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

"Oh? Is that so?" King Wu said indifferently, "You have followed General Fu for many years, do you really know nothing?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I truly knew nothing about this." Ding Yinan lightly tapped his forehead on the ground, his slightly hunched back revealing his humility and subservience.

King Wu: "Since you do not know, then go and investigate it thoroughly for me."

Ding Yinan was astonished: "Your Majesty, the batch buried this morning..." weren't they the eunuchs and palace maids who had served the young emperor before? Everyone in the palace who knew about it has been wiped out. How can we find out anything now?

"Come with me."

Amidst the artificial rocks and under the locust tree, the entrance to a dungeon, only tall enough for one person to fit through its narrow opening, appeared before Ding Yinan.

The King of Wu glanced at him and said, "All three thousand four hundred palace maids and over eighteen hundred eunuchs are imprisoned down there."

"minister……"

As the cool autumn breeze blows, the slight chill seems to emanate from the human heart.

"I grant you permission to kill. If you kill one, you kill one; if you kill two, you kill both. Don't say I'm cold-blooded; my cold-bloodedness is far less than that of my good nephew." King Wu stood with his hands behind his back.

Ding Yinan remained silent.

“Moving graves and whipping corpses, using human blood to create magic arrays, refining elixirs and consuming poison…” King Wu chuckled, “These are all the good deeds of my good nephew. I am now letting them die quickly as a reward.”

Ding Yinan: "..."

"Go, find the truth for me." King Wu patted Ding Yinan's shoulder lightly, his eyes blazing with boundless anticipation. "Immortality, I yearn for it!"

Ding Yinan remained silent. He never believed in ghosts or gods, nor did he yearn for immortality, but he believed that Princess Miankang's soul still existed even after she died.

A month ago, he led his army to break through the palace gates, and his first destination was the prison where Fu Qingbai was imprisoned. He found a letter that Fu Qingbai had hidden under the straw in the corner of the cell.

The letter began with the hastily written words "last will and testament," which he quickly crossed out with black ink. The next line, beginning with meticulous and precise writing, was much more formal and detailed.

"Seeing this letter is like seeing you in person, Princess Miankang. I am Fu Qingbai."

At this critical moment of life and death, I should have left a message for my family or given them proper farewell instructions.

But after putting pen to paper, I found there was nothing to say. Hundreds of years ago, the entire Fu clan was already prepared to die for the Yuan Kingdom, so much so that I didn't know where to begin when I wanted to write anything.

Only you, I have a thousand words I want to say to you, but even at this final moment, I still can't bring myself to write them down. I don't know what identity I should use to write this letter, or how much I should write.

If I talk too much, you might think I'm too talkative; if I talk too little, you might think I'm not enthusiastic enough.

This dilemma is the first time I've faced such a situation since the deaths of my father and brothers.

You are a princess of the Yuan Kingdom, born into the spotlight. Unfortunately, I have been guarding the border for many years and am unfamiliar with the affairs of the capital, so I met you too late.

The first time I saw you was when I arrested you in the palace, mistaking you for a thief. To be precise, I didn't get to see you properly; I only caught a fleeting glance at you and vaguely learned that there was such a reckless and beautiful princess in the capital and the palace.

The next time I see you is the night before His Majesty sent me to escort you to your marriage alliance. Even though I have apologized a thousand times in my heart, I still have to apologize to you now for barging into your boudoir in the middle of the night. It was really impolite of me.

To be honest, I didn't expect you to stay that night. I could empathize with what you were thinking, but I was still angry at your stubbornness. When I left, I intentionally reminded you, which was also a reminder to myself: don't meddle in other people's business, the royal family is ruthless.

As it turned out, this warning was useless on the way to the wedding. I still softened towards you, or rather, I wasn't softening towards you at the time, but rather I saw myself in you.

At this point, you must be wondering what I've said. Don't overthink it, don't worry, don't investigate. These are things that happened in our past lives, and you, having been reincarnated three times, wouldn't remember them. I guess your memory of me is probably limited to when I refused your marriage proposal.

It's laughable, but if I had known back then that I would fall for you today, I would have asked His Majesty for your hand in marriage before you did.

However, at that time I was preoccupied with the war on the border, and it was indeed difficult to spare any attention for personal matters. By a twist of fate, our time together had not yet come.

I admire your unwavering spirit in the face of adversity, your composure in the face of danger, your intelligence, your skill, and your ingenuity. Everything about you fills me with admiration, while I know nothing about anything except a little about warfare and poetry.

I am ashamed to say that I secretly studied and worked on the crossbow bolts you took out earlier for a long time. I had only just learned the basics when I tried to take a closer look and it broke by itself. I can't fix it, and there's no one who can make replacements for it.

I don't know if Heaven will give me another chance to compensate you for the crossbow bolts, or let me express my feelings. But Heaven, please don't let me start over. I don't want to feel the pain of watching you die before my eyes again and again, unable to save you.

The first time you used my sword to end your own life, the second time I killed you by my sword in a moment of desperation to protect the emperor, and this time you died by the Ogiwara Blue Arrow.

These days I often think back to this: if I had found you in the cave in time, would you have been so resolute?

If I had found you later in the cave, and you had been properly prepared, would you have survived? Would you have married me?

If I had noticed the arrow that was flying towards you when I let you kill the emperor, could I have saved you?

Can I help you become emperor?

Could you become the first and most honorable female emperor in the history of the Yuan Kingdom?

Can you successfully prevent your marriage to a foreign ruler and avoid the emperor sending his secret guards to assassinate you on your way to the marriage?

I've thought and thought, but I can't find the answer. All of the above is just my wishful thinking. The fact that I couldn't save you is already a fact.

Yesterday, when I heard from Master Xuanqing that you had appeared, I was happy, worried, and angry all at the same time. I was happy that you hadn't left, worried that you would be disgusted if you saw me in this disheveled state, and angry that I couldn't see you. I wanted to see you.

However, after calming down, I was quite distressed. Since your physical body is dead, you should not be bound to this world. You should be free, happy, and unrestrained.

But how can I set you free? I don't know, and it seems that Master Xuanqing doesn't know either. It seems that I can't die for now; I have to live and watch you get free.

Princess Miankang, where are you in the palace now? Do you still remember me? Will you come to see me? That day in the Imperial Study must have been our destiny, it must have been.”

Ding Yinan had followed Fu Qingbai for many years and knew him very well. He had never seen such earnest words before, so the letter was highly credible.

Therefore, the news about Princess Miankang is true, and Fu Qingbai himself also has an unbelievable experience.

However, now that he has burned the letter, he will keep the things written in it to himself and take them to his grave. No one else in the world will know them except him.

"What? Are you going to defy the imperial decree?" After not receiving the answer he wanted for a long time, the King of Wu's otherwise refined face quickly turned gloomy.

Ding Yinan snapped out of his daze and smiled, "I also wish to live forever."

"Are you crazy?!" Xiang An blurted out, "There is no such thing as immortality in this world. I'm only doing this because the system won't let me start. Stop being so obsessed!"