Purely for him!

“Heh!” Jun Beiyue couldn’t help letting out a cold laugh. Everything she had done — wasn’t all of it aimed at him from the start?

“Nonsense!”

Jun Beiyue snorted lightly and threw a sudden punch, striking Bai Mengmeng directly in the abdomen, sending her crashing through several layers of hanging curtains, landing all the way back in the war council hall.

Tender, protective feelings toward women — aside from Han Ziqing, he genuinely had none.

As Bai Mengmeng crashed down again, blood trickled steadily from her lips. Her already gravely injured back, taking such a brutal impact, was now a bloody mess.

At the same time, her silver-white armor was smashed to pieces.

Jun Beiyue walked slowly out, staring coldly down at her. “Speak. How long have you been lying in wait?”

Bai Mengmeng gently wiped away the blood at her lips, her smile still radiant, still confident, and simply refused to answer. Instead, she laughed. “Prince Yao, I heard Princess Yao holds your deepest favor. I’d thought you were a man who cherished and protected women — but now it seems… I overestimated you after all.”

Jun Beiyue had no patience for idle chatter. He warned coldly, “Not talking, then?”

“And if I don’t… what then?” Bai Mengmeng’s expression turned cold and bewitching, deliberately provocative — clearly gravely wounded, yet drawing courage from who knew where.

Jun Beiyue closed in, step by step. Bai Mengmeng leaned back against something, showing no sign of defense, smiling as she watched him approach, as if she were actually looking forward to it.

“Don’t think that just because you’re White Tiger’s adopted daughter, this prince won’t dare touch you,” Jun Beiyue warned with a cold smile.

“You… simply don’t dare!” Bai Mengmeng seemed determined to push him to his absolute limit. As she spoke, drawing on strength from who knew where, her upper body suddenly surged up, one arm hooking around Jun Beiyue’s neck!

The corner of Jun Beiyue’s mouth curled into a cold smile — this was exactly the moment he’d been waiting for, the evidence of an assassination attempt. “Someone—”

But just as he was about to call for his guards, Bai Mengmeng clapped a hand over his mouth. “Prince Yao, if I don’t do this, the Empress of Eastern Qin won’t spare me. The Empress made a wager with Minhan Mude’er — if you make no move within five days, and you continue to just sit idle, the Empress will agree to Minhan’s withdrawal, drawing you deep into the heart of Eastern Qin! We can fabricate a false scene to deceive the Empress, and lure her out!”

Bai Mengmeng completely dropped her coquettish, sweet-voiced act. Her words came fast, but each one landed sharp and clear, and the ambiguous look in her eyes suddenly turned solemn as she stared straight at Jun Beiyue.

Jun Beiyue stared back at her — he truly hadn’t anticipated this.

This woman hadn’t come to surrender — she’d been putting on an act the entire time, a performance meant for the Empress of Eastern Qin to see.

Bai Mengmeng wasn’t lying. She did, in fact, intend to side with Jun Beiyue — but absolutely not out of any loyalty to Da Zhou. It was simply that she needed a reason to stay by Jun Beiyue’s side, needed an opportunity to prove her worth to this man.

Jun Beiyue remained perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back, while Bai Mengmeng leaned against him, one arm still around his neck, the two of them locked in a direct gaze. For a moment, time itself seemed to stop.

Perhaps, for Bai Mengmeng, time truly had stopped — she had dreamed of this moment, this touch, for far, far too long.

She believed this was a wonderful beginning — a beautiful start between her and Jun Beiyue.

But how could time possibly stop for Jun Beiyue?

He was already weighing how much truth there was in what she’d said. Before long, he simply pushed her away. “Bai Mengmeng, why expose your identity only now?”

Everything Bai Mengmeng had said made sense, but there was one thing he couldn’t understand — if Bai Mengmeng had intended to surrender all along, she could have revealed herself long ago. Why wait until now?

Shoved by Jun Beiyue, Bai Mengmeng couldn’t keep her balance and staggered back several steps, forced to brace herself against a table just to stay upright.

Of course Bai Mengmeng had waited until now. She wanted Jun Beiyue to remember this moment vividly. She wanted to prove her worth all the more clearly. And now — wasn’t it true that Han Ziqing was no longer here?

In this entire army, she was the only woman — a special woman — who could lead troops, fight battles, and attend to him as well!

“Because, before now, I never intended to surrender. Prince Yao, I am a woman of Eastern Qin, not of Da Zhou. Why should I throw in my lot with you?” Bai Mengmeng said with a smile. At this point, she was already extremely weak, yet she could still maintain that dazzling smile, could still grit her teeth and stand firm.

“Is that so. This prince has no fondness for traitors of uncertain loyalty,” Jun Beiyue said, showing no particular courtesy toward Bai Mengmeng despite her surrender.

Bai Mengmeng was briefly stunned, then smiled again. “Prince Yao, it’s because I believe there’s only one person in this entire world worth Bai Mengmeng’s service — not the Empress of Eastern Qin, but you. As long as you don’t mind that I’m a woman, I would willingly spend my whole life disguised as a man, fighting alongside you to conquer the world!”

Such sincere words!

And yet Jun Beiyue showed not the slightest reaction, his face still cold. “What exactly do you want?”

No sooner had he spoken than Bai Mengmeng, with no warning at all, suddenly lunged at him — with her injuries, she shouldn’t have had the strength for such a move at all. Jun Beiyue, caught off guard, staggered back several steps and found himself pressed against the wall.

Bai Mengmeng pressed one hand against him, blood staining her back and her lips, her face ghastly pale — and yet she kept smiling. “Jun Beiyue, it doesn’t matter if you don’t trust me. I promise you, within five days, I will help you wipe out half of Eastern Qin’s forces!”

The moment she finished speaking, her vision went dark and she collapsed, her body toppling forward toward him!

Jun Beiyue instinctively stepped aside, letting her, already covered in wounds, fall heavily face-first to the ground.

Only then did he get a clear look at her back — a bloody, mangled mess of torn flesh.

Jun Beiyue stared at her for a long moment, then casually kicked her once. Seeing no reaction from Bai Mengmeng, he finally believed she had truly passed out.

He frowned slightly, kicked her a few more times, then let out an involuntary soft laugh — this woman had a bit of Ziqing’s temperament to her; she was somewhat interesting after all.

After mulling it over for a long moment, he immediately gave the order. “Someone — summon the Three Great Tiger Generals, and the army physician!”

Soon, the Three Great Generals had all arrived. The moment General White Tiger entered and saw Bai Mengmeng lying crumpled on the ground, covered in blood, he was nearly frightened out of his wits. Paying no mind to Jun Beiyue’s presence, he rushed over and scooped her up. “What happened here! Mengmeng, don’t scare Father like this — wake up! Physician, hurry over here, quickly!”

The other two generals were equally shocked. How could something like this happen inside the prince’s own tent?

“My lord, what is—” the Black Tiger General asked, bewildered.

“There was an assassin a moment ago. This prince stepped out, and by the time I returned, she was already like this. The assassin was likely the one who set the fire, come to silence her,” Jun Beiyue said flatly.

He had been waiting all along for Bai Mengmeng to come charging in, and had already planned to kill her and pin it on an assassin, conveniently solving the arson case as well, to settle the army’s nerves.

He’d never imagined that Bai Mengmeng would prove to still have value alive.