[Both leads reborn, mutual suicide in their past life | Names branded in flesh | Overwhelming political schemes | Sweet HE from start to finish]
In their previous life, snowstorms raged across the northern frontier.
Qi Jin carried the slain Xiao Heng on his back, walking for three days and three nights through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
He buried him on a snowy ridge, then took his own life before the grave. For the rest of his life, all he had left to say was, "Your subordinate will carry you home."
Reborn, Xiao Heng returned to the age of nineteen.
The first thing he did upon opening his eyes was not seize power or seek revenge. He ran straight to the execution grounds.
Before everyone, he stopped an unknown shadow guard who was about to be sentenced to death, drugged into silence, and left disabled.
Everyone laughed at the Prince of Dingbei for being mad, doting on a useless shadow guard.
Only the two of them knew that each was an obsession carved into the other's very bones and blood.
He taught him to write, and they shared a bed;
They branded each other's names into their skin, their flesh and blood as proof that they would never change in this life.
He was the forgotten last survivor of the Xie family, carrying the vengeance of his murdered clan;
He was the Prince of Dingbei, powerful enough to sway the court, willing to give up the world for his safety.
They carved words over their hearts and wrested blades away from hands poised to die by suicide, sharing one another's every agony;
They set the court back in order, crushed the princes, and offered the tiger tally as betrothal gift and the realm as their matchmaker.
In my previous life, I gave my life for you.
In this life, I brand you into my bones, protect you from all worry year after year, and promise you a place at my side for life.
At last the snowstorm passed, and the ashes and bones became one.
This time, the prince would carry him home.
