1 Prologue

Ji Guanxue is known as the cold-blooded lady knight. When she was five, she was a low-ranked slave named Gu with an unknown background. One day, she crossed path with Lord Ji, a loyal attendant who serves the King, found some strong potential coming from Gu's green-hazel eyes. He decided to adopt Gu into his family. He gave her a new name, Ji Guanxue.

As she grew up, Guanxue learned about the correct etiquettes as a Lady of Ji. In her secret times, she taught herself how to wield a sword, which Lord Ji knew about. He sees the desperation in her so he decided to train her personally. As soon as she reached the age of 23, she was appointed to be Princess Ivy's personal guard.

Two days ago...

Guanxue takes two days off and decides to spend her time to relax on a private island which Ji household owns. The first night, a maid comes into Princess Ivy's chamber to attend her but Princess Ivy wasn't in bed. The maid heads to the restroom. "Princess?" No answer. The maid finds it weird because the Princess always replies back. She enters the restroom and the Princess Ivy was nowhere to be found. The maid panics and rush out of the Princess's chamber and yells, "The Princess is missing!"

The King demands his men to find the Princess. A messenger enters Lord Ji's house. Lord Ji enters the living room. "What is it?"

The messenger replies, "The Princess is missing?"

Lord Ji was shocked. "What? Princess Ivy?"

"Afraid so." The messenger looks around. "Where's Lady Ji?"

"She's off duty. Why?"

"The King wants Lady Ji to come back to find Princess Ivy."

Lord Ji nods. As the messenger leaves, Lord Ji send a bird messenger to notify Guanxue about the missing Princess.

...

Princess Ivy opens her eyes and finds herself in a weird place. She immediately sits up. (Where am I? Where is this?) She gets up and heads to the door; however, the door wouldn't open. She bangs on the door. "HEY! I'M IN HERE!!"

A voice behind her said, "No matter how much you scream for help, they won't come."

She startles and turns around. She sees a man, with a long red hair and amber eyes. She glares at him and asks him, "Who are you?"

"Bian. My name is Bian."

"No. I didn't ask for your name."

...

Guanxue was sitting by the shore, staring the waves. Soon she sees helmet pigeon soaring in the sky. She slowly stands up and raise her hand up. The pigeon lands on her arm. She loosen the string and pulls out the note.

Note: Princess Ivy has been kidnapped.

The pigeon then flaps its wings and dismiss. She turns around to head back to her tent; however, she felt something. She immediately head to her tent to grab her weapon. She slowly head to the huge rock and look over the rock. She sees a group of men in black. (One..two..three...four..five...six...)

She was afraid that there's more so she heads to the different route in order to find where they have taken the Princess and how many more enemies out there. A few minutes later, she found four men guarding a warehouse. (She must be in there.)

She gets down and digs under the rock. Under the rock was a sniper. She takes it and aims for the enemies. She pulls the trigger. BANG! One man down. The others looks around and doesn't see the shooter. Guanxue then moves to her next target.

...

As Bian and the Princess Ivy were agruing, they both heard a gunshot. Princess Ivy smiles and said, "Guanxue."

Bian tilts his head and mutters, "...Guanxue...?"

...

Once four men are down, Guanxue immediately heads to the warehouse. As she stands in front of the door, "Princess, move away from the door." Princess Ivy moves away. Guanxue uses the sniper to break the lock. She opens the door and sees Princess Ivy unharmed. "Princess."

Bian was memorized by Guanxue's beauty. Guanxue notices Bian. Princess Ivy asks, "Guanxue...how did you find me?"

Guanxue lies and said, "....Just lucky guess.."

Guanxue hears footsteps. She throws the sniper to Bian, Bian catches it. "Protect yourself and the Princess. Head south. There will be a boat waiting for you both. If you see any enemies or three minutes has passed, leave this island without me."

Princess Ivy refuses. "I will not leave you here alone."

Guanxue puts her hands on Ivy's shoulder. "You need to go with him."

Ivy was about to speak. Guanxue said, "Ivy. You're the only daughter and the last princess of Qing after Princess Iris." Ivy bit her lower lip. "Promise me, you will return." Guanxue just smiles and left the warehouse to buy time for them to escape.

Bian grabs Ivy's hand and head south to locate the boat. As they run, they didn't run into any enemies. They get into the boat and wait for Guanxue to return.

...

Guanxue hides in the bushes and find the right time to attack the enemies. Bian and Ivy both hear gunshots coming from the woods. Ivy puts her hands together and pray for Guanxue's safety. Bian quietly said, "It's been three minutes."

Ivy tells him to wait for another minute; however, he said, "I have to take you back."

"What about Guanxue? We're just going to leave her here?"

Ivy was about get off of the boat. Bian sighs and hit the back of her neck. She fainted. Bian sighs again. "Women, I tell ya." He starts the engine as he looks up ahead. No sign of her. He told himself. "I'll come back for you." The boat then drives away from the island.

Guanxue was slightly injured on her right shoulder, hiding behind the tree. (Four more to go...however, I only have two bullets left.) She then immediately takes the run in order to separate the men.

One of the men notices the blood dripping which leads to the thick bushes. He smirks and slwoly approach the bushes. Guanxue appears, hanging upside down from the tree. She aims and pulls the trigger. The bullet strikes behind the man's skull. His body drops down on the ground, lifelessly. She pulls herself up and flee from the scene. Another man reaches and shakes in anger as soon as he sees his friend dead.

...

Bian carries her up to the shore. Guards notices an unknown man with their princess. "HALT!" Lord Ji is in present with the guards. Lord Ji was surprised. "You're..."

Bian interrupts and said, "You need to send help. Guanxue is in the island with the enemies."

Lord Ji turns to the Royal Guards and Royal Guards head to their boat to help Guanxue. Lord Ji grips his hand to fist. (Guanxue.) Bian volunteers to help them so he joins the Royal Guards to save Guanxue.

Few minutes later, Guanxue was sitting on top of stacks of dead enemies. One of the Royal Guards, Zeno, appears. "Lady Ji." Others and Bian are shock to see her covered in blood as she sits on them. She looks at Zeno. "I see...late as always." Zeno lowers his head and said, "I apologize, Lady Ji."

She sighs as she stands up and said, "Two of them are unconscious. Take them back and interrogate them."

"Yes."

Bian whispers to one of the royal guards. "Lady Ji?" The guard whispers back, "She is Lord Ji's adopted daughter. She is also known as cold-blooded lady knight of Qing when she enters the battlefield. Not too long ago, she was appointed to be Princess Ivy's guard."

Bian looks up and watch her from afar. Soon enough, they all head back to Qing Kingdom. As they reach the front gate, Guanxue notices Lord Ji standing with King on the balcony. He nods to her. She nods back to Lord Ji. She and the others head back to the kingdom.

Guanxue heads to Ji residence to take a warm bath, to remove the blood stains off of her body. She lets out a sigh as she soak into the water. Maids enter the room. "My Lady."

"How's the Princess? Is she injured anywhere?"

"She's not injured anywhere. She's resting in her chamber."

Guanxue nods. The maids help bathe Guanxue and help her put clothes on. Guanxue adjusts her clothes. Another maid enters the room. "My Lady."

"What is it?"

"His Majesty is asking for your audience."

Guanxue nods as she finish putting her clothes on. She heads out to meet with the King.

...

"Lady Ji has arrived."

The King said, "Let her in."

Both doors open and Guanxue walks through the doors. In front of her is the King, who is sitting on the throne as his loyal attendants turns to face Guanxue. Guanxue walks between them and heads to the front of the throne where the King is.

She kneels one knee and bow to the King. "Your Majesty, Guanxue has returned."

The King nods. "Rise."

She bows once more before standing up. The King said, "Lady Ji, due to your bravery, you did it again. You had saved my daughter."

Her right hand makes a fist as she puts in her left hand. Bowing to the King, "Your Majesty, I'm just doing my job." The King nods. The King turns to his attendants, "Tonight, there will be a feast to celebrate Lady Ji's bravery."

She dislikes having a big feast. She was just doing her job as the Princess's knight; however, she cannot oppose the King's orders. She just stays silent and let the feast happen.

That night before the feast...

Bian was in his personal room, thinking about Guanxue. An informant enters his chambers. "You are asked to be seen, King Bian." Bian turns around and follows the informant to meet the King. Bian enters the King's chamber.

King Qian said as he pours the wine into the cup. "It's funny how you end up being a hostage with my dear sister."

Bian picks up his cup and drinks it. King Qian said, "I don't remember you being this useless. So tell me, why did you let yourself caught up in those hands?"

Bian shrugs. "Nothing in particular."

King Qing smiles. "So, what kind of reward you want?"

"Hey, you should be careful what you say."

"You actually listened to Lady Ji's words to bring my sister back to safety, so tell me what do you want?"

"...Would you really give it to me?"

"I'm not that kind of man who would back on his words."

Bian smiles and said, "I want Lady Ji."

King Qing's smiles fades. "...What kind of joke are you making?"

"Actually..." Bian pours wine into King Qing's cup. "It's not a joke. I'm very into her."

"Bian."

Bian looks at King Qing's eyes. "I want her as my Queen."

King Qing grips his cup tightly as Bian notices. Bian looks at Qing. "You said it yourself."

Prison...

Guanxue was sitting on the chair as her men continues to torture the kidnappers. Their screams echos through the building. She rinses her hand to signal her men to stop. She looks down on them. "Wanna talk now?"

One of them said, "...King Bian...it's King Bian who hired us to kidnapped the Princess."

"Oh..? King Bian...is it?"

Feast...

The door slams open and one of the kidnappers falls into the floor. King Qing knits his brows. Guanxue enters the feast. Bian was also there. She didn't look at the King or Bian. The others kidnappers was on their knees behind the first one. She turns to the first kidnapper. She points at Bian. "You sure it's him who hired you to kidnapped the Princess?"

The first kidnapper stutters, "Y-Yes. It was King Bian."

She smiles and pulls out her sword. King Bian's right-hand man steps up and said, "Nonsense!"

Guanxue slashes the kidnapper's throat. Blood gushing out as women shriek in terror. Other two trembles in fear. She looks at them. "Is it really King Bian?"

Kidnapper#2 shouts, "It's Lord Shang from Xing!"

Kidnapper #3 nudges kidnapper #2. "You idiot! Why would you--!"

Zeno quickly slash Kidnapper #3's throat. His body falls down on the floor as Kidnapper#2 breathes heavily. Zeno then said, "You should tell us what you know if you still want your life to be spare."

"..T-That...Lord Shang wanted both countries go up against each other."

Zeno asks, "What's his purpose?"

"I-It doesn't matter which country will win. He wants to rule two countries."

Guanxue steps a little bit closer to him and said, "You're not telling about his main purpose."

"S-selling women to prostitution...a-and...children human trafficking..in order to obtain his illegal goods...that's all I know or heard..."

Guanxue turns to Zeno. "Escort the ladies out." Zeno bows and escort every women out of the room, just loyal attendants in the room. Guanxue speaks up, "Your Majesty, since he wants war, there will be war."

King Qian said, "Lady Ji, Qing and Bian are in secret alliance. I don't want another bloodshed."

"Who said about war between Qing and Bian?"

One of the attendant asks, "What do you have in mind, Lady Ji?"

She points at the kidnapper, "He will be the one to inform Lord Shang about the war; however, what Lord Shang don't know is; both Bian and Qing will be attacking Xing."

Others nods as they are satisfied with Guanxue's strategy. Bian, in the other, smiles. (I was right about her. She never disappoints me.)

Bian steps in and said, "I love her idea. What do you say, King Qing?"

King Qing looks at Bian. King Qing has no choice but to proceed Lady Ji's plan.