Chapter One: All I Want Is to Be Bound to You

In my previous life, meeting you might have been only to bind myself to you, marking the ground as prison walls. But in this life, I am willing to give up everything I have for your freedom. If, Norsang, you are determined to leave, then I will let you go. When the skies above us are no longer the same, when everything has already changed, perhaps the only thing that remains unchanged is the memory of what once was.

“Tell me, tell me! Why did it have to be this way? Please, just tell me!” Si Norsang screamed in anguish.

Staring at the man before her, she couldn’t understand why things had come to this. They could have been so happy together. Yet now, as if everything had been severed, they had become the most familiar strangers.

“Kill me!” Wen Shu’an looked at Si Norsang, his face expressionless, like a soulless shell.

He seemed utterly drained and lifeless, as if all hope had died within him.

“Fine, I’ll kill you!”

...

Drip. Drip.

Time flashed forward three years, but Si Norsang was no longer who she once was.

She was now a detective in the year 2550, formerly a police officer. But after a disagreement within the force, she had resigned and opened a small detective agency, focusing mainly on investigating supernatural cases.

By some strange twist of fate, this new case had sent her back more than fifteen hundred years.

Though time travel was no longer unusual in the year 2550, traveling this far back was still a rare feat.

“Si Norsang, since leaving the police force, you seem to encounter more and more bizarre events! You were just looking for a stone, and now you’re here. What should you do now?”

She noticed the curious and wary glances from the people around her.

Looking down at herself, it was obvious she stood out as an oddity.

“It seems I’ll need to change my clothes first! But how am I supposed to get some money?”

She muttered to herself. Was she really going to have to become a thief?

As she watched the constant flow of people, she simply couldn’t bring herself to steal. So she crouched in a small, shadowed corner, trying to make herself less conspicuous. Maybe things would be easier at night.

Suddenly, the clink of a coin sounded before her. She looked up. A man, backlit by sunlight, was gazing down at her.

“Sir, I’m not a beggar. Take your coin back.” She eyed the man; he was decently handsome, with refined features and gentle, hawk-like eyes. But could a hawk’s eyes ever be gentle? Weren’t they always fierce? Never mind that—his lips were fuller and more alluring than a woman’s. Tsk, where was her mind wandering?

She stood up, staring at him. She hated people who thought they were doing good deeds for others.

“Miss, you seemed troubled about money, so I thought you might need this.”

“Hmph, for me? Just one coin—what difference could it possibly make?”

“Are you saying it’s not enough?” The man’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“That’s right, it’s not enough! Are you trying to get rid of a beggar with this? Look at me—do I look like a beggar?” Si Norsang gestured at herself.

The man shook his head vigorously, then waved his hand. “No, not at all.”

“Hand over your money pouch!” She extended her slender hand, faint traces of muscle visible beneath her skin. Si Norsang didn’t hesitate. Under her intimidating presence, the man obediently handed over his pouch.

She hadn’t expected him to cooperate so readily. Evidently, she could be rather intimidating.

Opening the pouch, she found it filled with coins, but she only took a few—just enough to buy some clothes.

“Here.” She tied the pouch and returned it to him.

“Don’t you want to take more?” he asked.

“Are you really that naïve, or just pretending? You actually handed over your money pouch! But I suppose I don’t understand the ways of the wealthy. By the way, where can I buy clothes around here?” She glanced around, but saw no obvious stores.

“Over there,” he said, pointing with his long, elegant hand.

“Thank you.” She started in that direction, then paused and turned back.

“What’s your name? I don’t think you’ve told me.”

He seemed like a decent person, and had helped her—she should at least know his name.

“Xuanyuan Juesi.” Si Norsang was momentarily stunned, repeating the name softly to herself.

“What is it, miss?”

“It’s just that the world is so interesting! My name is Si Norsang. I’m pleased to meet you.” She extended her hand in greeting, but he didn’t understand the gesture, so she simply reached out and shook his hand herself before turning to leave.

“Xuanyuan Juesi? Si Norsang? Fu’an, is there something odd about those names?”

“No, Your Highness,” replied the old servant behind Xuanyuan Juesi.

How could he know? Xuanyuan Juesi studied Fu’an, but the old man spoke truthfully—he knew nothing.

How could Fu’an possibly know?

That woman was truly peculiar, appearing before him so unexpectedly and without a hint of caution. He was used to the intrigues of the palace, where everything from the outside world was a novelty—but nothing had ever struck him with such force as this encounter.

“Your Highness, should we return to the palace now?” the servant, who was also a eunuch, asked.

“We’ll wait a bit longer,” he replied, shaking his head and declining Fu’an’s suggestion.

Fu’an didn’t argue further. Although His Highness was usually agreeable, once he made a decision, it was unchangeable.

Si Norsang had no idea that the man she’d just met, Xuanyuan Juesi, was in fact a prince. Nor did she imagine that he would follow her. She bought the cheapest set of clothes she could find, to save money. The shopkeeper gave her plenty of change in copper coins, and she went to the roadside.

“Boss, how much is a bowl of plain noodles?”

“Two copper coins.”

“I’ll have one, please.”

The silver piece she’d taken seemed to be enough to last her a few more days if she was careful. But first, she needed to figure out how she’d come to be here—and how to get back.

If she was right, it must have happened when she was searching for that stone. At the thought, she hurriedly reached into her inner pocket and pulled it out.

“It’s just an ordinary stone! Nothing special at all.” She held it up to the sunlight.

But it was unlikely this stone was truly unrelated to her journey.

Her head ached with the effort of trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. How had she traveled through time, and how could she return?

She muttered prayers to every god she could think of, but those were Western deities—they had no jurisdiction here in the East.

Utterly disheartened, Si Norsang leaned on her hands, waiting for her noodles. Her stomach growled with hunger.

Luckily, the noodles arrived soon after, though they were rather bland.