Chapter One: Yun Zheng, Deputy General of the Great Ming

Yun Zheng had a dream.

In the dream, his childhood sweetheart, Xiao Xiao, wore a snow-white wedding gown, nestling happily in his arms like a blossoming lotus.

Her belly gradually swelled, and ten months passed in the blink of an eye until a lovely baby was born.

Yun Zheng held the little one, who reached out with tender, pink hands to touch his cheek, and he was utterly captivated.

Beside him, Xiao Xiao watched the expression in his eyes, and her own face began to change.

She snatched the child back from him.

"Do you love the child more, or me?"

Before Yun Zheng could answer, he saw Xiao Xiao’s red lips suddenly split toward her ears.

She opened a blood-red maw, revealing sharp, jagged teeth. She lowered her head and bit the head off the child she had birthed herself. As she chewed, she muttered indistinct words, her cold, hollow gaze still locked onto him.

"Tell me... do you... love the child... more... or me?"

Yun Zheng scrambled backward in terror and woke up with a scream, drenched in sweat. Not only his pajamas but the sheets and quilt were soaked through.

He glanced at the glowing wall clock; it was only three o'clock.

But he could not fall back asleep.

Having slept poorly due to the nightmare, Yun Zheng had to head to school with dark circles under his eyes like a panda.

"Hi! Yun Zheng, I ran into you on the way again. It’s always such a coincidence. Did you miss your princess last night?"

Just as Yun Zheng stepped off the light rail, a slender hand hooked into his arm. The girl pulled him toward the school gate with effortless grace.

That all-too-familiar voice reminded him of the scene in his dream, and his neck instantly went cold, beads of sweat breaking out on his back.

The surrounding classmates looked at him with envious eyes, but only Yun Zheng knew his own suffering.

Xiao Xiao, in both dress and figure, did not look at all like a girl who had just turned fifteen.

She wore a black silk dress, its shallow V-neckline revealing a hint of deep cleavage pushed up by her towering bosom, while a pure white silk belt