Yun Chuheng was born with a cold poison in her body. The imperial physicians said she wouldn't live past seventeen.
The emperor and empress issued an edict ordering the dreaded Xuanyuan Lin to escort her to the Heavenly Mountain in search of a cure.
He thought she was a nuisance, and she was intimidated by his presence. They barely spoke along the way.
Later, he took an arrow for her, picked ginger for her, held her hand and channeled energy to warm her when the cold poison flared up, and kept watch over her all night. He told himself he was only doing his duty.
It wasn't until another man got close to her and he bristled with icy anger that he belatedly realized he might have fallen for her.
When they returned, he rushed into the palace, still covered in the dust of the road, and knelt before the emperor and empress. “I am willing to trade half a lifetime's worth of military service for this marriage decree.”
