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

As soon as he finished speaking, the messenger's head was still on the ground, and he did not lift it up.

His body froze instantly, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over him from head to toe.

His smile was still on his face.

I think I misheard.

Yu Chen leaned back in his chair and rested his hands on the armrests.

After a long time, the messenger slowly straightened up.

She knelt on the ground and looked up at Yu Chen.

His face looked terrible, and he was trembling all over.

His voice tightened, "Regent... what does this mean?"

Yu Chen lightly flicked his finger on the armrest. "I can spare his life."

He said quietly, "But I will not let you take any living people with you. If he returns alive, he will surely raise an army to take revenge in the future. I will not leave any future troubles."

The messenger's face turned from white to red.

His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but then he stopped.

His Adam's apple bobbed several times, and his voice was squeezed out from between his teeth, "The Third Prince is already crippled, how can he raise an army? The Regent is being far too inhumane."

Yu Chen pulled his hand off the armrest and placed it on the edge of the table.

He tapped his finger lightly. "Human relationships? I, Yu Chen, have never cared about human relationships."

He then added, "I never leave any loose ends in my actions."

After saying that, he added, "If you feel there aren't enough corpses, then you don't need to take them back. The dogs in the camp are hungry."

The veiled remarks left the envoy speechless for a moment.

He leaned back slightly, supporting himself with his hands on the ground.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and he swallowed the breath.

Yu Chen stood up, looked down at the messenger, and spoke in a low voice.

"Go back and tell your king that I have taken Qi Zexun's life. If he wants to take the body back, I will agree. But if he wants to take the living person back, forget it."

The messenger's shoulders twitched, then he came to his senses and slowly stood up.

My legs were trembling, so I steadied myself by holding onto a pillar.

He turned around and staggered out.

When the curtain was lifted, a cold wind rushed in, and I shivered before stepping outside.

The sound of footsteps on the snow faded into the distance.

Yu Chen stood by the tent flap, watching the figure disappear.

I walked back behind the low table and sat down.

The envoy rushed back to Beiyuan overnight.

He knelt in the main hall and relayed Yu Chen's words verbatim.

King Kitahara sat on it, and after listening, he smashed his cup on the ground.

No one dared to speak inside the hall.

The debate lasted for several days.

Some advocated continuing the fight, some advocated seeking peace, and some proposed exchanging more cities for Qi Zexun's life.

The last veteran official stepped forward.

They said the Third Prince was already a useless person and not worth wasting the country's resources on.

The hall fell silent for a long time.

King Kitahara uttered a single word at the end.

"allow."

On the day of the execution, Qi Zexun was dragged out of the tent and made to kneel on the ground.

His right hand was empty.

The bandage was wrapped around the elbow, and dark red bloodstains seeped through the white cloth.

His left hand hung limply at his side, his fingers curled up, unable to open again. His robes were covered in mud and dried blood, indistinguishable from his own.

Yu Chen walked over and stood in front of him.

Qi Zexun raised his head and looked at his expressionless face.

He stared at it for a long time, and then his lips twitched slightly.

Instead, she asked Yu Chen, "Is there anything else you want to say?"

Yu Chen looked down at him. "No, I just came to watch you die."

Qi Zexun lowered his head and looked at his empty right wrist.

The edges of the bandage curled up and fluttered gently in the wind.

He closed his eyes. "You won."

Yu Chen glanced at him indifferently, then took a step back.

Shadow Falcon walked up from the side and drew his knife.

Qi Zexun did not open his eyes.

There was no sound when the knife fell.

Qi Zexun's body lurched forward, his face buried in the snow.

Blood gushed from the wound on his neck, staining a large patch of snow red.

It spread outwards from below, seeping to an inch in front of Yu Chen's boot tip, where it stopped.

Yu Chen looked down at the pool of blood, then turned and left without hesitation.

The envoys from Kitahara waited outside the camp gate.

Shadow Falcon dragged Qi Zexun's body out from behind the camp and placed it on the snow.

The body was wrapped only in a tattered blanket, which was soaked in blood and had ice crystals on the edges.

The messenger's shoulders trembled, and he crawled forward a few steps to lift a corner of the blanket.

I glanced at it, then closed it again.

His throat tightened, but he dared not say anything.

Shadow Falcon stood to the side, his hand on the hilt of his sword, without saying a word.

The messenger wrapped the body in a blanket, then called to the people behind him to lift a door panel, place the corpse on it, and tie it with rope.

Several people carried the door panel back, walking very quickly.

Shadow Falcon stood at the camp gate, watching the group of people walk away.

He turned back and walked into the camp.

Kitahara retreated a hundred li, and an envoy delivered a letter of surrender.

Yu Chen opened the timer and glanced at it, but said nothing.

The Southern Huai Army won a great victory.

The day the news reached the imperial court, Yu Linxi sat on the dragon throne and read the congratulatory letter several times.

Put it down, then pick it up again, then put it down again.

Yu Chen stood outside the camp gate, watching the flags of Beiyuan disappear over the distant hillside.

The wind was blowing from the north, and it was so cool that it made me feel very uncomfortable.

………………

Su Wuli hadn't slept well for several days.

Every night she would hug that black T-shirt, bury her face in the fabric, and smell the lingering scent on it.

I close my eyes and wait for sleepiness to come over me, but every time I'm about to fall asleep...

The image of that knife pressed against her neck would flash through her mind.

She started having nightmares.

She dreamt that Qi Zexun's dagger was pressed against her chin.

I wanted to shout, but no sound came out.

She saw Yu Chen standing opposite her. She wanted him to leave, but her throat felt like it was blocked by something, and she couldn't make a sound.

Qi Zexun not only wanted to kill her, but also Yu Chen.

Every time this happens, Su Wuli would suddenly open her eyes.

It was still dark.

She hugged the T-shirt even tighter, as if only in this way could she feel more at ease.

This has been going on for several days in a row.

I became afraid to sleep, staying up until the early hours of the morning every day, only closing my eyes when my eyelids were too heavy to stay open.

I can only sleep for a few hours before being woken up by nightmares.

Until consciousness began to fall, and my body was enveloped by something.

The warmth wasn't from the T-shirt itself, but from something stiffer and wider.

Smelling the familiar scent, Su Wuli snuggled against the warmth and pressed her face against it.

He called out indistinctly, "Yu Chen."

He called out again, "Ah Chen..."

Su Wuli shrank closer to that warm spot, shrinking into a tiny ball.

She wanted to immerse herself completely in that warmth she craved.

"Yu Chen," she called again.

Tears welled up in her eyes uncontrollably.

Tears streamed down his face and dripped onto his neck.

Yu Chen opened his eyes.

There was another person in his arms.