The word “betrayed” said it all.

Jun Beiyue’s words were brief, but General Bai Hu was no fool — he understood, more or less, what had happened at once.

He drew a sharp breath of cold air, nearly choking on it, stumbling back several steps, his chest heaving before he finally caught his breath and sank down onto the bed.

How — how could this be!

Mengmeng had a family all along!

Mengmeng had betrayed the Empress of Dong Qin!

Which meant Mengmeng had been the Empress’s own person all along!

For over ten years, it had all been a deception!

General Bai Hu couldn’t help but recall the moment he’d first found this girl — her filthy little face, crying so pitifully. She’d told him her whole family had been killed by the people of Dong Qin, that she’d been reduced to begging and had survived a plague.

And this very child, with her grimy little hands, had once offered him a cornbread bun she’d hidden away for who knew how long, saying, Uncle, you eat it — you need your strength to fight.

Such an innocent, guileless child — and she had been a spy for Dong Qin all along!

Embedded at his side, hidden within his Tiger Army for all those years!

And he had doted on her all that time, cared for her as if she were his own daughter!

General Bai Hu came back to his senses, staring at Bai Mengmeng’s tear-filled eyes, shaking his head over and over, unable to accept what lay before him.

He couldn’t accept that the adopted daughter he cherished most, the person who mattered most in his life, was a spy.

He couldn’t accept that he — head of the Three Great Tiger Armies, their supreme general — had, for all these years, unknowingly harbored a viper in his bosom.

Seeing General Bai Hu’s reaction, how could Bai Mengmeng not be afraid, not feel her guilt catching up with her?

She burst into loud sobs at once. “Father, your daughter has failed you, I have no face to see you — so… so your daughter doesn’t want to live anymore!”

With that, she lunged off the bed, leaping onto a chair as if to hang herself again.

Jun Beiyue’s slightly furrowed brow grew darker and darker, like storm clouds gathering across the sky, as if a tempest were about to break.

But General Bai Hu couldn’t see through it — this was, after all, the daughter he had raised with his own hands.

He rushed forward at once, pulling Bai Mengmeng down. “Stop this nonsense! Enough of this!”

Bai Mengmeng used the momentum to collapse into General Bai Hu’s arms, weeping with utter wretchedness. “Father, your daughter was wrong, I have no face to see you! All your daughter can do now is atone with her life, after helping Prince Yao!”

“Father, you’re my foster father, and you’ve treated me better than my own father ever did! But they were my family too! I’ve failed you all, I don’t know what’s right anymore, I’m so tired, so very tired!”

“Father, let go of me, just let me die! Let me die, and I’ll owe neither side anything!”

……

Bai Mengmeng wept and struggled, and General Bai Hu couldn’t help but hold her tight. Hearing her cry like this, blaming herself so bitterly, his heart ached along with her — he had no room left for anger, and hurried to comfort her instead. “Mengmeng, be good, stop crying, don’t cry anymore!”

Just as he had when she was small, he coaxed her, “There, there, don’t cry. It’s not such a terrible thing. Whatever it is, we’ll talk it through.”

“Be a good girl, Mengmeng, don’t cry. If you leave too, how is your foster father supposed to go on living?”

Looking into Bai Mengmeng’s tear-filled eyes, General Bai Hu found his own voice catching as he spoke — such a hardened, iron-willed man, and yet his eyes reddened faintly.

Jun Beiyue watched it all unfold, something complicated hidden deep in his gaze, still saying nothing.

At last, under General Bai Hu’s patient coaxing, Bai Mengmeng grew quiet.

This kind of comforting — she had experienced it countless times as a child. Many times, her foster father had said these very words: “What’s gotten into you? How is your foster father supposed to live without you?”

“If something happens to you, how am I supposed to go on?”

She had always sensed some indescribable bitterness in those words, as if they weren’t really meant for her alone — but she had never dug deeper into it.

Still, she knew one thing.

As long as her foster father could still say such things, he would forgive her.

Right now, he was the only bargaining chip she had left. She’d learned firsthand how ruthless Jun Beiyue could be — she knew there was nothing to be gained from him for the time being.

Her only option was to protect herself, clinging tightly to General Bai Hu as her lifeline.

Seeing Bai Mengmeng had stopped crying, General Bai Hu finally let out a long, heavy breath. Looking at her tear-filled eyes, his heart ached terribly. He carefully wiped her tears away, steadied himself, and asked her gently to explain.

Bai Mengmeng told the whole story, start to finish.

Of course, she left out her infatuation with Jun Beiyue, her threats, her attempts to claim credit.

She only said that she was a spy for the Empress of Dong Qin, forced into it because the Empress had held her family hostage. She claimed she had always resisted the Empress in secret, never once doing anything to truly harm the Tiger Army.

Not until recently, when the Empress ordered her into action, had she refused to act — instead exposing her own identity to help Jun Beiyue.

And now, the Empress had killed her family, and Jun Beiyue meant to expose her too. She was so devastated, she only wanted to die.

Jun Beiyue listened from the side, sneering inwardly, but said nothing at all.

General Bai Hu looked at the three heads on the ground, then back at Bai Mengmeng, shaking his head again and again, before finally turning to look at Jun Beiyue.

“Father, if I hadn’t been forced to, I would never, ever have wanted you to know the truth. I’m the unfilial one, I’m the one who broke your heart, I’m the one who betrayed your love for me,” Bai Mengmeng choked out, all the while anxiously watching for Jun Beiyue’s reaction.

Seeing Jun Beiyue and General Bai Hu locked in a wordless standoff, she quickly turned, kneeling on the bed. “Prince Yao, Mengmeng spoke rashly out of distress, said disrespectful things to you, angry words I didn’t mean. It was all Mengmeng’s thoughtless mistake, Mengmeng was wrong to say it — please forgive Mengmeng!”

“Prince Yao, Mengmeng swears to serve her foster father, to serve the Tiger Army, for the rest of her life. Please believe Mengmeng — Mengmeng would never harbor any disloyal intentions!”

“It was my order that confined you, that delayed you from going to save them. So now you no longer resent me for it? You’re no longer demanding I return your family’s lives to you?” Jun Beiyue asked coldly.

To her surprise, Bai Mengmeng’s tears surged again at once. She sobbed for a good while before she could finally speak. “Prince Yao… tell me… if the person you loved most in the world died one day, could you stay calm?”

The moment she said this, General Bai Hu snapped sharply, “Mengmeng! Don’t be disrespectful!”

“I… I…” Bai Mengmeng could barely speak through her sobs. “I couldn’t control myself, I… I couldn’t help it… I know I was wrong, but I was in so much pain. Please forgive me this once, Prince Yao. I understand now why you didn’t trust me, I understand that military matters can’t afford the slightest mistake. I understand now, I understand it all!”

Bai Mengmeng seemed incoherent, overwhelmed with grief — and yet her reasoning came through perfectly clear.

General Bai Hu’s brow furrowed deeply. Though he could understand Bai Mengmeng, he didn’t dare act rashly in front of Jun Beiyue. Everything had happened so suddenly, and he too felt somewhat at a loss.

But Jun Beiyue said flatly, “It’s too noisy in here. Bai Hu, come outside with me. Let’s speak in private.”