I was to be executed by Zhu Yuanzhang, and Empress Ma smashed Zhu Yuanzhang's jade seal.

These resounding vows echoed before the empty palace gates, causing the surrounding palace maids and eunuchs to turn pale with fright and fall silent.

How dare a young lady from a prominent family, still unmarried, utter such shocking words!

Chang was so shocked by her words that she couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

Looking at the woman kneeling before her, seemingly frail but actually fiercely independent, she felt a surge of inexplicable emotion, besides heartache…

envious.

As a woman herself, how could she not wish that her husband could also receive such a love that transcends life and death, and disregards everything?

But she was the Crown Princess, and her first priority was the Crown Prince, the heir apparent, and the fate of the Ming Dynasty.

She couldn't love as purely and unconditionally as Xu Miaoyun.

"Sister-in-law,"

Xu Miaoyun's voice rang out again, her tone eerily calm: "I've come today to say goodbye."

"Farewell?"

Mrs. Chang was taken aback. "Where are you going?"

"Go where I'm supposed to go."

A faint, yet poignant smile appeared on Xu Miaoyun's lips. "He's all alone on the road to the underworld. I'll go and keep him company."

"You...you're insane!"

Chang finally understood her intention, and in fright, grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently, "How could you have such thoughts! You're so young, your life has just begun! You can't do anything foolish!"

"Sister-in-law, you don't understand."

Xu Miaoyun let her be shaken, but her eyes remained firm. "Without him, my life would have ended long ago."

"I put on this mourning clothes today and I have no intention of taking them off."

"I've come to see you to ask you for a favor."

She took out something carefully wrapped in a silk handkerchief from her bosom and handed it to Madam Chang.

"This is...this is what he gave me back in the northern desert. He said it was a 'wolf heart stone' that he seized from the Khan of the Northern Yuan, and it could protect him and bring him peace."

With trembling hands, Madam Chang opened the silk handkerchief.

It was a strangely shaped, blood-red stone that emitted an eerie glow in the sunlight.

"Sister-in-law, after I die, please place this stone with my ashes. Then, find a way to send it to his side."

"In life, we cannot share a bed. In death, we only ask to share a grave."

"Sister-in-law, this is Miaoyun's last request to you. Please, you must grant it!"

After saying this, she kowtowed deeply to Madam Chang.

The sound of his forehead striking the cold bluestone slab was dull and desperate.

Chang could no longer hold back. She covered her mouth, squatted down, and hugged her, crying bitterly.

"Silly sister, you're so silly..."

"How could you be so foolish..."

The entire Eastern Palace was enveloped in this desperate and suppressed cry.

The sunshine is so lovely.

But when the light shone on them, they felt no warmth at all.

The sound of weeping echoed in the oppressive Eastern Palace.

Chang held Xu Miaoyun tightly, feeling her body trembling slightly from excessive grief, and her heart ached.

She cried as she tried to persuade him.

"Miaoyun, listen to me! Things haven't reached the final stage yet, we can't give up! The Crown Prince is still working hard for Fifth Brother, and Mother... Mother will definitely not stand idly by! You can't give up so soon!"

However, Xu Miaoyun simply leaned against her and gently shook her head.

Her tears had all dried up.

Those beautiful phoenix eyes regained their empty, lifeless look.

"Sister-in-law, it's no use."

Her voice was as light as a breeze, as if it could vanish at any moment.

"You don't understand...you don't understand that person."

"You don't understand what kind of person my husband really is."

Upon hearing this, Madam Chang paused slightly, then stopped crying.

Looking at the heartbroken woman in her arms, she asked in bewilderment, "Sister, what do you mean by this?"

Xu Miaoyun slowly straightened up from her embrace.

She hastily wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve, her gaze drifting towards the distant north.

That gaze pierced through the towering palace walls, through the prosperity of Yingtian Prefecture, and finally reached the vast, boundless, snow-covered northern grasslands.

"Sister-in-law, what kind of person is he in all of your eyes?"

Instead of answering Chang's question, she asked one herself.

After thinking for a moment, Madam Chang said, "Fifth Brother... is wise and brave, with outstanding military achievements. He is the God of War of the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty's pride, and the support of all of us."

This is a consensus among everyone.

Prince Zhu Muying was a pillar of stability for the Ming Dynasty.

With him there, the northern border is impregnable.

With him around, the morale of the Ming Dynasty's army remained as stable as Mount Tai.

"Mars?"

Upon hearing this word, Xu Miaoyun's lips curled into a deeply mocking smile.

"Yes, God of War."

"Do you know what he sacrificed to become this God of War?"

Her voice suddenly became sharp, as if an emotion that had been suppressed for far too long had finally found an outlet.

"You only see him sealing the wolf's lair and drinking from the vast sea, but did you see him alone, in the snow at tens of degrees below zero, gnawing on dry rations frozen like stones, standing guard for three days and three nights?"

"You only saw his triumphant return to the capital, with the streets deserted as everyone flocked to see him. But did you see him crawling out of piles of corpses, covered in blood, barely able to stand?"

"You only know that he commands an army of 300,000 and wields immense power, but do you know how he got each and every one of those 108 scars on his body?!"

Chang was rendered speechless by her sudden outburst.

She opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Yes.

They didn't know.

What they always saw was the radiant King of England, the omnipotent God of War.

They were used to his power, used to his victories.

So much so that they all forgot that he could get hurt, he could get tired, and he could feel pain.

He was just a flesh-and-blood person in his early twenties.

Seeing the shock and guilt on Chang's face, Xu Miaoyun's mockery deepened.

"Sister-in-law, I understand."

"I finally understand why he ended up like this."

"Because his achievements are so great that they threaten the emperor's authority."

"Because he was too dazzling, so dazzling that even the sun high in the sky felt blinded and threatened."

"Therefore, he must die."

"Those five hundred suits of armor are nothing but a joke. Even without armor, there would be other things. If you want to find fault, you can always find a pretext."

She laughed, but her laughter was filled with endless sorrow and despair.

"Sister-in-law, do you know? I used to hate him too."

"I hate him. Why does he always end up getting himself all injured?"

"I hate him. Why does he always take on the most dangerous tasks?"

"I hate him. Why can't he be like the other princes, staying peacefully in the capital and enjoying wealth and luxury?"

"Until that time..."

Xu Miaoyun's thoughts returned to that snowy night.

"That was in the northern desert, where we were surrounded by the main force of the Northern Yuan. A hundred thousand troops surrounded us, a few thousand men, like an iron barrel."

"Everyone was in despair. Everyone thought that this time, they were doomed."

"We've run out of food and water. It's freezing cold, and the soldiers can barely hold their knives."

"It's him."

Suddenly, a strange light shone in Xu Miaoyun's eyes—a light that was extremely complex, a mixture of love, admiration, and heartache.

"It was him, all alone, with just a gun, patrolling back and forth on the front lines all night long."

"He told us that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty did not live on their knees, but died standing."

He said that he, Zhu Muying, would stay with us and fight to the last man.

The next day, he ordered the entire army to break out of the encirclement.

"He did not choose the weakest link, but instead chose the enemy's central camp, where the enemy's forces were the strongest."

Everyone thought he had gone mad.

"But he just smiled and said to me, 'The most dangerous place is the safest place. Only by putting yourself in a life-or-death situation can you survive.'"

Then, he put this into my hand.

Xu Miaoyun took out a small, exquisite dagger from her bosom.

The dagger's scabbard was made of pure gold and inlaid with a huge ruby, making it extremely magnificent.

He told me, 'Miaoyun, take this. If... I mean if, the city falls, use it to give yourself a quick death. My woman, Zhu Muying's woman, would rather die standing than be dishonored.'"

"After saying that, he led his men and rushed out."

Looking at the dagger, Chang felt that the ruby ​​on it was so red it was blinding, like blood.

She could imagine how tragic the scene must have been.

Before heading into a battle where he is certain to die, a man personally hands a dagger to the woman he loves, so that she can use it to end her life in her most desperate moment.

This requires immense courage and profound despair.

"We won that battle."

Xu Miaoyun's voice was very soft, very soft.

"Reinforcements arrived, and we survived."

"He came back covered in blood, like a demon crawled out of hell. When he saw that I was still alive, that I was standing there unharmed, he didn't say anything, he just came over and hugged me tightly."

"Sister-in-law, do you know? I could clearly hear how fast and how erratic his heart was beating."

"I could feel how violently his seemingly indestructible body trembled when he was holding me."

"It was at that moment that I understood."

"He's not some kind of war god. He's just an ordinary man who feels fear, worry, and lingering fear."

"He reserved all his strength for the enemy and for the battlefield."

"But he left his only weakness to me."

Xu Miaoyun raised her hand and gently stroked the dagger, her eyes tender as she caressed her lover's face.

"From that moment on, I swore an oath."

"In this life, I, Xu Miaoyun, am his person in life, and I will be his ghost in death."

"If he lives, I will accompany him to see all the mountains and rivers. If he dies, I will pave the way for him to the underworld."

"Sister-in-law,"

She raised her head and looked at Madam Chang again. In her beautiful phoenix eyes, there was no longer any hesitation or doubt, only a resolute determination to burn everything away.

"Do you still think I'm doing something foolish?"