Watching Yelu Qianqian’s figure grow smaller and smaller with each step, Situ Haonan couldn’t recover from those words for the longest time.
Don’t want him anymore!
She was going home.
She didn’t want him!
Situ Haonan didn’t move. But when Yelu Qianqian reached the gates of the Glazed Pavilion, she was stopped by Jun Beiyue’s Shadow Guards!
“Get out of my way, I’m leaving!”
“Princess Qianqian, our apologies—without Prince Yao’s order, no one is permitted to leave this place,” the Shadow Guard said, his tone respectful but unyielding.
Yelu Qianqian’s brow shot up, and she snapped sharply, “What right does he have?!”
That Jun Beiyue—he’d planned everything out from the start, he’d known all along this was how Xijing would end up.
So in truth, he hadn’t brought her here for refuge at all—he’d imprisoned her here!
The message on the note wasn’t only about Xijing—it also concerned Dongqin. Jun Beiyue had declared war on the Empress of Dongqin while in Nanzhao—meaning he was now at the northern frontier, freeing him from worry about Da Zhou’s western front.
Yelu Qianqian knew that her returning to Xijing now would surely disrupt Jun Beiyue’s plans, but she no longer had room to care about that.
That was Xijing—the land that had raised her, her home!
There was no reason not to defend it!
“It’s a windy night, Princess Qianqian. Perhaps it’s best you return inside,” the Shadow Guard said, still respectful, still not answering her question.
“I said, get out of my way!” Yelu Qianqian bit out each word, each one sharper than the last.
The Shadow Guard bowed his head, unmoved.
Yelu Qianqian suddenly lashed out with a kick, aiming savagely at the guard. He flickered and vanished from sight, only to reappear just as swiftly to one side—and at the same moment, four or five more Shadow Guards appeared together, blocking the gate entirely!
“You people! How dare you!” Yelu Qianqian was furious beyond reason. Not caring how mediocre her own martial skills were, she drew her sword and lunged forward like a madwoman—but before she’d even managed three strikes, the guards had already seized her!
“Let go of me, you’re all terrible people, let go of me, I want to go home!”
“You’re despicable, terrible people, let go of me!”
…
She kicked, cursed, struggled, desperate yet frantic. Situ Haonan watched from a distance, jaw clenched. He knew what the consequences would be. He didn’t want this!
But he wasn’t willing to imprison her either!
How had it come to this? He’d set out to elope with her—and now it had turned into abducting her, imprisoning her!
Soon, Yelu Qianqian spotted Situ Haonan, and her cursing grew even louder. “Situ Haonan, you’re despicable, shameless, you tricked me!”
She knew there was no clear right or wrong in any of this.
From Da Zhou’s perspective, Jun Beiyue was not wrong to move against Xijing; from Xijing’s perspective, her father and brother were not wrong to move against Da Zhou.
It was simply the way of victors and the vanquished. If one had to assign blame, all one could really say was that her brother shouldn’t have harmed Ziqing the way he did.
But it was too late for any of that now. Today, she had to leave, no matter what.
She could only provoke Situ Haonan into letting her go.
She knew this man’s temperament better than anyone!
“Liar! Situ Haonan, you liar!” Thinking of it, her curses grew even louder.
Liar!
Situ Haonan had never imagined he’d live to hear Yelu Qianqian call him that. He walked over, despair in his eyes, looking at the girl before him gone half-mad. After a long, long moment, he finally turned his head away, no longer looking at her, and said flatly to the Shadow Guards, “Let her go.”
“Young Master Situ!” The Shadow Guard hesitated. In truth, Prince Yao hadn’t given any specific instructions beyond protecting Princess Qianqian with everything they had—it was Situ Haonan who, upon arriving, had told them all that Princess Qianqian liked to play games and must not be allowed to leave the Glazed Pavilion under any circumstances. Prince Yao’s name had merely been used as an excuse.
Situ Haonan didn’t answer. He simply waved his hand, signaling for her to be released.
With Jun Beiyue absent, the Shadow Guards naturally deferred to Situ Haonan. Though confused, they immediately cleared a path!
Situ Haonan kept his head turned away, not looking at Yelu Qianqian. Yelu Qianqian sniffled, and without looking back either, covered her mouth and rushed out the door…
Once she was gone, the Shadow Guard finally spoke up. “Young Master Situ, about this matter…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll give your lord a full explanation myself,” Situ Haonan said, turning and walking off in another direction.
Tonight, they’d parted without a single word. If they ever met again someday, what kind of scene would await them then?
“Why aren’t you chasing after her? What’s going on?”
The Shadow Guard was baffled, murmuring quietly to the others. But at that moment, Jun Beiyue and Ziqing had only just arrived at the northern frontier, entirely unaware of any of this—nor did they have any spare thought to give it. Jun Beiyue was consumed with the state of the war, while Ziqing had temporarily set aside Lishang to personally pore over various geographical records, searching for gunpowder materials. In ancient warfare, gunpowder was an utterly unstoppable weapon—unfortunately, they had none left in stock! If they could locate a large mineral deposit, it would save Jun Beiyue an enormous amount of effort!
Ziqing didn’t want to be a burden to the man she loved, and even less did she want to hide beneath his protection. She wanted to help him, to stand shoulder to shoulder with him!
And along the way, Jun Beiyue too had been swamped—not for any other reason, but because the Empress of Dongqin had reached Dongqin ahead of them and personally led the entire strength of Dongqin’s army into the field.
This was something Jun Beiyue hadn’t anticipated at all!
“My lord, that old woman must have been driven mad!” General White Tiger scoffed.
The generals had gathered in Jun Beiyue’s camp, poring over the map for a long while.
The Empress of Dongqin mobilizing the whole of Dongqin’s army meant, from another angle, that Dongqin was abandoning its northern defenses against the Huns entirely!
Dongqin, as a nation, had the Huns to its north, Da Zhou to its south, the Wicked Ravine to its west, and the sea to its east!
Its forces were split only between the north and the south. According to their scouts, judging by the current troop concentration in the south, the Empress of Dongqin intended to abandon the northern defenses entirely and throw everything into resisting Da Zhou!
“My lord, could it be that what she really wants is…” General Black Tiger said, tracing a finger to Xichu’s territory on the map. “Is she gambling everything—crossing the borderland of the Three Realms, abandoning Dongqin’s northern frontier to strike into Xichu instead?”
At this, Yingzi, standing to one side, burst out laughing. “Impossible! Does she really think she’d win? What a joke—even with the full strength of her nation, she couldn’t make it past the Three Realms borderland!”
At this point, Jun Beiyue, who had been silent all along, finally spoke. “She’s warning me.”
Jun Beiyue had originally believed the Empress of Dongqin would never take this step—that she would at least still be wary of the Huns at her northern border, and so would choose not to fight, but instead surrender and submit to Da Zhou, becoming a vassal state.
He hadn’t expected she would actually gamble everything, risking the destruction of her own nation, just to warn him.
Once Dongqin’s northern frontier fell and Da Zhou destroyed Dongqin, Da Zhou would have to face the Huns directly!
That was something Jun Beiyue had no wish to confront right now.
What the Empress of Dongqin meant now was simple: either Da Zhou withdrew its troops and everyone went their separate ways in peace, or, even if Dongqin fell, she would drag Da Zhou down with her, and make Da Zhou taste the savagery of the Huns firsthand.
The moment Jun Beiyue said this, the whole tent fell silent. Jun Beiyue murmured thoughtfully, “She hasn’t found Xuanyuan Lige…”
But before he could finish speaking, the tent flap was suddenly flung open, and there stood Situ Haonan—stubble covering his jaw, eyes bloodshot, travel-worn from head to toe.
Jun Beiyue froze in shock, then quickly composed himself and was about to speak when Ziqing, who had been silent beside him, suddenly snapped sharply, “Where’s Yelu Qianqian?”