Chapter One: Ice and Snow, the Forbidden Zone of Life

The wind and snow howled through the Berlusconi Mountains, a place rarely visited by people, but at the foot of the mountain at this moment, a boy of about sixteen or seventeen was struggling against the harsh weather. Frost clung to the linen coat of the boy, and his leather boots were caked with snow, yet there was not a trace of fear on his face.

“So cold, I’m really getting a bit sleepy!”

This was what Adam Bennett was thinking, but he didn’t dare to actually stop and rest. If he stopped, not only would the pursuers behind catch up, but the blizzard itself could claim his life.

The Logan Carter family had once been a powerful noble house of the Golden Moon Dynasty, but they had the misfortune of choosing the wrong side in the struggle for the throne, always supporting the First Prince Robin.

The Second Prince Henry Clark, who had not been favored to win, suddenly gained the support of the northern legion stationed at the border, and with their help, he bathed the imperial capital in blood and seized the supreme scepter with an iron fist. After the new emperor ascended the throne, all former opponents were sent one by one to the gallows. Adam Bennett had been studying at the Imperial Military Academy, just a month away from graduation, when he learned of his parents’ arrest and hurriedly fled the imperial capital, Golden Moon City.

From the capital to the Berlusconi Mountains, the boy fled for a thousand miles, clashing several times with the royal guards in pursuit. Relying on the swordsmanship he had honed since childhood and his sharp mind, Adam Bennett killed six royal guards, but was forced to enter the Berlusconi Mountains, known as the land of death. The higher he climbed, the heavier the snow and the colder the climate became—beyond this point was the forbidden zone of life.

Adam Bennett trudged on with difficulty, struggling to climb. Every member of the royal guard was a master of martial arts, carefully selected—most were outstanding graduates of the Imperial Military Academy, and a few were the bravest warriors chosen from the army. Their treatment was the best in the entire Golden Moon Dynasty. Adam Bennett had once dreamed of being selected for the royal guard after graduation, becoming the envy of all, but now he had to deal with the pursuit of those who might have been his seniors and predecessors, struggling to survive.

“I wonder how my parents are doing? Prince Henry Clark wasn’t really a cruel person—maybe he won’t kill my parents! At worst, they’ll just be demoted to commoners!”

Although he tried to comfort himself, Adam Bennett knew very well just how brutal the bloodshed in the capital had been. On the road, he constantly heard news of entire families being executed, which made Adam Bennett anxious and worried for his parents. But politics was this cruel, and Adam Bennett knew that it was impossible for one person to save an entire family—no matter how skilled he was with a sword, he was only seventeen.

Worried that his sword might freeze to the scabbard, Adam Bennett had long since drawn it and tied it tightly to his waist with a cloth strap. But the icy cold had already made the fine steel blade almost impossible to touch. “Maybe in this weather, those guards will give up the chase!” Adam Bennett tried to shake off his dark thoughts and give himself some encouragement and comfort.

He didn’t know that this very question was already causing heated debate among the guards pursuing him.

The royal guard squad chasing him had fifteen members in total. To them, hunting down a rookie who hadn’t even graduated from the Imperial Military Academy seemed like a leisurely task, but Adam Bennett’s strength had caught them off guard. Along the way, Adam Bennett had used his wits to repeatedly shake off their pursuit, and in several direct confrontations, six of their comrades had fallen, making the squad experience firsthand the ferocity of the boy’s swordsmanship.

Looking at the snow-covered peaks of the Berlusconi Mountains, Owen Foster truly wasn’t confident they could climb safely. He glanced at the captain, whose face was blue—whether from the cold or from anger, he couldn’t tell—and quietly suggested, “The Berlusconi Mountains are a death zone. This hellish wind will send that brat straight to the underworld. We don’t need to take the risk…”

“Idiot! Owen Foster, you coward, you useless wretch! If I can’t even kill a minor brat, how can I explain myself when I get back? The new emperor is not so easy to deal with! Without a head to show, tell me—can we go back? And we’ve already left six corpses behind. Even if we chop that kid up ourselves, we’ll still be the laughingstock of the royal guard!” Yelled at by the captain, Owen Foster was inwardly displeased and thought, “You’re already a laughingstock!” But he didn’t dare say what was on his mind out loud.