The court, already thrown into panic, was bound to descend into chaos.
This was his territory, the ground where his advantages lay — but also the ground where he was constrained.
The unfinished business of the Sand Sacrifice Ceremony, Yelu Qianqian’s private affair, the threat from Western Liang — everything was waiting for him to give the ministers, to give the army, an explanation.
Once his affair with Yanzi got out, the consequences were more than Western Jing could bear!
Jun Beiyue could ignore the Eastern Qin empress’s proclamation to the world, could ignore Nanzhao’s suspicions, and rush straight here.
Once the world learned that this crisis had been caused by him, the Crown Prince of Western Jing, what Western Jing would face would not merely be a crisis on the western border with Western Liang — it would be hostility from the whole of Longyuan!
Once Western Jing fell into war with Western Liang, Great Zhou opening a front in the east would absolutely be the one to benefit.
As for Western Liang, he was powerless — there was only one way to save Western Jing, and that was to make use of Nanzhao.
Yelu Chenyi watched coldly as the retreating figures of Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing disappeared, a flicker of malice surfacing on his silent, indifferent face. He turned back to look at the secret passage and murmured to himself, “Nanzhao…”
Nanzhao was not without suspicion toward Jun Beiyue — on the matter of the merfolk, Jun Beiyue still hadn’t given an answer.
These past days, he had been paying attention not only to Eastern Qin, but even more to Nanzhao.
The reason Jun Beiyue could come swaggering into Western Liang without a care in the world was that he was relying on the conservative nature the Nanzhao royal family had maintained for centuries.
Whatever could be discussed privately, whatever could be investigated quietly, whatever could be negotiated — the Nanzhao royal family would absolutely not resort to force.
But if the Nanzhao royal family ever did take up arms, that would be a choice made with no other choice left — and when that happened, the whole of Longyuan would be turned upside down.
How, then, could he provoke Nanzhao into acting?
This was the most urgent matter before Yelu Chenyi. By the time he turned around, the figures of Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing had already vanished.
“Someone, seal off the secret passage. Everyone who has seen this passage — keep your mouths shut!” he ordered coldly.
“Yes!” the guards answered in unison.
At that moment, an old eunuch hurried over. “Your Highness, His Majesty saw Prince Yao leaving from the Mingsha Hall in the main palace. The civil and military officials are full of criticism. His Majesty wants you to come at once!”
“Understood. Send a letter to the Eastern Qin empress at once — tell her I wish to see her princess, and that I will personally travel to Western Liang.” Yelu Chenyi gave the order in a low voice, hurrying off toward the palace.
Jun Beiyue could have avoided the main gate, but he had never had the habit of taking side doors. Arm around Ziqing, he strode boldly out through the main gate of Akbachu. The Mingsha Hall of the Western Liang palace faced the gate directly, looming high above, commanding an unobstructed view of everything before it.
Heaven only knew how Yelu Chenyi was going to face the furious ministers and generals.
After all, Western Liang’s great general Dugu Xianyun had always been a stubborn, single-minded man.
Of course, that wasn’t Jun Beiyue’s concern. Once they left Akbachu, the wind picked up, and they walked on in silence. Jun Beiyue deliberately let go of her hand, but Ziqing didn’t react at all — she simply kept walking with her head down.
This look was so familiar. She was always like this — too withdrawn to be the chattering, giggling sort of woman her age usually was, radiating a cold aloofness, as if no matter how the world turned upside down, she could remain unmoved, forever living in her own world — a world no one could enter.
Jun Beiyue followed silently, watching, long since familiar and used to this side of her. He knew it wasn’t that he couldn’t enter her world — it was that her world was too simple.
Love was love, hate was hate. There was no tangled mess of loving and hating at once, no idle chatter, no hesitation.
It was like that with him, like that with Xuanyuan Lige, and like that with the people under her, like Shiliang.
It was other people who were too complicated, and so they imagined her silence as something complicated too.
Just now, the dazzling brilliance she had shown hadn’t been forced — she never needed to put on a brave front. That was simply who she was.
That she could be so open and unguarded was proof enough of how at peace, how resolute, her heart truly was.
And yet, it was this very woman who, in front of him, would panic instead, would shy away.
Only in front of him would she force herself to be strong, only in front of him would she hesitate.
Should he call that his own uniqueness to her — or his failure?
Watching that familiar, stubborn back, what Jun Beiyue saw was not a coldness that pushed people away, but loneliness and fragility, and a wave of tenderness he couldn’t hold back rose in his chest.
Silly girl, aren’t you afraid that you’ll turn around one day and not see me there?
A bitter smile touched the corner of Jun Beiyue’s lips, and with a flicker of his figure, he vanished into thin air.
Ziqing walked on with her head down, silent, completely absorbed in her own world, not even noticing when Jun Beiyue had let go of her hand.
Years as a mercenary had left her with more than just skill and a foul temper — they had left her, above all, with a lack of security.
She herself didn’t even know when she had developed this constant wariness.
Never mind being with people she knew in the daytime — even at night, sleeping alone in a heavily guarded room, her nerves stayed taut. No matter how small the room, she would unconsciously stay alert to every sound within it, never able to fully relax.
The only exception was when she was with him.
As long as he was there, she didn’t need to be held, didn’t need him close by her side — his presence alone was enough to give her all the sense of security she needed, enough to let her taut nerves ease.
The moments when she relaxed enough to let her mind wander were always the moments when Jun Beiyue was there.
As if suddenly remembering something, she stopped and turned around — and only then did she realize that the space behind her was empty. Endless yellow sand, and not a single person in sight.
“Jun Beiyue…” she couldn’t help but call out softly. Where had he gone? Vanished without a sound?
How could that be?
He would never do that.
Something must have happened!
Panic seized Ziqing at once. She shouted, “Jun Beiyue… Jun Beiyue!”
She turned and ran back the way she’d come. “Jun Beiyue! Where are you? Do you hear me? Answer me!”
Following the footprints, she realized that for a long stretch, only her own footprints remained — the ones further back had already been buried by the sand.
Ziqing grew more and more panicked. Her cold little face finally showed emotion, filling with fear, as endless yellow sand stretched in every direction, without a trace of him anywhere.
“Jun Beiyue… where are you! Don’t you dare scare me like this!”
The words had barely left her mouth when she stopped in her tracks and spun around — only to find Jun Beiyue standing right behind her, his haggard face shadowed with stubble, his weary eyes brimming with a tenderness and heartache so thick it seemed it could never dissolve.
“You’ve finally decided to look back at me.” He smiled helplessly, reaching out to gently stroke the largest scar on Ziqing’s face, as though caressing some priceless treasure.
At those words, a wave of bitterness surged up in Ziqing’s chest. He had grown so much thinner, his brow etched with exhaustion, and the backs of his hands were covered in scars left by frostbite.
For the first time in her life, Ziqing felt the urge to cry. She threw herself into Jun Beiyue’s arms and, unable to hold back any longer, burst into sobs. “Don’t look. Don’t you dare look. It’s hideous — don’t look at me!”