At the Golden Banquet when she was eight, she raised her silver spear and ripped open his bloodstained clothes. Blood spattered her moon-white dress. "You dare lay a hand on someone from the Gu residence?"
Behind a corridor pillar, as she bandaged him, her fingertips covered the cinnabar mole in his palm. After his mother's clan was wiped out, he was being "protected" for the first time.
On a spring day when they were twelve, he taught her the Book of Odes. Ink blurred across the words "Now that I've seen my gentleman." She picked up the royal note he had dropped and tucked it into a sachet with a smile. "Brother Yanzhou, your ears are as red as cinnabar."
On a summer night when they were fourteen, she threatened him with her soft sword, its tassel brushing his throat. He suddenly turned to shield her, letting wisteria flowers rain down on him. "I said I'd protect you."
On a snowy night when they were sixteen, he won a kiss in a bet and lightly touched his lips to her forehead. She smiled and wiped away her tears, never seeing his clenched fist. The faint red birthmark in his palm was identical to the mark on the wanted poster for the Crown Prince of Dachao.
Amid the beacon fires at Yujing Pass, she pointed her sword at his heart. "Tell me! Are you..."
He closed his eyes and waited to die, but her sword veered aside. Her eyes reddened. "I believe you!"
[Bonus Scene]
While she was doing her makeup, a wolf-hair brush slipped and scratched beneath her eye. She dipped her finger in blood and painted a peach blossom. "Pretty."
Her fingertip brushed the cinnabar mark in his palm. "This 'mole' looks just like the cinnabar I used to fake my death."
He grabbed her hand, ears burning. "...Don't tease me."
His identity was exposed. "Gu Zhaoning," he said, resting his forehead against hers. The cinnabar in his palm reflected the peach blossom on her cheek. "I want both my country and you."
"All right," she said, rising on her toes to kiss the corner of his lips. "Then let Dachao's snow and Dasheng's wind become part of the same painting."
Note: This novel is adapted from my tragic love story. This version has a happy ending!
