Chapter 1 The Punishment of Gouging Out the Heart

In the dark prison, there was a soft white curtain.

The prison door opened, and someone came in slowly with steady steps.

Lan Ling raised her head. These familiar footsteps, he still came. She thought that she would never see him again in this life.

She slowly walked out of the curtain. Walking was very hard for her. The long chains on her feet swayed. The sharp barbs on the chains pierced her ankles. The blood on her inner pants had congealed into hard lines. With every steps she took, more blood oozed out from her legs.

"Why are you here?" Lan Ling asked softly, her long eyelashes trembled.

"I’m here to see you." He said with a deep voice, while reaching out and pulling her.

She was a step away from him. After being pulled by him, the hook on her ankle pierced into her flesh and pulled out large chunk of flesh.

She bit her lip, sweating profusely. He suddenly tore off her white robe, revealing a touch of pink inner garment.

Ling Feng looked down at her and her slightly bulging stomach.

Lan Ling's hoarse voice cut through the night. Her face was pale, and she clenched her lips. There was fresh blood on her feet.

Ling Feng looked Lan Ling up and down, stared at her slightly bulging belly, and said coldly: "He won't come to save you, I have already spread the news that you are pregnant with his evil seed, and your punishment tomorrow has also been announced, but he still did not come, are you disappointed?"

"Who is Your Majesty talking about, and why would he come to save me?" Lan Ling asked faintly.

Ling Feng squeezed her chin. He squeezed hard and a cracking voice could be heard.

Lan Ling chuckled, tears forming in her eyes.

He raised his eyebrows and smiled, and forcefully tore off her inner garment, leaving her naked in front of him.

She instinctively covered her stomach and pushed him with both hands. He got angry, so he tightened the chain in his hand, and watched her bend down in pain.

His smile grew colder, he picked her up, and threw her onto the bed.

She scratched and kicked desperately, blood dripping from her feet. He held her hands, hung the ankle chain at the end of the bed, leaned in to her, and looked at her big tears, "Your body is mine. I may not love you, but you can't love others. How did he do you?"

His tone was light, the corners of his mouth smirked, but his eyes were as cold as ice.

She was dirty, but he wanted her madly.

For a moment, Lan Ling felt that he still loved her a little, because he hated her. And when there was hate, there was love, "Ling Feng, I only love you, I never betrayed you, this child is yours, why don't you believe me?"

"Zhen doesn't want a child of unknown origins. Zhen doesn't lack children. Ling Chen has admitted it, what else do you have to argue!"

              Zhen: How an emperor addresses himself

Lan Ling closed her eyes, Ling Chen once said that he liked her, that's all.

"Ling Feng, have you ever loved me? Even a little?"

Ling Feng was silent.

How long will it be before dawn? The punishment of gouging out the heart? As soon as the blade fell, it would completely cut off her love in the human world.

The barbs of the anklet were tearing on her flesh, and Lan Ling's face had turned pale, but she only smiled at him. When she really couldn't take it any longer, she screamed out to ease the pain.

"You can feel pain too?" Ling Feng's fingers slowly slid while making small circles.

Blood was dripping down, and Lan Ling bit her lip until it was broken.

She couldn't stop her eyes from trembling and wanted to step back, but her waist was wrapped tightly in his palm, unable to move.

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"Apart from Zhen, no one can see your body. Everyone knows this thing, why don't you understand? Ling Chen attacked twice and exchanged moves countless times with me just to get you, but you still won't admit it? If he knew that you’re catering to Zhen's wishes under Zhen like this, what will he do?"

He looked anxious. He put his hands on her shoulders, full of hatred, and got away from her.

He paused, looked back at her, finally had nothing to say to her, and hurried out of the cell.

The one he loved had always been the empress, her half-sister Lan Yu.

Lan Ling looked at her naked body. She didn't want to appear in front of everyone in such a mess tomorrow, so she tore the curtain and made it looked like clothes, then draped it over her body.

She was only nineteen years old, an age when she was supposed to bloom like a flower, but her heart had been riddled with holes.

Lan Ling leaned against the wall. Her eyes were blank. If she could start all over again, would she still love him so desperately?

Lan Ling was the shu daughter of a marshal. She couldn't even be called a shu daughter. She is the child of her father, Lan Jingtian, with a woman outside. Her mother is the daughter of the Qing Yi Hall's head. After giving birth to her out of wedlock, she died soon after. Lan Ling lived in her grandfather’s house in Moshan until she was thirteen years old.

              Shu: Children born from a concubine

When she was thirteen years old, she learned that her father was the famous Grand Marshal Lan Jingtian of Daxing Kingdom.

And in that year, she was taken to the Marshal's Mansion. The thirteen-year-old girl met the nineteen-year-old Third Prince Ling Feng for the first time. A girl who grew up in the mountains since she was a child fell in love at first sight with this gentle like orchid man.

In the winter of that year, Ling Feng was trapped in the Floating City by the Fourth Prince, Ling Chen.

At that time, Lan Ling loved him very much. Although Ling Chen had always shown his love to her, she finally chose Ling Feng and rejected the big and tall Ling Chen who was indulging in joy all day long.

Lan Ling returned to Moshan to ask for her grandfather’s help, who sent fifty thousand troops to support Ling Feng.

Grandpa's condition was that Ling Feng would marry Lan Ling as a prince consort, and when he gained power, the empress position would be given to Lan Ling. Ling Feng agreed.

Grandpa led her uncle and Lan Ling to relieve the siege of the Floating City and drove Ling Chen out of Jiangbei.

The emperor died soon after, and Ling Feng ascended the throne as the emperor and changed the country's name to Daxing.

Ling Feng became the emperor and did not fulfill her promise to give her the empress position. The position was vacant for half a year, before it was finally given to Lan Ling's sister, Lan Yu. Lan Yu was the one he loved.

He had become the emperor and had the ability to give the best to his beloved.

And Lan Ling became Lan Guifei.

Guifei: Noble Consort. It’s one of the ranks in the Imperial Chinese harem system.

Now, this guifei was going to be executed by having her heart gouged out. This punishment was very mysterious.

When women of the imperial harem were given death punishment, they were usually given a 3 feet white silk or a bowl of poison. But this guifei had to be tortured like this in front of tens of millions of people. One can only sigh that accompanying one's sovereign can be like accompanying a tiger.

And the criminal charge was the fornication with a foreign enemy which was really unforgivable.

In fact, only Empress Lan Yu and a few confidantes of the Emperor knew which crime Lan Ling had committed to make the Emperor put Lan Ling to death.

When the punishment of gouging out the heart was carried out, the chest had to be exposed. This kind of punishment was meant to be insulting to women.

The next day, it snowed. Lan Ling stood in the prison cart, barefoot and with dark red feet. She was draped in a white curtain. Her face was pale, her lips were blue and purple. She was trembling, but her eyes were still clear.

She looked up, and when the snowflakes fell on her face, they instantly melted into water.

On the city wall, wearing the bright yellow brocade fur cloak, the one standing there like a jade tree facing the wind is the Emperor Ling Feng. Standing next to him, the beautiful woman in the dark red fox fur cloak was his empress and her sister, Lan Yu.

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