After the system set its sights on the dragon throne, the princess started courting death every day.

Xiang An dared not leave the gate of Piaoxiang Tower.

Countless times she felt panicked and afraid, but finally, she accidentally discovered that all the books in the private room on the second floor had disappeared. She turned the pages with a gust of wind, immersing herself in the book and trying her best to block out all sounds.

Days passed, and the capital grew colder day by day. Heavy snow fell, whitening the rooftops, and glistening icicles hung from the eaves. A cold wind blew in through the open window. Xiang An, lost in thought from his book, looked up at the bare branches outside the window and suddenly realized that winter had arrived.

The pristine white snow is clean and pure, as if it were the last touch of purity in the world.

After staring blankly for what seemed like an eternity, Xiang An closed the book—she had finished reading all the books in the private room and it was time for her to leave.

It drifted out of the window, facing the swirling snowflakes, and met the snow together.

I stood quietly in the snow for a long time, watching the snow drift slowly by.

The snow on the official roads of the capital was thick. Occasionally, someone would hurry by with an umbrella, and when they stepped on it, the snow would bury them up to their calves. Their breath would instantly turn into white mist in the air, and the cold wind would lash their face like a knife scraping flesh. In no time, their face would be red with cold.

Looking up at the gloomy sky, Xiang An saw that the snowflakes were still falling beautifully and thought to himself, "This winter is going to be very cold."

The high walls of the princess's mansion remain, but the two lanterns that used to sway on the eaves in summer are gone, leaving the high eaves looking extremely empty. The vermilion gate is peeling, and a few weeds have grown in the corner of the wall.

Tilting his head, Xiang An felt a strange unease: the princess's residence held a mysterious allure today.

Entering the princess's residence through the gate, the rare flowers and plants in the garden had withered, and white snow covered the branches. The fragile and dry branches stubbornly refused to fall, bearing the snowballs.

The lanterns hanging in the corridor were tattered and worn; when the cold wind blew, pieces of the paper pasted on them would be blown away.

The vast princess's mansion was littered with withered branches and fallen leaves, devoid of the bustling activity of summer, and eerily quiet, devoid of any sign of human presence.

Xiang An felt a pang of sadness, but there was nothing he could do. The princess's residence had once housed a princess who had murdered the emperor; its decline was inevitable.

In just six months, the princess's residence was almost abandoned.

She slowly walked through the courtyard, searching room by room, and finally found Xiao Ru in the kitchen.

She had lost weight; her once chubby cheeks were gone. She was wearing faded clothes, and the pearl flowers in her hair had been replaced with wooden hairpins.

Xiao Ru tended the fire in front of the stove for a while, then her mind wandered off somewhere else.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Diao Xi asked as he rubbed his hands together and breathed on them as he entered.

Xiao Ru sighed, lowered her head, and silently stuffed a match into the stove.

Diao Xi raised his hand and couldn't help but ruffle her hair: "Don't overthink it."

Xiao Ru's eyes reddened: "They...they went too far! They didn't see anything, and what they said was simply...utterly unbearable!"

"Don't cry, don't cry. You've been crying every day these past few days. You'll go blind from crying." Diao Xi hugged Xiao Ru tightly to comfort her.

Xiang An didn't know why Xiao Ru was crying, but she was very happy to see the two of them embracing each other so warmly.

She walked through the corridor, turned past the flower-lined path, and came out through the side door, where she saw someone who shouldn't have been there—Fu Qingbai.

He stood beside the side gate, staring blankly at it with a dazed expression. His face was round and smooth, and his eyes were bright and beautiful, with dark pupils that revealed an indescribable sadness.

On a snowy day, he wore a red round-necked official robe with a white jade belt around his waist. The hem of his robe swayed gently in the biting wind, making him very conspicuous standing in the white snow.

"What are you doing here?" Xiang An asked, hands on his hips, quite rudely.

But it was clearly a futile question; Fu Qingbai could neither see her nor hear her speak.

Unable to get a response, Xiang An felt bored and shook her head to leave, but found that she was as if she were trapped by an invisible and intangible barrier, unable to leave Fu Qingbai's vicinity by more than ten feet.

"System! What's going on? Why can't I move?"

Xiang An is very irritable and agitated.

There are many people in the capital, and the place she dislikes most is being around Fu Qingbai, yet now such an outrageous thing has happened.

Fu Qingbai left, but Xiang An didn't want to leave, so the screen forcibly dragged her away.

But the damn system didn't respond at all.

Following Fu Qingbai through several alleys, we emerged onto the main street. Compared to the beautiful snowscape of the official road, the snow here was mottled, and snowmelt mixed with dust flowed down the street. On both sides of the street, refugees huddled together, their clothes tattered, their faces sallow and thin. They huddled in twos and threes in corners to keep warm, but it was all in vain. The biting cold wind cruelly ravaged the poor people of the world, and corpses could be seen everywhere on the street.

Walking in the middle of the road, I looked up and saw several soldiers in fish-scale armor dragging frozen corpses piled together. Not far away, several wealthy merchants were distributing porridge. The cold air met the heat of the porridge and formed a tornado-like white mist in the air, swirling and tangling.

Along the way, Xiang An was already in tears. The scenes before her eyes were the ones she least wanted to see, or rather, the scenes she had been avoiding ever since she stopped being human.

She had been afraid of what would happen when the system announced the mission.

Throughout history, in dynasties with emperors, even if the common people lived in poverty, they could always find food to eat and avoid starvation.

In dynasties without an emperor, the court and the people are in turmoil, and even living is a luxury for ordinary people.

She hesitated when she killed the emperor, but when she thought of the system's incredible ability to start over, all her hesitation vanished in an instant.

The emperor was guilty, his crimes were heinous, and he deserved to die. So she took action.

However, she hadn't expected the system not to restart immediately. Life continued for the people, only their hardships intensified.

Even if the cold weather played a role, it was her fault that innocent people suffered so much because of her impulsive act. The people shouldn't have to live such a difficult life; it was her mistake.

Layer upon layer of guilt, like ocean waves, swept over her, so heavy that it almost drowned her.

In the distance, a pale and thin eunuch wearing a blue jacket waved and shouted, "Marquis Anwu, His Majesty urgently summons you!"

Marquis Anwu? Who?

Before Xiang An could ponder this for long, Fu Qingbai gave her the answer, panting, "I understand."

"You got promoted," Xiang An exclaimed in realization.

Dressed in a red official robe, Fu Qingbai dragged a corpse with one hand, slowly pulling it along. The effort he exerted made his jaw unconsciously tense.

Looking at his clearly defined facial features, Xiang An suddenly noticed that he had lost weight and unconsciously frowned: "You've been promoted, why don't you eat more?"

"My lord, this servant has come to move it. His Majesty is anxiously waiting for you." The eunuch breathed hot air, rubbed his hands, took the corpse from Fu Qingbai's hands, and dragged it with difficulty.

Fu Qingbai released his grip, patted the snow off his shoulders, and breathed on his trembling hands, his voice low and hoarse: "Has he gone mad again today?"

The eunuch gave an awkward smile: "This servant doesn't know."

Fu Qingbai: "..."

Inside the palace.

Forced to follow Fu Qingbai along the palace path, she was filled with trepidation as she walked. The palace was still the same palace, nothing had changed, yet everything had changed.

All the palace maids and eunuchs knelt down in fear upon seeing Fu Qingbai, some even with tears in their eyes, filled with anticipation.

Xiang An sat lightly on Fu Qingbai's shoulder, puzzled: "Why are they so afraid of you, yet so looking forward to your arrival?"

Fear is understandable, after all, Fu Qingbai killed many people both inside and outside the palace for the sake of the eldest prince's throne. What, then, is there any anticipation?