"Yun Jin, did you hear that?" Xue Zining asked.
Hua Yun Jin, who had clearly also heard the cry for help, nodded. "Your subject heard it."
"Feng Wu, go ahead and scout the area," Xue Zining whispered.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Feng Wu acknowledged the order and departed.
Xue Zining approached Xue Zixuan, who was engrossed in playing with a small rabbit. She spoke softly, "Zixuan, shall we go back and play?"
Xue Zixuan was about to refuse, but upon looking up and meeting her clear, cold eyes, the word caught in his throat. "As my Imperial Sister wishes."
"Good boy..." Xue Zining reached out and stroked his head.
Xue Zixuan felt her hand was bone-chillingly cold, sending an involuntary shiver down his spine.
Suddenly, a sharp pain at his ankle sent him tumbling to the ground. A wave of dizziness followed, and then he felt himself being turned upside down.
He saw a massive black creature holding him upside down, its sheer size terrifying him. Tears streamed from his eyes. "Im... Imperial Sister, save me..."
Xue Zining took a step back. Standing before her was a colossal black beast, easily twice her height. This was...
Her heart gave a jolt. In her previous life, she hadn't attended the hunt, but she had seen the immense creature that Regent Xue Wenjie had brought back from the hunting grounds. It was exactly like the one before her now.
"Your Majesty, retreat! It's a ren xiong!" Hua Yun Jin shouted from behind her.
"Imperial Sister, Imperial Sister, save me..." Xue Zixuan cried out in terror.
"Your Majesty..." Hua Yun Jin called out, seeing Xue Zining frozen in place.
"Yun Jin, what if we retreat now?"
Hua Yun Jin trembled, looking at the young woman before him, feeling as if he didn't recognize her at this moment.
Her features were as clear and cold as water, her expression as frigid as frost, as if the creature holding the boy was not a person, but a mere blade of grass.
Amidst Xue Zixuan's heart-wrenching screams, he suddenly regained his senses. He realized that at some point, the Empress's affection for Xue Zixuan had waned, replaced by a trace of hatred.
Hua Yun Jin dared not ponder further. He lowered his gaze and said calmly, "Your Majesty, however you decide, your subject will obey."
As a subject, his duty was complete and unwavering obedience.
Xue Zixuan struggled to shout, but through his tear-blurred vision, he saw her eyes, as cold as the deepest obsidian, chillingly terrifying.
At that moment, a single thought occupied his mind: Imperial Sister didn't want to save him.
"Im... Imperial Sister..."
Xue Zining saw him reach out, his hand filled with anticipation and pleading, as if she were his only lifeline.
She closed her eyes. If she did not reach out now, if she turned away, then the person who would take her life eight years later would cease to exist. Her enemy, her foe, would be one less.
"Imperial Sister, Imperial Sister..."
His small voice called out, hoarse with desperation.
She snapped her eyes open, meeting his obsidian-like gaze, filled with terror, despair, and confusion.
Biting her lower lip, she suddenly let out a low chuckle. "In the end, I cannot bear to see you killed by another."
With that, she let out a low roar, "Feng Yu, attack!"
A figure, swift as lightning, shot forward. Before the ren xiong could react, Xue Zixuan was already rescued.
"Go." Xue Zining took Xue Zixuan from Feng Yu's arms and, mounting a horse, rode in the opposite direction of the ren xiong.
Behind them, only a deafening roar echoed.
"Your Majesty, we are safe." Feng Yu's voice reached her ears. Xue Zining finally reined in her horse, bringing it to a halt.
As she was about to dismount, she felt a pair of small hands clutching her sleeve tightly. Xue Zixuan had already fallen asleep, his small face still streaked with tear marks. Even in his sleep, his expression was unsettled, clearly traumatized by the ordeal.