“Ninth Imperial Uncle!” Feng Jiu’er woke from her own nightmare, her brow covered in a film of cold sweat.
“It’s only a nightmare, don’t panic!” Madam Xue woke almost at the same instant, and seeing the girl gasping for breath with a lingering look of fear, she immediately understood what was going on.
Still, this girl was always longing for that one man like this—it was never a good sign.
Madam Xue feared that Jiu’er would walk the same path “she” once had, ruining her whole life over a man.
“I’m fine.” Jiu’er raised her hand and wiped her brow; unsurprisingly, it came away covered in cold sweat.
She had dreamed of Ninth Imperial Uncle being injured again, and even—her head gave a sharp throb, and she furrowed her brows and said loudly, “Madam Xue, tell the others. We’re leaving now.”
She mustn’t think about it, mustn’t keep thinking about it—if she kept thinking, her head would truly not be able to take it anymore!
Jiu’er rolled off the bed, fumbling a little as she searched for her riding boots.
Madam Xue understood clearly that the girl wanted to busy herself with something else to drown out the thoughts in her heart—perhaps that way it wouldn’t hurt so much.
This foolish girl…
She pulled on her boots, and before Madam Xue could even step outside, Qiao Mu and Xiao Yingtao from next door had already changed into traveling clothes and were waiting outside the door.
At the South City Gate, just as dawn was beginning to break, there was indeed a window of time when the gate opened.
Leaving from here, south led to the Nanmu Kingdom, while west led to yet another country. Those heading to the Nanmu Kingdom had to pass along a main road up ahead.
From that road, one could see, far in the distance, the camp where the great army was stationed.
Jiu’er and her companions had come prepared. With help from the brothers Xing Zizhou had left behind, obtaining the documents needed to pass through to the Nanmu Kingdom was not difficult at all.
They left the city with ease and traveled south toward the Nanmu Kingdom. Soon they were on that main road, and sure enough, in the distance, they could see the camps of the two armies.
Although the camps of both armies didn’t look very far apart, everyone knew that in truth there was still quite a distance between them.
Only today, for some reason, as she looked at Ninth Imperial Uncle’s camp, that throbbing ache in her chest that usually made her head start to hurt seemed to have lessened, inexplicably.
“Do you believe in telepathy?” Once they were on the main road, Feng Jiu’er suddenly lifted the carriage curtain and looked at Qiao Mu, who was riding alongside on horseback.
Qiao Mu looked at her, not understanding what she meant.
“I don’t feel like I’m moving away from Ninth Imperial Uncle.” Jiu’er herself didn’t know where this conviction came from. She turned to look back at the camp growing ever more distant behind them, yet her heart only grew calmer the more she looked.
“It feels like I’m getting closer and closer to him.”
Qiao Mu never did manage to understand what Feng Jiu’er meant by that.
The Ninth Prince’s army was right behind them, and right now they were heading in the direction away from that army—so naturally they were getting farther and farther from the Ninth Prince.
And yet Jiu’er said she was getting closer and closer to him.
“I don’t understand this, and I don’t feel anything like it myself.” Qiao Mu simply assumed Jiu’er missed the Ninth Prince so much that she was saying such strange things.
Jiu’er glanced at her, then turned to look one last time at the camp where the army was stationed, her mood unexpectedly heavy.
Closer and closer—truly closer. And what’s more, she could sense that Ninth Imperial Uncle surely knew she was safe.
She just didn’t know—if it really was as her heart told her, that she was drawing closer and closer to him, then… was that a good thing or a bad thing?
No. Given the current state of affairs, it was not a good thing at all.
Ninth Imperial Uncle—was he truly drawing closer and closer to her?
……
The Ruanhe people had originally been a nomadic ethnic group, formed in truth from a portion of the people of the Nanmu Kingdom and a portion of the people of the Beimu Kingdom.
As it happened, the Nanmu Kingdom and the Beimu Kingdom had originally been one and the same, with all their ancestors being one people.
It was only later that, as the regions split apart, the leaders of the two territories refused to submit to a single ruler and each governed on their own. Over time, this gradually evolved into the two separate nations of north and south.
As for the Ruanhe, they had originally been a branch that split off from both the Beimu and Nanmu Kingdoms, but because they had once intermarried with women from another foreign tribe, the bloodline of the entire Ruanhe people was gradually altered.
Well, all of this was folk legend, events from a very distant past, and no one truly knew whether it was fact or fiction.
Among the common people there was also a beautiful legend concerning the ancestors of the Ruanhe.
It was said that, back when the Nanmu and Beimu Kingdoms were still a single nation, the ancestor of the Ruanhe had been the Imperial Tutor of that nation, but because he fell in love with a woman from a foreign land, he met with the opposition of all the common people as well as the ruler and his ministers.
But the Imperial Tutor was just that sort of man, deeply loyal to love and loyalty alike—for the sake of the woman he loved, he was willing to give up everything.
The king feared that this foreign woman might be a spy sent by another nation, and seeing that the Imperial Tutor was determined to be with her regardless, in order to prevent any leak of state secrets, he ordered men to assassinate her.
When the Imperial Tutor learned of this, he fled that very night, taking the woman along with his family and servants.
It was said that they went all the way to the woman’s hometown, a place like a hidden paradise cut off from the world. There, the Imperial Tutor’s family and servants put down roots, and over time, this gradually evolved into an entire ethnic group.
A people distinct from all the surrounding nations—their sharp, clearly defined features set them clearly apart from the people of the Nanmu and Beimu Kingdoms, recognizable at a single glance.
It was precisely because of this that, after Feng Jiu’er and her companions entered Ruanhe territory, their appearance was also recognized at a glance—clearly not natives of Ruanhe.
And so, as they entered the city, they were stopped.
“You there—are you people from the Beimu Kingdom?” The soldiers guarding the city gate swarmed forward and directly blocked the four of them—Feng Jiu’er, Madam Xue, and the others.
Now that the Ruanhe army was marching out to campaign against Phoenix City in the Beimu Kingdom, for people from the Beimu Kingdom to come to Ruanhe at a time like this clearly suggested some hidden, malicious intent.
“We are people of the Nanmu Kingdom. Here are our travel documents.” Qiao Mu, dressed as a man, stepped forward and respectfully held out the papers with both hands.
After examining them, the expression of the guard immediately softened. “So you’re merchants from the Nanmu Kingdom. Go on in.”
Right now Ruanhe was at war with the Beimu Kingdom, and as for the other nations, it was best not to offend them unnecessarily and stir up further trouble.
Whatever happened, once they defeated the Beimu Kingdom, they would deal with taking Phoenix City afterward.
Phoenix City was different from the other cities of the Beimu Kingdom. Compared to the rest of Beimu’s territory, Phoenix City was somewhat like an independent enclave.
Phoenix City was not adjacent to the other cities—between them lay a vast stretch of no-man’s-land claimed by no one. It was said that Phoenix City had once been a desolate place, and only after the Beimu Kingdom’s War God, the Ninth Prince, took up his post there did it rapidly develop, with the common people building it up within just a few short years.
Now the people of Phoenix City lived in prosperity—it was, without question, a fine place.
If they could capture it and station enough troops to hold the city, there would be no need to worry about the Beimu Kingdom’s great army easily taking it back.
That was why the Ruanhe Crown Prince was so absolutely determined to seize Phoenix City!
Once they were inside the city, Xiao Yingtao pursed her lips, glancing over everything on the street, and gave a scornful little snort. “Now I finally understand why they’re so set on seizing Phoenix City. Look how poor this place is—how could they not be green with envy over the people of Phoenix City?”