A woman stood in the middle of the field filled with dead bodies. Her hanfu was drenched with a sticky red liquid.

Her heart clenched in anger and sorrow that was soon overwhelmed with grief. That she let out an ear-piercing scream since she could no longer hold in her emotions anymore. She then looked down at his dull, lifeless eyes that was once a deep-bright turquoise.

She gently wiped away the blood that stained his pale and cold cheek " I will be joining you soon. My love." She said as her voice cracked while she choked on her tears. She placed her forehead onto his and caressed his face lovingly as her tears fell onto his cheek.

Her hand shook slightly as she picked up her sword and closed her eyes before stabbing herself in the chest. Blood spilt from her mouth as she impaled herself with her blade.

The clouds shifted as sunlight peeked through from behind the clouds. As if the heavens were welcoming her with open arms to be reunited with her loved one.

The warm sunlight hit her face as she fell onto the ground next to her fiance. She held his hand. Their rings shined brightly as it reflected the sun's rays. Both rings were engraved with XF love LL.

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This was just

R E A L I T Y

Nothing was meant to last,

After all, most people lived their lives with happiness.

But for how long?

This question was only meant for time to answer...

After every second,

Every single minute,

Every hour that has passed,

Is like a ticking time bomb, that could mend and shatter many hearts.

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After the long, cold, and brutal war, the Qing Empire had won the war at the cost of losing two strong generals. Ever since that battle, the empire was declared the strongest of all the realms.

The Qing Empire's royal family was rumored to be a brutal and psychopathic family to many. However, they were the complete opposite of how people imagined them to be. The royal family treasured their empire and its people far greater than anyone could imagine.

On top of that, many powerful noble families started settling into the empire because it was safer there than anywhere else. However, only four out of many noble families played an important role in the empire. Those families are the Songs, Tans, Chungs and the Zhangs.

Furthermore, no one believed that the two generals would ever be reincarnated into this God-forsaken world. A place where blood was constantly shed everywhere. That included the four main families. Were their beliefs right? Or were they wrong?

In centuries to come, a baby girl was born into the royal family. She was the empire's 5th Imperial Princess, Qing Xiao Fan. She had pale skin, beautiful light lavender eyes, rosy cheeks, and pinkish-red lips. Indeed she was the youngest of the royal family. Since her eyes resembled little gems, her nickname was Zi Shui Jing which meant amethyst.

She was rather a gifted individual indeed having to have mastered archery and combat at a young age. Nonetheless, all good things must come to an end. After some time, Xiao Fan had gotten incredibly ill for a few weeks which lead her body to become weak. Soon her body became too frail to keep up with the combat training. No one knew why and how the princess had gotten so ill. Neither did the physician understand what happened or even knew how to cure the young princess.

Ever since then, Xiao Fan could never stay out under direct sunlight for too long. But being the free-spirited and slightly rebellious teenager she was. She never listened.

So today was unlike any other, Xiao Fan had sneaked into the Zhang Market without any guards or her siblings whatsoever.

' Wow! There are so many things in this market. It's a pity that none of my gege and jiejie would approve of this, let alone join me with exploring these kinds of places. ' Xiao Fan pouted at the last thought since she too wanted to spend time with all her elder siblings. Unfortunately, she was unable to because of all the duties they had to fulfill. But she was still grateful that she was able to see all of them, despite their busy schedules, well at night for family dinners at least.

Xiao Fan was wandering around the market from store to store like a child filled with curiosity at everything they come across. This market was filled with all kinds of things from children's toys all the way to weaponry and magic spell books.

They even had cute little puppies that were playfully nibbling on each other's ears and cutely tumbled onto of each other, they ran around inside the cage with their little chubby feet. While the baby bunnies were busily eating their carrots, not caring about what was happening.

Just by seeing those cute little puppies and bunnies, Xiao Fan came to an abrupt stop. She started to play with the puppies, then a little black bunny with a red ribbon caught Xiao Fan's attention. When suddenly the store owner came out.

" Gu niang, are you going to buy anything? If you aren't, then leave. Don't waste my time. " The obese shop owner stated rudely and cockily towards Xiao Fan.

Xiao Fan glared at the owner with her lavender eyes. He couldn't help but feel shivers running down his spine under her gaze, feeling uncomfortable he shifted his weight from one leg onto another. The shop owner couldn't make out who she was at first because of her cloak and the hood that hid her face.

After getting a closer look, he soon realized who she was. He quickly changed his attitude towards her like a chameleon. " What can I get you, your highness? " He asked as he started to rub his hands together greedily, knowing that he had hit the jackpot. Someone who was a member of the royal family.

" Could you please get out of my face then? " Xiao Fan asked with a terrifyingly sweet smile as she picked up a black baby bunny from its cage and left some money on top of the cage. Then she walked away while Xiao Fan strolled through the crowded market, she gently patted the bunny's small head.

' What should I name you? ' Xiao Fan pondered at that thought as she walked towards a restaurant. She immediately froze in place when she saw Zhang Li Wang.

Li Wang was a general of the royal family's main army, he too was the heir to the Zhang family. The Zhang family was known to be able to tame many fierce creatures in this realm. Not only that but the Zhang family was the closest to the royal family. This relation between the royal and the Zhang family caused Li Wang to be a very close friend with the 1st Imperial Prince, Xiao Fan's elder brother.

Li Wang was standing there talking to some noble and local men. Xiao Fan swiftly spun around as Li Wang turned to look at her direction. Xiao Fan pretended to be looking at some books that were displayed at the store. He suspiciously looked at her direction but he brushed it off and continued his conversation. She saw that he had brushed her suspiciousness away, she cunningly sneaked a glance towards Li Wang's direction. Only to see that he was talking.

Xiao Fan sighed softly in relief before turning to the opposite direction of Li Wang but immediately bumped into someone's chest. She was sent a few steps back, causing her to inwardly groan in annoyance and was about to scold them.

Upon paying closer attention to the person's hanfu. He wore layers of black and gray fabrics, his sword that was strapped to his belt. The sword was decorated with many gold designs on the handle causing the ruby-red gem to stand out and Zhang Li Wang's name was carved onto the scabbard.

After Xiao Fan realized who it was, she let out a dry and nervous laugh.

" Ahh... Li Wang les, fancy seeing you here. " Xiao Fan said as her eyes secretly started darting around trying to look for an escape route.

Li Wang quickly caught onto this and signaled his guards to surround the young cloaked female, which was Xiao Fan.

Xiao Fan lets out a small sigh of defeat and slumped her shoulders as her head dropped. Li Wang walked towards her and grabbed by the arm securely but gently at the same time. At this point, he was dragging her towards the carriage that arrived not too long ago.

The carriage was red and had silk blinds covering the entrance, there were enough holes on the carriage to give them a view on the outside but not too much for people to look in. This gave people sitting in the carriage privacy.

Li Wang gently pushed Xiao Fan into the carriage and went in not long after. Soon the carriage started moving while thick strangling silence continued to grow, for Xiao Fan at least.

30 seconds in, Xiao Fan could no longer take quietness, which was never in her vocabulary, to begin with.

" Soo... What were you doing here in downtown Li Wang ge? " Xiao Fan asked as her voice was filled with curiosity. While waiting for an answer she started kicked around on her seat like a child would when they were bored.

" Villagers were disappearing. It'll be night soon, you will be staying in the Zhang's residence and leave with me once dawn comes. " He said monotonously and gave her a bored look, saying that she should keep quiet and had caused enough chaos in the place.

" Please don't tell big brother that I went into the Zhang market... " Xiao Fan trailed off as she stopped kicking her legs as she felt guilty for making everyone worry about her. Even though it wasn't something abnormal for her routine.

No matter how powerful her siblings or her parents were many people wanted them gone from existence.

Xiao Fan looked out at the beautiful scenery through the little holes. It was already dusk. The orange and purple hue in the sky complemented each other. The clouds were moving gracefully as the wind gently blew them.

Then something in Xiao Fan sparked, she had found this scene all too familiar.

A male was on his knee, he wore a turquoise hanfu. It seemed like he was proposing to a female, she wore a lavender hanfu it was almost similar to Xiao Fan's. However, something else disturbed Xiao Fan the most was the women's hair stick it looked exactly the same as hers. The lavender flowers dangling from the hair stick.

Xiao Fan shook her head slightly and sighed then looked down at the floor of the carriage, Li Wang rose his eyebrow at Xiao Fan's behavior. Li Wang only stared at her silently.

' I've been sighing frighteningly too much recently. Am I getting old like my brother now? But on the other hand, he had always been old. ' Xiao Fan thought to herself fully unaware of Li Wang's stare.

Xiao Fan eyes looked back at the sunset then at the bunny in her arms. The bunny snuggled deeper into her arms for warmth, which made Xiao Fan's heart melt. She started to pat her little boabei's head. ' Maybe I'll call you, Xiao Bao, my little gem. ' She thought as she hugged the bunny.

" Are you going to cook it? " Xiao Fan was caught off guard at Li Wang's question as she nearly fell off of her seat.

" Of course not! She's so cute! LOOK AT XIAO BAO! " Xiao Fan shouted as she stuffed the little bunny into Li Wang's face. He just groaned in annoyance as he tried to push her hands away from his face.

" Li Wang ge with that attitude, monotone, and eye bag of yours... No wonder you're still single and unmarried. Most men your age has normally been already married off. " Xiao Fan said innocently but on the inside, she was more than happy to say this.

' Sweet revenge. This is for thinking about cooking my Xiao Bao. ' Xiao thought happily.

Li Wang's eye slightly twitched as he clenched his fist. ' Annoying just like her brother. ' He thought as he placed his face onto his right hand, trying to ignore what Xiao Fan just said.

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~ Words ~

Hanfu - Historical styles of clothing worn in China

GeGe - Elder Brother

JieJie - Elder Sister

BaoBei - Baby / Treasure ( But in this case it's going to be Baby )

GuNiang - Young Lady

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* Do take note that this has nothing to do with the Qing Dynasty. *