The Day He Was Crowned Emperor, I Died in the Snow

Xiao Yu, you said my life belonged to you.

But when an arrow pierced my chest, you only watched coldly, letting my blood stain the hem of your robe.

For ten years, I became the sharpest blade in your hand, and the darkest shadow at your bedside.

You slaughtered my entire family, sparing only me. You said the Shen family owed you, and I would have to spend my whole life repaying the debt.

I believed you. I risked my life for you, earning twenty-seven scars. Each time, all you gave me in return was the same icy warning: “Don’t die. You haven’t paid your debt.”

Until enemy cavalry reached the border. With a careless “marriage alliance,” you discarded me like an old possession and sent me into another man’s bedchamber.

“Shen Wei,” you said, your voice as cold as frost. “This is the last value you have to offer.”

The night I died, red candles burned through the night across Chang’an. It was the very moment you ascended the throne and ruled the realm.

Afterward, the new emperor went mad.

He led his army into battle, his iron hooves crushing three thousand miles of the enemy kingdom’s land to dust. Corpses piled into mountains, all so he could find one ice coffin.

Inside, I lay in a blood-red wedding dress, my face still lifelike, a relieved smile frozen on my lips.

Only when he held my long-cold body did he understand the final words I had left behind:

“Your Highness, this time I’ll use my life to atone for my own sins.”

If there truly is another life, I beg you: don’t save me again.