All the gentlemen who are attacked by the female queen are stunningly beautiful

"I've hit a wall this time. Oh, right!" Song Xiang seemed to suddenly remember something. "What did General Xiao Zhen say after I won yesterday?"

"General Xiao only ordered the twelve captains to withdraw, saying you were exceptionally skilled, and then returned to the main tent." Yun Que lowered her voice. "But I noticed she was looking at you strangely, Your Highness, as if she was pondering something."

Song Xiang's heart tightened slightly. His father had said that Xiao Zhen was a traitor and had deeper thoughts than anyone else. His sudden "power" would definitely not be hidden from her eyes.

She threw back the quilt and got out of bed. Her dark camp uniform hung loosely on her body, and her steps were a little unsteady.

"Help me get some tight clothes." She looked out at the deepening night. "I have to go to the main tent."

"Your Highness is still weak!" Yunque said anxiously, "General Xiao said you expended too much energy yesterday and asked you to rest well."

"I can't rest." Song Xiang walked to the table and picked up a small bronze mirror. The girl in the mirror was pale, but her eyes were surprisingly bright. "Rest will easily arouse suspicion. I have to make them believe that although I, Song Xiang, am a country princess, I am very capable and cannot be easily manipulated. I am a more difficult thorn than other princesses."

"Xiao Zhen wants to rebel and will eliminate anyone who stands in her way. The more powerful I am, the more attention she will pay to me—this is exactly what my father and I want."

Yunque suddenly realized and hurriedly took out the tights for Song Xiang to change into. The black tights tightened his waist, making Song Xiang's figure look even more upright.

Just as he was tying his belt, Song Xiang suddenly groaned and pressed his chest.

"What's wrong, Your Highness?"

"Nothing." She slowed down, and the familiar fragrance drifted towards her again, fainter than yesterday, but with a barely perceptible warmth. "Maybe he hasn't recovered yet."

She didn't know that at this moment in the main tent, Xiao Zhen was holding a white jade hairpin that Xiao Jiu had picked up from the martial arts field. It was dropped accidentally by Song Xiang during the fight yesterday. There was a very small word "Yan" engraved on the head of the hairpin, which could not be seen unless you looked carefully.

"This Princess Wei San is actually more interesting than the rumors say." Xiao Zhen traced the incisions on the hairpin with her fingertips, a cold smile curling the corners of her lips. "Xiao Jiu, go investigate her whereabouts from Fengbian to the capital. In particular, did she have any contact with court officials after arriving in the capital? Who did she meet and what did she interact with?"

"Oh, and here's this hairpin. Let's find out who gave it to her!"

When Xiao Jiu received the order to retreat, he saw Song Xiang's tent lit from afar. He paused for a moment and then left quickly.

Song Xiang was unaware of the scenery outside the tent. She adjusted her collar, her fingertips tracing the buttons on her lapels. Suddenly, she remembered what her elder sister, Wei Yuanyi, had said: "The Left Seventh Battalion is an elite patrol force. When you go there to train, you must demonstrate your abilities and avoid being bullied, but you must not be too conspicuous and draw envy."

But what happened yesterday clearly etched Zhang Yang's face.

She picked up the sword hanging on the corner of the tent. The scabbard was made of ordinary shark skin, but the blade inside was surprisingly shiny.

"Your Highness, are you sure you won't take another break?"

Song Xiang pushed open the tent door. The cool breeze in the twilight lifted her spirits. "If I rest any longer, General Xiao will be even more certain that I'm useless!"

In the martial arts field, soldiers who were undergoing evening training were practicing. The sound of spears poking the ground was uniform. Si Henrou's figure was mixed in among them, holding another long sword in her hand, but her movements were a little stiff.

It looked like he had been holding the same posture for a long time.

Song Xiang looked at it from a distance, retracted his gaze, and walked towards Xiao Zhen's tent.

"Third Prince!" A soldier saw her and hurriedly bowed to her.

Song Xiang nodded and entered Xiao Zhen's tent.

Xiao Zhen was concentrating on the spread-out map, tapping lightly on a few passes with her fingertips. When she heard footsteps, she raised her eyes, her gaze settling on her wind-twisted hair. She said lightly, "It's two quarters earlier than scheduled."

Song Xiang closed the tent door with her backhand. The flickering candlelight inside the tent made the stubbornness in her eyes even more distinct. "The map in General Xiao's tent is more beautiful than the gravel on the martial arts field."

She walked over to the table, her eyes scanning the densely packed annotations on the map. Suddenly, she straightened her back and spoke in a more serious tone than when she had just entered the tent. "General Xiao, I'm truly sorry for what I did yesterday."

Xiao Zhen raised his eyes to look at her, his brows furrowed slightly, "Third Prince, if you have anything to say, please speak directly."

"Now that I've rested well, please, General Xiao, arrange for me to do something." Song Xiang met her gaze and spoke clearly, "It doesn't have to be an important position. Even something like following the patrol team to watch the night watch, or counting weapons in the armory camp will be fine."

The tent was silent for a moment, the only sound being the occasional pop of candlelight. Xiao Zhen's gaze shifted from her face to the city defenses marked on the edge of the map. His voice was emotionless. "Your Highness knows better than anyone what the Left Seventh Battalion is. This is a garrison camp, not the imperial gardens. Guarding the battlements at night requires enduring the freezing wind, and patrolling the outer perimeter requires treading the gravel. Which of these is appropriate for a princess?"

She paused, and when she raised her eyes, her gaze was sharp as a knife: "Left Seventh Battalion is not the place for you to be."

Song Xiang clenched the corners of her sleeves, her knuckles turning white, but she showed no fear at all: "I am a princess of the Great Chu, not a flower in a greenhouse."

"I chose to come here because I think the frost flowers on the city walls are more beautiful than the peonies in the imperial garden, and the sound of the clappers during the night patrols is more pleasant to the ears than the stringed instruments at the palace banquets."

She took a half step forward, getting closer to the desk. "General Xiao already scouted me yesterday, yet he still underestimated me. This is truly inappropriate. I'm not the country loser everyone sees me as. How could I have dared to step into the Left Seventh Battalion without understanding?"

"Take this city defense map, General, for example. I know every pass on it by heart. If you don't believe me, General, you can test me."

Xiao Zhen saw the stern arrogance in Song Xiang's eyes. Suddenly, he picked up the token on the table and tapped it lightly with his palm. "Last month, the wall of the northern fort collapsed three feet. Who brought twenty new soldiers to tamp down the earth and repair it overnight?"

Song Xiang was startled, not knowing why she brought this up, and quickly said, "It's the captain."

"Whose idea was it to mix reed ash with the rammed earth used for repairs?"

"He's also a lieutenant."

Xiao Zhen finally put down the token. Her leather boots made a steady sound as she stood up. She walked in front of Song Xiang, her figure, half a head taller than Song Xiang, casting a shadow. "Since you know everything, you should understand how reckless and offensive your actions yesterday were."

"You are provoking Captain Si like that, which shows that you don't take these meritorious veterans seriously!"

She turned and pointed outside the tent. "Which of the soldiers in the Left Seventh Battalion didn't crawl out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood? They are guarding the vast land behind them, not a stage for the princesses to practice their skills."

Song Xiang looked up in surprise and replied with some astonishment, "So General Xiao knew about this? I thought General Xiao was feigning ignorance and allowing his men to embarrass me."