The masked man leaped from one bamboo peak to the next, his hand a firm band around Princess Yi Lin's waist. The shouts of the pursuing guards dissolved into the wind, and soon faded completely and only the soft rustling of bamboo leaves remained.
They reached the forest's edge, where the towering bamboos surrendered to the open fields. The masked man descended from the lush canopy, alighting gently upon the earth. He released his hold on Princess Yi Lin's waist, and she stepped back a few steps. Her fingers reached into her hair, drawing forth a golden hairpin. With a trembling hand she aimed it at him.
Through the narrow slits of his mask, his eyes met hers with a penetrating gaze. "Oh, how I yearn to escape this marriage, to forge my own destiny, to marry for love!" he exclaimed.
"Wh-where did you hear that?" Princess Yi Lin asked.
"At night, when I am at the capital," he replied," the abandoned temple is my sanctuary. No one is allowed to come and disturb my peace. But three nights ago as I slept upon the rafters, Your Highness' sobs startled me awake. I was on the verge of descending to give you a good whipping, but such profound sadness clung to your voice that tears welled in my own eyes. And I thought, 'To whip this beautiful maiden would be a sin against the heavens.' So, I resolved to helping you escape this unwanted marriage.' His gaze flickered to the hairpin clutched tightly in Yi Lin's hand. "Yet instead of Your Highness expressing gratitude, you now wish to kill me."
Yi Lin glanced at the hairpin, then back at him. "Who are you?"
"I have been called many names," he replied. "My senior brother, for instance, considers me a spoiled brat and if given the opportunity he would kill me without a second thought. But I believe that is of no importance to Your Highness. What matters is that Your Highness is free now. You can escape to wherever you wish and live your life."
"Escape?" Yi Lin echoed. "I only wished for this marriage to be dissolved. I had no desire to escape."
He frowned. "But in your pleas you said you wanted to escape."
"You misunderstood," Yi Lin said. "Escape, in my words, referred not to fleeing, but to being released from this betrothal."
He sighed. "Then Your Highness should have been more specific. Now I have wasted precious time whisking you away from the wedding procession instead of riding to Shizhou and slitting that Prefecture Prince Huang's throat."
Yi Lin gasped. "What?"
"Killing the groom is the swiftest ways to dissolve a marriage," he said. "Or does Your Highness have another plan in mind?"
Yi Lin stared at him. How—how could he speak of killing so lightly. Who was he? Did Prefecture Prince Huang send him to test her? Or was he, in fact, the Prefecture Prince himself?
He gasped. "Your Highness, you—you are so young and beautiful, why would you want to hang yourself?"
"Huh?"
"You clearly do not wish to marry this Prefecture Prince Huang. You seemed startled when I mentioned killing him, that could only mean that Your Highness—you, Aiya!" He leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "Speak, when were you planing to do it?"
Yi Lin shook her head. "I—I was not."
"Do not try to deny it," he said. "You most likely intend to reach Shizhou and then swing yourself from a beam in the bridal chamber. Most maidens do that to escape loathsome marriages. But I won't let your Highness—." He paused, his eyes turning toward the horizon.
Yi Lin heard it too—a distant, rhythmic pounding. She turned her gaze, and there upon the crest of a hill blanketed in wildflowers, she saw them—a group of armed riders, their steeds thundering towards her and her masked captor.