The hands of Xue Shengjing, Prince of Yan, began trembling uncontrollably. He returned to Huo Xiaoru's side and reached toward her with a shaking hand.
"Get away from me! Don't touch me with your filthy hands!" Huo Xiaoru screamed.
Far from intending to violate her, Xue Shengjing straightened her clothes with trembling hands. His voice quavered. "Xiaoru, that shouldn't be your name. You should have been called Qi Yi..."
Huo Xiaoru froze. Xue Shengjing was right: her real name was indeed Qi Yi. But no one besides her deceased parents had known that secret. How could Xue Shengjing possibly know? And the revelations that shocked her were not yet over.
"You were born on the twentieth day of the third month in the Xinwei year, at the third quarter of the hour of the dragon. Your childhood name was Ru Xin. In a few more days, you'll turn twenty..." By this point, Xue Shengjing was so choked with emotion that he could barely speak.
Huo Xiaoru stared blankly at the enemy who had murdered her parents. Something seemed to occur to her, but she dared not pursue the thought.
Xue Shengjing pressed his lips together, struggling to control his emotions. He said quietly, "You ask how I know. Who in this world, besides a girl's own parents, would remember everything about her so clearly? Ru Xin, I am your father..."
It was as though a bolt from a clear sky had struck Huo Xiaoru. She stood utterly stunned, her mind suddenly blank. All these years, she had regarded Xue Shengjing, Prince of Yan, as an enemy with whom she could not share the same sky. Revenge had been the sole force sustaining her through years of humiliation, hardship, and desperate struggle to survive. Yet this enemy had suddenly transformed into