Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The day of the spring hunt arrived, and the weather was clear and bright.

I hadn’t originally wanted to attend.

However, the invitation had been personally issued by the Empress.

It was blindingly obvious whose intention lay behind this.

“It seems Young General Yan still has you in his thoughts.”

My mother had finally stopped her constant weeping.

She held my hand tightly, rambling on and on.

“Zhuxin, this is a massive honor for our family. You must not be so headstrong anymore.”

Was this a massive honor, I wondered, or was it a massive joke?

I lowered my eyes, choosing to remain silent.

Inside the Empress’s tent, high-quality goose pear incense was burning, filling the air with a sweet fragrance.

Noble ladies sat in small groups of twos and threes, whispering quietly among themselves.

“Is that the second daughter of the Xue family?”

“To think she actually rejected Young General Yan’s marriage proposal in public. She truly doesn’t know what’s good for her.”

I had heard such words countless times in my previous life.

Back then, when I married into the General’s Mansion, they mocked me for climbing above my station.

Now that I had rejected the marriage, I had become someone who didn’t know how to appreciate a favor.

Amidst the chatter and laughter, Yan Ci arrived.

The sight of him caused half the noble ladies in the tent to blush.

He was dressed in black riding gear today.

With his broad shoulders and narrow waist, his posture was exceptionally tall and straight.

He finished paying his respects to the Empress.

Then, his gaze drifted lazily and landed upon me.

“Miss Xue is here as well.”

I did not respond to him, and he didn’t seem to care about my silence.

The Empress smiled and asked, “Instead of heading to the hunting grounds, you’ve come to pay your respects to me?”

“There is no rush,” Yan Ci replied with a faint smile.

“My aunt has excellent tea here. I’ll stay for a sip before I depart.”

While he was speaking, he lowered his head to look at me again.

“Miss Xue.”

“Has that sweetheart of yours come today?”

I lifted my head and looked directly at him.

He sat in a lazy, relaxed posture, a mocking smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Over these past few days, he must have investigated my background thoroughly.

Naturally, he had discovered that the ‘sweetheart’ I mentioned was merely a lie I had fabricated on the spot.

“I do not have a sweetheart.”

Yan Ci arched an eyebrow.

“Then at the night banquet, who was it that said-”

“I was feeling unwell that day and spoke out of turn.”

I lowered my eyes, maintaining a humble and submissive stance.

“I ask for the Young General’s forgiveness.”

The tent fell silent for a brief moment.

The noble ladies exchanged meaningful glances with one another.

Instead of being angry, Yan Ci let out a short laugh.

It was a sound filled with absolute coldness and arrogance.

“Xue Zhuxin, this is no longer up to you.”

“Whether you are willing or not, you picked up my flower, so you are mine.”

The hunting grounds were situated deep within the mountains.

Before we entered the mountain pass, the Empress took hold of my hand.

She insisted that I ride in the same carriage as her.

“That boy A-Ci is clumsy with his words, but he truly cares for you in his heart.”

She smiled, though she looked somewhat troubled.

“Look at him-he is quite insistent on marrying you.”

I lowered my head in a display of fear and trepidation.

The Empress studied me for a few moments.

She seemed unable to understand why Yan Ci had taken a liking to me.

This realization seemed to make her even more worried.

The carriage moved forward slowly, following a narrow path into the mountains.

The spring breeze blew toward us, carrying the fragrance of blooming flowers.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly.

I reached into my sleeve and felt the handkerchief hidden there.

It had been pressed into my hand by a noble girl wearing a pale yellow dress just before we entered the mountains.

She had claimed that there were many insects in the forest and gave it to me to repel them.

I remembered her.

In the banquet of this life, she was the one who had originally picked up Yan Ci’s flower.

Just now, in the Empress’s tent, her eyes had turned red when Yan Ci declared he would marry me.

I hadn’t refused her gift.

Instead, I had accepted it while feigning a look of anxiety.

In my previous life, I had heard the old servants in the mansion mention a specific type of spice from the borderlands.

Humans could smell it without harm, but it would drive wild beasts into a violent frenzy.

I hadn’t expected that in this life, someone would use this method to deal with me.

What a pity.

When the carriage reached a secluded part of the forest path, I silently tucked the handkerchief into a gap in the seat cushions.

This position was very close to the Empress.

So close that if a wild beast were to attack, she would be the first person it lunged at.

The Empress was still chatting and laughing with the noble girls beside her, completely unaware of the danger.

The forest suddenly became unnaturally quiet.

There were no birds singing, no insects buzzing, and even the sound of the wind had died down.

Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from within the trees.

“There’s a wild beast!”

“Protect the Empress! Guard her at once!”

But the warning came too late.

In the blink of an eye, a tiger with a white forehead and bulging eyes lunged toward the carriage.

It was so fast that the guards didn’t have time to react.

The Empress’s face turned ashen with terror.

In that critical, life-or-death moment, I threw myself in front of the Empress.

The crowd erupted in screams of horror.

At the exact moment the tiger lunged, I reached out and drew the jewel-encrusted dagger hanging from the Empress’s waist.

I plunged it with all my strength into the beast’s neck.

Hot blood sprayed out, drenching everything.

However, the tiger’s momentum did not stop.

Its claws raked across my shoulder, tearing through my skin and flesh.

I was swatted away by the force, slamming heavily onto the hard ground.

The tiger was now thoroughly enraged.

It let out a low growl and began stalking toward me.

The dagger was still firmly embedded in its neck.

Left without a weapon, I could only use my hands to scramble backward across the dirt.

The wound on my shoulder throbbed with excruciating pain.

Blood flowed down my arm, leaving a crimson trail on the ground behind me.

The tiger approached me step by step, its eyes gleaming with a murderous light.

Not far away, the guards were running toward us in a state of panic.

I just had to hold on a little longer… if I could just hold on, I would be safe.

But the tiger had no intention of giving me that chance.

It opened its maw, revealing sharp, white fangs as a foul, bloody stench washed over my face.

My hands searched the ground frantically until I grabbed a large handful of sand.

I flung it directly into the tiger’s eyes.

The tiger’s movements faltered for a split second.

I used that moment to roll to the side, picking up a fallen tree branch to hold in front of my chest.

The tiger lunged at me in a blind fury.

My pupils contracted sharply.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down to a crawl.

In a flash of lightning, a white glint crossed my vision.

A red-tasseled spear whistled through the air, piercing straight through the tiger’s skull.

The massive body of the tiger crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.

I was showered in a rain of blood.

A young general stepped onto the tiger’s head and crouched down to look at me.

“Aren’t you quite the brave one?”

The voice was crisp and clear, carrying a hint of playful mockery.

The person was clearly a woman.

She arched an eyebrow at me. “You actually dared to take on a tiger with nothing but a little twig.”

I stared at her, stunned.

Behind me, Yan Ci’s trembling voice rang out.

“Changhuan?!”