Chiyou slept deeply, her body as if devoid of sensation, but the myriad complex scenes in her mind tormented her like a blade tearing through remnants of her past.
In a daze, she saw herself.
She was sitting on the Ice Lapis of the Star-Picking Tower, the moon overhead round and large, and below lay an endless, surging sea.
A man stood by the window, smiling as he spoke to her.
She called him "Axiong" (Elder Brother).
"Axiong?!"
Oh, she remembered.
He was Liu Rongruo, the Prime Minister of Daliang.
She was an orphan he had taken in and raised in his manor.
He treated her exceptionally well, accompanying her to watch the sea; taking her for rides through the streets; she also recalled him taking her to the imperial hot springs, where the water was warm, just like him.
She slowly fell in love with him, resolving to stay by his side forever.
Those days felt like a dream, so beautiful she never wanted to wake.
Her heart and eyes were filled with him, always concerned for him. Even the bullying from the women in his manor, she never mentioned, fearing it would trouble him.
She had even personally handed him the Southern Border military token.
But later, he seemed to change entirely.
She saw him interrogating the whereabouts of the Ten Great Gu Masters.
She also saw him take her back and imprison her in a dark room for tormenting her when she tried to spirit away another woman. He forced her to drink the Blood-Eating Silkworm, watching her endure the agonizing pain.
She felt as if she had never known the man before her. He treated her exceptionally well during the day, yet at night, he toyed with her as if she were a mere plaything.
During those months in Shangjing, she lived within the beautiful dream he wove, trusting him again and again like a fool, only to be tormented day after day at night.
The scenes from those days flashed like shattered remnants, so brutal it felt like a dream.
Her vision gradually blurred.
She remembered, she was not an orphan. She was the Saintess of the Southern Border, sent to steal Daliang's border defense maps. Because she had been infected with the Toad King Gu, she had developed two personalities.
The man she adored had seen through her identity long ago and was merely playing along with her.
He had used her, killed her trusted confidantes, and taken her military token.
Daliang was a great empire, standing in opposition to Bei Qi. The Prince of Dingbei already harbored ambitions of pacifying the Western Regions.
The Western Regions were in chaos, with the most powerful Bei Di having defected to Bei Qi. Daliang, by reclaiming the Southern Border, could control Bei Di and thus dominate the Western Regions.
The surrender of the military token had utterly ruined the Southern Border.
She saw the Southern Border descend into chaos, engulfed in war.
He led the Daliang army into the capital, slaughtering her people indiscriminately.
Dark, dense arrows rained down like locusts. She watched as her army of over a hundred thousand, like cornered beasts, were cut down.
She ran and ran, the heavy snow falling upon her. Her vision went dark, and she could see nothing.
Daliang soldiers swarmed the city walls, blood stained everything, and the air was filled with fire and the clash of swords. She knelt on the ground in agony, pleading with him.
Blood streamed from her forehead, and the hand she clutched his with was also covered in blood.
He stood tall on the city wall, not even glancing at her, utterly unmoved.
The piercing cries of war echoed in her ears. She saw the Daliang generals laughing, mocking the defeat of the Southern Border, scorning its weakness.
They mocked her, their Saintess, kneeling like a pathetic creature, begging him.
Countless splashes of blood stained her body. The jeers and laughter pierced her heart like knives, and hatred burned within her like a raging inferno.
The crisp clang of armor and swords filled the air as the city gates were breached, and the Daliang army surged into the palace.
She witnessed him decisively end the lives of her kin, storm the royal court, kill her uncles and aunts, and doom her trusted officials.
She was confined to a military tent, listening to the cheers and revelry outside, tears blurring her vision.
On that day, an unprecedented snow fell upon the Southern Border.
In her daze, she remembered her younger brother and her mother's dying words, that she must shoulder the responsibility of the Saintess and support her brother's ascension to the position of Gu King.
This was her destiny.
She could not stand idly by and watch her brother fall to his blade.
Beneath the vast, white sky, she slipped out of the tent.
The familiar palaces were awash with blood and swords. Following a remembered path, she made her way towards her brother's palace.
The entire royal palace was eerily silent, swarming with Daliang soldiers.
After a long search, she found her brother, placed under house arrest.
The royal palace had undergone a bloody purge; many trusted generals had been killed. Daliang officials were discussing the fate of the Southern Border.
A vassal state's fate was sealed, never to rise again.
She knelt on the ground, wishing to exchange herself for her brother's life, to secure peace for the Southern Border through a marriage alliance.
But the Prince of Dingbei of Daliang was intent on unifying the Western Regions and confronting Bei Qi, and they delayed their consent.
Later, Bei Qi reinforcements arrived, plunging the entire Southern Border into chaos.
Not wanting her people to suffer further from war, nor the lands of the Southern Border to be trampled upon, she knelt in the snow and pleaded with him for a whole night.
Word of this reached the palace, and she was placed under house arrest, then brought to the execution platform.
The Southern Border never snowed; flowers bloomed everywhere.
Yet, during those days, a heavy snow fell, and the prison was chillingly cold.
In her delirium, she dreamt of her mother.
Her mother was the best mother in the world, but she had been forced to her death by the old Gu King so that she could successfully ascend to the position of Saintess.
Tears streamed from her eyes, and a suffocating pain threatened to annihilate her.
In her semi-conscious state, someone picked her up in their arms and carried her away.
The icy snowflakes kissed her face. Under the moonlight, she faintly glimpsed the person before her.
He was truly handsome, his serene eyes like the snow lotus on their Tian Shan mountains. But she knew this was Liu Rongruo, the Prime Minister of Daliang, whose heart was colder than the lone wolf on Tian Shan.
"I will surely kill you in the future."
The flickering white light pulsed, and her scattered thoughts gradually cleared from the illusion. Chiyou dazedly opened her eyes, seeing her surroundings, and everything slowly came into focus.
Liu Rongruo.
She whispered his name, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. A throbbing pain surged, and she clutched her head in agony, struggling to suppress the unbearable memories.
She remembered. She remembered everything.
It was she who loved a man she shouldn't have, leading to the downfall of her nation and the ruin of the Southern Border.
It was she who had wronged the Southern Border, inviting disaster and bringing ruin to its soldiers.
A sharp pain struck her chest, and a silent current circulated through her limbs. The vivid flashes of swords and blades were torturing her body.
At that moment, a creaking sound echoed as the door was pushed open, and someone entered.
She raised her eyes, looking at the person before her, tears filling her gaze.
"Axiong."
Liu Rongruo, having recovered from his poison, looked at Chiyou, blood seeping from her lips, and slowly walked towards her.
Chiyou stared at his indifferent face, a searing pain erupting in her head. She spat out a large mouthful of blood.
No, he was not Axiong. That Axiong who treated her so well had died that night of the massacre.
This man was the Prime Minister of Daliang, her enemy.
They shared a deeply regrettable past. The Toad King Gu had made her forget everything, forget her mission. She had muddle-headedly fallen for him, and in her confusion, had come to Shangjing for a marriage alliance, entangled with him repeatedly.
She should kill him, avenge the more than one hundred thousand soldiers of the Southern Border.