RIN

The frail man standing before Rin had the appearance of what a beggar would look.

His white robes were dusted with dirt as his long dusky hair and beard were loose and dry.

After years of the two finally meeting face to face, Rin took note of the man"s once youthful appearance was now wrinkled and worn out. Making him appear fragile and weak.

"Seems like you took my advice to heart, Princess…" Wei Jingyi merely smiled causing the wrinkles around his shining eyes to crinkle.

Rin"s cold eyes narrow but her serene smile remains, her slender porcelain arm holding the crossbow lowering.

"I wasn"t really given much of a choice was I?" Rin sighed hopelessly while placing her crossbow inside her woven bag on her small back.

Wei Jingyi"s eyes widen before he releases a helpless smile, however, his dull eyes remained stern.

"Yes, that is true." He said as his haggard eyes flash seriously. "However, you should refrain from doing anything reckless from now on. After all, those that are dead should rest peacefully."

Towards his seemingly concerned words, Rin simply lowers her head while letting out a soft chuckle.

"I should say the same to you, Wei Jingyi," Rin sneered. "Rumors say you"re a wanted fugitive by the Emperor."

Wei Jingyi"s eyes flash with clear surprise. Letting out a sigh, he looks at the young girl dressed as a male merchant.

"You got me there," He grinned while scratching his bearded chin.

He shifts his eyes to stare directly at Rin with complicated emotions.

"Although Princess, our tragic cases are both extremely different wouldn"t you say?"

Releasing a wide sneer, Rin scoffs. A tinge of malice flashing ominously within her emerald eyes.

"I see. Are our situations different because you once worked under my Uncle, while he slaughtered my family and naively a.s.sumes that I, Princess Liu Rin am dead?" She said ungraciously with a wicked sneer, her head tilting.

Rin looked into the man that formerly was her servant and trusted companion with coldness and indifference.

A man she had once trusted innocently.

Noting how he remained silent towards her words with his head lowered to stare at the dirt ground, Rin"s cold unemotional face released a dark glare - her rosy lips curled up.

"Or is it simply because I"m a mere woman who was raised in a Palace and can"t possibly possess any skills to overtake my Uncle?" Rin said icily.

"Princess, I merely wish for you to move on from the past and live a peaceful and happy life. For your gracious sake and the Eastern Empires people." Wei Jingyi spoke sternly with his head gently lowered.

"You must understand, back then, all those years ago, I merely didn"t step in to aid you and Madam Ai not because of my personal loyalty towards Emperor Li Chang, but towards the innocent people of Shongo and the Eastern Empire."

Narrowing her soulless eyes towards him, Rin suddenly burst out into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

The ominous sound that was released wasn"t one of joy or amus.e.m.e.nt, but of a harsh bitterness that was held deep within.

It was scarcely the raw sound of something slowly breaking a person that had one too many wounds.

How could she live a peaceful life after everything that"s happened?

After everything, the Li Palace"s people had forcibly put her and her family through only to end up dead with no meaning and honor.

How could she accept such a cruel fate?

During the dreadful night of her and her mother"s desperate escape from the Li Palace, after her n.o.ble father was ruthlessly murdered before her very eyes, the two sought out Wei Jingyi - a trusted servant that Rin"s mother treated dearly.

Or at least she had naively thought she sincerely trusted.

When her mother frantically searched for him in urgent need of help, when she was most desperate to save her beloved daughter, he had merely shifted away from her with his head cautiously lowered and releasing the faint words.

"My sincere apologies, Madam Ai..."

In the end, the two were able to miraculously escape, however, such a cruel moment remained in Rin"s little mind for the rest of her harsh life.

As Rin grew older, had she really pieced together the clear betrayal of her trusted servant and faithful friend.

Rin twirls her body away from the frail man, her small back now facing him. Gently lowering her graceful head, she laughs coldly.

"It"s a shame I used to look up to someone like you. Seems foolish of me not to have grasped it sooner," Rin said bitterly. "But don"t worry, I don"t blame or resent you for that night."

Wei Jingyi stared at the girls slightly even smaller looking back with a trace of guilt flashing within his crinkled eyes - his thin fists clenching tightly.

"Princess…" He started cautiously but was soon cut off by the hostile demonic voice of the young girl.

"However, allow me to tell you this." Rin"s angelic voice darkens coldly. "Don"t a.s.sume that because I"m a woman I can"t pose a threat to Li Chang."

Leisurely tilting her poised head behind her in the direction of the ragged man, a dark sinister smile that could intentionally cause adult men to shudder in paralyzing fear, spread across her cruel lips brightly revealing her white teeth.

Her eyes blazing murderously without a possible inch of light.

"No matter what, for as long as I still live and breathe, I, Liu Rin will forcibly drag my Uncle, Li Chang into the deepest pits of burning h.e.l.l. That is the one vow I shall never break."