I come back onto the battlefield, I search for Qin Luo with my eyes and immediately spot him at the infirmary tent they set up to treat the men who stayed behind. Eveyone else already left and only those in need of immediate help along a few commanders are here, mostly busy counting the deaths and loading the bodies in a cart.
Qin Luo gasps upon seeing me and calls for another soldier to come and help me, the guy runs toward me with some bandages but I shake him off -I don't need that now- the younger man looks at the General behind him in a worried way -Ignore her words, she's clearly bleeding-
-No- I move away from him -What I need now is a General to listen to me and no one else- I threaten the soldier with my eyes and he walks away with a bowed head, Qin Luo sighs frustrated -What?-
-I witnessed a murder- he cross his arms and rise an eyebrow -We all did, this is a battlefield as you may know- I shake my head and take out a cloth from my armor, showing him what's inside.
He looks down confused -Why do you have these?- his lips pressed thin and his face loosing colour -I need you to help me...- he still looks at me with a serious face -I need to retrieve something but right now I can't do it alone-.
...
The council tent is full of unspoken words and grieving faces... The silence weights down the air as nobody dares to speak.
General Wu seats at the center, his arm tied at the neck and the face toward the floor... The expression sad and defeated.
I move my eyes to the side and look at Qin Luo who nods back at me and then with a deep breath I look back at General Wu who's about to speak.
-I suppose we all know why we're radunated here now... General Cai... Fell in battle- he says it as if just those words were painful to pronounce -I was with him before they got him... We were cornered and I got injured so he, as the stoic man that he was, decided to take the enemies onto himself and distract them for me to run away and call for help...-
Some men looks furious at his words, probably wanting to avenge their General by killing any enemy out there, while others barely holding back the tears.
-But when I managed to free myself, I saw them pushing him toward a cliff... Circling him and faking attacks to disorient him, then finally stabbing him from the back and throwing him in the gorge... We were only two while they were at least twenty men, we sadly were no match for them- he sighs weakly
"Liar...!" I scream in my mind and immediately feel Qin Luo's hand covering mine under the table, he just gives me one serious look and shakes his head. I breath out and open my finger which were gripping the chair too tightly without me realizing it.
General Tian approaches me and places an hand on my shoulder -Miss Ying... It is now time for you to take his place and do him honour- he attaches a medal onto my armor -As his second in command, now the men of the Cai Army now belong to you-
A selfish thought comes to my mind for an instant "From a nobody dressed in silk, to a General of a whole Army with hundreds of men at my command... Are you seeing this mother, father?"
I nod and stand up -I never wished to get his title, especially not in this way... He was a man worthy of glory and he won't be forgotten easily, right General Wu?-
He rises his eyes and I see a hint of all the poison he stores inside after locking eyes -Ah yes... Indeed, if only we could honor him by giving him a proper burial and yet... Those men completely ruined him and took every last bit of dignity from him-
-Well, thankfully I managed to recover the body with the help of General Luo-
I see his jaw twitch and he forces a smile, still trying to process what I just said -General Wu?- he widens his eyes -Oh sorry I'm just so confused right now... Ahem, this is really a good news. A man like him need a proper funeral for everyone to mourn him as he deserves, I'm willing to handle all that myself if you lend me the body- the atmosphere becomes tense and some commanders look at eachother with confused eyes.
I see Shun among them, he's staring at me with frowned eyebrows and upon noticing my lips slowly turning into a smik he mouths me these words "What are you planning Lai'Er...?"
-Oh really? You're willing to finally treat him nice now that he's dead?- eveyone seems shocked at my open provocation -You weren't that nice to him back then on that cliff tho-
General Wu shoots up -What is this about?!- his voice is steady and loud enough to shut eveyone else immediately -Miss... General Ying, this is definitely not what you should do right after becoming one of us, especially not after such a tragic event, stop with these meaningless speculations based on nothing-
-Meaningless speculations? How odd, especially since I saw you kill our General with my own two eyes- I finally face him head on and see all the other soldiers widen their eyes.
He sighs and seats back down, playing his cards well with the act -Listen... Eveyone know that we weren't the bestest of friends due to our personalities, yet that doesn't mean I wanted him dead. You're just throwing random accusations at me right now. I get it that you might be angry at me since, as a general, I had to point out a few things about you in a past battle and you ended up getting confined because of that... But doesn't this count as taking it too far? Let go of your grudge and let's just focus on the war-
No one dares to say a word, fearing to get caught into the crossfire... Everyone somehow fears speaking against General Wu and even those who want to support him still chose to stay silent, after all most of those men see me as a monster running lose and believe I will torn them apart if they anger me.
-You already said one lie that has been proved wrong, yet you think my accusations are random and that I don't have any evidence- I scoff -Let's bring in the body- I turn serious again and move away, making way for my men to drag the corpse inside the tent.
Zhou and Xu Lei bring the body inside and rest him on a straw mat before silently falling back to one side of the tent.
The men move away from the corpse as if it was a ghostly apparition, not believing their eyes.
-Well then, let's begin now shall we?- I say with a hint of amusement in my tone.