Not resisting the bad ending: Red-clad figure engulfed in flames

News came from the Western Regions that Chu Chengchao had committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

He was a criminal, his body wrapped in a horse's hide, and he didn't even have a cenotaph.

She stood in the suddenly empty Prince Lin's mansion, watching the palace servants expressionlessly inventory, seal, and move away all the royal family's belongings, along with the last trace of his existence.

She didn't know what he had done, no one told her, she could only wait, wait for her own ending, just like always.

Mu Xin and Mu Sheng, her rare good friends and Chu Chengchao's last concern, were sent to the northern and western deserts for political marriages. Later, she heard bits and pieces that Mu Sheng entered the Western Desert royal court and was never heard from again. As for Mu Xin, they said she was "unlucky" and was killed by mutinous soldiers at the border.

Her mother sent someone to fetch her back to the Lu residence, hoping to find a moment of respite, but what awaited her was her brothers' undisguised disgust.

"That widow is so unlucky! She brought death to the Prince of Lin, doesn't she fear she'll bring death to her whole family too!"

"Find someone else to remarry right now, and get out of the Lu family!"

She still wanted to live a good life and manage the estate her mother had secretly allocated to her. However, most of the tenants and managers on the estate were men who were outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant, and would even look at her and the few remaining girls with lewd eyes. They dared not go out easily and could only stay in the small courtyard, doing embroidery and weaving, which they would secretly exchange for a little money with the help of trusted farm women.

She wanted to leave, to go to the Western Regions, to see the place where Cheng Chao last stayed, to feel the wind he had blown. But leaving the pass required documents, and how could she, a convicted criminal, obtain them? Besides, with war raging outside, where could she go?

She picked up the military treatise left behind by Chengchao and tried to practice it on her own, but without guidance, her efforts were in vain. She read many books—historical records, military strategies, and classics—but the wisdom in those books could not change the cramped and suffocating life before her; it only made her more desperate.

While her mother was alive, she could still protect her to some extent. But as soon as her mother passed away, her brothers immediately seized the estate deeds and drove her out of the Lu family mansion. She went to the government office to appeal her case, but the official raised his eyelids and glanced at her, his lips curling into an undisguised sneer: "Oh, so it's the Lu family that caused the death of Prince Lin. Women should behave themselves and not cause any more trouble."

It is unclear when exactly, but rumors began to circulate among the common people that she was a demon, that she carried bad luck and was the cause of bringing misfortune to husbands and the country. The rumors grew more and more rampant, and finally, in a so-called divine punishment presided over by local gentry and elders, she was tied to a pyre.

She stood on the dry firewood, dressed in a red dress that had been prepared beforehand. Everyone surrounded her, sometimes spitting insults, sometimes laughing.

As the flames ignited, she gazed at the faces of those who had avenged their great grudge, feeling utterly bewildered.

What did she do wrong?

Obeying her parents' wishes, she married the eldest prince, whom she had never met. Chu Chengchao was a good man; he was kind, cheerful, and tried his best to treat her well. But he died, not because of her, yet she had to bear the stigma of being a jinx to her husband.

She just wanted to go with her sister to feel the northwest wind and see the legendary vast Western Regions, like the statue of the general on horseback. But her sister entered the Crown Prince's residence and was never heard from again. She couldn't even see her sister one last time when she died.

Born into the prestigious Lu family, she married into the most noble royal family in the world, seemingly possessing everything, yet in reality, she had nothing. Her mother said, "If only I had a child." But when Chu Cheng'an summoned her to the palace, the eunuch checked her for pregnancy, and there was a cup of poisoned wine beside her. Because she had no child, she survived by sheer luck, and thus endured these years of lingering existence.

Life seemed like a dead end from the very beginning. She followed the rules and never made any mistakes, so why did she end up like this?

Red flames swept across the sky, and she remembered the two princesses who had passed away many years ago.

Chu Qin once said she wanted to be the emperor, which she found shocking and tried to dissuade her, thinking it was too terrible. In the end, Chu Qin was executed for treason.

Chu Ling longed for freedom, but was repeatedly used as a bargaining chip in political marriages, ultimately jumping off the highest Wentian Tower.

Like everyone else, she used to not understand why, as people born into privilege, they had to end their lives in this way.

Now, amidst the raging flames that engulf her, she suddenly understood.

They seem to have everything, but it's all in the hands of others. Fathers, brothers, husbands… those who wield power can arbitrarily decide their fate. From the moment they are born, they are destined to have nothing.

She recalled a joke she had made with Chu Qin many years ago. Back then, they were young, and in the Imperial Garden, Chu Qin had spoken about the hardships women faced.

She laughed and said, "Qinmei, you have such courage and vision, no one is as good as marrying you! Why don't you work hard, conquer this world, and use it as your dowry to marry all the girls in the world? That way, no girl will need to get married and will be trapped under someone else's roof for the rest of her life!"

Chu Qin gave her a high five as a solemn vow: "Alright! My little general, you must lend me a hand!"

Qin'er, I'm sorry.

If time could turn back to yesterday, I would surely raise the sword you gave me, stand with you on the beacon tower, and watch the great fire burn this cannibalistic old world to the ground.

The flames still burned, but they engulfed her and them.

She looked towards the northwest, a distant place she could never reach again.

In the last moment before her consciousness faded, she seemed to truly see a raging fire that spread across the sky, far more magnificent and thorough than the fire that had engulfed her.