The first time he saw her, she was kneeling on the palace path, her dark hair soaked in blood and filth like a torn brocade carp. That year, he had just quelled a vassal rebellion and entered the palace as the Prince Regent. His boot sole crushed the pieces of Suiyu in her hair as he heard her hoarse plea: "I beg Your Highness, spare my father..."
She was Su Jinyuan, the daughter of a disgraced official, cast into the washing bureau. And he was Xiao Che, whose power shook the court and the country. He insisted on keeping her by his side, watching hands that used to rest on piles of silk as they washed clothes in freezing water, watching the light in her eyes go out inch by inch.
"Lift your head." He pinched her chin, his thumb brushing against her unhealed frostbitten cheeks. "When your father impeached me for treason back then, did he ever think this day would come?"
Chapter 142