Echoes of Ice and Iron - Chapter 54: A Quiet Kind of Guarding

Emperor Yongning craved a daughter but had eighteen sons instead. Desperate, he consulted a diviner: “Am I fated to have a daughter?” The diviner replied, “Your Majesty, you already have a daughter.” Yongning dismissed it: “I have eighteen sons, no daughter.” The diviner insisted: “Seventeen sons, one daughter.” Yongning scoffed, “Impossible!”Until one day, Yongning’s eighteenth “son,” Jun Ning, appeared in a pink dress, hair in twin buns, beaming: “Father, I’m not a prince—I’m your longed-for princess!” Yongning spluttered, “Nonsense! You’re my son.” Jun Ning retorted, “No, I’m your daughter.”“Guard! Verify her!” The results were undeniable—Jun Ning was a girl.Yongning’s eyes widened: “...I... I have a precious daughter!”

Su Ci was forced to marry the dying Second Master Shen, and the entire S City awaited her tragic fate. However, half a year later, Su Ci cured Second Master Shen and was adored by the Shen family. She is a personal disciple of a miraculous doctor, a top hacker, a racer, and the founder of a globally popular cosmeceutical brand. International conglomerate CEO Xiao Yizhou, genius director Lu Mingchen, and e-sports god anti all declared: “Su Ci is our dearest junior sister!”The man, rumored to be cold and violent, cornered Su Ci against the wall, gritting his teeth: “How many more identities do I not know about?” Su Ci smiled warmly and kissed the man's lips, “Just one last one, Mrs. Shen.”

Amidst the eerie silence of an unfamiliar hall, a cacophony of confused voices rose, mingling in a chorus of bewilderment. “Where are we?” “What happened?” “I thought I died!” Each utterance hung in the air, a testament to the collective disbelief gripping the room.As the haze of confusion lifted, disjointed memories surfaced, fragments of lives cut short by tragedy. “I remember... I was stabbed...” ventured one voice, echoed by another's affirmation of a similar fate. “I... I died in a plane crash,” muttered a third, only to be met with a stunned agreement from a fellow survivor.Amidst the chaos of bewildered voices, one man stood apart, his expression a mask of contemplation amidst the turmoil. As his companions recounted their brushes with death, his mind churned with questions, each more confounding than the last.“I got shot... I remember it vividly,” he murmured to himself, his voice barely audible above the din. “So how am I still here?” The enigma of their shared resurrection gnawed at him, compelling him to seek answers in the depths of his memories.With each revelation of a paired demise—a male and female, bound by the same tragic fate—a flicker of recognition ignited within him. “This... this seems familiar,” he mused, the pieces of a puzzle slowly coalescing in his mind. But the picture remained incomplete, obscured by the fog of uncertainty that shrouded their surroundings.As the words “pairs, pairs, pairs” echoed in his mind like a cryptic mantra, a sudden realization struck him with the force of a revelation. “It can't be... don't tell me...” he whispered, his voice trembling with disbelief. With a sense of urgency, he began to scan his surroundings, searching for any sign or clue that could confirm his suspicions.Then, as if guided by an unseen force, his gaze shifted upwards, and there, bathed in an ethereal light, stood an angelic figure with golden apparel, its gaze fixed upon him with a warm smile. The sight took his breath away, filling him with a mixture of awe and trepidation.The man's heart raced as faced a real angel, his mind struggling to comprehend the surreal encounter unfolding before him. The angel's words, spoken with an air of amusement, only deepened the enigma shrouding their meeting.“I never expected anyone to notice me,” the angel remarked, a hint of playfulness in its voice. “I was concealing my presence to let everyone fully calm down, but to think someone noticed me. Just who are you?”Ethan's disbelief and confusion intensified at the angel's question. “Eh... Ethan Rivers,” he stammered, his voice barely above a whisper.As Aurelia, the angel, finally revealed himself to the bewildered assembly, a hush fell over the room, each soul drawn in by his radiant presence and commanding aura. Ethan's gaze lingered on Aurelia.“Greetings, lost souls,” Aurelia declared, his voice resonating with a majestic power that seemed to fill the very air around them. “I am Aurelia, and I shall be your guide to your new life.”As Aurelia extended his arms in a gesture of welcome, Ethan felt a surge of rage and hesitation, “This it bad, really bad.”