"Pain doesn't make people, it's love that makes people. The pain is inconsequential. It's love that saves them."
IN WHICH ...
Xie Lian's new personal guard is not all that she seems when a series of events reveals that she's not a just junior offic...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
PROLOGUE : FLOWERS FOR A GOD
It's funny, really. How far you'd go for the people that you love. If you truly loved someone enough, you'd kill yourself trying to make sure they were okay, even if they never said acknowledged or thanked you.
And that's how a girl with midnight black hair, tied into two braids, and a pair of deep blue eyes ended up in the middle of a flower field when the sun had barely begun to rise. Oh, but she loved the sunrise and sunset from this particular place. The way the colours blended in a perfect symphony, the reds and the blues and the purples.
This particular flower field had a mystical aura surrounding it. It was shrouded with densely populated trees, standing up straight as if they were soldiers ready to march. Yet once the flowers started to grow, the trees didn't dare touch them. Because of the way the flower field was positioned on the side of the mountain, it was the perfect viewing point for the beautiful colours that would paint the sky.
Zhen Xiang wasn't one for judging beauty, but she could appreciate a beautiful thing.
The Zhen family had a strange history, you see. Wang-Lei and Xia had met and fallen in love rather quickly which caused them to run away from their kingdom. They married and settled in a small town further west named Huadi Village. Unfortunately, their marriage wasn't the happiest and it began to breakdown not long after it had started. Thus, they tried to save it by having children. Lots and lots of children.
Zhen Xiang was the second child of nine, the first of two girls as well. Even though she had this many siblings, you'd never see her complain about any of them. She loved her family more then she loved herself, and sometimes, it was dangerous. They were commoners, poor ones at that, so whoever could work, had to work.
That's how she ended up in this mysterious flower field. Her little sister loved flowers; she made crowns for all of her siblings (even when some of the boys grumbled about it). But even though she was so young, her flower crowns and bracelets were always popular when Zhen Xiang went to sell them in the closest kingdom.
See, Zhen Xiang had a keen eye for detail and could retain most information told to her which meant picking flowers so much easier. She would only pick the flowers when they were in the peak of their bloom and to her, those were always held the most vibrant colours. Red, blue, white, yellow. If she could stay here forever, she would.
Breaking off the stem, Zhen Xiang lifted a white petaled wonder up and pushed back her fringe to get a better look at it. A bright smile formed on her lips as she observed and gently placed it in her basket (that was mostly full already). Yet she desired to pick more, as if something was urging her to stay just that little bit longer.
A few more, she thought, just to be safe. I don't want the boys complaining that I haven't picked up their favourite colour when they eventually get a crown on their heads.
