The Misty Forest

The Misty Forest is a historical novel by Chen Xingmei (pen name Xingmei), published by Phoenix Publishing House in September 2009, totaling roughly 280,000 Chinese characters. The work was first serialized in Youth Literature under the titles The Black Forest Knight and The Misty Forest; the author spent about five years and revised the manuscript ten times. The story is set in Europe during the age of cold weapons around the year 1000, with the Duchy of Swabia in Germany as its central stage. The protagonist, Maximilian, born into the House of Blon (Schhofen) and known as "Golden-Haired Maximilian," becomes the leader of the duchy after inheriting his title. Gentle by nature, he holds that subjects and sovereign are no different and that everyone should enjoy equal rights—a belief ahead of its time that constantly brings him into conflict with neighboring lords and his own kin. After his younger brother Albert usurps the throne, he flees northwest, witnesses his realm fall, and plots revenge; at the Blusal peace talks, pressured by the assembled lords and his brother, he partitions the territory of Lorraine, further eroding his prestige. When Swabia later rebels, he heads north to seek aid but is detained by Duke Rudolf of Lorraine; during his captivity he suffers both physical and mental torment, yet never taunts his captor over the latter's physical defect. The novel revolves around love and hate, life and death, reason and emotion, pride and submission, depicting the complex bond between hunter and prey—watching over each other, killing yet loving each other. The misty forest of the title is both the story's setting and a metaphor for an inescapable fate. The book is structured as "Prologue—Part One: The Pure-Blood Prince—Part Two: the Rannstein Wasteland—Part Three: The Misty Forest—Epilogue." It should be noted that the online classification "Super Collection of Web Novels: Youth Campus" does not match this book's subject matter; this is not a campus web novel.