Chapter 3: Heaven’s Change, A Promise Not Forsaken in the Next Life

Chu Junhan gazed up at the man with unyielding resentment. This was the man she had waited for, day and night, for sixteen years—the one she was destined to marry.

“So just because my father insisted on adding the name ‘Jun,’ which sounds like ‘crown prince,’ you gave the order to execute my entire family? My father and the late emperor shared a bond forged in life and death, yet a mere name is enough to make you so fearful? Don’t forget, the rivers and lands of this Tianqing nation were won for your Xiao family by my father!” Chu Junhan struggled to her feet, dragging the heavy chains behind her, step by step approaching the man standing outside the cell.

If it were possible, she would have torn him to pieces, ground his bones to dust.

She could never forget the gruesome sight of her father’s death. She could never forget her mother’s desperate act, shielding her helpless daughter, only to be stabbed by a soldier’s bayonet. Nor could she forget the river of blood that once flowed through the Chu family’s halls.

All of this, all the pain and ruin, had been bestowed by a single man—Xiao Shengjie.

Any trace of illusion she had left for this man was shattered by the words “a subject’s merit eclipsing his lord’s.” So, his promises to her were worth less than a shadow of suspicion.

Seeing the emperor outside the cell in his dragon robe remain silent, Chu Junhan dragged her chains toward the door, the grating sound echoing through the stillness, as if narrating her despair and hatred.

Xiao Shengjie looked at the girl within the cage, and for a reason he could not name, a sudden fear took root in his heart. The guilt he once felt toward her was instantly extinguished by this surge of dread.

In his ears, his dying father’s words resounded: “Not a single member of the Chu family must be left alive. You must witness their deaths with your own eyes.”

With those words, the image of his father’s bulging, unblinking eyes at the moment of death flashed before him—a gaze unwilling to rest in peace. He instinctively stepped back. “Guards, bring the poisoned wine.”

Chu Junhan was drawing closer to the cell door when she heard Xiao Shengjie’s command. She let out a cold laugh and rushed forward, determined to seize the man’s throat. If she was to die, she would take him with her!

But this was merely a desperate hope.

Just as she was about to reach him, Liu Yan’er darted out and shoved Xiao Shengjie aside. It all happened in a flash.

Liu Yan’er’s neck was caught in Chu Junhan’s filthy hands, her face flushed bright red. These treacherous lovers—she would have no regrets killing either of them.

“Your Majesty, save me!” Liu Yan’er cried, her eyes rolling back as she fainted.

“How dare you, wretched girl! You dare to attack my beloved consort? Guards! I want her strangled to death!” Xiao Shengjie tore Liu Yan’er from Chu Junhan’s grasp, glaring at her in fury.

No one noticed the slight upward curl at the corner of Liu Yan’er’s mouth after Xiao Shengjie gave his order.

At the emperor’s command, the eunuchs who had accompanied him appeared outside the cell, bowing low and holding a length of white silk, awaiting the jailer to unlock the cage.

As soon as the cell was opened, three or five eunuchs rushed in, seizing the motionless Chu Junhan.

The three-foot-long white silk was placed around her neck. As suffocation set in, the girl instinctively tried to claw at the fabric, but her hands were tightly restrained and she could not move.

Chu Junhan turned her gaze toward the two outside the cell, etching their treacherous faces into her memory, stroke by stroke.

I, Chu Junhan, will remember this. I will wait for you in the underworld.

In her final moments, the girl forced out four words, each syllable heavy with meaning: “Without the lips, the teeth feel the cold.”

Now, with the Chu family gone in this time of chaos, could the Xiao family’s throne remain secure? How laughable.

Xiao Shengjie, we shall meet again in the afterlife soon enough.

With that, the girl, filled with bitter regret, slowly closed her eyes.

May she not be betrayed in her next life. May she never again be manipulated by another.