Chapter 1: 001: Awakening from a Nightmare to Make a Decision

001: Awakening from a Nightmare to Make a Decision

"Beasts! If I could live again, I would slice you into a thousand pieces and grind your bones to ash!"

Gong Yan let out a roar, his body suddenly bolting upright. He lunged forward, causing the gilded bed to emit a sharp "creak."

Looking at the familiar surroundings before him, he let out a soft sigh of relief.

"A dream... I had another nightmare!" Due to a fever caused by catching a chill, he had only been fever-free for two days, and his throat still burned painfully.

At this moment, he murmured silently.

No!

That was not a dream!

To be betrayed by those closest to him—poisoned, framed, blinded and rendered speechless, and finally having his limbs severed, left covered in blood and hung from a tree branch like a dead dog to be baked in the sun—how could a dream explain that?

His inner garments were already soaked with sweat. He frowned, got out of bed with slightly unsteady steps, and walked toward the hot spring pool to bathe.

Gong Che, my brother—my half-brother whom I regarded as my own flesh and blood.

Empress Dowager, my aunt—my aunt whom I respected as if she were my biological mother.

Xue'er, my cousin—the cousin I intended to marry as my primary consort.

Because I believed that in the Imperial Palace—the place where kinship is supposedly hardest to find—having you all by my side meant that what you gave me was true affection, I believed.

I never expected to be betrayed by kinship, to be conspired against by all of you until my reputation was ruined and my corpse was left unwhole.

As steam rose in curling wisps, Gong Yan sat in the hot spring, yet he felt no warmth.

His heart was cold; his blood was freezing.

It was all caused by the relatives he trusted most!

The scenes from his final moments flashed incessantly through his mind...

"I see clearly now. A hypocrite like you, even if you lived for ten lifetimes or a hundred, would still be a despicable and insidious villain!"

"Poisoning, framing—as if that wasn't enough, you actually went as far as severing the Crown Prince's limbs. You are even lower than beasts!"

"Gong Che, I can tell you plainly: as long as I am not dead, as long as I can walk out of this dungeon, I will surely expose your crimes to the world."

...

"Gong Yan, though we are strangers, rest assured. As long as I have a breath left, as long as I can walk out of here, I will definitely avenge you. I will expose those villains' crimes to the world and kill them with my own hands!"

"Your injuries are very heavy. Even though I know medicine, I cannot save you here..."

...

"...So that is my story. Speaking of which, I really am unlucky. I haven't even enjoyed my rewards for long before I might face death again. Death, I am not afraid of, but when I think of those despicable, filthy villains still living arrogantly, I'm damn well not resigned to it."

"Gong Yan, I... I'm afraid I'll have to break my promise!"

"Gong Yan, if you can live, then live well. As long as you live, there is hope..."

"Even if I become a ghost, I will never let you off!"

...

Touching his face, a smile of extreme gentleness appeared at the corners of Gong Yan's mouth. This was the first time he had smiled in his life, yet his phoenix eyes were filled with profound sorrow.

That foolish woman. Even though we were total strangers, she dragged her broken body to block a sword for a dying man like him, fought for justice on his behalf, and even said she would avenge him.

"Yun Qingwu..." He murmured her name, his long, jade-like fingers tracing his face.

It was as if the blood splattered on the woman's body was still on his face; he could still feel the warmth of that blood, and feel the sincerity of the heart belonging to the woman the world called a "brainless, expressionless, and talkative-less" fool.

"Wu'er, I will find you!" It was currently three years ago; there were still three years before that nightmare occurred. He had plenty of time to arrange everything, and plenty of time to find her.

He knew that everything she did and everything she said was born solely from a sense of justice, or perhaps a hint of sympathy, and nothing more.

But, he would compensate her!

He would give her warm smiles, and stand before the world to declare that she had him to protect her, and him to cherish her!

Since he had been reborn three years in the past, she had not yet met with disaster. He swore to give her the best, to make her happy forever, and within this Jin Dynasty, to share his power, his status, and all his glory with her.

"Your Highness, your subordinate has obtained news regarding Miss Yun's whereabouts."