Death Scripture

The news that the Princess would be choosing her own husband attracted a lot of bystanders. Even if these princes or masters had no hope of winning the favor of the Princess, still, they tried all sorts of ways to enter the palace, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Princess.

Since everybody assumed that the ceremony would not be suspenseful, their attention was solely focused on the Princess for the first time.

The Princess of the Stone Kingdom had recently turned 16. She was still an infant when she went into exile with her family in Jade City and had no impression of her homeland. But her two brothers and the wet nurse told her proudly almost every day, "You are a Princess, and you will marry a King in the future."

Having been influenced by their words for many years, the Princess grew proud of her identity. She had seen with her own eyes, the tragic scene of the queen mother in exile next door passing on with no one to bury her, and the situation when a group of rough machetemen with no ties to the royalty surrounded the Jus' residence and demanded money, but she still believed that she would marry a real king someday.

She was even more excited about returning to their motherland than her second brother who was going to inherit the throne. She was, therefore, even more disappointed than her second brother soon after.

It turned out that being a princess meant losing her freedom. She was like a caged bird, reduced to a mere commodity for sale, albeit rare and highly prized.

On the way back to the kingdom, Prime Minister Yang Dou formally informed her, "Once Your Highness is of age, you will marry someone from the Yang family. I will personally choose the most suitable husband for the Princess."

The young Princess did not understand. What about a king? Shouldn't she be married to a real king? Why would a minister's son be appointed as her future husband? At that time, the Princess was still ignorant of power and its complexities; she even had the audacity to raise her doubts to the Prime Minister.

She would always remember how the old Prime Minister had laughed contemptuously, dismissing her. "There are only about thirty or so kings in the Western region, but hundreds of princesses. Do you really think that all of you will marry kings? Haha, little girl, soon you will understand that even the Yangs are out of your reach, and you are marrying above your status."

Prime Minister Yang Dou was correct. She soon realized that both she and the King were mere prey caught in the web woven by the Yangs. They were only kept alive because it was better for the food to remain as fresh as possible.

She did not even have a chance to see the residents of her kingdom. The moment she had arrived and alighted from the stifling carriage, she was sent to a cold and narrow residence. She was forbidden from stepping out of the residence, even seeing her royal brother required approval from the Prime Minister himself.

It slowly dawned on her that her only duty was to give birth to a son who could inherit the throne for the Yangs.

From then onward, she began to hate the title of Princess. It had brought nothing but bad luck to her.

Soon, a disaster would befall her. But she could only sit in her tiny room and look on with cold indifference as she waited for the chaos to swallow her.

At first, the Kang Kingdom had used violent force to pressure the Princess into marrying the Prince of Kang. However, Yang Dou had been able to edge out his rival by pretending to be polite and subservient.

Next was the Meng family, who presented a thick stack of loan receipts and offered to "Erase all debt and provide one million taels as dowry. The Princess could choose any master from the Mengs as her husband."

When compared to the Mengs, the wealthiest family in Western Region, even Yang Dou, who was of one of most influential families in Stone Kingdom, was sweating. He could only come up with a series of lies to stall for time.

The threat from the Meng family was merely a short interlude, or perhaps, a prelude for what was to come because Golden Roc Fort soon appeared. The Shangguan family had neither the royal blood like Prince of the Kang Kingdom, nor the wealth of the Meng family. But the killers and secrets placed before him were something that Prime Minister Yang Dou could not refuse.

It was the secret of how the King had conspired with the Prime Minister to murder the First Prince.

No one had actually mentioned any of these to the Princess, but every scene of Jade City had run through her mind in those countless hours of solitude. She already knew her eldest brother's cause of death long before the suitor from the Shangguan family appeared on the doorstep of the royal family.

Even the crafty Prime Minister Yang Dou took the bait. The assassination he had planned contained numerous flaws and loopholes - it was nothing more than a child's trick in the eyes of Golden Roc Fort. Despite the incident had occurred many years ago, the evidence was enough to prove who was the instigator at that time.

The Princess was more than satisfied to see the Prime Minister weighed down with this. She did not care who she was going to marry. Since the title of a Princess was only in name, who could guarantee the authenticity of those kings? Perhaps the Supreme King's son was powerful enough and could protect her.

However, Dragon King's name suddenly appeared.

"Chief of the Dragons and Leader of the Five Peaks", the Princess had never heard of such a title before and found it quite laughable. Even "Supreme King" sounded more like a real title than that.

Gradually, rumors about Dragon King spread to the ears of the Princess. The giant roc who swallowed human eyeballs, the Devil Emperor who had killed countless, thousands of rough and barbaric swordsmen from the Great Snowmountain, the person set on revenge and was at loggerheads with Golden Roc Fort. All these rumors led the Princess, who had already lost all hope toward her future, to pray sincerely in front of the statue of Buddha that she would not have to marry that wicked man.

Buddha must have heard her prayers but did not act on it. Instead, Dragon King was pushed closer and closer to her.

In the beginning, Dragon King had shown little promise among all the suitors, yet he had managed to lead with half of the votes and turn the tide around. This result was something that the Princess could not have foreseen. It had also caused her to be even more fearful of this man.

For the first time in her life, the Princess accepted the Prime Minister's orders willingly. "Right now, the choice lies in Your Highness' hands. Needless to say, I believe the Princess should also understand that choosing the Ninth Young Master of the Golden Roc Fort will be the most favorable decision for the Stone Kingdom." The Prime Minister said.

She quickly nodded and agreed, although the interests of the Stone Kingdom was not her main priority. She would choose anybody else as long as she did not need to marry Dragon King, along with that horrible big bird which was with him.

However, a mysterious woman ruined her mood, which she had just calmed down.

The woman had been sent by the King's imperial guard and claimed herself to be Xu Yanwei. She was glib at talking and soon won the trust of the Princess. It was only when no one was around that Xu Yanwei took out a secret letter.

The letter was written by her royal brother personally, with only three words, "Choose Dragon King."

"But the Prime Minister..." The Princess said, her heart was about to shatter. She did not understand why this chaos did not end.

"Dragon King is a good man." Xu Yanwei said as she instinctively sensed the Princess' fear. She began telling the Princess stories about Dragon King, knowing just what to say and what to avoid mentioning.

"Is he really like what you said... Dragon King?" The Princess was confused. Dragon King seemed like a deity who was vague and with many sides. Each story seemed to show a completely different side of him.

"Dragon King is a good man." Said Xu Yanwei as she nodded solemnly. She used this sentence as her opening and closing remarks. Following that, she went on and talked about the Ninth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort.

Xu Yanwei knew Shangguan Fei inside out, even better than Dragon King. She said, "He's a sinister and timid fellow. You will know it when you see him. His gaze is abnormal, and he got a bad leg. Even if these are not important, you should also know for a fact that he... likes men."

The Princess did not understand the last sentence. Only after Xu Yanwei explained it in a roundabout manner, she could not believe her ears."How is it possible?" She exclaimed.

"Ah, Your Highness is so pure." Xu Yanwei hugged her shoulders and envied her naivety from the bottom of her heart. "The world is far more complicated than you think. It is precise because I have seen many hypocritical men in my life, therefore I know that Dragon King is a good man."

However, the Princess was not quite convinced. Dragon King had long been a nightmare in her mind that a few words could not easily dispel such thoughts. "That giant roc which only eats... don't tell me it's just a rumor to deceive others as well?"

Slightly embarrassed, Xu Yanwei regretted not coming to see the Princess sooner. This was an imaginative Princess who had been isolated for so long that she had shaped Dragon King into a mythical demon from legend. She replied, "Well, that part about the giant roc is true. But it has flown away and has not appeared since."

The Princess trembled and tears welled up in her eyes upon hearing that, but she fought her urge to cry. Then she spoke with a determined attitude, "Alright, as long as brother's throne is secured, I will marry anyone that he asks me to."

Xu Yanwei was easily affected by the Princess' emotions and her tears started streaming down her face, "Fate is like that, men are always used by gods to punish women."

The only consolation for the Princess was that she would be able to get her revenge by publicly humiliating the Prime Minister Yang Dou after all these years of imprisonment.

Yet, she often couldn't help but think, if only there was a choice, why did the heavens arrange such a narrow path for her, such that even a simple act of moving her fingers was difficult?

Therefore, only a tinge of fear flashed her mind when the assassin appeared from nowhere. The huge rock that had been weighing on her mind was lifted, and the Princess even smiled as she welcomed the saber about to stab into her chest.

...

At noon, the Council Chamber in the palace was filled with people. Many men who were not eligible to seek for a marriage were able to enter the palace through all kinds of ways as well. It was said that this was the first ever appearance of the Princess after all these years, and would probably be her last appearance as well.

However, there was a little dispute in the chamber. The people who had cast their votes to Dragon King surrounded the Prince of the Loulan Kingdom, demanding for their payment.

The Prince of the Loulan Kingdom who handed over the problem to Dragon King was already clear-headed by now. He explained in a small voice, "You have to ask Dragon King for the money. You cast your vote to him, didn't you? What has it got to do with me?"

"But..." said the people surrounding the Prince, no one dared to look for Dragon King and ask for the payment. "No, you were the one who made the promise that time. You were the one who made us switch our votes to Dragon King on the last day, of course, it's only natural that we come looking for you. Don't tell me you are in cahoots with Dragon King and want to go back on your word after lying to us?"

Sweat began to trickle from the Loulan Kingdom Prince's forehead. He cursed the Special Envoy from the Central Plains over a hundred thousands of times in his heart. It was because of Lin Tao fleeing at the last moment which landed him in so much trouble.

On the other side of the chamber, Shangguan Fei spoke to the Special Envoy from Norland in a low voice. Then, he stood up and pushed through the crowd, making his way to Dragon King's side.

The Council Chamber was crowded but no one was surrounding Dragon King.

"We will just have to wait for the Princess to announce the results." Shangguan Fei said, smiling knowingly. He had promised Dragon King that he would announce that he had no intention of inheriting the throne once he became the Emperor's son-in-law.

Gu Shenwei nodded slightly. He was clear that Shangguan Fei had given him an empty promise. Golden Roc killers were obviously hidden among the crowd in the Council Chamber. Even if Gu Shenwei closed his eyes, he would be able to sniff them out.

What made Gu Shenwei uncertain was, were these killers here to protect Shangguan Fei or to kill him so that they could blame it on Dragon King instead?