The desert wind, laden with sand and grit, polished the Liuli tiles of the Western Regions' royal palace until they gleamed with an increasingly desolate chill. Standing upon the ramparts, Yuwen Cheng gazed at the waning moon on the horizon, his thoughts involuntarily drifting back to the days of his youth.
He and Su Yao, the prime minister's daughter, had grown up together, often playing and laughing in the palace gardens. When Su Yao smiled, her eyes curved like crescent moons, always sending ripples through Yuwen Cheng's heart. As the years passed, this childhood bond imperceptibly transformed into an indescribable romance.
Yet the volatile political climate between the Western Regions and the Central Plains rendered this romance agonizingly fragile. To preserve peace between the two nations, Yuwen Cheng was forced to take Princess Lin Qingya of the Central Plains as his bride. On the day of the grand wedding, the palace of the Western Regions was adorned with lanterns and festoons, bustling with jubilation, but Yuwen Cheng's heart was a barren wasteland.
Chapter 108