Chapter 28: The Protagonist’s Law Part 2

Shi Yuning relaxed a fraction. As long as her mother was safe.

“Are we going to die here today?”

She gave a bitter smile. Wave after wave of assassins, attack after attack—Prince Yu was determined to kill them this time.

“Not necessarily. I think his goal is to capture us alive.”

From the clashes so far, Xie Zhaoran had noticed the enemy fought without restraint but held back from lethal blows. They must have some other purpose in mind.

They wouldn’t kill them, but they wouldn’t make it easy either. There was a phrase for it: life worse than death.

If it was Prince Yu, he wanted both revenge and to use them. Falling into his hands didn’t bear thinking about.

Xie Zhaoran glanced at the woman beside her. No matter what, even if she died, she wouldn’t let Shi Yuning be taken.

The dense forest was crisscrossed with branches. They blocked arrows but slowed their flight.

Shi Yuning heard footsteps closing in from all sides, a terrible premonition gripping her heart. After the earlier battle, she had little strength left.

Xie Zhaoran had shifted from holding her hand to supporting her waist, bearing much of Shi Yuning’s weight.

Shi Yuning almost suggested Xie Zhaoran leave her behind—save herself if she could.

But the words died on her lips as she saw the gash on Xie Zhaoran’s cheek from a branch, thin trails of blood trickling down her slender jawline. Her profile was taut, jaw clenched.

She was spent too.

In that case, if they were to die, they’d die together. At least they’d have company on the road to the underworld.

Besides, Shi Yuning clung to a fierce belief: they wouldn’t die today.

“What’s wrong?” Xie Zhaoran asked, sensing Shi Yuning hesitate.

Shi Yuning yanked her foot free from the tangled grass and pressed on. “Nothing. I didn’t expect the grass to be such a hassle.”

Then, as if struck by a thought, she asked Xie Zhaoran, “Did you ever go to teahouses in the capital to listen to storytellers?”

Xie Zhaoran kept moving without pause, puzzled by the question. “A time or two.” It had been during festivals, dragged along by family for group outings. She hadn’t cared for it herself.

Shi Yuning went on. “In situations like this—fleeing for our lives in some wild, desolate place—the righteous heroes from those tales always run into a few tropes like this. And—”

Xie Zhaoran was surprised Shi Yuning could still chat about old stories amid their desperate escape. She couldn’t fathom the point.

Suddenly, they burst through a natural barrier of thick trees, and the view opened up before them.

Shi Yuning hurried forward a short distance, as if to confirm something. She eyed the deep chasm ahead and turned to wink at Xie Zhaoran, continuing, “And that’s when a cliff appears.”

She paused, glancing toward the sounds in the forest. “Then we’re cornered at the edge of the precipice, forced to make a choice.”

No sooner had she spoken than figures leaped out from behind the tree barrier—the nun among them.

Still wearing that dignified smile, the nun strode to face them directly.

“Surrender. There’s no road ahead.”

Shi Yuning turned to Xie Zhaoran and raised her brows, as if to say: See? I told you.

Xie Zhaoran looked down at her and smiled silently. She was right.

She pulled Shi Yuning close, her expression hardening as she faced the nun. “Who sent you?”

“Miss Xie is as clever as they come. You must already know, so why ask? My master instructed that if Miss Xie complies, he will spare you both.”

Xie Zhaoran’s eyes turned icy. She called out to the figures behind the nun. “Qin Xiao, come out.”

Shi Yuning looked in surprise. Where was Miss Qin Xiao?

Had they captured her?

The nun seemed to grow impatient. “Enough delaying. Hurry up and—”

Before she finished, a figure stepped forward from her right rear.

The woman moved to the center, removed her face mask, and looked at Xie Zhaoran with complicated eyes.

“Miss Qin Xiao, how could you—” Shi Yuning could scarcely believe her eyes the moment she saw Qin Xiao.

Qin Xiao merely glanced indifferently at her before turning her gaze to Xie Zhaoran. “I knew I couldn’t hide it from you.”

Xie Zhaoran replied coldly, “Why?”

Qin Xiao let out a scoff. “I’d like to ask you the same thing. Why? Why give up on years of scheming!”

“So you threw in your lot with Prince Yu? Who exactly are you? What are you after?”

Qin Xiao brushed away a tear sliding from the corner of her eye. “Surrender. Prince Yu promised me he’d spare your life.”

She glanced at Shi Yuning, whom Xie Zhaoran was shielding. As for her, though, she made no such guarantees.

Seeing that Qin Xiao had no answer, Xie Zhaoran withdrew her gaze and looked only at the person in her arms. “You’ve read plenty of books. In stories, when a subordinate betrays their master, what’s the usual reason?”

Shi Yuning was still reeling from the shock. Hearing the question, she blurted out without thinking, “Because the other side offered her something she wanted.”

Xie Zhaoran nodded. The gaze she fixed on Qin Xiao burned with intensity. She had no interest in asking what Prince Yu had promised—whatever it was, betrayal was betrayal.

Meeting Xie Zhaoran’s eyes, Qin Xiao felt a pang in her heart. She had been a spy planted at Xie Zhaoran’s side by her father from the start.

Once the Crown Prince ascended the throne and then passed away, Xie Zhaoran could become the Empress Dowager’s favored regent. With Xie Zhaoran’s trust secured, her father would have an ally to overthrow the Northern Border Dynasty and declare himself emperor.

But all of that had turned to soap bubbles after Xie Zhaoran’s divorce from the Crown Prince.

Fortunately, Prince Yu had promised her father that, if he claimed the throne, he would fully support her father in replacing the Northern Border royal family.

The mountain wind howled fiercely, and a flock of birds suddenly took flight, as if sensing the peril and fleeing this summit thick with killing intent.

With a raise of her hand, Qin Xiao signaled, and the archers drew their bows and nocked their arrows.

“Don’t make me do this,” Qin Xiao shouted at Xie Zhaoran. “Lay down your arms and come over. I swear I’ll ensure you live.”

Xie Zhaoran made no move, only gazing into the distance, a flash of resolute sorrow crossing her eyes.

It seemed they would die here today. She wasn’t afraid of death herself—she just didn’t want Shi Yuning, so young, to perish with her in this desolate wilderness.

Shi Yuning tugged at Xie Zhaoran’s sleeve. When Xie Zhaoran looked at her, she pointed to the fathomless chasm behind them, pressed her lips together, and said, “Have you heard of the cliff rule?”

Xie Zhaoran raised an eyebrow. “Hm?”

Shi Yuning explained quickly. “In every storyteller’s tale, when the protagonist is backed to the edge of a cliff and has no choice but to jump, something always happens.”

Xie Zhaoran shook her head. What could happen? Nothing but a shattered corpse at the bottom.

Shi Yuning gave a faint smile. “The protagonist survival rule.”

“What?” Xie Zhaoran was baffled.

“In every story, when the protagonist falls off a cliff—no matter if it’s ten thousand feet high, lined with blades or seas of fire, crawling with demons or ghosts—they don’t just survive. They find some rare treasure because of it.”

Shi Yuning’s smile was confident, though the tears in her eyes undermined it a little. Xie Zhaoran might have believed her more without them.

“Don’t listen to her nonsense,” Qin Xiao called out. “This is Xiuya Cliff. You’ll be smashed to pieces if you fall. Come here—Prince Yu will at least let you live.”

Qin Xiao’s heart raced with panic. She told herself Xie Zhaoran wouldn’t be foolish enough to believe such absurd tales, yet she couldn’t help recalling Xie Zhaoran’s uncharacteristic behavior ever since Shi Yuning had entered the picture.

“No—no! Archers, loose! Loose!”

Qin Xiao watched in horror as the two leaped off together. She wanted to wound Xie Zhaoran at least—better to call a physician later than let her plunge to her death!

But it was too late!

Those two figures vanished from sight with grim determination.

The pair plummeted downward. Xie Zhaoran clenched her teeth, mustering her last scrap of strength to kick off a tree trunk jutting slantwise from the cliff face, using it to spring upward.

With her left arm, Xie Zhaoran clutched Shi Yuning tightly to her chest. Her right hand swung her sword, thrusting it into a crevice in the sheer rock wall.

Blinding sparks flew as they finally halted their fall, barely clinging on.

Shi Yuning’s face was ashen as paper. She glanced down at the misty abyss below, bottomless and swirling with fog, then looked up at Xie Zhaoran. Tears welled in her eyes, leaving her speechless.

“Is this your protagonist rule?” Xie Zhaoran’s face bore a smile, but her voice was hoarse.

Shi Yuning froze, then tears streamed down her cheeks. She hugged Xie Zhaoran back fiercely. She’d only been babbling—what was she, a protagonist? Those story heroes shone with glory.

She was useless by comparison.

“Don’t cry.” Xie Zhaoran held her tight with one arm, cradling her like the world’s most precious treasure. “No tears. We’ll live, I promise.”

In her heart, she vowed that even if it cost her dying breath, she’d carve out a chance for Shi Yuning to survive.

Below them stretched the endless cliff. They dangled precariously from the sword wedged into the rock crevice, liable to slip at any moment.

Shi Yuning realized it too. She strained to jam her own sword into a crevice, but failed.

“Don’t move. Listen to me.” Xie Zhaoran’s right hand trembled violently; the torn wound throbbed with agony. She couldn’t hold on much longer. “See that tree growing slantwise below?”

Shi Yuning peered down. “Mm?”

“I pushed off it earlier. The trunk isn’t thick, but you’re slight—you should be able to hold onto it. Qiangdi will realize something’s wrong soon. She’ll report to the Princess, and they’ll come searching for us.”

“I’ll throw you to it now. You have to grab hold.”

Shi Yuning eyed the tree—it was some distance away. “What about you?”

Xie Zhaoran squeezed her tighter. In the spot Shi Yuning couldn’t see, tears slipped unbidden from her eyes. “Without your weight, this sword can hold a bit longer.”

Shi Yuning buried her face in Xie Zhaoran’s chest and squeezed her eyes shut. “Okay. You hold on.”

Xie Zhaoran drew a deep breath, enduring the knife-twisting pain in her heart, and hurled Shi Yuning toward the tree.

Seeing Shi Yuning latch on successfully drained the last of her taut strength like an ebbing tide. She could hold no more.

Her grip on the sword hilt began to slide, inch by inch.

“Live well.”

Darkness claimed her vision, and Xie Zhaoran’s body drifted downward like a falling leaf, withering away.

“No—!”

Shi Yuning screamed hysterically, reaching out desperately toward the plummeting figure. She had to catch her.

Her fingertips just grazed her.

As Xie Zhaoran was about to vanish from sight, Shi Yuning didn’t hesitate for an instant. She flung herself after her without a thought for her life.

She hadn’t confessed her feelings to Xie Zhaoran yet. Hadn’t told her she adored her.

Hadn’t eaten bean curd at A Bei’s with Xie Zhaoran. Hadn’t strolled the lotus pond in the West Garden. Hadn’t even properly thanked her.

Better to end it all here than live alone with regrets forever after.

If they died, they’d die together.