Night fell over Wuchuan. As Murong Jin was leaving the Vermilion Bird Camp with her father, she glanced back and saw a lone figure sitting on a snowy hillside in the distance. The silhouette was unmistakable.
"Father, you go on ahead. I will be back shortly," she said, bowing.
"What is it?" Murong Yan asked, surprised. He glanced at Zhen, the camp's commander, who looked equally clueless.
Murong Jin smiled. "A private matter. Don't worry, Father. This is our camp. Anyone who wants to assassinate me here would have to be very, very brave."
"True enough," he nodded. He turned to Zhen. "The land reclamation project we discussed—began at once. And no one is to speak of Yi and Liu's new assignment. If anyone asks, report to me immediately."
"Yes, General," Zhen said. "I'll send a detail to escort the Young General back."
"Have I become so fragile in your eyes after just a few months away?" Murong Jin asked with a laugh. Zhen was a few years older than her, but they had grown up together, and she considered him a brother.
He smiled awkwardly. "Times are different. And the lesson from your last journey is still fresh. It is better not to be careless."
"They wouldn't dare be so brazen here in Wuchuan," Murong Yan said. "An escort will only draw attention. Be careful on your way back, Jin."
"I will, Father." She bowed as they left, then turned, her eyes fixed on the figure on the hill.
The snow was thick on the ground. She walked quietly, her footsteps muffled, stopping just a few feet away. "Still like sitting here, I see."
The man turned. It was Liu. He looked surprised to see her, then smiled. "I thought you had already left."
"I was about to, but then I saw you." She walked over and sat beside him on a large, snow-dusted rock. "How has your mother been these past few months?"
"The same," he said, his gaze fixed on the distant lights of the camp. "Her mind… it gets worse. She's always asking for Little Yuan." He threw a stone he'd been holding far into the darkness.
Murong Jin's expression softened. Most of the officers in her father's secret unit were orphans, their families destroyed in political purges. Liu was the only exception. He had come to them with his mother, a woman driven mad by grief after her youngest son, Little Yuan, was lost during their escape.
"Still no word from him?"
"He was five years old when we were separated. It's been over a decade. We don't even know if he's alive or dead." Liu sighed. "Enough about that. Let's talk about you."
"Me?"
"You're a princess consort now. Why come all the way back to Wuchuan? Did he divorce you?" he teased. They had grown up together, friends who would die for each other.
"Hey, you underestimate me," she said, punching him lightly on the shoulder.
He chuckled. "You're right. It's more likely you divorced him."
"Get serious," she said, rolling her eyes. "I came back to ask Father for help."
"Oh?"
"Jindu is a place that eats people alive. I'm on my own there, and Xue Liulan's faction is weak. With enemies on all sides, I had no choice but to ask for reinforcements."
Liu smiled faintly. "You need spies."
"I do," she nodded. She hesitated. "I asked Father for you and Yi."
The hand playing with a stone stilled. After a long moment, he spoke, his voice low. "Jin, there are many others in the camp who could help you."
"I know. But you and Yi are the most suitable."
"I thought you, of all people, would know what Jindu means to me," he said, not looking at her.
"I know you'll obey my father's orders. But I came here to tell you myself. You can't run from your past forever. Eventually, you have to face it." She took the stone from his hand and threw it hard, the small rock disappearing into the snow.
"Face it?" He gave a hollow laugh. "How? How am I supposed to face it? Every powerful family in that city had a hand in what happened. The only way I can face them is to bathe their homes in blood."
She sighed. "I know it's cruel to ask this of you. In all these years, you've never once taken a mission that sent you into the heart of the kingdom."
"Then why ask now? Aren't you afraid I'll start a massacre and cause trouble for you?"
"If you do, I'll bury the bodies for you," she said, her smile suddenly bright. "Liu, I want you to get your revenge."
"What?" He stared at her, his eyes wide.
"The men who destroyed your family—they're all backing the Seventh Prince or the eunuch factions now. Let's just say there's a… mutual interest in seeing them gone."
"You want me to assassinate them?"
She rose and met his gaze. "I know Father forbids you from acting. But you've never stopped gathering intelligence on them, have you? Everyone thinks Yi is the best assassin in the Vermilion Bird Camp. But he's not, is he? You are."
He stared at her, this woman who was at once so familiar and so strange. The wind howled around them, but between them, there was only silence.
"When did you figure it out?" he finally asked.
"The rock," she said with a smile. "Our last battle together. The raider general's horse stumbled, and that's what gave me the opening to kill him. No one else saw it, but I did. The rock that tripped the horse came from your hand. The force, the accuracy… not even Yi could have made that throw."
A slow, wry smile spread across his face. "As expected of our general. To be so observant, even in the heat of battle."
She just smiled.
"If anything happens to me in Jindu," he said, his voice serious, "my mother… I leave her in your family's care."
"You have to come back. Your mother lost one son. She can't bear to lose another."
He just shook his head. "Once you unleash vengeance, you can't stop it halfway. Jin… thank you."
"Is that all?"
"What else do you want?"
She thought for a moment. "From now on, every year, come back here and drink with me. How about that?"
He hesitated, then finally smiled and nodded. "Alright." He paused. "Your marriage… how did Zuo Xunxiao take it?"
"Him?" Her voice was suddenly guarded. "How would he take it?"
"Jin, are you truly blind to it, or is it just an act? Everyone in Wuchuan knows how he feels about you."
Yes, everyone knows. She knew, too. And now they were enemies.
"Next year, when we drink, we should invite him," Liu said. "Just because he couldn't marry the flower of Wuchuan doesn't mean we have to be strangers for the rest of our lives."
"It would be better if we were," she said with a bitter laugh.
"What do you mean?"
"He's the Seventh Prince's right-hand man now. If we were strangers, at least we wouldn't have to face each other on the battlefield."
Liu fell silent. When love turns to hate, what more is there to say?
"It's getting late. We should go back," he said, tossing a final stone. It flew through the air and embedded itself in a tree trunk fifty paces away.
"Alright. We leave for Jindu in two days," she said, holding up a fist.
He bumped it with his own. "Fighting side by side again."
"And this time," she said, her voice ringing with confidence, "we will not lose."
Two days later, she parted ways with Yi and Liu a day's ride from the capital, and entered the city alone.
"Your Highness! Your Highness!" Little Dingzi came tearing into Xue Liulan's study, nearly colliding with him in the doorway.
"What is it now? Seen another ghost?" Xue Liulan asked, grabbing him by the collar.
"No—not a ghost—wait, yes, a ghost! No, that's not right either," the eunuch stammered.
"Have you actually lost your mind?"
Before Little Dingzi could answer, a woman's voice, cool and familiar, came from the courtyard entrance.
"What's the matter? Disappointed I'm not dead?"