Chapter 10

Chapter 10

On the day Lan Yi set out for war, he wore an ink-blue battle robe with a silver-white belt fastened around his waist.

He placed the white jade, formed from his soul spirit, around my neck.

“Princess, I will return on the night of the first frost, one month from now.

“During this time, with the blessing of the soul spirit, the rate at which your spiritual energy dissipates will slow. You should be safe for the time being.”

I looked at him and asked without thinking, “Will you definitely come back?”

Lan Yi fell silent for a moment, then gave a faint smile. “The situation on the battlefield is treacherous and changes in an instant. If I am unable to return, I will ensure my Snow Soul remains intact and gift it to you.”

I froze for a second before I understood what he meant.

“Lan Yi, I am not a member of the Soul Devourer Clan. I would never take someone else’s Snow Soul like that. If you don’t come back, I will simply accept my fate and struggle no longer.”

“So…” I looked at him and said earnestly, “You must come back.”

Lan Yi’s gaze softened, his deep blue eyes reflecting my image.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. Without another word, he mounted his horse and rode away.

After Lan Yi left, time suddenly began to pass with agonizing slowness.

My brother, as the Left High Priest, remained behind to guard Winterfall City.

My sister-in-law, Gui Hua, came to chat with me every day. Her face was full of ease, and she chose only the good news from the front lines to tell me.

However, when we stood together on the city walls looking into the distance, I could clearly see a flicker of unease crossing her features.

Even if no one told me, I knew that the fate of the Ice Clan was falling into unprecedented danger.

The dishes on the dining table became simpler day by day. Eventually, even the Baize Fish, which had never been in short supply throughout the four seasons, stopped appearing.

I changed into commoner’s clothing and went into the city to investigate. I found that the crowds on the streets had thinned significantly; people’s faces were sallow, and their movements showed signs of exhaustion.

I had intended to ask if there was a problem with the production in Baize, but a man selling fish recognized my eye color.

Xing Yan, the Imperial Princess of the Ice Clan, was born with deep purple eyes, a rarity among our people. My father had once considered this an auspicious sign of divine favor.

Later, when the Divine Envoy declared me Soulless, my father had the news suppressed. However, this secret still managed to spread among the common folk.

The man gave a cold sneer. “To be so well-fed and fair-skinned at a time like this, you must be that deposed Imperial Princess-the one cursed by the Snow God.”

I asked calmly, “Why do you say that?”

“If you weren’t born with a curse, why did the late King delay so long in naming you the royal successor?

“Why did the Imperial Princess suddenly vanish without a trace after reaching adulthood?

“And why, exactly at this time, is the Northern Frontier suffering from foreign invasions and the Baize plague?”

He spoke with such conviction that I found it difficult to refute him for a moment.

My father’s protection of me had actually become evidence of my inauspicious nature.

More and more people gathered, their eyes saturated with gloom.

They took my silence as a confession of guilt.

The first ice ball, about the size of a fist, came flying with a sharp whistle and struck my temple heavily.

I fell to the ground in a pathetic heap as a warm liquid flowed into my eyes, turning the world a deep crimson.

Their anger was ignited. One cold, hard projectile after another rained down on me, giving me no chance to even utter a word of defense.

Throughout it all, I clutched the white jade soul spirit tightly in my palm, terrified it would be damaged.

If the soul spirit cracked, Lan Yi wouldn’t be able to find me.

As my consciousness began to blur, I vaguely felt that several of my ribs were broken.