Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Zhao Pingyan was right.
The Great Yan Iron Cavalry, taking advantage of the Southwest’s bid for independence, had swept down from the north, heading straight for the Capital City.
They knew they couldn’t occupy this land forever.
But they also wouldn’t let a single member of the royal bloodline escape.
Days ago, the palace had already fallen into chaos, the servants living in constant terror.
The Imperial Consort, who had been favored for over a decade, drew a sharp sword and rushed into the Emperor’s bedchamber, prepared to defend the gates of the state unto death with him.
But when she burst inside, the Emperor was nowhere to be found.
Not only had he fled long ago, but he had done so in secret, fearing he might alert the enemy.
The Imperial Consort let out several cold laughs and left behind only one sentence: “First comes the king who fails his country, then comes the time for the country to fall.”
Then, she drew her sword across her own throat.
This woman of noble character was Zhao Pingyan’s birth mother.
It was the same in my past life.
I hadn’t been able to take Zhao Pingyan with me then.
At that time, her hair was a mess of pins and tangled locks, her thin silk robes disheveled. She lay barefoot among three or four male attendants.
From time to time, she used her mouth to catch the wine offered from the sandalwood-scented lips of those beauties.
You couldn’t tell at all that her mother had died just yesterday.
“As a princess of the realm, how could I abandon my country and flee?”
At first glance, those words sounded like they were spoken with a spine of iron.
But her actual plan was to sleep with all these men and then set the palace on fire, burning herself alive.
I said, “At the very least, you should go up to the city walls, perform a dance, and then jump. That would really capture the vibe of a princess of a fallen nation.”
She didn’t joke back. “Song Yu, if you want to leave, leave. I only want to indulge myself before I die.”
She grew even more arrogant as death approached, saying that if I didn’t leave, I should stay and share the men with her.
I wasn’t one to be outdone. Not only did I stay, but I also slept with one of the men.
When the sunset blazed, the entire imperial city was reflected in a fiery red.
The palace gates collapsed with a thunderous roar.
Fire was set to every corner of the Hall of Grace.
I stayed by the Princess’s side, quietly waiting for death.
But to our surprise, the Yan Army rescued us.
Even more unexpected was that the Yan State Hostage Prince was among that group of male attendants.
And I had precisely chosen to sleep with him.
Before he was rescued, his virtue had been ruined. He was so furious he ground his teeth in rage.
Zhao Pingyan, myself, and many female members of the Southern Dynasty’s royal family were taken captive by the army and brought north to the Yan Territory.
Because the two of us were considered particularly egregious cases, we were bound with leather straps and dragged behind horses.
The leather wrapped tightly around our bodies as we were dragged quickly across the ground. It was a method that didn’t break the skin but felt like it was grinding the bones raw.
If the road was bumpy, every bone in your body would feel like it was cracking. The pain would bring out a cold sweat until you eventually blacked out.
My bones weren’t as tough as Zhao Pingyan’s.
Before three days had passed, I used the cover of night to crawl into the Yan State Hostage Prince’s tent.
“Your Highness, regarding what happened that day in the Hall of Grace… it was because I secretly admired you that I took the opportunity to have your body.”
What exactly had happened that day in the Hall of Grace?
It was just as Zhao Pingyan was about to share the men with me.
Among those kneeling, a certain beauty had mocked Zhao Pingyan with a cold face.
“I’m afraid that in less than a day, the Princess will also be reduced to a mere plaything.”
Zhao Pingyan was a bit unhinged, and her temper was truly terrible.
She took the sword from the head of the bed. The blade suddenly lunged forward, passing through the gaps between the people to lift that beauty’s chin.
“I like people with backbone.”
The angrier Zhao Pingyan got, the softer her voice became.
Pointing the sword at him, she stepped off the bed, slowly pulled on her robe, and placed her bare foot on his shoulder.
“Keep that cold face and lick my feet. Otherwise, I’ll kill you.”
With a sharp sword pointed at him, the man was unwilling to die but also unwilling to be humiliated. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
That was until I spoke up and claimed this beauty for myself.
“You can serve me instead. I don’t need you to lick my feet.”
The man was sensible and immediately complied with me.
Only then did Zhao Pingyan glance at me and toss her sword aside.
I didn’t want Zhao Pingyan to kill anyone.
The nation was on the brink of collapse. If she killed someone and drove these attendants to desperation, it would only make our deaths more unsightly.
This beauty who had spoken out of turn was the man who would later be revealed as the Yan State Hostage Prince.
My claim of admiring him was, of course, a lie told just to survive.
But the beautiful, brainless Hostage Prince believed it.
We shared a night of passion and lingering affection in the tent.
But then Zhao Pingyan stepped forward and exposed my true colors.
“You fool, you actually believe her? To her, you’re just a…”
The Hostage Prince’s eyes turned red with rage. Holding his sword, he cornered me, questioning me step by step.
“Exactly which… ahem, which number man am I to you?”
“I’m truly done with you! Princess, you’re the death of me! Aren’t we unlucky enough already?”
I already had internal injuries. The surge of fury overwhelmed me, and I spat out blood and died.
After death, my soul drifted.
I saw the furious Hostage Prince wanting to send men to humiliate Zhao Pingyan.
But then, thinking of her habitually wanton lifestyle, he decided instead to take her to the Yan Territory and keep her under house arrest as a member of the Southern Dynasty royalty.
“What’s the point of living if I can no longer indulge myself?”
She hoisted my corpse onto her back and ran straight into that sharp sword, dying on her feet as she bled out.
That scene was desolate and resolute. In that moment, she truly possessed the noble spirit of a princess of a fallen nation.