At the Prince of Dai’s mansion, Xiao Changzhen was escorted back to his residence. He rushed to the main chamber where he found his princess consort Li Yanyan sitting at her dressing table, applying crimson fingernail dye that seemed as stark and bloody as violence itself.

“Leave us,” Xiao Changzhen commanded coldly, dismissing everyone present.

Li Yanyan was a princess of the fallen Western Liang kingdom. All the servants in the prince’s mansion were his people – she had long since lost her maids. The servants respectfully bowed and silently withdrew.

Li Yanyan kept her head lowered, letting out a barely audible laugh.

Xiao Changzhen strode forward, towering over her with eyes that barely contained a tempest of emotions. “How dare you! You dared to forge my name and conspire with Yu Zao to rob graves!”

Li Yanyan cast him a sidelong glance, turning her head slightly with devastating allure. “Rest assured, Yu Zao has no evidence. Even if His Majesty orders an investigation, nothing will be traced back to you. Just proclaim your innocence, and this matter will eventually pass.”

“What do you plan to do with all these ill-gotten gains?” Xiao Changzhen slammed his palm on the dressing table, barely containing his fury as he demanded answers.

Her red lips curved into a dazzling smile as Li Yanyan replied, “What do I want? My lord, do you need to ask?”

Xiao Changzhen felt a stab in his heart as he stared at her, his eyes gradually reddening with both anger and grief.

He had trusted her so completely, leaving himself defenseless against her, allowing her to easily obtain his seal and manipulate Yu Zao. Yu Zao probably never realized that the master he served wasn’t the Prince of Dai, but rather the Princess Consort!

Her smile faded slightly, and Li Yanyan turned to face her reflection in the dressing table mirror. Looking at herself, she felt a sudden surge of disgust. She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them again, they were filled with cold indifference. “I told you back then that my heart held nothing but hatred. I warned you not to marry me, or you would surely regret it.”

“I thought… I thought there was love between us. I thought that one day you could forget the grudge between our nations. It was the inevitable course of history, something no one could prevent,” Xiao Changzhen said, tears glistening in his eyes. “The strong conquer the weak, and all under heaven becomes one – it’s heaven’s mandate. If Western Liang had been the stronger power, I would be the one bearing the soul of a fallen nation now.”

“But alas, it was I who lost my nation.” Li Yanyan picked up an ivory comb and gently brushed a strand of hair that fell to her chest. She stared at her reflection expressionlessly, refusing to allow herself even a moment of softening. “I’m not Gu Qingzhi. I’m not one of your Great Zhou noble ladies who can be so magnanimous and understand the grand scheme of things and heaven’s mandate. I only know that I am a princess of Western Liang, my father’s precious treasure.

And your father destroyed my kingdom and killed my father – this is an unforgivable blood debt.”

Just as she had shouted at Emperor Youning back then: “If you don’t kill me today, I will make you regret it bitterly!”

“Do you know why, among so many Western Liang princesses, you were the one allowed to live?” Xiao Changzhen’s voice was weak and light, as insubstantial as smoke that could disperse with a breeze.

“Hahahahaha…” Li Yanyan suddenly burst into unrestrained laughter, laughing until tears appeared in her eyes. She raised her hand to gently wipe away the tears at the corners of her eyes. “Should I thank you? Thank you for begging His Majesty to spare my life. For making me his pawn to demonstrate Great Zhou’s magnanimity towards Western Liang? For making the Western Liang royal family despise me for my cowardice in not choosing death to make a statement?”

As she spoke, she abruptly stood up, her tear-glazed eyes filled with strength and hatred. “If I could, I truly wish you had let me follow my father and Western Liang to their fate. You kept me alive to satisfy your selfish desires, yet left me to live each day in pain and hatred. Xiao Changzhen, I will never be grateful – I even hate you for letting me live.”

The hatred in her eyes materialized like a sharp sword piercing Xiao Changzhen’s heart. Unable to bear it, he stumbled backward several steps, knocking over a wooden stool before barely steadying himself. The stinging in his eyes could no longer be suppressed, and tears fell as he clutched his chest, forcing down the metallic taste rising in his throat.

His unprecedented dishevelment caught her eye, and Li Yanyan turned away.

“So… so… you’ve been seeking death all along…” Xiao Changzhen wiped away his tears. “I was wrong…”

Li Yanyan gripped the ivory comb so tightly her knuckles whitened, nearly breaking it.

Lowering his eyes, Xiao Changzhen asked in a daze: “Who are you conspiring with?”

Where had all that money gone? Li Yanyan alone, even with his seal, couldn’t have executed everything so perfectly.

“That’s none of your concern,” Li Yanyan replied coldly.

Xiao Changzhen kept his head down for a long while before closing his eyes in anguish, his lips twisting in self-mockery. “Right… I’m worthless… you should have chosen someone better…”

With that, Xiao Changzhen strode out of the main chamber, nearly falling down the stone steps outside. His guard caught him, but he pushed everyone away and ran to the back courtyard, sitting down at a stone table.

Like a soulless puppet, he remained there until snowflakes began to fall, finally bringing him back to awareness.

Looking up at the snow-filled sky, he remembered that night ten years ago. It had snowed just like this when Western Liang fell and its royal family was captured, with all male members of the direct line becoming souls under the blade.

He had run to the Mingzheng Hall and knelt before His Majesty, begging him to spare Li Yanyan. They had known each other since childhood, and though it wasn’t romantic love then, he simply couldn’t bear to see her die.

“Third Son, nothing in this world comes simply for the asking,” the tall, young emperor had told him thus.

The young Xiao Changzhen was no longer naive – he had lived in the imperial palace for ten years. He knocked his forehead hard against the cold floor: “I offer my life in exchange for hers.”

“You would seek death for a princess of a fallen kingdom?” Anger flickered across the emperor’s face.

“I dare not, my body and being were given by my parents – how could I be so unfilial?” Xiao Changzhen hurriedly replied. “I beg Your Majesty to show mercy to the Western Liang royal family. In the future, I will obey Your Majesty in all things, loyal to you and to those you hold dear in your heart.”

He had sold his life to His Majesty, willing to become his sword – wherever the blade pointed, he would take heads without question.

In the icy snow, beneath the eaves lit by glowing lanterns, he saw the disappointment on His Majesty’s face.

His Majesty ultimately spared Li Yanyan’s life and ceased the execution of the remaining Western Liang royalty. He didn’t know if it was to pacify Western Liang, or if His Majesty had finally felt a touch of fatherly affection for him. Over the years, His Majesty had never asked anything of him, and he had remained quiet and unassuming, neither fighting nor grasping, just being an obedient prince and royal prince.

From cherishing to caring to eventually falling in love with her, he wanted to give her everything to ensure her happiness. When he reached marriageable age, he defied his mother, threatening his own life to gain her permission to marry Li Yanyan.

All these years as husband and wife, their hearts had remained separate, yet he had never regretted it – until now. He didn’t regret his actions over the years, only that in his youthful ignorance, he hadn’t understood that what she sought was fierce righteousness. His selfishness had condemned her to ten years of grieving survival.

“Wrong, wrong… I was ultimately wrong…”