The skies over the realm hadn't been the same since her imprisonment. The sunlight barely touched the palace walls. The air felt too thick. Too quiet. Even the birds stopped singing. On the seventh day, the prison gates creaked open, and Sixuan was pushed out like garbage.
Heavenly King didnât even come in person. Just an order: release her. No apology. No explanation. As if she hadnât nearly lost her mind in that cold, filthy cell.
She walked out, pale and bruised. Her hands were trembling, her lips cracked. But she walked like she the Protector Leader she was.
She didnât meet the protectorsâ eyes. Let them burn with shame or anger â she didnât care. She had nothing left to give.
"How could you let this happen, Sixuan?" A protector yelled at her.
"How could I let what happen? The Heavenly King of the realm ordered my arrest, and you ask how I could let that happen?" She tried not to lose her temper.
"If you had respected our rules, that would never have happened."
"What I do is none of your business, and I expect that you stay out of it."
Her eyes flared red for a second.
The protector took a step back.
How she had forgotten who Sixuan was.
"I'm the Leader of the Protectors, and I don't have to tell you everything I do."
Period.
She had nothing more to explain.
Her hatred for Tingyuan had settled deep into her chest, like a blade she had swallowed.
She waited. For days.
Yingyuan didnât come.
No note. No word. Nothing.
She was alone. Again.
â
It was late at night. She was half-asleep when the door slammed open.
Yingyuan.
He looked like he hadnât slept. Hair messy, eyes red, shoulders slumped like the world had crushed him. He didnât say anything. Just rushed over and hugged her so tightly she gasped.
"Iâm sorry," he whispered. "I should have come. I couldnât... They locked me in. Tingyuan knew. He locked me in the damned Celestial Quarters."
She didnât hug him back at first. Her arms hung limp. Then slowly, she pushed at his chest.
"You didnât come," she said. "You left me in there like I was nothing."
"No, I didnât wantâ"
"Do you know what itâs like? I slept on stone. I threw up blood. I screamed until my voice broke and I thought I was going mad. And you⦠You didnât come."
He looked shattered.
"I couldnât. I swear. I was losing my mind every day I wasnât with you."
She stared at him. Long. Hard.
âI was scared,â he said, voice soft. âIâve never been that scared in my life. I didnât know how to face you. How to fix it.â
She stared at him. âYou donât fix things by disappearing.â
âI know,â he repeated, a whisper this time.
Then something shifted. He reached out, slow, like waiting for her to push him away. His hand landed on her waist. She didnât stop him.
He stepped into her space.
Her breath caught. She didnât want to want him, not right nowânot after everything. But the ache in her chest didnât feel like just anger.
His forehead touched hers. âI love you,â he said.
She closed her eyes. Her fingers, traitorous and weak, gripped his robe.
He kissed her.
Soft at first. Careful. Like asking for permission.
But then she kissed him back.
And it changed.
It turned into the kind of kiss that left no space, no doubt, no air. His hands wrapped around her waist, her arms around his neck, both of them pulling each other close like theyâd been drowning for weeks.
She gasped into his mouth as he backed her into the wall.
There was nothing slow now. Just hands, lips, the heat of everything they never said.
And when he pulled back, breathless, their foreheads still touching, he whispered, âTell me to stop if you want me to.â
She didnât.
Her only answer was pulling him back in.
â
That night, they made love. Not like in stories. Not perfect or poetic.
It was messy. Raw. Like two people clawing at each other just to feel something real again. Her sobs mixed with his gasps. She gripped his back like she didnât trust the world to let them have this again.
He held her face while he moved inside her. âIâm here,â he said again and again like a promise. Like a prayer.
She cried. Not because it hurt. But because it didnât. Because it felt like home, and she didnât know if she was allowed that anymore.
When it was over, she fell asleep on his chest. He didnât move. He just held her.
â
The Rye elders tested her heart. They said she loved him too much, too fast. Said it was dangerous. That kind of love could ruin everything.
Sixuan didnât argue.
âFate doesnât care if itâs too soon,â she said.
She wasnât trying to convince them. She just meant it. Fate doesnât wait for permission. It doesnât follow rules. And she wasnât going to stop loving him just because they were afraid.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
â
Tingyuan wasnât stupid. He could feel the shift in energy. So he worked Yingyuan to death. Made him run realm affairs, oversee the stars, tend to the beasts.
Still, Yingyuan showed up. 15 minutes a day. Every day. Just to hold her hand. Just to kiss her hair.
Tingyuan called Sixuan to the Grand Hall.
He didnât ease into it.
"I want you."
She blinked. "You what?"
"I want you to be mine."
She laughed. Not because it was funny.
"You imprisoned me. You almost made me lose my mind. And now you want to own me?"
He stepped down from the platform. "I am a Heavenly King. I take what I want."
She backed away. "I am not yours to take."
He reached for her.
Struggling, she ran to a corner.
He marched towards her, grabbing her arm tightly almost like she was wood.
She couldn't use her magic.
Of course.
He froze her powers.
He grabbed her robe and tore off a part, revealing her shoulders and cleavages.
Yingyuan stormed in.
"How dare you touch my woman?!!" He barked, hair flaring wildly behind him as he stormed over.
Yingyuan delivered a blow to the King's face
They fought. And this wasnât sparring. It was bloody, bone-snapping, magic-scorching war. The palace cracked. The sky turned black. The spirits trembled.
And everyone blamed her.
The whispers started. Some of her own people avoided her gaze. Villagers glared. Elders stayed silent.
Flowers began to die. Animals ran from her path.
She started to feel it, too. Her legs weaker. Her aura dim.
The elders noticed. They ran tests.
Pregnant.
They were silent for a long time. Then they nodded and decided: this stays between us.
She kept working. Kept smiling when she needed to. But she got paler. Sometimes sheâd faint standing up.
Then Yingyuan finally showed.
He saw the elders using magic to stabilize her. He pushed through the circle and knelt.
"Whatâs going on?"
"Sheâs with child," the elder said. "Yours."
He froze. Then his lips trembled, and he smiled. Weakly.
The elders left the room.
"Are you angry?" she asked.
He took her hand and kissed it. "I'm the happiest man right now Xuan'er. Iâve just been trying to survive being away from you. I donât want to spend another second apart. Especially not now."
She sobbed. She didnât mean to. It just burst out of her.
â
Tingyuan was suspicious.
So he set his trap.
He sent Yingyuan to the mortal realm. Told him it was urgent. The second he passed through, the barrier sealed shut.
Yingyuan screamed.
Meanwhile, Sixuan collapsed in her room.
The pain was unbearable. Worse than battle. Worse than anything.
Her body twisted. Her eyes rolled back. Blood on the sheets.
The elders screamed spells. One broke a mirror. Another used their own life force. Four of them coughed blood.
Then, finally, a sound. But not a babyâs cry.
A golden cocoon.
It hit the bed gently.
The ground shook.
The Mystic Crystal Fall stopped.
Sky turned grey.
The music of the harps ended.
Everything went cold.
Sixuan passed out.
Yingyuan screamed in the mortal realm, grabbing his chest. He felt it. Her agony. Then peace. Then... something else.
He contacted Chang Yi, an immortal attendant who's also his best friend. Begged for answers.
Chang Yi gave none.
Not because he didn't want to, but he didn't know anything.
There was so much tension in the realm that the Heavenly King would kill him if he went near Sixuan.
News had spread that the brothers were in love with Sixuan.
There were no answers to give.
Sixuan woke up with a scream. Then saw it.
Her child.
She held the cocoon in her arms. It was warm. It pulsed.
Then a knock. Noâdrums.
Palace guards.
Tingyuan wanted her arrested.
For what?
Good question. Probably jealousy.
The elders moved fast. They grabbed her. She grabbed the cocoon. They ran to the ancient tree. Thousands of years old.
Together, they cast the sealing spell. It took all of them. Their bodies shook.
She kissed the cocoon. "Stay safe, my love."
An elder held the cocoon softly before placing it in the hole they had created in the heart of the tree.
Sixuan took off her jade phoenix pin and handed it to the eldest.
"If I donât make it back... give this to my child."
"You have our word."
The guards reached her. Yanked her by the arms.
She didnât cry.
But her heart broke in silence.
She looked back at the tree softly. Her child was in there
The tree stood still. Quiet. A secret guardian.
And she was gone.
The skies over the realm hadn't been the same since her imprisonment. The sunlight barely touched the palace walls. The air felt too thick. Too quiet. Even the birds stopped singing. On the seventh day, the prison gates creaked open, and Sixuan was pushed out like garbage.
Heavenly King didnât even come in person. Just an order: release her. No apology. No explanation. As if she hadnât nearly lost her mind in that cold, filthy cell.
She walked out, pale and bruised. Her hands were trembling, her lips cracked. But she walked like she the Protector Leader she was.
She didnât meet the protectorsâ eyes. Let them burn with shame or anger â she didnât care. She had nothing left to give.
"How could you let this happen, Sixuan?" A protector yelled at her.
"How could I let what happen? The Heavenly King of the realm ordered my arrest, and you ask how I could let that happen?" She tried not to lose her temper.
"If you had respected our rules, that would never have happened."
"What I do is none of your business, and I expect that you stay out of it."
Her eyes flared red for a second.
The protector took a step back.
How she had forgotten who Sixuan was.
"I'm the Leader of the Protectors, and I don't have to tell you everything I do."
Period.
She had nothing more to explain.
Her hatred for Tingyuan had settled deep into her chest, like a blade she had swallowed.
She waited. For days.
Yingyuan didnât come.
No note. No word. Nothing.
She was alone. Again.
â
It was late at night. She was half-asleep when the door slammed open.
Yingyuan.
He looked like he hadnât slept. Hair messy, eyes red, shoulders slumped like the world had crushed him. He didnât say anything. Just rushed over and hugged her so tightly she gasped.
"Iâm sorry," he whispered. "I should have come. I couldnât... They locked me in. Tingyuan knew. He locked me in the damned Celestial Quarters."
She didnât hug him back at first. Her arms hung limp. Then slowly, she pushed at his chest.
"You didnât come," she said. "You left me in there like I was nothing."
"No, I didnât wantâ""Do you know what itâs like? I slept on stone. I threw up blood. I screamed until my voice broke and I thought I was going mad. And you⦠You didnât come."
He looked shattered.
"I couldnât. I swear. I was losing my mind every day I wasnât with you."
She stared at him. Long. Hard.
âI was scared,â he said, voice soft. âIâve never been that scared in my life. I didnât know how to face you. How to fix it.â
She stared at him. âYou donât fix things by disappearing.â
âI know,â he repeated, a whisper this time.
Then something shifted. He reached out, slow, like waiting for her to push him away. His hand landed on her waist. She didnât stop him.
He stepped into her space.
Her breath caught. She didnât want to want him, not right nowânot after everything. But the ache in her chest didnât feel like just anger.
His forehead touched hers. âI love you,â he said.
She closed her eyes. Her fingers, traitorous and weak, gripped his robe.
He kissed her.
Soft at first. Careful. Like asking for permission.
But then she kissed him back.
And it changed.
It turned into the kind of kiss that left no space, no doubt, no air. His hands wrapped around her waist, her arms around his neck, both of them pulling each other close like theyâd been drowning for weeks.
She gasped into his mouth as he backed her into the wall.
There was nothing slow now. Just hands, lips, the heat of everything they never said.
And when he pulled back, breathless, their foreheads still touching, he whispered, âTell me to stop if you want me to.â
She didnât.
Her only answer was pulling him back in.
â
That night, they made love. Not like in stories. Not perfect or poetic.
It was messy. Raw. Like two people clawing at each other just to feel something real again. Her sobs mixed with his gasps. She gripped his back like she didnât trust the world to let them have this again.
He held her face while he moved inside her. âIâm here,â he said again and again like a promise. Like a prayer.
She cried. Not because it hurt. But because it didnât. Because it felt like home, and she didnât know if she was allowed that anymore.
When it was over, she fell asleep on his chest. He didnât move. He just held her.
â
The Rye elders tested her heart. They said she loved him too much, too fast. Said it was dangerous. That kind of love could ruin everything.
Sixuan didnât argue.
âFate doesnât care if itâs too soon,â she said.
She wasnât trying to convince them. She just meant it. Fate doesnât wait for permission. It doesnât follow rules. And she wasnât going to stop loving him just because they were afraid.
â
Tingyuan wasnât stupid. He could feel the shift in energy. So he worked Yingyuan to death. Made him run realm affairs, oversee the stars, tend to the beasts.
Still, Yingyuan showed up. 15 minutes a day. Every day. Just to hold her hand. Just to kiss her hair.
Tingyuan called Sixuan to the Grand Hall.
He didnât ease into it.
"I want you."
She blinked. "You what?"
"I want you to be mine."
She laughed. Not because it was funny.
"You imprisoned me. You almost made me lose my mind. And now you want to own me?"
He stepped down from the platform. "I am a Heavenly King. I take what I want."
She backed away. "I am not yours to take."
He reached for her.
Struggling, she ran to a corner.
He marched towards her, grabbing her arm tightly almost like she was wood.
She couldn't use her magic.
Of course.
He froze her powers.
He grabbed her robe and tore off a part, revealing her shoulders and cleavages.
Yingyuan stormed in.
"How dare you touch my woman?!!" He barked, hair flaring wildly behind him as he stormed over.
Yingyuan delivered a blow to the King's face
They fought. And this wasnât sparring. It was bloody, bone-snapping, magic-scorching war. The palace cracked. The sky turned black. The spirits trembled.
And everyone blamed her.
The whispers started. Some of her own people avoided her gaze. Villagers glared. Elders stayed silent.
Flowers began to die. Animals ran from her path.
She started to feel it, too. Her legs weaker. Her aura dim.
The elders noticed. They ran tests.
Pregnant.
They were silent for a long time. Then they nodded and decided: this stays between us.
She kept working. Kept smiling when she needed to. But she got paler. Sometimes sheâd faint standing up.
Then Yingyuan finally showed.
He saw the elders using magic to stabilize her. He pushed through the circle and knelt.
"Whatâs going on?"
"Sheâs with child," the elder said. "Yours."
He froze. Then his lips trembled, and he smiled. Weakly.
The elders left the room.
"Are you angry?" she asked.
He took her hand and kissed it. "I'm the happiest man right now Xuan'er. Iâve just been trying to survive being away from you. I donât want to spend another second apart. Especially not now."
She sobbed. She didnât mean to. It just burst out of her.
â
Tingyuan was suspicious.
So he set his trap.
He sent Yingyuan to the mortal realm. Told him it was urgent. The second he passed through, the barrier sealed shut.
Yingyuan screamed.
Meanwhile, Sixuan collapsed in her room.
The pain was unbearable. Worse than battle. Worse than anything.
Her body twisted. Her eyes rolled back. Blood on the sheets.
The elders screamed spells. One broke a mirror. Another used their own life force. Four of them coughed blood.
Then, finally, a sound. But not a babyâs cry.
A golden cocoon.
It hit the bed gently.
The ground shook.
The Mystic Crystal Fall stopped.
Sky turned grey.
The music of the harps ended.
Everything went cold.
Sixuan passed out.
Yingyuan screamed in the mortal realm, grabbing his chest. He felt it. Her agony. Then peace. Then... something else.
He contacted Chang Yi, an immortal attendant who's also his best friend. Begged for answers.
Chang Yi gave none.
Not because he didn't want to, but he didn't know anything.
There was so much tension in the realm that the Heavenly King would kill him if he went near Sixuan.
News had spread that the brothers were in love with Sixuan.
There were no answers to give.
Sixuan woke up with a scream. Then saw it.
Her child.
She held the cocoon in her arms. It was warm. It pulsed.
Then a knock. Noâdrums.
Palace guards.
Tingyuan wanted her arrested.
For what?
Good question. Probably jealousy.
The elders moved fast. They grabbed her. She grabbed the cocoon. They ran to the ancient tree. Thousands of years old.
Together, they cast the sealing spell. It took all of them. Their bodies shook.
She kissed the cocoon. "Stay safe, my love."
An elder held the cocoon softly before placing it in the hole they had created in the heart of the tree.
Sixuan took off her jade phoenix pin and handed it to the eldest.
"If I donât make it back... give this to my child."
"You have our word."
The guards reached her. Yanked her by the arms.
She didnât cry.
But her heart broke in silence.
She looked back at the tree softly. Her child was in there
The tree stood still. Quiet. A secret guardian.
And she was gone.