Cesare woke up very early. He put on a coat over his casual clothes and went to the yard behind the house. He saw Bai Peng, the poor guy, lying on the ground bored because he hadn't fought for a long time.

  "Hey." Cesare lowered his head, picked up the branch and threw it in front of Bai Peng. The griffin leaped and picked up the branch, then came to Cesare and put it down, with a look of boredom.

  "Want to fly?" Cesare showed a rare smile, stroking the back of his mount. "I pity you. It must be hard for you to stay in this boring place with me?"

  Bai Peng was brought up by him, so naturally he had a similar temperament. It cried loudly, then spread its wings and fluttered twice, signaling Cesare to ride on it.

  "You bastard." Cesare patted the white roc gently, asking it to sit down. He stepped on the white roc and said, "Let's sneak out quietly, without attracting too much attention."

  ——Of course this was impossible. A griffin's huge body and the sound it made when flying would always attract some people's attention. Fortunately, it was early in the morning, before daybreak, and the Royal City of Elima was still asleep.

  After leaving the imperial city, Cesare let the white eagle fly freely. The griffin was wild in nature and was young and energetic, so it flew very fast.

  "Are you going to fly to Great Bear Lake?" Cesare laughed, grabbing the reins. "It's only right that we don't have to fight now, otherwise the dragons might think we're spies."

  The white roc gave another loud cry, and it dashed down to the forest on the ground, startling Cesare, who slapped it hard on the head. However, the white roc shook its body, almost shaking Cesare off its body.

  "You are such a traitor." Cesare jumped down and saw Bai Peng's cunning look. He laughed and got angry at the same time. "How dare you, a beast, bully me?"

  Bai Peng ignored him and walked clatteringly behind Cesare.

  The snow on the ground was very thick, and it left claw marks on it. The white roc jumped on the ground and splashed the snow. Cesare looked at it with his arms folded, smiling intently.

  Such relaxing moments were rare in his life, so he cherished them especially. He lowered his head, grabbed a snowball, and threw it hard at Bai Peng, but the griffin cried out in return, spread its wings as if it was about to pounce, and then used its claws to pile up more snow and piled it on Cesare.

  If anyone saw Cesare at this moment, they would be so surprised that they would be speechless. Their high and mighty, elegant and noble Knight Commander was smiling like a child at this moment.

  He ran for a while, and was chased by Bai Peng for a while. He felt a little tired, so he lay down on the snow. A piercing chill came over him. It was already snowing, and Cesare squinted his eyes. Soon the snowflakes became bigger.

  The white roc walked up to him and touched him with its beak, which hurt him a little. Cesare reached out and pushed the white roc away. "It hurts," he said.

  The griffin then bent down and lay beside him.

  Cesare looked at the white roc and reached out to touch it. "Did I do something wrong?"

  Bai Peng didn't understand and looked at him with his head tilted.

  Cesare muttered to himself without any reason, "You are just a beast, and you don't understand."

  Bai Peng touched him with his beak again.

  Cesare looked at the snow that was getting heavier and heavier, and he sighed softly. He stood up, shook off the snow on his body, and looked up at the snow in the sky. "It's all because of you, a beast. I'm afraid we have to wait until the snowstorm passes before we can go back."

  A strong wind blew snow and Cesare shivered.

  "It's so cold..." He murmured as he looked at the wind and snow.

  When Fuer got up in the morning, she found that the window was covered with snow again. This was how it was in Elima in winter, rarely sunny. She got up, said goodbye to the woman who was staying with her, and then set off again.

  The road was difficult to walk on when it snowed, even camels and horses, which were the best at walking in the snow, had difficulty. Qu Fuer felt that she was about to be swept away by the snow. The village was not too far from Xiongcheng, and Fuer thought that she had to get to Xiongcheng today anyway. However, the snow and wind were so strong that a strong wind blew and almost swept her off the camel and horse.

  She quickly got off the horse and walked on the snow. Compared with the strong wind and snow, they were too weak. Qu Fuer could hardly see the road ahead, and even the camel and horse began to get a little anxious. The wind and snow in the wild were no joke, and merchants often died because of it.

  She didn't know how long she had walked before she saw what seemed to be a cave on the side of the road ahead, so she thought about going inside. However, the camel seemed unwilling to go. No matter how Qu Fuer grabbed it, it refused to go towards the cave.

  Fu'er felt a little powerless, angry, and a little frustrated. She looked at the camel and said, "You'll just wait to die in this snowstorm." She grabbed her luggage from the horse's back, put it on her shoulders, and walked angrily towards the cave.

  She was almost freezing to death, and the exposed skin on her face was particularly painful from the wind and snow.

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  But just as she was about to leave, the camel horse suddenly bit her sleeve as if it had understood human nature. Qu Fuer was angry, but still walked towards the cave. The camel horse had no choice but to follow Qu Fuer.

  When she finally reached the cave, the wind and snow outside had intensified. The strong wind mixed with snow flakes hit the surrounding trees like sharp blades, making crackling sounds.

  "If you don't come with me, you will freeze to death if you stand outside for a while." Qu Fuer talked to the camel. Even though the other party couldn't understand her, she thought that if she didn't keep talking, she might really die of the cold.

  It was too cold. The silver wolf fur on her coat was soaked by the snow, and her hair was soaked, too. She felt that her whole body was cold, like a water ghost fished out of the lake. She tied the camel to one side and took out the flint from her bag, but there was no firewood around, only traces of a fire left by previous travelers.

  She looked around and found some low bushes near the cave entrance. She took out the dagger that A Xiang had given her, cut off the branches of the bushes, and carried them into the cave.

  However, the problem arose again. She had no experience living in the wild and had no idea how to ignite the branches. Even though the flint had already ignited sparks, the branches of the bushes seemed to be deliberately against her and could not burn no matter what she did. Qu Fuer wiped the water from her forehead with her hand - she could no longer tell whether it was sweat or snow water.

  Then she suddenly heard the loud cry of a wild beast outside the cave, and the camel and horse that had just been tied up seemed to be frightened and neighed, trying to break free from the reins.

  Qu Fuer stood up quickly, wondering if the wild animals in the mountains had also run into the cave because of the snowstorm. She held the dagger tightly in one hand, and the branch that had not been lit in the other.

  ——This was the scene that Cesare saw when he entered the cave.

  He thought he must be dazzled, which was why he was hallucinating.

  Bai Peng spread his wings behind him, blocking the light, so the cave became even darker and he could hardly see anything.

  He quickly rebuked Bai Peng and sat down. The griffin looked innocent. It just saw the cowardly camel horse tied to the side and wanted to show off its power. What did it do wrong?

  He was still holding firewood in his arms, just like the branches the girl was holding. He quickly glanced at her and found that her expression was as confused as his own, so he said, "You can't make a fire with those branches in your hand."

  Qu Fuer opened her mouth, but could only utter "Why?"

  "Those branches are so wet, it's a wonder they can catch fire." Cesare threw the firewood in his arms to the ground. He could almost only hear his own heartbeat - it was ridiculous that he was like a young boy who had just fallen in love. He didn't even have the courage to ask why he was here, let alone look into the other person's eyes.

  "Then how can we make a fire?" Qu Fuer asked again.

  Cesare picked up the flint she had just thrown aside, looked around, and then lit the spark. He turned over the wet branches in the bushes on the ground, ignited the fire, and then threw it into the pile of firewood. The young flame finally ignited, and he seemed a little proud, like a young boy showing off in front of the girl he liked, and said in a proud tone, "Look, it's lit like this."

  However, he did not hear the girl's words of praise like "great" or "you are awesome" as he should have, which made him a little uneasy. He looked up at the girl. She was standing about one or two meters away from him, in the shadow. The firelight could only illuminate her body, but made her expression half-bright and half-obscure.

  Cesare stood up and took a step towards her, but the girl took a step back; he took another step, and the girl took another step back.

  Cesare suddenly felt a little angry and anxious. He was afraid that the girl would disappear in the blink of an eye. Everything was just an illusion created by a mountain ghost in this snowy day. He took a step forward and grabbed the girl's hand. Only when he really grabbed the entity did he know that the girl was real, not an illusion.

  He grabbed the girl and brought her to the fire. Seeing her wet hair, coat, and dishevelled appearance, something in his heart suddenly seemed to melt. His tone was helpless and resigned, "We are destined to be together, Qu Fuer."

  The girl opened and closed her mouth for a long time, but no words came out. Then she seemed to finally be unable to bear it anymore and sneezed loudly.

  She must be freezing - Cesare thought.

  "Duke..." Qu Fu'er said tremblingly. She looked at the man's face so close, which was particularly clear in the firelight. Yes, yes, it was indeed him.

  Cesare frowned. This woman really knew how to keep her distance. She used to call him Cesare, but after not seeing him for a few months, she changed from a name to such a noble title. Sure enough, things will be different next summer. He was about to say something arrogant to ridicule her, but suddenly he saw the girl's face was about to cry.

  "Hey, don't cry, what's wrong with you?" Cesare thought to himself that he had never been so patient as he was now. He even reached out to wipe someone else's tears.

  Qu Fuer felt that all the grievances, hardships, fears and sorrows that had been accumulated in her body for days seemed to burst out at this moment. She grabbed Cesare's clothes and started crying.

  "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in Mingxia?" Cesare suddenly remembered that he had lost contact with Mingxia, "Did something happen to Mingxia?"

  Qu Fuer nodded and opened her mouth, but she was too excited to utter a complete sentence.

  Seeing that the girl was shivering even more, Cesare reached out and untied her silver wolf fur coat. He stood up and looked at the trembling camel, on which was still hanging her package, which looked extremely simple. Was she fleeing from famine? Perhaps even those who were fleeing from famine looked more respectable than her.

  Cesare thought unhappily that Qu Fuer was really capable. She had such noble blood in her body, but she always managed to make herself look so miserable and pitiful.

  He went forward and unwrapped the package, and found that the clothes inside were not much better - what kind of clothes did she bring with her? How could Mingxia's silk, satin and cotton-padded jackets withstand the wind and snow in Elima?

  "What are you carrying?" he turned around and said to the girl.

  "I, I have nothing else..." Qu Fuer said tremblingly.

  Cesare could only unbutton his robe and said, "Take off all those wet clothes on you and dry them by the fire." He threw his outer coat to Qu Fuer and wore casual clothes himself. Seeing that the girl could not stand up for a while, he put the silver wolf skin coat by the fire to dry.

  The firewood made a crackling sound. Qu Fuer looked at Cesare shyly, but Cesare said, "If you don't want to freeze to death, take it off quickly. Also, I have seen your body many times. You don't need to be shy."

  However, Cesare certainly had no idea what his words meant to Qu Fuer. The stubborn girl's fingers had been on the buttons, but now they fell down dejectedly.

  Cesare hung up the clothes in a circle and returned to the fire. Seeing that the girl was still in wet clothes, he immediately became anxious. He had fought with dragons in such snowy weather and knew that if she stayed cold all the time, she would get sick and might even die from the illness.

  He grabbed Qu Fuer and said, "You are not listening, are you?"

  "Is it not okay if I don't want to take it off?" Qu Fuer yelled at him.

  "After going to Mingxia and becoming Mingxia's princess, have you learned to yell so loudly?" Cesare deliberately provoked. The girl looked extremely beautiful in the firelight when she was angry - she had grown a little older and her hair had become very long.

  Qu Fuer tightly grasped Cesare's coat and covered herself with it. She hugged her knees and turned her head away from him, "You're getting married..." After a while, she suddenly said for no reason, her voice sounding aggrieved and about to cry, "How can I take off my clothes in front of you..."

  Cesare's hand, which had been so confident just now, suddenly became hesitant.