Time returns to that night of the Battle of Five-Color Plain.

The rising fireworks led Xia Houchun, Qi Yuansi and others to rush toward the ice waterfall at fastest speed.

After searching, they found Tie Ci still unconscious beneath the ice layer.

Everyone gasped when they saw Tie Ci’s wound.

The location was extremely dangerous—a little more and it could have taken her life.

Even now, it was a severe injury. It was truly hard to imagine how she had escaped with her life under those circumstances.

Qi Yuansi stood beside Tie Ci, his expression dark, suddenly saying: “It was Rong Wei. I saw it.”

Dan Shuang said: “Rong Wei saved her?”

“He was the one who attacked.”

Dan Shuang was shocked.

Xia Houchun sighed.

He should have explained everything to the Crown Princess regardless of consequences from the beginning, even if she refused—he should have shouted it clearly in her ears.

Dan Shuang thought for a while and said: “I was there too. I didn’t see Rong Wei attack the Crown Princess, but I think I saw the Crown Princess take Rong Wei and flash away.”

Qi Yuansi didn’t respond. He naturally knew this—at that time the Crown Princess hadn’t taken him but had taken away Rong Wei who had attacked her.

“Since the Crown Princess still took Rong Wei to escape, it means there were hidden circumstances then, and since the Crown Princess is safe, obviously Rong Wei saved her…”

“Have you forgotten what the Liaodong soldiers were shouting when the Crown Princess was stabbed?”

Dan Shuang suddenly choked.

“This was premeditated. The Crown Princess acted alone to save Rong Wei, but Rong Wei wasn’t captured at all.” Qi Yuansi said word by word. “He is the Eighteenth Prince of Liaodong.”

Dan Shuang gasped sharply.

She remembered the excited clamor of the Liaodong soldiers she had heard when she charged over.

She remembered the Crown Princess venturing alone into the formation, struggling like a boat going against the current in a sea of people, finally struggling to that moment of rescue, and then…

What must the Crown Princess’s feelings have been at that time?

She suddenly turned around.

After Mu Si was rescued by her, he had fainted. To prevent him from being accidentally injured, she had hidden him in a concealed cliff crevice.

Mu Si was a servant of the Liaodong Prince.

Could Mu Si also be…

Dan Shuang’s eyes reddened, biting her teeth without speaking.

Qi Yuansi suddenly asked Xia Houchun: “If the Crown Princess wakes and asks who saved her, what should we say?”

Xia Houchun didn’t speak.

He understood Qi Yuansi’s meaning.

They couldn’t tell the Crown Princess that Rong Wei saved her.

For him, the Crown Princess had already sacrificed too much. Her status and position destined that the person she chose must be pure and loyal.

Absolutely not the son of a rebellious minister.

Even more absolutely not the son of a rebellious minister who had already attacked her.

Now that identities were revealed and positions hostile, if there were still lingering connections, what enormous disaster it would bring her—no one dared imagine.

“Then who should we say it was? You?”

Qi Yuansi smiled.

“I’m not that shameless yet.”

Xia Houchun was silent, then after a long while said: “If His Highness asks, let’s say Supervisor Rong discovered her first, and we all saved her together.”

Qi Yuansi looked at him.

This was the commander beside His Highness—did he also approve of His Highness choosing Rong Pu?

“That’s fine too.”

As long as it’s good for His Highness.

Dan Shuang bit her teeth and said nothing.

She had always disagreed with the Crown Princess being with Rong Wei precisely because of status. All the various speculations from that time had now come true.

And it was the worst kind.

No wonder neither Rong Wei nor His Highness was willing to pierce that final layer of paper.

They were both intelligent people—where were there truly impenetrable mysteries? They just knew in their hearts that seeing through meant destruction.

Seeing through is easy, but accepting is difficult.

Xia Houchun’s gaze swept over Tie Ci. She was wrapped in obviously male robes. Xia Houchun gestured to Dan Shuang to change the Crown Princess’s clothes, then turned his back.

After the clothes were changed, Dan Shuang picked up Tie Ci, but Tie Ci opened her eyes at this moment.

Facing everyone’s delighted gazes, her eyes seemed somewhat confused, as if surprised that she was seeing Xia Houchun.

Xia Houchun said: “Your Highness, you’re awake.”

Tie Ci’s gaze moved: “Where am I?”

“We’re still at Five-Color Plain. You were nearly taken by the Liaodong people. Supervisor Rong discovered you first, and we barely managed to rescue you.”

“Help me up.”

Xia Houchun helped Tie Ci up. Tie Ci’s gaze moved around. Qi Yuansi had already moved away the corpse with its mouth wide open. That area was a mess of blood mixed with ice.

“Your Highness… are you looking for something?”

Tie Ci withdrew her gaze: “Nothing.”

Perhaps it really was nothing.

With Murong Yi’s temperament, if he had truly saved her, he would never fail to leave proof and let others take credit.

Since there wasn’t any, then he didn’t save her.

Her later memories were all very hazy. She only remembered hearing Prince Da’an’s promises to Murong Yi at that time—the royal position, heir status, an excellent marriage… then he dragged her over.

The movement was very rough, the wound very painful.

Later in her daze, she felt someone say “restore” by her ear, and felt something in her hand, so she used her last bit of strength to restore that thing and threw it toward the person walking toward her.

When the thunderous explosion sounded, she truly fainted.

What happened after that, she didn’t know.

If it really was Murong Yi who saved her, and he was also severely injured, why didn’t he stay?

Oh, he couldn’t stay—he had to leave with his own people.

Di Yiwei’s army, from this moment on, was his enemy.

So was she.

Tie Ci closed her eyes.

Dan Shuang stared at the Crown Princess, seeing her gaze go from searching to disappointment to a stillness like dead water.

Like the last ray of sunlight at the horizon suddenly leaping up, struggling to produce a bit of deep red afterglow, but then sinking even faster behind the western mountains, replaced by a cold, clear moon that gave no warmth to the world.

She pressed her lips together.

Watching Xia Houchun carry the Crown Princess back, she walked unsteadily back to where she had hidden Mu Si.

But the shallow cave was already empty. A line of characters was carved on the cliff wall.

“Thank you for the rescue. Urgent matters prevent me from staying. Take care in the jianghu, wait for my return.”

Dan Shuang silently looked at that line of characters.

A crystalline glimmer flickered slightly in her eyes.

Abandoned since childhood, she had never shed tears, because she feared that if she cried, even fewer people would like her, no one would want her.

After being taken in by the Crown Princess and living a good life, though she still didn’t love this world, she was inwardly satisfied and felt there was nothing worth crying about.

But now she finally understood what was meant by cruel fate.

Like flowers blooming at their most beautiful moment meeting wind and snow, instantly frozen crystalline. The beauty was still there, but could never again be touched or smelled. The rich fragrance would henceforth remain in dreams, written in poetry, recorded on paper—year after year, month after month reviewing it in turn, cold and scentless.

Her heart was filled with an indescribable sourness, not knowing if it was for the Crown Princess or for herself.

She slowly crouched down and hugged her head.

Her shoulder blades trembled slightly, like a butterfly trembling in the wind.

…

Tie Ci didn’t participate in the subsequent battles. She remained in the main camp, where there were still many soldiers poisoned and collapsed. Rong Pu was exhausted during those days, first rushing to the three armies before the great battle at Cang Tian Pass to remove the bells from their cotton clothes.

Fortunately, to avoid discovery and control the timing of activation, the bells were stuffed in corners of the cotton clothes and tightly packed with cotton. Only during combat, when clothing was torn and cotton pulled away, would the bells ring and the lurking poison activate. The faster one ran, the more urgently the bells rang, the faster the poison worked.

The poison had been lurking early on, with the special bell sound as the catalyzing trigger. This was originally Cui Shi’s plan offered to Xiao Chang—use poison to control the army. If Di Yiwei obediently went to the capital for trial, that would be fine. If she tried to reclaim military authority, Xiao Chang could control the army and make her efforts futile.

However, no one expected Di Yiwei to return so quickly or the Imperial Crown Princess to act so decisively. The rush-made cotton clothes hadn’t even been fully distributed when they had already reclaimed military authority. The Imperial Crown Princess had even killed Xiao Chang without explanation and executed the Xiao family’s personal troops. Xiao Chang’s plan had no chance of implementation.

But no one had expected Cui Shi to secretly contact Liaodong and sell this information to them for protection. It was precisely because of this assurance that Prince Da’an dared to bring Murong Yi, wanting to kill the Imperial Crown Princess, seize the Abyss Iron weapons, and incidentally grab Da Qian territory.

Fortunately, Di Yiwei’s sharp eyes during the great battle allowed timely damage control, and Rong Pu’s timely discovery after Chi Xue’s outbreak in the main camp.

Though many were poisoned, without the bells they wouldn’t activate. Subsequent detoxification could be done slowly, so later battles weren’t affected. Rong Pu led people in constantly mixing medicines in the camp while also caring for the severely injured Tie Ci, becoming much thinner within days from exhaustion.

While recuperating, Tie Ci closely monitored battlefield conditions. Strangely, something seemed to have happened in Liaodong’s upper levels—the Liaodong Prince never appeared. Initially, Liaodong generals still resisted fiercely, but gradually lost confidence. One night they abandoned the city and fled, leading remnant forces back to Liaodong, returning the newly captured Cang Tian Pass and surrounding hundred-li territory.

Thus Da Qian achieved great victory.

On the Liaodong side, it was said that Liang Shiyi’s previously suppressed faction had resurged and was roaming and causing trouble around Xining. Liaodong was now too busy with their own affairs to spare attention. If not for Da Qian’s soldiers still detoxifying, Di Yiwei’s attitude suggested she wouldn’t mind taking Xining as well under the pretext of pursuing the Liaodong Prince.

Cui Shi, the instigator of this poison plot—in Tie Ci’s remaining memory, her explosive projectile should have been thrown at him and hit. Afterward, she ordered careful searching of the battlefield but never found Cui Shi’s corpse. The Liaodong army had left many corpses at Five-Color Plain. Tie Ci worried for a time that Cui Shi had methods of concealment, but with things as they were, she could only let it be.

But Cui Shi was already lame, and that explosion must have caused damage. Hopefully he would soon find eternal rest.

Everyone around noticed that after the Imperial Crown Princess officially revealed her identity in the Battle of Five-Color Plain, she became much more silent.

Originally, all the army officers and soldiers who witnessed her heroic bearing on the battlefield greatly admired her and longed to get close. Di Yiwei suggested the Crown Princess should find time to address the entire army—this was something Tie Ci had always diligently worked toward, as it represented Di Yiwei’s acceptance and submission.

In the past, she would have agreed with seeming calm but inner imperial satisfaction. But this time she lazily refused, spending entire days lying in her tent like a corpse, not even bothering with the mountain-high pile of urgent documents from her Grand Tutor and His Majesty in court.

The documents naturally urged her return to the capital. Her year of training was complete with remarkable achievements, and the struggle with the Xiao family had reached fever pitch. Her personal image building had also reached its peak—if she didn’t hurry back to reap the fruits during this excellent period, when would she?

In the past, Tie Ci would have long since returned triumphantly with spring wind and swift horses. This time, however, she let document pile upon document without any intention of leaving.

She seemed to be waiting for something.

She had left the Fushan passage to Xi Rong open, and she accepted the guards Dan Ye had specially sent later, but she specifically stationed those people at the Fushan passage. After border martial law was lifted, her nine Crown Princess guards gradually arrived but were all sent by her to the borders closest to Xi Rong and Liaodong.

Everyone knew what she was waiting for.

However, days passed peacefully without any news. Liaodong had stationed more troops at the border, highly vigilant against the Imperial Crown Princess’s spies who kept probing beyond their own territory.

Tie Ci spent this New Year recovering from injuries in the military camp. She slowly carved in her tent while soldiers gathered around bonfires outside celebrating, clamoring for the Crown Princess to come out.

Tie Ci finally went out to drink a cup of wine with everyone. When raising her cup toward the vast sky, she wondered what that person was doing. While myriad families reunited, she had not reunited—he must still be on the road too.

But ultimately, they were on different roads now.

Looking back on this year, it felt like half a lifetime had passed. In the end, amid firecracker sounds looking back, she was still not yet seventeen, but her state of mind was already like an octogenarian’s.

The first New Year after leaving—she had thought she could spend it with him.

Fate was like floating clouds gathering and scattering endlessly, like lightning plowing through her heart, like great wind sweeping away old events. Thunder rumbled, burying all grudges and kindnesses in the ashes of calamity.

When the documents urging return to the capital on the desk were nearly half a person’s height, Rong Pu and others finally couldn’t bear it anymore. They agreed to gather and talk with the Imperial Crown Princess, hopefully persuading her to return to the capital early and not miss the good opportunity.

The group chose early morning to go to the Crown Princess’s tent—brains were more muddled just after waking, perhaps they could persuade the Crown Princess.

However, before everyone reached the tent, they discovered the tent’s lights hadn’t been raised. Dan Shuang came out from inside, saying: “The Crown Princess says she’ll return to the capital today.”

Everyone was overjoyed.

When the news spread, the entire military camp thundered with cheers.

If the Xiao faction saw this, they’d probably furiously write an article titled “Crown Princess Poisons Military Camp, Soldiers Celebrate Her Departure.”

After Dan Shuang gave this instruction, she declined everyone’s visits as usual and bent to re-enter the tent under everyone’s worried gazes.

Inside the tent, the lights hadn’t been extinguished. From the candle drippings, these lights had been burning for a long time.

Dan Shuang knew it had been all night, since she returned the treasure armor.

When she presented the neatly folded treasure armor, the Imperial Crown Princess began staring blankly.

She personally witnessed the Imperial Crown Princess caress the treasure armor, using too much force and being cut by the iron wire inside, staining a red dot on the blue satin surface.

When she stepped forward to bandage the Crown Princess, Tie Ci withdrew her finger, put it in her mouth, and smiled at her: “That bastard never told the truth. This is clearly Abyss Iron, but he insisted on deceiving me that it wasn’t, even painting over the Abyss Iron to maintain the deception.”

Dan Shuang looked at her smile but felt her heart contract painfully.

She said: “Forget about him.”

Tie Ci stopped smiling, slowly wiping her finger on the satin surface: “You tell me to forget him—what about you?”

Dan Shuang bit her teeth: “Being factionally opposed, naturally from now on we’re irreconcilably hostile.”

She thought of Chi Xue, still detoxifying, who hadn’t asked once about Zhao San’s whereabouts. She seemed nonchalant but had been growing thinner day by day recently.

Every morning, clumps of black hair could be seen on the ground. Chi Xue said it was caused by detoxification, but she knew there was both physical and heart sickness.

All three mistress and servants had failed in love simultaneously, but comparing them, the Crown Princess had it worst.

Tie Ci stared at her and suddenly said: “Was it really Supervisor Rong and Commander Xia Hou who saved me?”

Dan Shuang’s heart jumped, not knowing how to answer for a moment.

And not wanting to answer.

But Tie Ci was already smiling again.

“It wasn’t, was it.”

“Your Highness, you…”

“You all say I was rescued by my own subordinates. You all say Murong Yi deceived me for the royal position. You all say I saved him but he abandoned me.” Tie Ci said gently. “But I know it’s not true.”

Dan Shuang felt she had been too fragile lately.

Her tears were about to spill from her eyes again.

She quickly pressed her lips to hold them back.

“I believe he deceived me, but I believe he didn’t intend to deceive me, and I believe he wouldn’t truly betray me, even if he hurt me, harmed me, abandoned me without any consideration in front of Prince Da’an.”

These past days, some things remained without trace, while others had gradually and vaguely returned to memory.

Heaven seemed to have personal bias too—what was remembered were all those heart-piercing moments: the blade entering her chest, Prince Da’an’s promises, Murong Yi’s betrayal.

But she still knew it wasn’t true.

It wasn’t like that.

Without reason, just belief.

“Then Your Highness…”

Are you waiting for him? Are you waiting for an explanation? Do you need to wait for him before returning to the capital? Because you fear this missed opportunity might be for life, this missed chance might mean meeting again as enemies.

“But I still have to leave.” Tie Ci stacked those thick urging documents and burned them in the fire. The firelight reflected her particularly dark eyes, depicting everything indescribable within them. “But I still don’t know, don’t understand, don’t comprehend. I was discovered by Rong Pu, I was saved by Xia Hou and them. I am the Imperial Crown Princess who everyone believes should only know what she should know. I am the Da Qian royal heir who everyone believes should only do what she should do.”

The documents burned completely. She gently blew once, watching the ashes float and sink before her eyes, then turned around. The jade brush hung at her waist, the bright yellow cloak draped over her shoulders.

She bent slightly and walked out, toward the boiling military camp outside. There lay her glory, her territory, her world—everything she must continuously sacrifice for and strive toward without rest.

The tent flap opened a crack. In the dim morning light, her silhouette was outlined by dawn, distinct and still straight.

“I never wait for anyone in one place, just as he wouldn’t either. We are both people who never stop for dreams, because the day we stop is the day we die. Now I must go to my battlefield, and I hope he can also be king on his battlefield. In this vast world of mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, may our farewell in this range of hills allow us to reunite in another sea of people.”

…

Author’s Note: These past few days I’ve been relying on saved drafts while I went to Shenzhen. The entire late September will be quite busy, and my saved drafts are being depleted again and again. The next few months will probably be close to going without reserves.