Empress, please lay down your armor, for I will save the world with a single sword!

As dawn broke, many people arrived at Qiyun Courtyard.

Several old trees outside the courtyard swayed gently in the wind, casting dappled shadows on the window paper, which were quite unsettling.

Jiang Qingluan had just finished breakfast, and before the dishes and chopsticks had been cleared away, she heard a series of light footsteps outside.

Immediately afterwards, several old women from the Prince's mansion led a group of maids in. Each maid carried a vermilion lacquered tray covered with red silk.

It was blindingly red.

The head nanny, all smiles, walked up to Jiang Qingluan and bowed.

"Princess, tomorrow is your wedding day. The Prince has instructed us to help you try on your wedding dress, phoenix crown, and wedding shoes. If anything doesn't fit, we can have it altered before tonight."

Jiang Qingluan sat at the table, holding a teacup in her hand, without speaking immediately.

The tea has gone cold.

She looked down at a single tea leaf floating in the cup, her expression calm to the point of indifference.

Several maids were secretly watching her.

This princess is very beautiful.

It wasn't the delicate beauty of an ordinary young lady.

Her eyes were cool and aloof, and she was tall and slender. Even when she sat there without saying a word, she exuded an air of nobility that made people hesitant to approach her.

The nanny asked cautiously again, "Princess?"

Jiang Qingluan finally put down her teacup.

"Give it a try."

The sound was very soft.

You can't tell if he's happy or angry.

The old woman breathed a sigh of relief and quickly had a maid bring up the tray.

The red silk was lifted.

A phoenix coronet, a wedding robe, a wedding dress, a jade belt, and a pair of bright red wedding shoes embroidered with mandarin ducks and auspicious clouds appeared one by one before Jiang Qingluan's eyes.

The embroidery on the wedding dress was exquisite.

The phoenix pattern is woven from gold and silver threads, and the cuffs and hem are embroidered with auspicious clouds. A red jade belt adorns the waist, making the entire wedding dress both luxurious and dignified.

An ordinary woman would probably be delighted to see this.

But Jiang Qingluan only felt heavy.

It was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

This is hardly a wedding dress.

These are clearly shackles!

The shackles that Pei Xiao placed on her were also a layer of blood-red clothing draped over her by this chaotic world.

The nannies and maids dared not delay and respectfully helped her get up.

One inner garment, one outer robe, and then a shawl draped over it.

The fabric is soft and feels slightly cool against the skin.

Jiang Qingluan let them do as they pleased, like a jade statue without any expression.

But when the last layer of the wedding dress fell down, the room suddenly fell silent.

The maids were a beat too slow.

nice.

So beautiful.

The intense red was so strong that it could easily overwhelm people.

However, when draped over Jiang Qingluan, it did not appear gaudy at all.

Her skin was naturally fair, and her eyes and brows were cold. When she wore plain clothes, she resembled a cold moon atop a snow-capped mountain.

Now, dressed in this red outfit, that aloofness is accentuated by the red, giving it a breathtakingly beautiful look.

Her red dress was like fire.

But standing in the fire, she seemed colder and brighter than the fire itself.

The old woman had prepared a whole host of auspicious words.

But looking at her now, he forgot to speak for a moment.

The phoenix crown hasn't been put on yet.

She simply stood there, and the light and shadow in the room seemed to dim a bit.

This doesn't look like a woman forced into marriage at all.

She clearly resembles an empress who has been forcibly dressed in wedding attire by the mortal world.

The maid knelt down and straightened her skirt.

Then someone brought over the wedding shoes.

The shoes had red soles with gold thread, and two small pearls adorned the toes. They were so exquisite that they seemed more like objects to be displayed than shoes for walking.

Jiang Qingluan lowered her head and watched as the maid gently lifted her feet and put on her wedding shoes.

The shoes fit perfectly.

But she found it absurd.

These shoes are meant to guide her step by step toward Pei Chang'an, toward the fate that the Prince of Beiyong's mansion has arranged for her.

But she knew the truth in her heart.

If given the chance, she would wear these shoes and trample this wedding to pieces.

The old woman finally came to her senses, and smiled with amazement, "The princess looks absolutely stunning in this wedding dress! Tomorrow, when His Highness the Crown Prince sees her, he will surely be captivated!"

joy?

Jiang Qingluan looked at the bronze mirror.

The woman in the mirror wore a phoenix coronet and a red wedding gown, her beauty as radiant as fire.

But her eyes were cold.

The coldness robbed her of any of the shyness and joy of a new bride.

Whether Pei Chang'an is happy or not is none of her business.

She knew what Pei Xiao wanted to do.

They also knew that there was no romantic love between the man and woman behind this marriage.

Pei Chang'an did not marry Jiang Qingluan.

He married a legitimate member of the Great Zhou royal family.

He married a flag that could rally the world.

If this marriage goes through, she will be firmly in the hands of the Prince of Beiyong.

But what if it doesn't work?

My father is still in Luo'an.

Prince Qing is about to ascend the throne.

The Great Zhou Dynasty was in turmoil.

Can she die?

No.

She won't die either.

She is the Ninth Princess of the Great Zhou Dynasty and also a Second-Rank Junior Grandmaster.

At the tender age of twenty, she entered the second rank; among all the women in the world, how many could achieve that?

She can be trapped, she can be used, she can swallow this insult.

But I will never accept my fate!

If Wu Liang could take her away, she would go with him.

If Wu Liang hadn't come...

So she got married.

As long as you're alive.

As long as Father Emperor still has a sliver of hope.

Even if Pei Xiao harbors malicious intentions, even if Pei Chang'an only married her for the sake of a title, she still has to live and find a chance to turn the tables.

only……

She looked at herself in the bronze mirror, her eyes flickering slightly.

Wu Liang did not come last night.

She waited all night.

That bastard, he clearly said he would come.

He had clearly said that he would take her away from Beiyong in three days.

She had clearly stated that she could not be the Crown Prince's consort.

The results of it?

It was quiet outside the window all night.

There was no sign of the figure who had climbed in through the window.

There was no smug laugh either.

Jiang Qingluan's fingers tightened little by little inside her sleeve.

She felt resentful and also a sense of inexplicable loss.

She didn't want to admit that she was actually waiting for him. Even more so, she didn't want to admit that when he didn't appear, she felt a pang of panic.

I'm worried that something might have happened to him.

She worried that he might... and finally realized that saving her was too much trouble, so she gave up.

The thought had barely crossed her mind when Jiang Qingluan coldly suppressed it.

Don't even think about it.

Jiang Qingluan, you can't place all your hopes on a scoundrel doctor.

The nanny cautiously asked, "Princess, is the waistline too tight? Do the shoes fit?"

Jiang Qingluan withdrew her gaze and said calmly, "Both are suitable."

The old woman laughed even harder: "That's good, that's good. Tomorrow at the wedding, the princess only needs to stand like this, and all the guests will be stunned."

Jiang Qingluan did not respond.

She simply looked at the red dress reflected in the bronze mirror.

After a long while, she whispered to herself:

Wu Liang.

You better not be lying to me.

otherwise……

I will never forgive you in this lifetime.

……