“I know her fate… I also know the way to win… so I must save her. This is my responsibility… I cannot die…”
“I don’t want to know so much either… but knowing doesn’t help… knowing is knowing, so I have to bear it and move forward no matter what!”
Bai Ya spat out a mouthful of blood, the overwhelming surge of emotion pushing her already near-breaking body further toward destruction.
“I still don’t want to admit defeat—it’s too embarrassing… too frustrating…”
Weakly murmuring those three words, Bai Ya’s breath grew ever more faint.
The girl stood upright with her frail frame, head lowered in silence, not caring even as blood splattered onto her shoes.
“So what?”
The girl suddenly retorted, baring her clenched lower lip in extreme anger.
“Even if you’re unwilling, there’s nothing you can do. Look! You’re about to die. Haha, what a ridiculous responsibility! Just because of this you’ve held on until now—how utterly boring.”
Bai Ya didn’t respond. At some point, her murmurs had vanished, and the traces of life were slowly fading from her body. It looked as though she had already crossed into the realm of death.
“Bai Ya Ifeil Chlorom.”
The girl softly repeated the name, then gritted her teeth and snarled, “I hate you!”
Half a moment later, after a preliminary assessment confirmed Bai Ya was completely dead, the girl crouched down and carefully lifted her bloodied, broken body as if she were holding someone very important.
During the embrace, the mud and blood covering Bai Ya’s body stained the girl’s dress. The girl merely frowned once but no longer cared. Normally, anyone who dared sully her clothes—living or dead—would be tormented by her until they begged for mercy in tears.
Bai Ya was a special person. Even as a mere slave, she was strangely unlike one. The girl had felt a long-lost irritation from her, and as repayment, she granted this special favor this time.
The girl carried Bai Ya through the forest, quickly descending the mountain, and walked along the road leading to the town. She thought that this time she had finally completed Prince Liuyiong’s mission.
Yet she hadn’t returned to him within the allotted time, so punishment and discipline were inevitable. Who knew when this numb body, hardened against pain, might finally collapse?
For a slave, death was perhaps the better ending.
The girl recalled her own words. Maybe, deep down, she had also thought it better to die than to bear the suffering of being a slave girl. Yet now she was still alive.
Because she lacked courage. But Bai Ya was a courageous person. That courage appearing in a slave was truly extraordinary. No matter what, she had to survive. Though it sounded laughable, she convinced herself to accept it.
“I’ve been waiting for you a long time, Lunhui Tianqi.”
After some unknown length of time, while lost in thought about Bai Ya, an unbelievable voice suddenly appeared.
The girl’s pupils contracted sharply as she looked up toward the city gate not far ahead.
On the fortress walls, worried and fearful guards kept glancing toward the thick, rough wooden gate where a youth in white elegant robes leaned against it.
With one eye closed, he watched the girl rapidly approaching. The moment she saw him, she quickened her pace, feeling her throat dry. Her thoughts scattered into countless chaotic threads.
“Prince Liuyiong!”
The one meeting the girl was the third prince of Amidal, Liuyiong Amidal.
*****
Inside the ancient castle reserved exclusively for royal family members, the girl nervously stood behind the wooden door. Behind it was Prince Liuyiong’s room. The third prince of Amidal had summoned her to wear a maid outfit and come here. She assumed it was punishment time.
Why had Prince Liuyiong come all the way out to the city gate to wait for her? The girl simply could not understand. The white-robed youth’s first words to her were, “I’ve finally been waiting for you,” showing how much he cared about her actions.
The noble master personally waiting at the city gate was an intolerable treatment for a slave. Liuyiong’s behavior baffled her.
Could it be that he cared deeply about Bai Ya Ifeil Chlorom?
While pondering this, the girl heard a voice from inside, “Come in.” She responded and pushed open the door.
A strong scent of preservative agents hit her face, and the girl frowned. She still had not gotten used to this smell, but to please her master, she tried her best not to show any disgust.
This was the simplest room in the castle—only a crystal lamp emitted just enough light to illuminate the entire space, a rosewood chair, a single soft bed, a golden wardrobe, a stove, and a desk. That was all the furniture.
The room was very spacious. Even the simplest royal chambers were big enough to hold a cruise ship. Yet with so few furnishings, did it seem cavernous?
Not at all. On the contrary, it felt very cramped.
The moment she stepped inside, though it wasn’t her first time here, the girl could not suppress her feelings of nausea.
Countless pale faces appeared in the light—dozens of dead girls stared at her.
Because the corpses were so well preserved, their faces frozen in their final moments—some in agony, some tear-streaked, some twisted, some with blank eyes—had yet to fade.
It was a hateful feeling. Every time she entered this room, the girl felt a hatred-like emotion rise within her.
This was her master’s preference.
Prince Liuyiong Amidal, the third prince of Amidal, was a necrophiliac.
“Lunhui Tianqi, it’s up to you to bring her back to life.”
Surrounded by corpses, enjoying a feeling like being the center of the universe, the white-robed youth sitting in the rosewood chair raised his single open eye and commanded the newcomer—the girl.