Two years have passed by without a hitch and a lot has happened in the imperial capital.
After the assassination, the second prince and Wei Feng have expanded all their hidden forces to uproot most of the power of the ghost mercenary. These two years were enough to cut them down and push them to bide their time in the dark.
Some ministers were also involved in crimes and were dismissed from their posts. The turmoil was at its peak that everyone was on guard and was forced to watch their backs and lie low in the dark along with the ghost mercenaries.
Despite the uprooting, some good news was also spread and celebrated throughout the entire capital. The second prince and the Crown prince welcomed their betrothed into their estates with a grand wedding.
In light of this, the second prince presented a proposal to care and propagate the wildlife in the forest. This used a lot of effort and resources from the palace but the citizens were very supportive of this.
In the eyes of humans, cuteness comes before greed. They now have the notion to hunt certain animals in interval and make sure to leave the young ones alone. Thus the awareness and love for the animals were borne and certain people made groups and organizations which were funded by the palace in the sole purpose of propagating animals that are near extinction.
This event had opened another door of enlightenment and harmony and incited the softest part of humanity.
Throughout these changes, a budding girl who more or less caused these was left unperturbed.
Ying Yue sat in her garden of herbs playing a piece with her flute. She has been quite restless these past few months because she hasn't heard anything from Bao'er yet.
These past years she has busied herself with playing her instruments, medicine, herbs, and training. She didn't have a single day to rest. This also worried Xiao Hua but knowing that her mistress was especially strong-willed, she could only double her efforts to care for her.
As of this moment, the maid who used to be a little girl became a young lady with a clean temperament. She poured tea for her mistress who just finished playing a song.
"Young Lady, you played very well as usual." Smiling at the young lady who was now cleaning and tuning her flute.
Ying Yue smiled warmly, illuminating the area she was at. All the flowers seemed to pale in comparison to that smile of hers. "Thank you, Xiao Hua, any news from Mei'jie?"
"The third young miss sent word that she was fine and for you to not worry about her. She also said that she will be visiting home soon so milady should wait obediently for her and not run around everywhere."
After that day she went to fetch the tiger, Bai Xingmei learned that she went to the forest by herself. And upon hearing that the second prince encountered a mishap there and deemed that it was a very dangerous place, berated her till her ears were about to fall off.
Smiling at the memory, she then patted the little cub that was obediently sleeping on her lap.
"Young lady, Shasha doesn't seem to grow much doesn't she?" This tiger looked exactly the same as two years ago. She was surprised to see her mistress bringing back a cute little thing. But this cub was only well behaved and cute towards her mistress alone, to others… well, let's just say Xiao Hua was well acquainted with its butt than its head.
"Shasha is special."
At this moment Ying Yue felt a tingle in her spiritual domain and knew that Bao'er was waking up. She ordered Xiao Hua to not disturb her and hastily went inside the room.
"Bao'er are you awake?" Ying Yue asked as she entered her spiritual domain after asking Shasha to watch the surroundings for her.
"Yueyue! I'm sorry I took a long time, Bao'er missed you a lot!" Bao'er then flew towards her rubbing itself in her arms.
"Me too little blob. I was very worried when you didn't wake up six months ago."
"I'm sorry, the hostile fragment gave me a hard time. Speaking of that, Yueyue, you better see it quick! I will help the stupid cat watch over you!" With haste, the blob did not wait for her reply but simply released a circular light towards her.
As the light entered her mind, she saw what got Bao'er agitated.
Everything started when this world was just created. All the worlds have consciousness, this was known by all. But what most didn't know, these consciousness were the parent that created everything in it including the fates of those inhabiting that world.
When the world's consciousness was on the process of creating this one, it felt the need to hibernate as it expanded a lot of its essence trying to recreate its vision.
Hibernation was something vital to these entities since this was their means of self-preservation. Despite the urgency and time constraint, the world still came out almost perfectly as it envisioned. Almost.
In its haste, it neglected a minor flaw in the incantation. Although it was just minor, it was still none the less a mistake. That miniscule of negligence brought forth a crack in the flow of fate.
Since this era was of an ancient one, wars, in-fighting, and schemes are rampant. Despite the defense that the world's consciousness erected, it wasn't enough to fend off the darkness produced by humans' enmity and viciousness. Thus with the continuous negative impact on the crack, it widened until it came to a point where it can no longer sustain nor heal itself, leaving the flow of fates in huge disarray.
At that point, the world's consciousness had to forcibly wake up and fix everything itself. Seeing the irreparable damage, it decided to reboot everything by pausing the flow of time and rewinding it to the most optimal point or the most peaceful time to give the flow of fate enough time to strengthen and heal the remaining damage by itself.
The consequences, however, were severe. As at that moment, a human was shrouded in a protective layer of miasma made of ill intent and hatred.
This person was none other than Bai Xiang'er. At the last moment before the reversal of time, she killed herself with endless thoughts of hatred and grievances. Vowing to herself that she will get revenge and change her fate if there was a next life.
Her thoughts were too violent that a miasma formed a protective layer around her. Saving her memories of the most intense emotion she had, and that was the moment of her death and what led her to it.
When the time was set back to the peaceful time, Bai Xiang'er woke up with the memories of her past life.