MTLNOVEL Chapter 181: I Survived
The gates of the Capital City of Baiguang opened with the groan of frost-stiffened iron.
Snow had not yet fallen, but the northern winds were merciless, scraping across the stones like a blade too dull to slice but sharp enough to flay. The guards who saw the approaching figure said nothing at first, stunned into silence.
The Crown Princess of Baiguang, Bai Yuyan, didn't walk.
She staggared forward, barely catching herself before falling at the guard's feet.
Her once-silken robes were in tatters, hanging off her bones like the remnants of a dream long soured. Her feet were bare, bloodied. One side of her face was swollen, her left eye a crusted, ruined mess of color. But the other eye—the one that still opened—was bright with purpose.
The Baiguang soldiers rushed forward.
"Your Highness—!"
She collapsed just inside the gate, snow-dusted hair trailing behind her like a shroud. Her lips moved before her body hit the stone.
"He tried to break me," she whispered. "But he couldn't."
-----
In the Healer's Wing
The Crown Prince of Baiguang, Prince Li Xuejian, arrived before the physicians had finished cutting away the ruined layers of Yuyan's clothing.
His robes were dark, trimmed in cobalt blue, and his expression made the lantern flames flicker away from him like even the fire knew to keep its distance. The physician bowed low.
"She is... broken in many places," the man said quietly. "But not there. Not in the way we feared."
Li Xuejian said nothing, simply stared down at his wife like he was looking at a completely different creature than what he knew.
The physician swallowed. "She has been starved. Beaten. Burned in places. But she is still... intact."
The word hung heavy in the air.
Bai Yuyan's unbruised eye fluttered open, catching just enough candlelight to make her tears shimmer.
"I saved myself," she said, her voice shaking like it was made of glass. "He tried. But I... I wouldn't let him. I fought him with everything I had until someone helped me escape."
Crown Prince Xuejian stepped forward, still not saying a word.
Yuyan's lips trembled even more as tears gathered in her eyes. "I was his prisoner. His toy. I thought he would take everything from me. But I bit him. I fought. I told him I belonged to you. That I was already yours and that he could never have my heart. I told him that no matter what he did, I'd die before letting him have what he wanted. I'd die before I let him touch me."
She reached out with one shaking hand. "You believe me... don't you?"
Li Xuejian's jaw clenched, his eyes trailing over her wounds and dried blood. Then he reached out and took her hand.
"Of course I believe you," he finally said, dropping to one knee so that he was at eye level with her. "You know that you are the only person in this world that I believe. Now, tell me everything. What Daiyu did to you must be avenged."
After getting the full story, Li Xuejian rose to his feet and flicked the sleeves of his robes in irritation. "Summon the ministers, we are convening right now," he snarled before stalking out of the room and away from the healer's wing.
His shadow guard saluted him and sent out the message.
The ministers didn't need prompting.
Within hours, word spread like wildfire through the capital: Princess Yuyan had returned, tortured by Daiyu's Crown Prince, discarded like a rag after refusing his advances. Rumors whispered of chains and cold rooms. Of a madman's obsession. Of a woman too proud to bow, even when broken.
The Baiguang nobility rose to its feet.
In private halls and military compounds, in libraries and tea pavilions, anger bloomed like a bloodstain across parchment.
"What message does Daiyu send us," one general snapped, "when they lay hands on our Crown Princess?"
"She was promised to us!" another cried. "That dog Zhu Mingyu seeks to humiliate our court—our bloodlines—by turning her into a toy for his court!"
"But he didn't succeed," said a soft voice near the door.
Li Xuejian entered the room, his eyes as dark as ink. "She resisted him. For us."
The room quieted.
"I've received word that he's begun executing nobles," Xuejian continued. "His court runs red while his Crown Princess bathes in blood."
One of the elder advisors stiffened. "So what would Your Highness suggest?"
The Crown Prince's voice was calm. Deadly. "I suggest we give him a reason to bleed more."
Back in Yuyan's chambers, the room was warmer now.
Yuyan lay curled under layers of silk, bruised and still pale, but very much awake. A tray of soft food had been set beside her untouched, and a series of balms lay open near the bed. A single oil lamp burned low on the windowsill.
She looked toward the corner of the room.
"I know you're there," she said quietly.
An older maid stepped forward—an agent of Baiguang's inner court. Her robes were plain, and her hair streaked with gray. "He believes you."
Yuyan gave a faint, bloodless smile. "Of course he does."
"You're lucky he didn't ask for proof."
Yuyan didn't flinch. "He did. The physician swore to it."
"And when he finds out you were the one who set that trap in the first place? When he learns Mingyu's wrath was not madness, but justice?"
Yuyan's smile widened, sharp as shattered glass. "Then I'll already be his wife. And Baiguang's war will already be burning through Daiyu's borders."
She turned her face into the pillow. "Let him avenge me. Let him think he's protecting something pure."
A pause.
Then a whisper, "It's the only way I'll ever be queen."
------
In the dead of night, a single carrier pigeon flew from Baiguang's capital with a scrap of paper tied tight to its leg. It was addressed to a name whispered only in back alleys and war camps:
Yan Luo.
The message was short:
"Daiyu has betrayed everything that it has set out to do. The Crown Prince has tried to ruin our Princess, but he will not succeed. We want information, and we are willing to pay whatever it takes to get it. Bai Yuyan will be avenged, and Daiyu will fall."