Shocking! The actress was dragged to the regent's bedchamber every night.

Qi Zexun lay on the snow, his shoulders trembling.

It's not the cold, it's the fear.

He was terrified from the very marrow of his bones, so terrified that his teeth were chattering.

He was so afraid that he dared not look Yu Chen in the eye, and he couldn't even utter a word of begging for mercy.

His mouth was still open, but he was already struggling to breathe.

The dog dragged the severed hand out of the snow and shook it twice.

Blood splattered on Qi Zexun's face.

He closed his eyes and buried his face in the snow.

The snow was cold, clinging to his burning skin.

Yu Chen looked at it for a while and found it uninteresting.

He stood up.

He glanced at the Shadow Falcon but said nothing more.

Turned around and left.

His figure receded into the distance, his footsteps crunching on the snow as they faded into the distance.

Qi Zexun lay on the snow, listening to the sounds.

The dog was still gnawing on the bone, which was making a crunching sound.

Blood was still seeping from his wound.

His shoulders were trembling slightly.

Qi Zexun didn't know how long he had been lying there, his consciousness was clearly fading.

But you can still hear the sound of the dog swallowing the last bone.

With a thud.

His other hand slowly curled up in the snow, covered in mud and snowmelt.

Shadow Falcon glanced at Qi Zexun's severed wrist, which was still bleeding, and called out towards the tent flap.

The military doctor lifted the curtain and came in, carrying a medicine box.

He squatted down next to Qi Zexun and wrapped a tourniquet around his wrist.

The contraction tightened, and the bleeding gradually stopped.

He glanced at the broken bone fragments and frowned.

Then open the medicine box and take out the needle, thread and medicine.

Qi Zexun lay motionless in the snow, his body twitching from the pain.

Everyone thought he had stopped breathing.

He groaned as the medic stitched up his wound.

Every day thereafter, Yu Chen would come over.

The torment continued back and forth, and each torment ended.

Military doctors would come in with their medicine kits to treat the patients.

Even though his tendons were severed, the military doctor simply cleaned the wound on his wrist, stitched it up with two stitches, and then wrapped it with a bandage.

Qi Zexun looked down at his crippled hand, despair slowly creeping into his eyes.

Qi Zexun experiences stress every time he hears footsteps outside the tent.

He was afraid that Yu Chen would come.

Qi Zexun didn't know how many days he had been lying there, he only remembered that the military doctor came to change his dressings every day.

Sew up his wounds and set his broken bones.

Then Yu Chen arrived, and those wounds were torn open again, and the bones were broken again.

Qi Zexun finally broke down.

That day, when Yu Chen walked in.

Qi Zexun crawled over from the ground and crawled to his feet.

His forehead hit the ground, and his forehead was cut.

Blood beads seeped from the skin.

His hand gripped Yu Chen's boot, his fingers trembling.

His voice was hoarse, "Kill me...please...kill me..."

Yu Chen glanced down at him condescendingly and said indifferently, "You should have known this day would come when you touched her."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Zexun froze.

His hand slid off Yu Chen's boots.

His tears welled up again, tears of fear seeping from the very marrow of his bones.

He curled himself up into a ball.

The campfire outside the wounded soldiers' camp burned for most of the night.

Several lightly wounded soldiers huddled around the fire, warming their hands over the flames.

The branches crackled and popped as they burned, sending sparks flying up and landing on the snow.

The one squatting on the far left had a bandage wrapped around his arm and was in a sling around his neck, while his other hand was poking at the fire with a tree branch.

He didn't look at the people next to him, but stared at the fire. "Have you heard? The prince goes there every day, and some people seem to have heard the sound of bones breaking."

The person next to him glanced at his hand, then looked away.

The one squatting on the right spoke up, his voice very low. "I've heard about it, of course I've heard about it. I hear screams every day."

There was a moment of quiet around the fire.

Someone's Adam's apple bobbed. "In the past, when the prince killed someone, he would finish with a single stab."

The man with the sling spoke again, his voice low, "This time he didn't kill him; he deliberately kept him alive."

"What's the point of keeping it?" asked a young soldier, his face still bearing traces of childishness.

No one answered him.

The fire crackled again.

The old soldier, who had been squatting in the corner without saying a word, swallowed the dry biscuit in his mouth.

His eyes were fixed on the fire. "When the King of Hell is angry, he doesn't just want your life, he wants you to suffer a fate worse than death."

The young man looked bewildered.

The fire was quiet for a while, and the man with the sling shifted his position, pulling his injured arm closer to his chest.

"That Third Prince of Beiyuan, he was so imposing when he held a knife to Young Master Su's neck on the battlefield."

He gestured with his uninjured hand, "Now? Lying on the ground like a dead dog."

Someone nearby nodded.

"He thought he was someone important." The one on the right added a piece of firewood to the fire. "He only learned what regret was after falling into the hands of the prince."

The veteran patted the debris off his hands.

He wasn't looking at anyone; it was almost as if he was talking to himself.

"Does anyone pity him?" No one answered.

He answered himself, "No, when he held a knife to Young Master Su's neck, he publicly humiliated the prince in front of both armies. He should have known this day would come."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone agreed wholeheartedly.

The young man threw the branch he was holding into the fire.

…………

The envoy from Kitahara knelt outside the gate for half an hour.

The snow below my knees melted from my body heat, and the water seeped into my clothes.

His head was bowed, and he held a scroll of documents wrapped in brocade in his hands.

My fingers were frozen purple and my knuckles were stiff.

Several heavy wooden crates were placed nearby.

Shadow Falcon walked out of the camp gate, stood in front of him, and glanced at him.

The messenger raised his head; his lips were purple from the cold.

His voice trembled as he said, "I request an audience with the Regent."

Shadow Falcon didn't say anything, and turned to leave.

The messenger knelt for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Until the tent flap was lifted again, Shadow Falcon came out and gestured with his chin toward the camp gate.

The messenger got up from the snow and stumbled.

He stood stiffly, each step feeling like he was walking on needles.

Holding the documents, he followed the Shadow Falcon, passing through the camp gate and several tents.

Finally, they entered the main tent.

Yu Chen sat behind the low table.

The messenger knelt down, held the document above his head, and spoke in a dry, hoarse voice.

"Your Majesty, our country is willing to be a vassal state forever, paying tribute every year, only asking to redeem His Highness the Third Prince."

He lowered his head, his forehead touching the ground.

Shadow Falcon took the document from the messenger and placed it in front of Yu Chen.

Yu Chen didn't look at it. He picked up the document from the table, turned it over, and glanced at the cover.

I put it down again.

The envoy raised his head and stared longingly at Yu Chen's face.

Yu Chen stared at the envoy for two seconds.

His finger paused briefly on the document's cover.

"Okay," he said slowly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the messenger's body jerked violently.

He forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Thank you, Regent—"

He kowtowed repeatedly, his forehead hitting the ground with a thud.

Yu Chen didn't look at him and pushed the document to the corner of the table.

Then he added, "He's dead, so you can naturally take him back."