Yelu Qianqian’s sobbing suddenly stopped, but the furious Situ Haonan didn’t notice, and didn’t stop either. He gripped her hand tightly, declaring angrily, “Your brother is the mastermind. Yelu Qianqian, let me tell you—it was Jun Beiyue who deliberately lured Wanyan Lie to Mingsha Cave. Jun Beiyue used us! But do you know—do you know what your brother did to Ziqing?”

Yelu Qianqian’s hand ached so much tears kept streaming down, but she no longer had room to care about the pain—a wave of loss and grievance welled up in her chest amid the hurt, so bitter it made even her palms ache.

She’d always known that, in Situ Haonan’s heart, her place could never measure up to Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing.

“You’re all bad people, bad people!” she accused weakly, refusing to listen further.

But Situ Haonan forced her to listen, turning her to face him, making her look him in the eye, saying furiously, “Do you know what your brother did to Han Ziqing? Your brother teamed up with Yanzi—they wanted to turn Han Ziqing into a human Gu! You’ve seen her, you’ve seen her ruined face! All of that was your brother’s doing!”

“I don’t know, I don’t know anything! Stop talking!” It wasn’t that Yelu Qianqian didn’t understand, wasn’t that she couldn’t tell right from wrong—it was that she didn’t dare untangle these rights and wrongs, didn’t dare say who was to blame in this tangle of grievances.

No matter what, that was still her own brother, her own father!

“Yelu Qianqian, let me be blunt with you—at this rate, within half a year at most, Xijing will fall,” Situ Haonan said plainly. If he didn’t say it now, it would only be harder later.

This girl had to face reality sooner or later. But the moment the words left his mouth, Yelu Qianqian burst into tears again, her face crumpling, tears flooding her whole face until she looked like a woman made entirely of tears, the kind of sight that would break anyone’s heart.

She no longer blamed Jun Beiyue—she blamed herself. Amid her sobbing, choked and incoherent, no one could quite make out what she was saying, only that she was cursing herself, resenting herself.

“Enough! Stop crying! Do you really think you’re some savior? Do you really think if you go smoothly off to marry into Xiliang, Xijing won’t fall? Idiot!” Situ Haonan said, exasperated—how else could he possibly get through to this girl?

“Your father and your brother’s real target has always been Da Zhou! Seven years ago, they already sent troops once before. Do you really think it was Jun Beiyue marching his army west that made Xijing retreat that time?”

Situ Haonan shook his head helplessly. If he’d known things would come to this, he should have made this girl smarter long ago.

Back then, amid Xichu’s interference, chaos had broken out in Da Zhou’s northern frontier. Jun Beiyue had raced a thousand miles alone and had only just quelled the unrest in the north when trouble struck Da Zhou’s western frontier—Xijing, seizing the chaos as an opportunity, marched its army east!

At the time, Da Zhou hardly had the strength to force Xijing’s army to retreat without a fight!

That had simply been Jun Beiyue pulling off a clever bit of misdirection!

Back then, Jun Beiyue had incited the Emperor of Xiliang—while Xijing sent troops against Da Zhou, Xiliang seized the chance to strike Xijing, forcing Xijing to withdraw its troops!

Though rumor had it that Jun Beiyue’s show of force had cowed Xijing’s army into retreating, in truth, both Da Zhou and Xijing knew perfectly well that Xiliang was the key factor between the two nations.

Jun Beiyue had been preparing for this war for a long time—and so had Xijing.

The only difference was whether Xijing fought Xiliang, or Xijing fought Da Zhou—either way, it was unavoidable.

Situ Haonan didn’t want to explain all this to Yelu Qianqian in detail. He only asked her one thing: “Princess, do you think that if Xijing marches east this time, Jun Beiyue will do what he did before—simply force a retreat without fighting? Do you really think Jun Beiyue is that easygoing? Let me tell you—even if Xiliang and Xijing had stayed at peace with each other, if Xijing had raised arms against Da Zhou, Jun Beiyue would have shown no mercy whatsoever.”

Situ Haonan spoke those last words with heavy emphasis. Yelu Qianqian froze, and finally fell silent.

She wasn’t a fool. She had, after all, been born into royalty. She understood perfectly well.

All of this had been stirred up by her father and brother’s own ambitions!

But so what?

She couldn’t escape her share of the blame either. She no longer cared how it had started, no longer cared what would happen in the future—all she cared about was now.

Right now, only she could put a stop to the war between Xijing and Xiliang.

Her brother was dead—at the very least, her father would likely rein himself in for a while, at least buying some peace, however brief, for the country that had raised her. Even a moment’s peace would ease her heart a little, even just a little.

After a long silence, Yelu Qianqian sniffled, and through a face full of tears, a faint smile bloomed. “If my mother knew all this, she’d surely blame me.”

It looked like a smile, but through the tears, Situ Haonan seemed to glimpse something like despair—a despair that struck fear into him instantly.

“She won’t!” he said sharply.

“She will. My mother loves my father, my brother, and Xijing just as much as I do…” Yelu Qianqian trailed off, suddenly choking up, covering her face as she wept uncontrollably. “She’ll… waaah… she’ll be so heartbroken…”

She cried so bitterly it felt like it might melt Situ Haonan’s heart. He looked at her, at her despair, her helplessness, and beyond words of comfort, there was nothing more he could do.

But no matter how many words, no matter how sound the reasoning, it all felt hopelessly feeble as comfort.

Faced with Yelu Qianqian’s tears, Situ Haonan finally fell silent. He understood clearly what this girl meant to do.

Situ Haonan’s grip finally loosened, and Yelu Qianqian slowly slipped free. She didn’t argue right and wrong any further—she looked at Situ Haonan, jaw clenched tight.

She had imagined this moment countless times, had rehearsed it countless times—parting from this man, silently telling herself in her heart, this is the last time, we may never meet again—and every time, she had hoped this man would hold her, just once.

But this time, she hoped for nothing at all. She simply stood there silently, until tears blurred her vision, and then resolutely turned away.

But just then, Situ Haonan spoke. “Girl… do you really not want me anymore?”

The tears came pouring out uncontrollably; she didn’t dare cry aloud, but couldn’t hold back the sobs.

After all these years of him chasing her away, clinging to her—finally, this man no longer found her a nuisance, finally stopped pushing her away, finally wanted her.

And now she was the one leaving.

Once, she had given him a thousand and one reasons to keep her.

But now, she couldn’t find even one reason to stay.

The flames of war in Xijing seemed to burn before her eyes; her father’s weathered face, her brother’s horrifying corpse, her mother’s ever-youthful smile—all of it spun through her mind. She tried desperately not to think of it, but couldn’t help herself.

“Girl, do you really not want me anymore?” Situ Haonan asked, his voice breaking, stepping forward to pull her into his arms. But just then, she took a step forward, without turning back, jaw clenched tight, and forced out the words: “No… Haonan. I don’t want you.”