journey.

If Lin Hao hadn’t been so stupid...

With Lin Yeping’s power, killing him in Yunzhou city would have been no easy task.

Qin Guo’er scoffed as she toyed with her long hair.

If this worm could actually call for help, she might as well just get married and be done with it.

Just as she thought this, a sudden, piercing scream of a man echoed from above!

Qin Guo’er’s eyes snapped upward.

She saw a dark shape hurtling toward her at a terrifying speed! Before she could even dodge, it crashed into a snowdrift just a few feet away with a thunderous impact.

The force of the landing smashed a deep crater into the snow, sending a spray of powdery white flying several meters.

Outside the snow pit.

Qin Guo’er stood there, bewildered.

Inside the pit.

Yang An clutched his back, gasping in pain.

Even with his [Fate’s Curse] talent activated, which boosted his defense tenfold, and clutching his black hawk as a cushion before landing, the fall still left his back aching and his insides feeling shattered. He coughed violently twice, spitting fresh blood from his mouth and nose.

Lying atop the black hawk, Yang An gritted his teeth against the agony threatening to tear his body apart. He pulled out a black jade lotus, and seeing it undamaged, he finally allowed himself a sigh of relief.

Carefully, he withdrew it back into his embrace.

The two eagle eggs he had swallowed seemed to still carry some residual medicinal effect. After a while, Yang An’s pain eased, and he struggled to sit up.

“Damn you, you mangy beast!”

“Just ate a few of your eggs! Was that really necessary? Was it?!”

“I swear I’m going to drag you home and stew you alive!”

He cursed and grumbled as he climbed out of the snow pit. Squatting in the snow, he hadn’t yet stood when he noticed a golden phoenix carriage beside the pit, and atop it stood a palace-clad woman whose face was obscured.

Princess Anle also spotted Yang An.

Their eyes met.

In each other’s gaze, they both saw shock and disbelief.

Yang An was startled—he hadn’t expected anyone else in Yunling Mountain besides himself. Before he could make sense of the situation—

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The biting wind blew fiercely, and in an instant, eight gleaming long swords flashed cold light, all pointed directly at his face!

Yang An’s heart leapt in alarm.

He instinctively took a step back, nearly falling back into the snow pit behind him.

These were clearly foes, meeting him with swords drawn.

No friendly intentions here!

Yang An was not one to sit idly by and wait for death.

He reached for the iron bow on his back, ready to fight back against the blades aimed at him.

Just as the tension reached its peak—

“Hold.”

Princess Anle called out to the eight female attendants—Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum—halting them in their tracks. She looked at Yang An with a playful glint in her eyes and said, “You’re here to save him?”