Volume One, Chapter 1: The Prince Has Taken a Fancy to Her

In the imperial capital, the streets were crowded with peddlers and hawkers, their cries rising and falling without end, each buying and selling in orderly bustle.

But the sudden intrusion of a group of men shattered the street’s harmony at once.

In the heat of midsummer, dozens of tall men strode down the road wrapped in animal hides, fierce and swaggering, sending children fleeing in all directions.

“Hand over the silk! Your granddaddy’s fists are no ornaments!” shouted the leader, scowling like a demon as he brandished his fist to frighten people.

The young peddler stared at the tiger skin in front of him, still dripping blood, and trembled all over.

“Mercy, noble sir. This humble one begs you spare me. In the capital, in the capital, there has never been any custom of barter.”

“Spare me your damned nonsense! That’s how it is on the grasslands. Are you trading or not?” The man was broad-backed and broad-shouldered, his voice rough and booming.

The peddler was too young after all, and the sound terrified him into a heap on the ground. Soon, a pool of yellow liquid spread from beneath him.

“Damn it all! Look at the cowardly state of these Central Plains rats. Useless!” With that, the man kicked over the stall, and brocade and fine silk spilled across the street.

A lean man in white behind him hurried to stop him.

“General, you must not act rashly. This month alone, you have already beaten three Central Plains men to death. If the Khan learns of it, he will surely send you back out of the Central Plains.”

“Then send me back! These Central Plains people are all as scrawny as monkeys. Nothing worth the trouble!”

The group swaggered off.

The small traders along the street all let out a breath of relief.

“Who knows whether the emperor’s choice to trade with these ‘barbarians’ is a blessing or a curse,” said an old man who had witnessed the whole scene, stroking his beard.

“A curse, naturally. Those grassland people are all savage and unreasonable. Calling them barbarians is perfectly fitting.”

The cries of the hawkers resumed as before, but were soon drowned out by a new sound.

From afar, a mass of red wedding robes had been thrown out from the Marquis of Dingyuan’s residence.

Looking more closely, one could see a slender, delicate young woman wrapped within that scarlet bridal gown.

At once, the petty merchants within ten li fled far from her as if avoiding plague.

“This is the calamity star the Imperial Astronomical Bureau spoke of, the one who will bring ruin upon all our Central Plains. Even glancing at her feels unbearably unlucky.”

Scornful laughter rose all around her. Li Lan forced herself to stand despite the pain wracking her body.

The matron had beaten her through the entire night before. Blood hung at the corner of her mouth, and bright red droplets mingled with the red of her wedding dress, making the sight rather horrifying.

After last night, her whole life had been ruined.

For the sake of strengthening its position at court, the Marquis of Dingyuan’s household had selected her from birth to be raised as the future crown princess.

While other noble ladies in the capital feasted on rare delicacies, she was strictly limited in her meals, all to keep her figure trim and pleasing.

While other noble ladies watched plays and read storybooks, her daily task was to memorize the crown prince’s preferences by heart.

While other noble ladies admired flowers and composed poetry, she was learning the arts of the bedchamber.

She had not been a proper young lady of high society, but rather an extremely useful chess piece.

For seventeen years, the matron had trained her well, teaching her a singular mastery in ensnaring men.

The crown prince was very fond of her.

On the day she received the imperial edict naming her crown princess, she had finally breathed a huge sigh of relief.

But on the wedding night, a single sentence from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau reduced all the grievance and harsh treatment she had endured over the years to ashes.

A red bridal gown had been sent into the crown prince’s residence, and an intact red bridal gown had been sent back out.

She had become a completely useless chess piece.

All the matron’s years of effort had been wasted.

The Marquis of Dingyuan’s household declared that it could not afford such disgrace, and regardless of years of familial ties, they drove her out.

Li Lan limped along the street, and the people around her swiftly gave her a wide berth.

She gave a bitter smile.

Let her die, then. Death would be for the best.

The river ran swift. Li Lan removed her hairpins and ornaments and, without the least hesitation, threw herself in.

She was a calamity star; her death would be what everyone wished for.

She could almost imagine how, tomorrow, the people of the capital would speak of her demise over tea, and how delighted they would be by it.

The water was icy cold, and soon it stole away her breath.

On the vast grasslands, the mighty ruler of the steppe returned in triumph with the chiefs of the various tribes.

Today, they had ridden into the forests and hunted down dozens of fierce wild tigers.

“The Khan is truly valiant. Of all those dozens of tigers, fully half fell to his arrows,” one man praised.

“Of course. In just four years, the Khan united the seven tribes of the grasslands; his ability naturally surpasses ours, to say nothing of these mere wild tigers.”

Their horses raced across the steppe bearing the spoils of the hunt.

The man called the Khan was in excellent spirits.

He gave a whistle with two fingers, and at the sound a giant falcon soared across the sky and landed steadily upon his shoulder.

With a casual toss, the man flung a wild chicken into the air. The falcon caught it cleanly and ate with great relish.

“Khan, there seems to be movement in the woods.”

“Go and see,” the man said, tightening his reins and riding straight into the forest.

“Khan, it’s a woman. It looks as if she was swept here by the river.”

At that, Kedash dismounted and approached step by step.

The man’s tall and powerful build made the slender woman before him seem even smaller, like a lion confronting a helpless rabbit, the difference in size immense.

Li Lan coughed violently after swallowing a mouthful of water. The instant she opened her eyes, the scene before her terrified her so much that her whole body began to shake.

More than ten burly men, beastlike in stature, surrounded her, and the strongest and most imposing man stood closest of all.

Those enormous hands looked as though they could crush her throat with the lightest squeeze.

A wolf’s howl suddenly rose from the distance.

Li Lan shrank beneath a tree, trembling all over.

She had been swept along by the river for a day and a night and still had not died.

The red wedding robe was nowhere to be seen; only a tattered white inner garment remained, barely covering her body.

It was dusk. Night would soon dye the entire forest black, yet within the silence there was something strangely ominous.

In the distance, one pair after another of faint green glimmers shone in the dark. If she guessed correctly, they were a pack of wolves.

And they were drawing closer step by step.

A wolf ahead, a tiger behind.

Li Lan did want to die, but she did not want to be humiliated to death by these barbarians, nor torn apart by a pack of wolves.

The wolves came nearer and nearer. The alpha, hungry for some time, drooled with excitement.

Li Lan turned to run, but a rough hand clamped around her face.

With the wolves closing in, the man remained utterly unruffled. Instead, he studied her features carefully, as though inspecting a valuable object.

“Big breasts, curvy hips. I want her. Take her away.”

He left those words behind, then swung himself back onto his horse.

At the same time, a sharp arrow flew from horseback and struck true into the alpha wolf’s green eye.

After a howl of agony, the pack withdrew.

Li Lan’s face stung where it had been squeezed. She had never heard such coarse speech.

These grassland people truly lacked all refinement. Brutal and barbaric.

And yet, in such a dim forest, this grassland man had been able to shoot the alpha wolf dead with a single arrow. Clearly, he was no ordinary person.

Li Lan shuddered.

The man rode off first, leaving behind a few attendants who exchanged glances and looked at Li Lan as though she were a harbinger of disaster.

“The Khan has brought a woman back. She’s sure to anger Her again. Our grasslands will not know peace.”

Everyone let out a long sigh.