Chapter 2 Flight from the Palace
An incense stick later, the luggage was packed.
A Li hurried after me with the bundle, still catching up.
"Imperial Princess, we're leaving just like this?"
"Without even telling Young Lord's people?"
I sneered. "He sent them to trap me here."
"Greeting them would be walking into the net."
A Li gasped. "Trap you? But Young Lord's feelings for you..."
I lowered my gaze and stayed silent.
As Rong Che's sister, everyone knew he granted my every wish.
We shared no blood, yet we had seemed like real siblings.
How ridiculous that I once believed it.
After he brought me back to Yun Tai Palace this time, it became my nightmare.
Perhaps because Father was gone and he was about to become the next Demon Emperor, Rong Che dropped all restraint.
On the surface he remained the refined gentleman.
In private he turned vicious and cruel.
Anyone who displeased him lost limbs at best, their life at worst.
I pitied one guard and begged for mercy.
Rong Che looked at me with a half-smile. "Since you don't want his blood on my hands..."
He placed the knife in my palm and whispered,
"Then do it for me. Take out his demon core and give it to your brother."
Only then did I understand.
In Rong Che's eyes, I was no different from the others.
It seemed to me his affection was not brotherly.
He saw me as his possession.
I could not leave him.
I could not defy him.
He kept me close and called it freedom.
Seeing my expression darken, A Li fell quiet.
After a moment she said firmly,
"If Imperial Princess wants to go, then we go."
Two carriages sped along the narrow path.
I brought only A Li and a dozen guards to avoid attention.
Better to see Xie Ning first than stay trapped in the palace.
During my house arrest, seeing Xie Ning each day was the only thing that gave me hope.
Father had chosen him as my guard.
He came from the Fox Clan and had a gentle temperament.
No matter how I teased him, he never grew angry, only covered for me with a helpless smile.
"Imperial Princess, next time you want to play, tell me first."
Strangely, after he arrived, my old headaches never returned.
Xie Ning taught me martial arts and accompanied me with music and painting.
Later, when he heard I was to marry Xie Ning, Rong Che's indulgent expression vanished.
"Rong Yao, you wouldn't dare!"
I did dare.
And I did it.
I escaped Yun Tai Palace without telling Rong Che and married Xie Ning.
Xie Ning told me he had been frail since childhood and unwelcome in the Fox Clan.
He had also been poisoned with Gu Poison by accident.
He smiled as he said it, as if the past no longer mattered.
What if I could stop that accident now?
I clutched the medicine bottle tighter.
It held every spirit herb I had taken from Cang Wu Mountain.
The carriage jolted to a sudden stop.
A Li leaned out, then turned back in panic. "Yan Zhuo is chasing us!"
Yan Zhuo was the man Rong Che sent to bring me to Yu Jing.
So fast...
My throat tightened.
Rong Che never gave up.
I signaled quickly.
The two carriages split onto different roads, kicking up clouds of dust.