Prologue
The snow had always been quiet.
Even when the world burned behind them, it still fell—soft and slow,
like the sky hadn’t noticed the blood they left behind.
Bai Li’s hands trembled as they pressed against Chen Mu’s side.
His fingers—once skilled in calligraphy and archery—were slick with blood.
Warm. Sticky. Refusing to stop.
Bai Li
Don’t close your eyes. I command you not to.
His voice cracked at the edges, too raw to sound royal anymore.
There was no court here. No empire.
Just the forest, the storm—
and the man bleeding in his lap.
Chen Mu coughed. The sound was wet and rattling.
Chen Mu
Still giving orders… even now, your majesty.
Bai Li
Because you never listened when I begged.
A faint smile tugged at Chen Mu’s lips.
The wind howled through the trees, whipping snow into their faces.
He was kneeling in it, soaked to the bone,
tears streaking down pale cheeks that never used to cry.
His white hair clung to his face, matted with frost and sweat.
They had run.
Past the palace gates. Past the soldiers.
Past the future Bai Li had been born into.
A prince and a disgraced soldier—
No space in the scrolls of history
for two men who loved each other beneath the same sky.
Bai Li
I would’ve given it all up...
Chen Mu’s hand lifted—weak, but stubborn—
brushing snow from the prince’s cheek.
His fingers left a smear of blood instead.
Chen Mu
Li… still as beautiful as the snow.
Chen Mu
It’s a shame… it got stained by my blood.
Bai Li
No—no, please! Please don’t leave me! I beg you... please...
Chen Mu didn’t answer.
His gaze began to unfocus, drifting past Bai Li toward the grey sky.
But then in a weak voice he whispered.
Chen Mu
I'm sorry...I love you...so much..
But his lover in his arms was colder.
Bai Li
Why are people so scared of two people being together…?
Bai Li
If we hadn’t both been men… would they have accepted us?
Bai Li
If we’d had the same status… would it have ended better?
Bai Li
Why… of all the things they could fear in this forsaken world…
they chose love?
His voice grew thinner, barely more than a breath.
Bai Li
Maybe… if not being with me meant you could live—
a life away from me, as a noble…
Then please…
Bai Li
Please, God… please…
And in that moment, surrounded by snow and silence
They had never run from the empire.
They had run from a world that had no place for them in it.
And that world had caught them all the same.
One heart stopped beating while the other started wailing.
Now the snow fell harder,
Covering two lovers in the crimson-stained Snow.
Comments