Jiang Peihuan slowly sat up, leaning against the soft cushion. Her eyes fixed on the curling sandalwood incense in the room, and she couldn't help but feel dazed.
Hadn't she already... died?
Why had she woken up in her own bed?
She closed her eyes, and the brutal scenes from her past appeared clearly in her mind.
On that fateful day, she stood in the main hall, drenched in blood. Her sword gleamed with a cold light as she pointed it at the man dressed in a yellow robe and questioned him.
"Xiao Junhao, do you truly have no feelings for me?" she asked
"Yes," Xiao Junhao turned around and replied coldly.
"I have never loved you. Yao Er is my cherished Queen of Qing."
Jiang Peihuan trembled with anger. This bastard…
He bent down, icily lifting her chin, and whispered in her ear.
"Also, Meng Yi is under my command."
Jiang Peihuan's tearful eyes widened in shock. When her father had been falsely accused of treason, she had suspected there was a traitor. So it was Meng Yi all along!
She shivered, finding it hard to believe as she looked at this man she had admired for years.
Unsatisfied with her reaction, Xiao Junhao nonchalantly recounted how her siblings had met their tragic ends one by one.
"Your younger brother fought valiantly through the enemy lines. But I ordered the city gates closed, exhausting his final strength. In the end, he was impaled by numerous spears on the city gate, his eyes open even in death."
"Your sisters were sent to my army's camp, forced to entertain my soldiers day after day until their bodies couldn't bear it any longer."
Jiang Peihuan's eyes blazed with fury. She thrust her sword with all her might, determined to pierce the heart of this heartless monster!
She vowed to avenge her family – the Jiang family!
However, Xiao Junhao simply laughed. He reversed her wrist, neutralizing her strength. Then, with a swift motion, her sword clattered to the ground
He was skilled in martial arts!
From the beginning, he had been deceiving and exploiting her!
"Enough. Take her down and reward my soldiers," Xiao Junhao said, looking at her as if she were an insignificant insect.
"Xiao Junhao! You're a monster!" Jiang Peihuan gritted her teeth, her eyes turning blood-red. Even in death, she would never let this monster have his way!
With a resounding thud, the last daughter of the Jiang family, the renowned General Jiang, stabbed herself in the stomach with a sword, thus meeting her tragic end.
Emerging from her memories, Jiang Peihuan's body spasmed with pain for a few moments. Her face hardened as her eyes filled with immense hatred for Xiao Junhao.
This monster!
Her face turned cold, and her eyes were filled with boundless hatred.
"Miss, are you alright?" Yue Er put down the bowl of medicine she was holding and rushed to Jiang Peihuan's side.
Jiang Peihuan looked at Yue Er, the most loyal girl who had served her since childhood. Yue Er deserved a happy marriage and a peaceful life, but fate had been cruel to her.
On the day Jiang Peihuan married Xiao Junhao, Yue Er overheard a secret conversation and tried to warn her. But Xiao Junhao's men caught her and subjected her to brutal torture before burying her alive in the snow.
And then there was Cui Er. While Jiang Peihuan was on the battlefield, Xiao Junhao had given her away to a depraved old man, and she never returned.
All of this was Xiao Junhao's doing.
Even in her final moments, he had spoken to her in the same gentle tone that had once enamored her, making her despise him all the more.
Jiang Peihuan was lost in her memories, feeling her body gradually turn cold from the inside out, freezing her to the bone. She could barely move, fearing that even the slightest movement would cause her bones to shatter like glass.
After a long while, she regained consciousness and forced herself to stand up.
Just then, Cui Er walked in and saw how tired Jiang Peihuan looked.
She couldn't help but complain, "It's all because of that second daughter from the Yan family. Inviting you to go fishing in the middle of winter, she almost let you get hooked by a fish."
Fishing? The second daughter of the Yan family?
Jiang Peihuan's muddled mind finally began to clear up.
Isn't today December 12th?"
As she was thinking this, a maid rushed into the courtyard in panic, shouting, "Something terrible has happened! The Prince of Huainan is here to call off the wedding, no, to change the bride!"