Volume One, Chapter One: Three Years After the Marriage Alliance

On the eighth day of the eleventh month, amid the bitter cold and boundless snow of the northern lands, the Kingdom of Jin fell in total ruin.

Song Jiayin would never forget this day for as long as she lived. She, along with countless servants and prisoners of war, was penned inside a dilapidated sheepfold. The biting wind howled, leaving them in utter dread of what the future held.

All around her, the wailing of children, the desperate cries of adults, pleas for mercy, and bitter curses intertwined, piercing her heart with every sound.

She curled up in a corner, hugging her frail frame tightly in a futile attempt to ward off the biting cold. Still, she trembled violently, her joints aching as though sliced by blades. In that moment, death seemed to be her only escape.

Suddenly, a gruff shout echoed from outside the pen. "Who is Yunnu? Get out here! An honored guest from the Great Zhou has arrived!"

Song Jiayin looked up blankly at the fierce guard, her mind an absolute void.

Great Zhou? An honored guest? Did anyone still remember her, the former princess of the Great Zhou Empire?

She had once been the prized jewel of the Great Zhou, showered with boundless affection. But three years ago, a man claiming to be her biological father had suddenly appeared. He claimed he had missed her terribly and could no longer bear to deceive the Emperor, coming forward to claim his flesh and blood.

In an instant, she was branded a bastard, the product of an illicit affair between the Noble Consort and an imperial guard.

The Emperor was consumed by shock and fury, and everyone who had once loved her began to turn away in doubt.

Consort Li seized the opportunity to rise to Noble Consort, her daughter Song Yueyi became the Eldest Princess, while Jiayin was stripped of her title, reduced to a mere laughingstock for the public to mock over tea.

Empress Zhou had once gently assured her that even without her title, she would always remain the beloved daughter of her Imperial Father and Mother.

Yet fate refused to show her mercy.

Not long after, the Great Zhou was defeated in its war against the Jin Kingdom. The victors demanded a princess to be sent for a political marriage.

At this critical juncture, Song Yueyi volunteered to go, earning the praise and admiration of the court.

However, her Eldest Imperial Brother proposed to restore Jiayin's status as a princess, solely so she could take Song Yueyi's place.

In that moment, her heart shattered. She lost everything she had ever known—her family, her status, and her dignity.

"Are you deaf?" the guard barked impatiently, dragging her roughly out of the pen.

She collapsed onto the ground, slush and mud staining her tattered robes. Her past nobility and glory had vanished like smoke.

Struggling to look up, she saw a pair of black boots and a familiar face.

The sight of that face sent a sharp pang through her chest.

Like a piece of discarded trash, she lay helpless on the ground, staring at the man who was once so familiar yet now so foreign. Only an endless, hollow sorrow remained.

It was Song Jing—her former Eldest Imperial Brother.

He was the brother who had once doted on her above all others, the son of Empress Zhou.

This was the brother who had once risked his life to drive off wild beasts for her sake, who had taken the blame for her childhood mischief, and who had spoken out in her defense whenever Empress Zhou showed favoritism. Yet, he was also the one who, for Song Yueyi's sake, had forced her to come to Jin for the political marriage.

She had not expected that even after three years, she would still be unable to let go, her entire being consumed by a profound sense of grievance and resentment.

Her eyes downcast, Song Jiayin endured the freezing slush and struggled to push herself up. She performed a flawless Great Zhou prostration, her voice flat and distant. "Yunnu pays her respects to the First Prince of the Great Zhou. May Your Highness live for ten thousand years."

Song Jing stared in astonishment at the girl kneeling before him. For fifteen years, she had called him her brother. Yet now, she did not weep or complain of her suffering. She did not beg him to take her away, nor did she cling to his arm with spoiled grievances.

Over the past three years, not a single word from her had reached home. She had never replied to any of his letters, vanishing into the Jin Kingdom as if she had ceased to exist.

Now, she was as cold and distant as a stranger, kneeling at his feet.

She had once been the Grand Princess of the Great Zhou, a noble lady who had called him her brother for fifteen years.

To see her reduced to this was beyond anything he could have imagined.

She had come here for a state marriage. At the very least, she should have been an imperial consort. Why was she living among slaves and livestock?

After searching so desperately to find her, he was met with this scene of utter destitution.

For a long while, Song Jing stood speechless. His fists clenched tightly behind his back, but his face remained an emotionless mask as he stared down at her.

Song Jiayin remained kneeling, her knees sinking into the freezing snow. Though a piercing ache shot through her joints, she bore it in silence.

Finally, Song Jing spoke. "The Empress Dowager misses you, and Father and Mother have constantly worried about you. They ordered me to find you. The Jin Kingdom is no more. You no longer have to stay here."

He reached out to help her up, but Jiayin ignored his hand entirely.

Stifling his frustration, Song Jing withdrew his hand awkwardly, his voice dropping a few degrees in warmth. "Return to the capital with me. You probably do not know yet, but the Great Zhou has won the war. The capital has been relocated to Nanjing."

The word "return" sent a sudden wave of bitterness through her chest.

Return... Could she truly go back?

For three years, not a single day had passed without her yearning to return to her homeland.

When she first arrived in Jin, she had foolishly believed she would be rescued soon.

But day after day of waiting yielded only pain and despair, until finally, even the will to live had withered away.

She had never expected the Jin Kingdom to fall, much less that he would find her in a filthy sheepfold.

Jiayin bowed her head to the frozen earth once more, kowtowing deeply. "This servant thanks Your Highness for your benevolence. This servant thanks the Empress Dowager, His Majesty, and Empress Zhou for their immense grace... Long live His Majesty, and may Empress Zhou live for ten thousand years."

Her words were filled with gratitude, her posture exceedingly humble, yet the cold detachment behind them was suffocating, stirring a sharp irritation in his chest.

Annoyed, Song Jing knit his brows. "What nonsense is this? Why do you call yourself a servant? You are a princess sent for a state marriage. How can you demean yourself so?"

The pampered girl he had grown up with, a daughter of heaven reared in the luxury of the Great Zhou palace, was now calling herself a slave.

Hearing his words, Jiayin could only offer a silent, self-deprecating smile.

Did he truly think she chose to demean yourself?

In this northern land, the winters were long and brutal, and the warm days fleeting. Thrown among the lowest slaves, unable to speak their tongue, she was subjected to constant beatings and abuse. Herding sheep, tending horses, and washing clothes in ice-cold water in the dead of winter—such grueling labor had become her daily routine.

Tormented by hunger and freezing cold, she had to wake in the dead of night to work. She had endured this existence for three whole years.

Her identity as a princess and her past nobility had evaporated into nothingness. Jiayin kept her eyes lowered, kneeling in the snow with her lips pressed tight, refusing to utter another word to the man before her.

Seeing his sister in such a state only fueled the irritation in Song Jing's chest. He commanded sharply, "Get up this instant and follow me to Nanjing!" Without waiting for a response, he turned and strode away, completely ignoring her painful struggles behind him.

Slowly, Jiayin pushed herself up. Her gaze swept across the people and livestock in the pen, as if searching for something, but she was quickly disappointed. She dragged herself forward, struggling to keep pace with Song Jing, each step an agonizing ordeal.

She panted heavily as she walked, her legs feeling as heavy as lead. After an unknown distance, she bent over, resting her hands on her knees as she gasped for air.

When she looked up, she saw that Song Jing had stopped. He was staring back at her coldly, his face written with disgust, as if he might strike her at any moment.

Jiayin forced herself upright once more, and Song Jing instantly turned and quickened his pace.

How could he possibly understand? Over the last three years in Jin, she had suffered endless degradation without so much as a warm coat to protect her. Her knees were ruined by chronic ailment from the cold, making every step a torturous effort.

By the time she finally reached the carriage, her legs were shaking uncontrollably. Clinging to the side of the carriage, she was on the verge of collapsing. Song Jing stood waiting by the steps, but she made no move to climb in.

Song Jing's personal guard urged, "Princess, please board the carriage. We must not delay our departure."

Jiayin looked at the carriage, then down at her aching, powerless legs. She let out a helpless sigh. "In this wretched state, how could Yunnu possibly be worthy of riding in a noble's carriage?"

Hearing this, Song Jing raised his hand in anger. Jiayin shrank back and shielded her head. Over the past three years, she had received far too many beatings; both her body and mind had long since gone numb.

Song Jing clenched and unclenched his fists, his voice shaking with anger. "What do you want from me? Where did all the grace and dignity taught to you by Father, Mother, and Grandmother go? How could you let yourself become like this? You are an absolute disgrace to the imperial family!"

Jiayin kept her head shielded, too consumed by pain and cold to offer any reply.

"Or are you playing the victim to punish me?" Song Jing pressed on. "Do you still resent having to enter the political marriage for the Great Zhou? You must remember that you came here bearing the title of a princess! Yet look at you now. Yueyue has never spoken a single ill word against you, nor has she ever complained about you usurping her identity and status."

"Since you refuse to share a carriage with me, then go ahead and walk to Nanjing with the other slaves! Take this opportunity to reflect on your attitude. But mark my words: if you fail to reach Nanjing within five days, do not expect to ever see Grandmother, Father, or Mother again. If that happens, you can wait to be sold off in the slave market!"

With a cold snort, Song Jing boarded his carriage and barked, "Move out!" No one dared to disobey the command of the First Prince of the Great Zhou.

Jiayin was abandoned in the snow once more. Lying prone on the frozen ground, her eyes filled with fear and despair.

The long procession gradually dwindled into the distance.

Just as Jiayin thought she had been left entirely alone, another carriage approached, accompanied by only a handful of attendants.

A figure stepped down from the carriage, clad in a luxurious black brocade robe and boots embroidered with golden pythons. A mocking drawl drifted from his lips: "Well, I wondered who it was. If it isn't the imperial sister who once insisted on competing with me?"