Vol Chapter 1 (2/2)

Honor was life to the people of the Xue Nong.

And by surrendering, they have just lost that life.

Xi s.h.i.+ tired of walking through the harem, as she felt distressed by the scenes in the harem. The maids were crying over their former mistresses’ bodies. She could smell the faint scent of poison emanating from the chambers, indicating that the Concubines had poisoned themselves. It made her feel dizzy.

So she took a secret pa.s.sage that n.o.body knew existed. Through her dead mother’s room, there’s a secret pa.s.sage that led to a narrow corridor through which one could hear conversations being held in all the rooms of the palace. Probably, her father used this pa.s.sage to meet her mother regularly without having to be accosted by his other wives.

As she pa.s.sed her father’s chambers, she remembered the last time she’d been in this exact spot. It was four years ago, that she’d overheard her father and General Chen He Shui talking.

Her father must have been drunk, because he was slurring slightly. “She’s feisty… my child. But she’s better than my sons, He Shui. I couldn’t protect her mother. But I want to protect her….”

“I understand, Your Majesty,” General Chen bowed his head.

“He Shui, I’m not asking you as the King of the Xue Nong, but as the father of a simple but intelligent and wise girl, will your son take my daughter’s hand for marriage when they come of age?” asked her father, suddenly seeming very humble.

Without hesitation, General Chen replied, “It would be my honor, Your Majesty, to have the Princess come to my humble home as my daughter-in-law!”

Her father laughed sadly. “I hope you’ll take care of her, He Shui! My daughter needs people who genuinely love her. The palace has become too dangerous.”

“But n.o.body will dare to harm the Princess, Your Majesty!” General a.s.sured him.

“The palace isn’t a battlefield where you can subdue your enemy with brute force and strategy alone, General Chen. This is a place without honor and love. This is the most dangerous place in the world. That little girl has been living here with the help of Consort Mu for all these years. But I’m sure that she’ll be able to live anywhere in this entire world, because she’s survived the horrors of this place,” said her father, slightly ruefully.

Xi s.h.i.+ had been shocked. Suddenly, she realized that she hadn’t been living here. She’d beensurviving. She’d been a deer thrown in a room of lions. And life’s never been the same after that one incident.

Suddenly, Chen He Shan seemed to appear in a different light to her. She blushed whenever he touched her casually. Her heart beat sped up when she felt his breath behind her when they rode horses. Her cheeks warmed up when he gazed at her with admiration while she played the Qin.

Everything changed after that one conversation.

And now, four years later, General Chen He Shui is dead, Chen He Shan is upset and angry at her father and is thirsting for revenge, and her father surrendered to the Imperial Armies of the Ming Empire.

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