FRGNM – Chapter 1 Violated by a Stranger

The moonlight grew deeper as the dark clouds across the sky slowly dispersed, revealing a trace of starlight.

A dazed young woman stood by the window, gazing into the distance. She seemed to be hesitating over something; her long nails dug deeply into her own flesh.

A faint breeze rose, and the letter paper on the table was lifted into the air, drifting away with the wind.

Tonight at the hour of Zi, I’ll be waiting for you.

Nangong Mo.

Just a few simple words, yet they felt like a mountain pressing down on her chest, leaving her unable to breathe. The little maid standing nearby carried the teacups out and spoke softly, “Miss, there’s only half an hour left. His Highness the Crown Prince is waiting for you in the Bamboo Sea. Could it be that you…?”

“Xiao Yu, I understand.” As if she had finally made a great decision, the white-clad figure hurried out. When she stepped through the door, she was a little flustered and her clothes were torn by a tree branch, yet she paid it no mind.

After that figure disappeared from sight, the person who had been standing by the door trembled violently. With a clang, the teacup in her hand fell to the ground. Tears streamed down her face. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Miss. Xiao Yu had no other choice. The eldest miss forced me to do this. I’m sorry…”

“Your Highness… Your Highness…” On the silent hillside, the white figure moved shakily. Her trembling body threaded through the forest, her small face already deathly pale.

Even a highly skilled martial artist, given ten times the courage, would have no reason to risk coming into the Bamboo Sea. This forbidden forest hid countless ferocious magical beasts—let alone someone like her, the most useless waste of the Ling family!

“Cough, cough…”

The sound of violent coughing rang out. Ling Ruoxi seemed to have found her target; she pricked up her ears, searching for the source. With trembling hands, she parted the bushes and looked toward the flat hollow ahead.

A man radiating a murderous, blood-soaked aura knelt on one knee on the ground, gripping a silver-white longsword. His clothes were in tatters, his face smeared with grime—utterly impossible to connect with the lofty, exalted Crown Prince.

As if he sensed someone behind him, the man abruptly turned his head. A sinister glint flashed through his blood-red eyes.

What kind of gaze was that? It felt as though her legs had been nailed to the ground, unable to move. An overwhelming pressure swept over her. Ling Ruoxi clenched her fists tightly, her small face flushing red. “S-sorry, young master. I didn’t know. I—I’ll leave right now…”

Before she could finish the sentence, that ghostlike figure moved like a gale, arriving in an instant. A heavy stench of blood rushed toward her. Before the dazed girl could even react, she was already seized and pulled into his arms.

Her lips sank as his burning mouth pressed against her softness, giving her no chance to resist. Domineering, cold, as though he were merely doing something utterly ordinary.

Tear!

Her white skirt was like thin paper, unable to withstand his force. Hands like blazing fire roamed over her skin. It felt as if her mind had been struck hard by something; Ling Ruoxi froze in place, as though she had lost all ability to resist, allowing him to strip away every last piece of her clothing.

No—this isn’t the Crown Prince. No, it can’t be!

Why? Why?! She had only come here to look for the Crown Prince, her fiancé, His Highness the Crown Prince! Nangong Mo—he was the one who told her to come here. He said he would be waiting for her.

So why was it that the one who came was such a crazed man? Why treat her like this?

She remembered that desolate figure by the willow-lined riverbank—the man who had been named Crown Prince, the one second only to the emperor. She would never forget it: the imperial decree arriving at the Ling household, declaring that she, Ling Ruoxi, was the Crown Prince’s fiancée.

Nervousness, joy, sorrow—she had cried and laughed alone, all for that lofty man. Joy, that she could finally marry the Crown Prince. Worry, that she was nothing but a waste of the Ling family—was she truly worthy of him?

“Why… why…”

She had given up everything. Even when the Crown Prince humiliated her in public, she still loved him. So why deceive her? Why lure her here? Who was this stranger?

Tears the size of beans fell without pause. Her slender hands beat desperately against the man on top of her. Anger, obsession, madness, hatred, resentment—yet no one could hear her heart-rending screams.

With a ripping sound, all her clothes were torn completely away. The masculine scent invaded her nose. She clawed furiously at the man’s hair, leaving countless bloody marks across his back, yet she could not stop his intrusion.

All the heat in her body seemed to gather below. The man, long since stripped of reason, looked down at the person beneath him. He wanted only to vent—only to vent! Like a beast, he roared, forgetting everything. He pressed her down violently, roughly forcing her legs apart. When he saw her tears, his body trembled—but he could not quell the raging fire within him.

“Ah—”

A desolate cry echoed through the cold forest. The invasion jolted her senses back for a moment. Her purity was gone—gone…

Blood seeped continuously from the corner of her mouth. The person lying on the grass gazed unwillingly up at the sky, then slowly closed her eyes…