, making it hard for her to breathe and causing every word she tried to speak to die in her throat.Kalanchi's gaze remained fixed on the book in her hands, as if she wasn't interested in hearing her e...Chapter 308: The Lost Ones on the Northern Snowy Plain

Qin Ston City, this city-state located on a mountaintop, is a place perpetually shrouded in blizzards.

A cold wind swept across the steep ridge, howling as it went, dancing with the swirling snowflakes.

A boundless expanse of snow-covered highlands, like a canvas. Pure white snowflakes dance in the air, each seeming to possess life. They gently swirl and pirouette before settling upon the endless snowy plains.

In this snowy expanse, there are still signs of life.

Occasionally, you can see animal tracks being gradually covered again by wind and snow. At the end of the tracks, a deer stands quietly on the snow, gazing in one direction. Soon, it seems to have discovered something, and with the suddenness of a drawn arrow, it flees.

The wind and snow continued to howl.

The undulations and texture on the snow-covered ground gradually became clearer. In the distance where the elk had fled, a tiny speck seemed to be moving slowly against the wind and snow.

At first, it wasn't apparent, but as time passed, the figure's footsteps became increasingly frantic and clumsy. Occasionally, it would stumble and nearly fall to the snow-covered ground.

With heavy breaths, the boy in his thick greatcoat finally dropped his suitcase, scattering his only decent-looking aristocratic attire and his documents from the south.

His skin was as white as the surrounding snow, his eyes large and bright, filled with panic and anxiety. His flaxen hair, usually as smooth as that of a noblewoman from a wealthy Southern city, was now tousled and disordered by the wind and snow.

Behind him, about four or five men with agile figures were chasing after him rapidly.

They wore heavy hunting garb, beast-skin helmets perched atop their heads. Their smiles were savage and cruel, every step a heavy tread upon the snow, leaving deep imprints behind.

It is obvious they are the strong ones who have always lived in this northern city-state, and the distance between them and the young people is constantly shrinking.

The boy's feet sank into the soft snow with every step, as if it were about to swallow him whole.

His breathing was ragged, his cheeks were red from the biting wind, but he kept running on relentlessly.

The silence of the snowfield was shattered by their pursuing cries, echoing across this boundless white expanse.

The frozen mountains in the distance were the boy's lifeline.

He knew that if he could reach the snow forest, there was still a sliver of hope for escape.

Even in the face of despair, it's better than running away on this icy wasteland.

"A Southern noble lady, come play with us!"

"Don't worry, we won't kill you right away."

Accompanied by the deafening roars of the wicked revelers, arrows and blades occasionally flew towards the boy's back, but they seemed to miss him narrowly, as if by some unseen force deflecting them.

"...."!

The boy gritted his teeth, too afraid to look back. He could only judge the distance of the bandits by their voices.

However, the distance was closing much faster than he had imagined.

I'm afraid we haven't even entered the snow forest, and there is a long distance to go before these people catch up to us!

In the midst of wind and snow, the distance between the young man and the bandit narrowed. Tension and crisis hung thick in the air, but this cold and merciless tundra seemed to show no favoritism — it watched this life-or-death pursuit with indifference, awaiting the outcome.

Survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle, applies to life in the snow.

Even people in the south of the Empire had heard about the situation up north.

Of course, things aren't so stable in the south now either.

The north is in turmoil only because of external threats coupled with the empire's new laws and reforms this year.

Continuing north from Kingston, several cities lie on the way to the northern front. Even the route from Box Mountain Province to Kingston is fraught with peril.

The boy's mind was in turmoil now, he couldn't even tell if his legs were going numb from the snow or if it was fear that had him trembling. He could barely hold on any longer.

I've had some bad luck.

His name is Xia Ya, the eldest son of the Candies family from the southern region of the Protoss Empire. His ancestors had brilliant military achievements in the Protoss Empire, but due to two consecutive generations of prodigal heirs, the family is now heavily indebted and on the verge of bankruptcy.

So now I can only come to the north and marry into a family there.

To some extent, there was an element of being sold by his family involved, but fundamentally, this was also a mutually beneficial transaction where both parties benefited.

The family he's going to marry into, the Quintons, are well off.

The lord of Cinston, Baron Leven Cinston, has been a rather well-known merchant in the capital city in recent years. Thanks to his personal talent, the scale of the trading company accumulated by his family over many years, and his own outstanding martial prowess that allows him to stand firm in the north, this northern town and their family have gradually shown an unstoppable rise.

But the Quintons, as a merchant family, the only problem was that they were always ridiculed as a low-class, bought nobility.

For this very reason, Sir Levin Qinston was not always well-received by some of the high nobility whenever he visited the capital. It might have been pure contempt, or perhaps jealousy, and even in the north there were many nobles who vied with him.

Even though he was utterly incompetent, Xia had one irrefutable achievement: his lineage as a distinguished and ancient noble. He possessed that noble bloodline, and his family had already made its mark on the history of the Protoss Empire long before the Holy War began.

The Quintessence family recognized this very point.

It is said that his fiancée is an exceptionally talented and proud woman. At the age of 17, she has already reached the third rank and will be going to the Protos Royal Academy in the imperial capital this summer as a first-year student, becoming a promising noble.

And his family couldn't even afford to pay his tuition.

To be a special admissions student, you need to have outstanding abilities as there is no tuition fee.

With his abilities, even the entrance exams for a vocational school were difficult for him. He had already failed once, and he didn't want to fight with people or hurt others. He also lacked the confidence to survive in that harsh school.

The most promising way to get in is as the fiancé of Miss Cinston, accompanying her as her attendant.

This behavior is kind of like that of a gigolo.

She is wealthy enough to hire a powerful bodyguard for her.

This trip, I don't even know if she'll ruin the marriage, leaving me to return home.

Everything was a mystery. He didn't even know what his fiancée looked like or what her personality was like. Despite the very dangerous and eerie rumors circulating in the north, he still traveled thousands of miles to change his fate.

Theoretically, if he could stage a comeback from desperation and rebuild his family's glory in his own hands, he wouldn't just have a place in the Imperial Senate. He could also restore their family's former prestige among the nobles of the Protoss Empire.

But—

First, the railway broke down. Coupled with bad weather that made repairs difficult, it was no longer possible to safely reach Kinston City on the magically powered tracks protected by Imperial troops.

Now, in order to keep my appointment on time, I can only risk braving the wind and snow to cross the wasteland and rush to town.

The result encountered bandits on the road.

The End.

[ ] or lacking in ability."Are there any loopholes in this prison"This prison was built by demons a thousand years ago. Its rules and logic are more akin to those of demons than humans, but under the str...