Gifted Bride of the Sinned Prince

Liu Jin Yu tilted her head slightly to check if the Queen had left and then quickly walked to Li Hua. “You saved me again, Li Hua,” Jin Yu said and thanked her. “I know how to sew, but this embroidery is the toughest work I’ve done in my life. My fingers were pricked so many times with the needle,” she said while Li Hua silently listened to her.

“Shall we go?” Li Hua asked her.

“Oh, yes,” Jin Yu said when Eunuch Lishi came inside.

“I will send a few soldiers with Princess Consort and Miss Liu,” he said, and asked them to follow him. Liu Jin Yu wanted to refuse it, but because Li Hua was a royal family member, she didn’t want to take the risk. She remained silent and walked along with Li Hua.

“Your Highness, please get into the palanquin,” Eunuch Lishi told Li Hua, who nodded and got inside the palanquin. Liu Jin Yu found out that a second palanquin was ready for her. She stepped into that. The foot soldiers and the head of them guarded them well. Eunuch Lishi instructed them to bring back both the ladies safely to the palace.

The palanquins were carried by the porters and they left the palace. Liu Jin Yu gawked her eyes out of the window and smiled. She had never sat in the palanquin. It was a new and thrilling experience for her.

“If there is comfort, then there is no freedom,” she mumbled as she realized that she would soon be the Crown Princess. Then, she would never step out of the palace until it was a critical situation or the Crown Prince wanted to step out.

She asked herself if she had done the right thing to come to the palace. She could not stay away from Xiaoming for long. She would have been hurt if had married someone else and stayed unhappy with her.

.....

Sometimes, you have to sacrifice for the greater cause.

She looked at the line of soldiers near the main imperial gate. A few soldiers looked at her as she had her head out of the window. As they stepped out of the palace, she pulled her head in and closed the curtains. It would not be wise to show her face so openly when it was a secret who would be the future Crown Princess.

The servant who had come from the Xu Residence looked around him. He knitted his brows and clasped his hands tightly in nervousness. He wasn’t supposed to bring someone else with Li Hua, but the Queen sent security for her.

He had no idea how to stop those two palanquins from going ahead.

He was the man sent by Tianjie, who asked him to tell a lie to Li Hua. However, the plan failed, so he decided to stop his men from making a move. A soldier came near him and walked along with him.

“Master has already told his men to stop the attack. Leave the capital the moment I give you instructions,” the soldier told him in a low voice. “It is the master’s orders. Return after ten days and meet the master then,” he added. The man hummed and felt relieved that Tianjie had already controlled everything.

“Here is the money,” the soldier said, and he passed a pouch full of coins to the man. He took it without getting anyone’s notice and put it inside his pocket. The soldier slowed down and walked behind him.

After half an hour, the soldiers at the front got alerted when many masked men came in their direction. Li Hua wobbled inside the palanquin because a few porters got the arrow shots. Chaos ensued, and loud screams were heard.

Liu Jin Yu was alerted to the sudden halt of the palanquin. She heard the palanquin and quickly got out. The sight in front of her was terrifying. Many masked men had attacked them.

She held her skirt up and ran to save Li Hua. She saw the archer, who was ready to shoot Li Hua through the window. She swiftly got on her knees and pulled Li Hua out.

The arrow pierced the wood, and Li Hua panicked.

“Come out quickly,” Jin Yu told her, and pulled her out. She asked her to stay seated.

Liu Jin Yu looked at her front and found out that the soldiers were dying. Only seven to eight soldiers were alive. She told Li Hua not to move from her place.

Jin Yu stepped forward when Li Hua caught her hand. “Don’t go ahead. You may get harmed. We must run toward the palace,” she advised her.

“They are carrying bows. We will be dead if we try to run,” Jin Yu told her. “Nothing will happen. Stay here and don’t get up,” she stated and patted her hand.

She walked ahead and picked up the sword to fight. Li Hus closed her ears to hear the clanking. She told herself not to get scared and saw how bravely Jin Yu fought with them. She had already killed one of the masked men.

Li Hua saw the lifeless bodies of the porters and turned to look. She saw the archer, who was ready to shoot at Liu Jin Yu and stood up.

She picked up the sword, and her hands trembled in fear. She had never killed anyone in her life. But if she hadn’t intervened now, the shooter would have killed Liu Jin Yu. She tightened the hold on the hilt with her both hands and ran towards the shooter. She stretched out her arm and pierced the sword into his back.

She pulled it out and, with staggering steps, moved back.

The blood on the sword frightened her and the memories of the night when her family was being killed in the same way re-surfaced.

Liu Jin Yu kicked the man who she had just killed and took the sword from his hand. Her left arm got cut while fighting, but she didn’t stop. They were far from the palace, so any help was impossible for them. She looked in Li Hua’s direction, who was holding the sword and staring blankly at it.

“What happened to her? Why did she stand up?” Liu Jin mumbled and stabbed the leg of the masked man on her left. Li Jin Yu shouted Li Hua’s name, asking her to move away.

However, Li Hua didn’t hear her. When another masked man ducked his sword into her neck, Jin Yu bent on her back. She swiftly brought her left hand, which had the sword in it, and slashed his neck.

Li Hua’s eyes welled up into tears and those noises of clanking became intense. A masked man from behind ran in her direction to kill her.

Liu Jin Yu shouted the name of Li Hua and asked her to move away when a man in royal blue robes appeared and pulled Li Hua. He twirled her and put his hand on the back of her head as he buried her face in his chest. He slashed the neck of the masked man who was going to kill Li Hua.