Fu Yi Xiao lay face down on the bed, her breath shallow as the maid gently applied medicine to her lashes. “Ouch! Gentler, please…” she whimpered. By the time the treatment was done, both patient and maid were drenched in sweat. The maid carefully covered Yi Xiao with a soft brocade quilt, bowed, and slipped quietly out of the room.
The door creaked again. Still drowsy, Yi Xiao muttered, “Can you not cover me with that quilt? It’s as heavy as iron—it hurts my wounds.”
There was silence for a moment. Then a deep, familiar voice answered behind her, “This Prince thought Yi Xiao did not feel pain.”
Startled, Yi Xiao shot up, only to fall back with a sharp cry. “Has Your Highness come to laugh at me?” she asked bitterly.
Xia Jingshi stepped closer, tossing a porcelain bottle onto the bed. “This is the finest bruise-healing ointment. The sooner you recover, the sooner you can get up. I haven’t yet tested that silver bow I gave you—I wonder if it suits you.”
His tone was calm and warm, yet it tore something deep inside her. Yi Xiao bit her knuckle to hold back her tears. A moment later, his hand reached down and pulled her hand away.
“Look at you,” he said softly, frowning. “You’ve bitten it purple. Are you unaware of pain—or pretending not to care?” He uncorked the bottle and dabbed ointment gently on her fingers. “You’re too impulsive. If I hadn’t punished you yesterday, when the imperial envoy reported to the Emperor, it wouldn’t have been just a few lashes.”
Yi Xiao watched his profile—his graceful brows, sharp nose, and eyes deep as ink. His thin lips often curved in that gentle smile that made her heart ache. Yet people say those with thin lips are fickle in love…
Suddenly, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face to his chest. “Your Highness… can you refuse the marriage alliance?”
He didn’t push her away immediately, only patted her back lightly. “You’re speaking recklessly again. Were yesterday’s lashes not enough of a lesson?”
“But…” she blurted, ignoring the sting in her wounds, “Yi Xiao is willing to be Your Highness’s concubine, slave, or maid—just please don’t go!”
Xia Jingshi gave a quiet snort. “You’re not greedy, at least—only aiming to be a concubine. Enough joking. The imperial decree has been issued. Once you recover, help Weiran and the others prepare my luggage. In half a year at most, I’ll depart for Su Sha.”
“I’m not joking!” she cried, clutching him tighter. “Yi Xiao has admired Your Highness for three years…”
His hand froze. “You know well,” he said, voice low, “that these years you’ve fought beside me, through life and death. You see me as a brother, and I see you as a sister.”
Yi Xiao gave a bitter laugh. “Perhaps only Your Highness thinks so. Yi Xiao has always—”
Before she could finish, Xia Jingshi suddenly shoved her away. She fell hard against the couch, clutching the quilt to stifle her pain. Even so, her eyes stayed locked on him, full of desperate hope. “Your Highness can take Yi Xiao now, if you wish—just please, don’t marry that princess…”
“Fu Yi Xiao, don’t you understand?” His gaze swept over her like cold steel. “This Prince needs no fetters or shackles. With your persistence and talent, you’d make chains stronger than iron. That’s the greatest impossibility between us.”
Yi Xiao trembled. “But Yi Xiao truly loves Your Highness!”
He smiled faintly, though his eyes were void of warmth. “Truly? Whether you love or not is your affair. What does it have to do with me?” He turned away, tossing the porcelain bottle back onto the bed before leaving.
Yi Xiao closed her eyes. Her heart shattered soundlessly, pride crushed beneath the weight of his words. The pain was worse than any lash or sword wound—a pain of the soul, where love met humiliation. Death might have been kinder.
Later, Xiao Weiran found her packing her belongings. “Yi Xiao, don’t be childish,” he urged softly.
“What’s the big deal about being punished by His Highness once? We’ve been punished too,” Ning Fei chimed in, trying to sound cheerful.
Yi Xiao ignored them both, glaring briefly at Ning Fei before grabbing her quiver.
“Wait!” Ning Fei stopped her hand. “I’ve already sent someone to fetch His Highness. You won’t listen to us, but surely you’ll listen to him?”
Yi Xiao’s lips curved faintly. “He knows I’m leaving. He won’t come.”
Xiao Weiran frowned. “He knows? How can you be sure?”
“Mm.” She fastened the quiver to her back. “I’ve already resigned my position—and he accepted.”
“That’s impossible!” Ning Fei paced anxiously. “How could His Highness let you resign over something so small?”
Yi Xiao stayed silent. Her dim gaze told Xiao Weiran everything. He gently caught Ning Fei’s arm. “Enough. Let her be.”
Ning Fei clenched his fists. “I was the one who introduced her to His Highness. You always said her talent was rare. Are we just letting her walk away?”
Yi Xiao finished packing, slung the silver bow over her shoulder, and turned to them with her old teasing smile. “Well, I won’t have to smell your sweaty armor every day anymore.” She punched each of them lightly in the chest. “Don’t look so glum. When you get married, I’ll still come drink your wedding wine. Don’t make me wait too long!” With that, she waved and walked out without looking back.
Four months later.
A winding mountain road shimmered under the sun as three hundred black-clad guards escorted a tall carriage. The golden “Xia” embroidered on the lead banner glimmered proudly—this was the Jin Xiu envoy bound for Su Sha, escorting Prince Xia Jingshi to his political marriage.
Inside the spacious carriage, Xia Jingshi reclined with half-closed eyes, idly turning a book.
Ning Fei rode up to report, “Your Highness, after the canyon ahead, we’ll reach the Su Sha border. Their welcoming party should be waiting there.”
Jingshi gave a faint hum, eyes still closed. Ning Fei withdrew quietly.
In the past, Yi Xiao had always led the vanguard, Xiao Weiran guarded the center, and Ning Fei brought up the rear. Since her resignation, her position remained unfilled. For this journey, Ning Fei had been forced to take the front line himself.
Xia Jingshi’s brow furrowed. Perhaps his words back then had been too cruel. When Yi Xiao returned after healing, he thought her resignation was a whim. He’d agreed without thinking. The next day, she submitted her seal and uniform and vanished from Lu City.
That morning, he’d watched from the city walls. If she had looked back even once, he would have called her name. But that stubborn girl never did.
Yi Xiao, to him, was a trusted soldier, a comrade, a friend who had shared blood and dust beside him. But love? Love was a dangerous illusion—beautiful yet poisonous. It lures you close, disguising itself as warmth, only to devour your heart and leave you hollow. Better to obey the Emperor, to marry Princess Xi Yang of Su Sha, and trade his heart for peace between nations.
A shrill whistle split the air.
Jingshi’s eyes snapped open. He threw aside the curtain.
A cavalry commander galloped up in panic. “Your Highness, we’ve encountered an ambush ahead—the enemy’s numbers are unclear—”
Before he could finish, an arrow whistled through the air and struck his shoulder. The force sent him tumbling off the cliffside path. His horse reared, neighing wildly before bolting down the trail.
Jingshi’s pupils shrank as his gaze followed the arrow’s path.
There, on the cliff above, stood Fu Yi Xiao. Her black hair whipped in the wind, her hands gripping a silver bow he knew too well. The bowstring still quivered.
He leapt from the carriage, fury and disbelief flashing across his face. “Bring me a bow and arrows!” he barked. A guard rushed forward, handing him a strong bow.
Jingshi raised it, his voice cutting through the chaos. “Fu Yi Xiao! Put down your bow!”
Ning Fei and Xiao Weiran arrived, stunned by the sight before them. Xiao Weiran rushed forward, standing between them. “Yi Xiao! Stop this madness—come down and beg His Highness for forgiveness!”
But Yi Xiao only smiled, her eyes blazing with determination. She drew another arrow, her bowstring stretched taut. “It’s death either way. If you want to go to Su Sha today, you’ll have to step over my corpse!”
Ning Fei broke out in a cold sweat. “Yi Xiao, have you gone mad?” He took a step forward.
The twang of a bowstring split the air. Yi Xiao’s arrow embedded itself in the ground an inch from his foot. The feathered shaft trembled. She was already nocking another arrow, her face pale but unwavering.
Xiao Weiran paled. Before he could speak again, Xia Jingshi strode past him, his eyes like obsidian.
“Your Highness!” Ning Fei shouted in alarm.
But it was too late. The bowstring snapped forward with a deadly hiss. His iron arrow flew, striking Yi Xiao squarely through the shoulder. The impact sent her sprawling backward onto the rocky cliff.
“Capture her,” Xia Jingshi ordered coldly, dropping his bow. Without another glance, he turned and stepped back into his carriage as the curtains fell closed behind him.
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