"Your highness, this chamber won't last long for a long time. This was only standing due to master's powers. We need to leave immediately."
Xie Yuan said bowing to LiuYan. LiuYan only nodded at him.
The clad walked through a narrow passage which lead them to a hidden tunnel that opened into a silent forest just beyond the palace walls, where shadows stretched long beneath the cover of night. The Empress's final spell had collapsed, so was the passage behind them, sealing their escape route. There was no turning back.
Only twenty elite phoenix guards, two loyal maids, and Commander Xie Yuan now stood between the two princesses and the blades of the emperor.
Shen LiuYan, just five years old, carried in one arm by Lady Ruohua, didn't cry. Not even once. Her small fists clenched around the warm cloth wrapped over baby LiuHua, her expression already etched with the grief of loss.
"We move by the shadow paths," Xie Yuan commanded. "No fires. No signals. Every trace must be erased."
Each night they traveled under moonless skies, and each day they sheltered in mountain caves or thick forest glades. Xie Yuan, despite injuries from the palace, never faltered. But the hounds of the emperor — demonic trackers cloaked in shadow — were never far behind. The demonic princess always feared the empress's powers, thus wanted to kill her two heirs by any means.
The survival clad only manage to take a small amount of food when they escaped. Even though LiuYan was forsaken, she was undaunted. Her lips were parched; her limbs thin and bruised, yet her eyes—so young yet already forged in loss—remained unbroken. She chewed slowly through half a burnt grain cake, saving the other half for the wounded phoenix guard who had carried them for miles on trembling legs, while Lady Ruohua fed baby LiuHua.
By the tenth day the group had taken shelter in a ruined monastery deep within the ravines of the White Ash Mountains. The wind whispered through broken stone pillars like the murmurs of forgotten monks. A faded statue of the Moon Deity loomed in the shadows, its face half eroded but still dignified, watching over them in silence.
Lady Ruohua rocked the infant LiuHua gently beneath her cloak, shielding her from the night wind that clawed like fingers dipped in frost. Her hands trembled from fatigue, but her movements were calm, tender. Shen LiuYan sat close beside her, rubbing twigs together in a desperate attempt to coax a spark. Her fingers were raw, but her determination did not yield.
Outside, the howls of demon hounds echoed faintly, distant but drawing closer with every night. Their scent lingered in the air—blood and decay.
Xie Yuan leaned against a shattered pillar, his shoulder freshly bandaged. Blood still seeped through the cloth, yet he kept watch, sword across his lap, eyes scanning every shadow.
That night, the moon bled crimson.
They knew they had been followed.
And just before dawn, the darkness moved.
LiuYan, eyes half-lidded, was leaning against Lady Ruohua.
Suddenly — the sound of a blade unsheathing. Too fast. Too close.
A cloaked figure darted from the darkness — one of the emperor's shadow assassins, eyes glowing red, blade aimed for LiuYan.
Lady Ruohua reacted without thought.
"Your Highness — RUN!"
The blade pierced her back with a sickening sound; the second aimed at LiuYan was caught mid-air by Xie Yuan who struck it away with his last strength. Blood spilled over LiuYan's robe as Lady Ruohua crumbled, still holding LiuHua protectively.
"No…" LiuYan whispered, crawling to her side on scraped knees. "No, no, no—Aunt Ruohua—"
The older woman coughed a thin line of crimson trailing from the corner of her mouth. "Y-Your Highness… protect… your sister," she rasped, her trembling hand reaching out to place LiuHua gently in Liuyan's arms. Her eyes, once stern and watchful, softened with maternal warmth in their final moments.
"I'm sorry I couldn't… stay longer."
LiuYan shook her head violently, tears now streaking down her dirt-streaked cheeks. "Don't say that. Don't go. Please don't go…"
Lady Ruohua smiled faintly—a smile of pride, not regret. "You were born… to lead, my child. Be fierce… be kind…" Her breath hitched, faded. "Never kneel…"
Her final words to LiuYan, whispered as blood poured from her lips:
"You will… shine… brighter than all of them…"
LiuYan sat frozen, cradling LiuHua with one arm, her other hand still wrapped around Lady Ruohua's cooling fingers. Her shoulders trembled, but she didn't scream. She didn't wail. Not here. Not yet.
She simply sat there.
Like a statue carved from grief and steel.
And when she finally looked up, her eyes no longer held the wide, fractured light of a child.
Only fire.
Only resolve.
Xie Yuan killed the assassin, but four of the remaining guards died that night. The rest left hastily before the demonic reinforcements could arrive.