Future Beast World: Becoming A Pampered Beauty-Chapter 493 - 432: Back on Track
The marriage alliance ceremony between the Nine-tailed Fox Clan and the Red Fox Clan had yet to be completed when the bride vanished midway through. It was said she had been abducted, her fate unknown.
After Sang Luo returned safely, she was supposed to complete the marriage ceremony with the Young Master of the Nine-tailed Fox Clan, but unexpectedly, this Young Master had disappeared as well.
Rumor had it he went down the mountain to train, but there was never any word from him. Normally, given the Young Master’s noble status, countless eyes would have been secretly watching him, yet no one ever saw him again.
It wasn’t until over half a year later that Yun Qi and Sang Luo returned together. Anyone who saw them couldn’t help but marvel to themselves, ’What a perfect celestial couple.’
The townsfolk who didn’t know the truth loved this kind of post-meal gossip.
Idle talk breeds endless rumors.
Some said that the one who returned was not the original Nine-tailed Fox Young Master, Yun Rong. The real Young Master had met his end during his training. The one who came back was the Clan Leader’s illegitimate son, the Young Master’s twin brother.
Others claimed it was the same Young Master both times. They had seen the illegitimate son; half his face was disfigured beyond cure, and he was hideous! The one who really died was the illegitimate son!
At the postponed coming-of-age ceremony, this Young Master was given the name Yun Yan. The truth was lost, and no one knew anymore whether this Young Master was originally called Yun Rong or Yun Qi.
Gradually, no one discussed the matter anymore. Everyone only remembered that the name of the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s Young Master was Yun Yan.
Sang Luo also cast aside his former, humble name, calling him only by the single name "Yan."
The two of them spent a wonderfully peaceful time together.
One day, Yun Yan formally proposed to her.
To outsiders, the two were already a perfectly matched celestial couple. But Yun Yan wanted to "truly" marry her, to fulfill the deepest longing he had envisioned countless times in his dreams.
Sang Luo gave him a kiss, her eyes crinkling with a smile as she said,
"Alright. As you wish."
A sweetness filled the young man’s heart as if he’d eaten candy, and stars seemed to dance in his eyes.
He lowered his head and gazed lovingly at Sang Luo, cupped her face with both hands, and gently kissed her lips.
"Princess, I love you. For lifetime after lifetime, we will never be parted."
He would marry the partner of a lifetime, becoming her rightful Main Husband.
Lifetime after lifetime, never to be parted.
What a beautiful, longed-for, yet impossible dream.
If only they could have continued on like this forever. But the heavens are unpredictable, and fate always plays such cruel tricks.
On their wedding night, in their bridal chamber, the bride was abducted.
Ye Wushuang, who had long been exiled, once again set foot in the Qingqiu Territory and abducted Sang Luo.
She left behind only a single sentence—
Don’t come looking for me.
’She... had she foreseen all of this?’
Yun Yan forced himself to hope for the best, but his heart felt like it was plunging into an abyss. He investigated and found the mastermind behind it all was none other than the Clan Leader’s Wife!
The Clan Leader’s Wife had never liked Yun Rong. After becoming pregnant, she wanted to eliminate Yun Rong without a fight, remove the greatest obstacle, and pave the way for her own child.
Later, when Yun Qi took care of Yun Rong, she was very happy. She usually treated Yun Qi with great kindness, but this was all on the premise that Yun Qi was a despised, unfavored Black Fox who posed no threat to her child.
But later, the Clan Leader’s Wife had not expected that this Black Fox’s strength and abilities would far surpass those of Yun Rong, that pampered noble son. He managed the clan’s affairs with perfect order, so much so that even the Clan Leader himself began to see him in a new light, transferring a great deal of power into his hands.
The Clan Leader’s Wife had just gotten rid of a huge thorn in her side; how could she tolerate a more formidable rival?
She wanted to find a chance to eliminate Yun Yan as well, and this Princess from the Red Fox Clan. If the two of them were to have an heir one day, they would pose a similar threat to her and her child.
As it happened, Ye Wushuang secretly found the Clan Leader’s Wife. The two colluded in secret, and she let him into the clan’s territory, making it easy for him to make his move.
Enraged, Yun Yan wanted to kill her.
The Clan Leader stopped him.
The Clan Leader’s Wife was pregnant with his child. No matter what, the Clan Leader would protect her.
Disheartened and disillusioned, Yan severed ties with the Clan Leader, renounced his clan name, abdicated the Young Master position to this unborn child, and left the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s territory.
Yan found his way to the Ghost Realm. The Youxu Domain was in chaos, and the energy fluctuations from an explosion were heart-stopping. He rushed over immediately, searching frantically.
Ye Wushuang had vanished.
Yan saw the figure he had yearned for day and night, but she lay weakly in his arms, on the verge of death, her body growing icy cold.
Sang Luo had taken Ye Wushuang down with her.
Sang Luo’s return this time was to reverse the disrupted timeline and put it back on its proper course.
The moment Yan proposed to her, Sang Luo understood everything.
She was destined to leave this time, but not before doing one last thing for him—eliminating a troublesome foe.
"Princess..." Yan knelt beside Sang Luo, holding her hand to his face.
But her hand was gradually losing its warmth.
Tears streamed from his eyes. His eyes bloodshot, he sent power into her body with trembling fingers, trying to warm her again.
Sang Luo shook her head, stopping him. Her voice was just a wisp of air. "It’s useless... this body should have long since... been dead."
If an outside soul hadn’t intervened to sustain it, this body would have long since turned to dust.
Regardless of whether Sang Luo died with Ye Wushuang, the moment she left, this body’s life was over. Not even divine intervention could have saved it.
Yan pulled her tightly into his arms, his cheek pressed against her hair. "Princess, we are already husband and wife. If you leave, I won’t live on alone..."
He would follow her in death.
"You must live." Sang Luo shook her head gently, caressing his face. "Do you remember the legend you told me?"
"...I remember."
Keep vigil for a hundred thousand years, and await the return of a lost love.
"Do you believe the legend is true?"
Yan choked up, unable to speak.
He had never believed in such ethereal legends, thinking them merely the self-deceiving words of the mediocre.
But in this moment, he was willing to believe the legend was true.
...
She was gone.
Yun Qi held her for a long time.
In the end, the woman in his arms dissolved into a wisp of smoke, leaving only her clothes behind.
He thought his Princess would want to return to her roots, so he brought her clothes back to the Red Fox Clan’s territory. When the Red Fox Clan’s Clan Leader learned of the tragic news, he wept until he fainted. He held a grand funeral for his daughter, but alas, it was only a cenotaph.
Yan, as the Princess’s Main Husband, volunteered to guard the tomb for three years.
After everyone had left, Yan, dressed in white mourning clothes, knelt before the gravestone. His fingers slowly traced the inscription on the stone.
The sky had been overcast for several days. At some unknown moment, snow began to flutter down.
The snowstorm raged on, growing stronger.
He didn’t know how long he kept vigil. The large, fluffy snowflakes had nearly covered him completely. His black hair seemed stained by the snow, and he gradually began to merge with the vast, pale world...
Yan raised his hand and caught a perfect snowflake, which melted in his palm.
He remembered that when he first met his Princess, it had also been on a bitterly cold, snowy day just like this.
...
