In that corner of the tent-
amid the scattered papers and the belongings thrown about by the chaos the two of them had caused-
Gu Changyi was still straddling the prisoner's body, pinning his hands above his head.
The silence was heavy, mixed with their breathing that had slowly begun to calm.
The tent was filled with the smell of paper and dust... and with the blood that had run from Gu Changyi's hand.
"Do you have any idea what happened that night...?"
Gu Changyi spoke in a low voice.
Then he tightened his grip around the prisoner's wrists.
"Do you even know... what you caused just to satisfy your arrogance?!"
His voice rose in anger.
"Ah-"
The prisoner exhaled in pain, reacting to Gu Changyi's crushing grip and the tight shackles around his slender wrists.
At that moment-
The door of the tent suddenly opened.
One of the officers rushed inside as if he had run across half the camp.
He had urgent news to report to General Gu.
But the words that had been about to leave his mouth stopped abruptly.
He froze in place.
His eyes slowly moved across the scene before him-
The scattered papers on the ground.
The dust still floating in the air.
The drops of blood running from Gu Changyi's hand.
And the prisoner lying beneath him... his hands bound above his head.
A heavy silence filled the tent.
The officer blinked once.
Then again.
After a short moment, he cleared his throat lightly and turned his face to the side, as if he had seen nothing.
"It seems... I arrived at an inconvenient time."
He said it in a tone calmer than it should have been.
Then quickly added,
"My apologies, sir. I will return later."
He turned toward the exit.
It took Gu Changyi a full second to process what had just happened.
Then his eyes widened suddenly.
"Stop."
His voice snapped sharply as he quickly rose from atop the prisoner.
He nearly stumbled over the scattered papers before straightening himself.
"It's not what you think."
The officer stopped at the entrance.
But he did not turn around.
He simply said, with clear awkwardness,
"I didn't think anything, sir."
Gu Changyi's jaw tightened.
"Come back here."
The officer slowly turned and took two steps back into the tent, his eyes fixed somewhere on the ground... anywhere but the two of them.
Meanwhile, Gu Changyi quickly pulled his sleeve over his injured hand, then stood upright again, attempting to regain his usual composure.
He said coldly,
"Bring the guards."
He paused briefly.
Then added,
"Return this man to the prison."
The officer finally raised his gaze for a brief moment toward the prisoner lying on the ground, then bowed quickly.
"As you command, General."
A few minutes later, two guards entered the tent.
They seized the prisoner by the arms and pulled him to his feet.
But before he was dragged out of the tent-
He lifted his head slightly.
And looked directly at Gu Changyi.
His gaze was calm.
Strangely calm.
And by coincidence, Gu Changyi was also glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
"Idiot..."
The prisoner spoke in a low voice, a coldness in it sharp enough to irritate anyone, before turning his gaze away.
Gu Changyi remained standing in place.
Then he turned his head toward the door.
Words caught in his throat... words he had almost spoken.
But he stopped.
Until the prisoner disappeared beyond the door.
Gu Changyi stood there for several moments, trying to gather his scattered thoughts.
He slowly ran a hand over his forehead, as though the chaos that had just happened was still spinning in his mind.
He looked down at his hand, now red and bleeding from the bite, in silence.
"Well... that hurts a little."
Then he quickly turned his head with resolve and suddenly raised his voice:
"Lin Zhao!"
His voice echoed throughout the tent.
"Come and tell me what you were going to say!"
The echo had barely faded when Lin Zhao appeared quickly at the entrance.
He bowed immediately.
"Yes, General."
Lin Zhao still looked slightly unsettled, as though the scene he had witnessed minutes ago had not yet left his mind.
But Gu Changyi was not in the mood to notice that.
He said coldly,
"What were you about to report earlier?"
Lin Zhao hesitated for a brief moment.
Then said,
"A messenger has arrived from the capital, sir."
Gu Changyi's hand paused while he was wrapping the bandage around his bitten palm.
The capital.
It was not common for a messenger from the imperial court to arrive at this distant border camp.
"Send him in."
He said it simply, tightening the last strip of the bandage.
Moments later, a middle-aged man entered the tent wearing a dark formal robe, the edges of which were coated with dust from the long journey.
He bowed deeply.
"Greetings to General Gu."
Gu Changyi did not return the greeting.
The man extended a silk scroll sealed with imperial wax.
"An urgent decree from the court."
Gu Changyi took it slowly.
He broke the seal.
Unrolled the silk.
His violet eyes moved across the lines.
One second passed.
Then another.
Then-
He stopped.
He slowly lifted his head.
"Mount... Hundred Faces?"
The messenger lowered his head.
"Yes, General."
Silence filled the tent.
Everyone knew that name.
Mount Hundred Faces.
A desolate place north of the province, famous for strange legends for centuries.
Gu Changyi said slowly,
"Read it again."
The messenger spoke,
"Prince Liang Xiao, the Third Prince, disappeared three days ago while passing near the mountain."
Several officers' expressions changed instantly.
A prince?
The man continued,
"The last witnesses said that a thick fog covered the road... then strange sounds were heard coming from the mountain."
Silence fell.
Then one officer murmured,
"...The spirits of the mountain."
No one commented.
The messenger continued,
"The imperial court orders General Gu Changyi to proceed immediately to Mount Hundred Faces... and rescue the prince."
Gu Changyi frowned.
"Why me?"
The messenger replied,
"Because the General is the only one who defeated the Northern Province rebellion three years ago."
He paused briefly.
Then added,
"And the only one who returned alive from the Forbidden Forest."
"And the one who secured our victory against Hanyu."
A short silence followed.
Lin Zhao said quietly,
"...They believe you can deal with unnatural things."
Gu Changyi did not respond.
He looked at the letter once more.
Then said slowly,
"You may leave."
The messenger departed.
The officers remained inside the tent.
One of them said,
"The mountain isn't normal."
Another added,
"It's said that the entity living there... only appears to brides."
Silence fell again.
Gu Changyi slowly lifted his head.
"What did you say?"
The officer hesitated.
Then replied,
"The legend says the mountain spirit only appears when a bride passes by."
Lin Zhao suddenly said,
"...Then we need a bride."
Everyone turned toward him.
He quickly raised his hands.
"Not a real bride."
Silence.
Then one officer said cautiously,
"...A fake bride?"
And then-
For the first time in days-
A short laugh escaped from Gu Changyi.
It was faint.
Barely audible.
But it was a laugh.
Lin Zhao and another officer smiled slightly, surprised by the strange and sudden sound.
But the seriousness immediately returned to Gu Changyi's face.
"This isn't funny."
He said coldly.
"We're in trouble."
Then added, crossing his arms,
"And the idea is rejected."
Gu Changyi looked at the officer.
"Is there no other way to lure the spirit?"
"Unfortunately not, sir."
The officer said, touching his chin.
Then added,
"It is said the spirit haunting the mountain is the spirit of a man who lost his bride on the night of their wedding..."
"It's said he loved her deeply and waited ten years to marry her."
"He prayed often, wanting to become the man she dreamed of... but he was only a simple farmer."
"And in order to provide her a decent life, he sold his right eye for money."
"But the man who bought it fled in the night without paying him."
"A violent rage overcame the poor farmer. He could not sell his other eye for more money, and he had no solution left."
"It wasn't even a plan... yet he found himself believing a legend he had always dismissed."
"A treasure hidden in a cave with three gates at the top of the mountain."
"Driven by desperation and his last hope, he climbed the mountain through the night until he finally arrived."
"He dug and dug and dug. In every hole he dug, he thought he saw faces in the soil... as if the dirt itself formed them."
"When he dug the hundredth pit, he found the treasure he had been seeking."
"It was gold and precious jewels."
"In the days that followed, the day of his wedding to his beloved finally arrived."
"You could imagine how happy he must have been."
"He had found a treasure that would allow him and his bride to live a life he had never dreamed of."
"But that treasure was not simply something abandoned by someone long gone, as many believed."
"When the wedding procession traveled across the mountain, a thick fog appeared, followed by the sound of clashing metal."
"It didn't take long before everyone collapsed, dead and decaying... even the bride in her wedding palanquin."
"The only one who survived was him, as if the mountain had chosen him to live in the torment of loss as punishment for stealing its treasure."
"The legend says he remained on that mountain, crying night after night, until his remaining eye lost its sight... and he died a month later."
The officer folded his hands and added,
"That is why he appears to brides... because he believes every bride is his lost lover."
Gu Changyi sat perfectly still.
His arms crossed over his chest.
His violet eyes were fixed on the table before them, as though he were rearranging everything he had just heard in his mind.
After a moment he said slowly,
"...A spirit who lost his bride."
The question was not directed to anyone in particular.
But the officer nodded.
"Yes, General."
He placed his hands lightly on the table.
"That's why it never appears to travelers."
"Nor to soldiers."
Then added,
"Only to brides."
Gu Changyi's fingers slowly moved over the bandage wrapped around his hand without him noticing.
He pressed it slightly.
Then said,
"And the prince."
He raised his gaze.
"Why did he disappear?"
The officer replied,
"The prince was also on his way to marry. And as you know, General, many people do not believe the legend of the mountain."
Lin Zhao sighed.
"...That's bad."
Gu Changyi said nothing.
Another officer spoke,
"So if we want to lure the spirit..."
He paused.
"...we need a bride."
Lin Zhao quickly said again,
"But not a real bride."
Everyone turned to him.
Gu Changyi gave him an annoyed look.
"Obviously we cannot send an innocent girl to a haunted mountain."
Then added,
"Especially if the spirit kills brides."
Another officer said cautiously,
"...Then we use a fake bride."
Gu Changyi looked back at him.
"Is that the only option?"
The officer fell silent.
Then slowly nodded.
"Yes."
A long silence followed.
Gu Changyi sighed at last.
"...That means we need someone."
The officers looked at him.
"Someone?"
Gu Changyi said calmly,
"...someone to pretend to be the bride."
The officers exchanged glances.
Then one of them suddenly said, hesitantly,
"...Perhaps..."
He stopped.
Clearly reluctant.
But he finished the sentence anyway.
"...one of the men."
A complete silence filled the tent.
They all looked at each other.
The idea was embarrassing.
Strange.
But...
It made sense.
"We should search among the soldiers for someone suitable for the task,"
one officer suggested.
The idea seemed convincing enough.
But they would need to search among the soldiers for a handsome man...
someone who could become the bride that would lure the spirit of the mountain.