Elegy for the Ashes of Spring

[Spring’s embers cannot extinguish the will to rule the realm; with no snow on the crabapples, I entrust the rest of my life to their bloom]

Xue Shu, the jewel of the Xue household, was bright as the moon and clever as crystal.

Xiao Guanqi, Crown Prince of the Qing Kingdom, was noble and magnanimous, with the whole realm in his heart. Yet he bore the prophecy of being “born to rule” and the cruel fate that “great wisdom brings great sorrow.”

An imperial decree of marriage cut through their love like a cold blade. She was forced to marry a concubine-born son of a general’s household and trapped in a cage. Meanwhile, he trod carefully amid court power struggles and an emperor’s suspicions.

When war broke out across the four kingdoms and the barbarian cavalry battered the frontier passes, they entered the game together, joined forces to battle corrupt ministers, quell rebellions, and repel foreign invaders.

But fate was a blade. As snow fell thick and fast, he died smiling in her arms, never living to see the spring crabapples he had promised her.

“Don’t cry… See the crabapples in full spring bloom… for me…” He kissed her palm, leaving behind one last trace of warmth.

His final edict, red as blood, seared across the land:

“I entrust the realm to Xue Shu. May every year bring you peace in spring.”

From then on, Xue Shu, a noblewoman of a great clan, walked forward bearing her beloved’s sacrifice and unfulfilled wishes. Sword in hand and armor on her shoulders, she ascended to the highest heavens, clad in dark robes and a phoenix crown, and ruled the vast realm forged from love, bone, and blood.

At last, the crabapples bloomed within the palace walls, blazing brightly over a new chapter for the realm. But there was no one left to share with her the springtime of their youth beneath that tree.

It turned out the most painful rebirth was to burn away infatuation, resentment, love, and hate, then keep an old vow that would never see spring again, alone at the world’s summit.