Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Duo Ercha had been planning for this for a long time. He was not the type of person who would keep his feelings to himself, but ever since the Second Consort had rebuked and insulted him, he had become an unimportant person that few people paid any attention to. All his excitement, his flush, and his gaze was being ignored by the crowd.
Nobody knew what he was thinking. Duo Ercha was like a clumsy, ferocious dog whose bravery would always bear a trace of stupidity even when it was desperately charging at the prey.
Carrying a bowl of wine, he walked towards the Second Consort. Upon noticing this, many people thought that he was trying to curry favor with the Second Consort. Zhe Su even slightly frowned, feeling that Duo Ercha had failed to pick the right timing.
Four guards near the door took a detour around the tent, evaded most people’s line of sight, and positioned themselves close to Duo Ercha.
It was at this time that Gu Shenwei suddenly became alert, but he had misjudged the situation. He was focused on Zhe Su, and was planning on taking control of this old general of the Naihang Tribe once changes occured.
But what happened next astounded everybody. Fang Wenshi had been consulting with Shulitu, and Liman had been doing the same with Duodun. So, neither of the two saw the beginning of it all.
Duo Ercha hadn’t had a single sip of the wine yet, but there was already an uneven hue of red on his pink-white face. His insincere smile merely deepened his ferocious gaze, and part of his thumb was entrenched in the wine. The Second Consort glanced at him and immediately twisted her head aside in disgust, planning to decline his toast.
“Second Consort,” said Duo Ercha as his voice quivered. Upon seeing the Second Consort’s indifference and arrogance, he finally made up his mind.
He poured the wine in the bowl all over the Second Consort’s face.
The Second Consort sat there, transfixed for a moment, and then she quickly stood up — she wouldn’t tolerate this kind of public humiliation, and she had to do something, even if it meant ruining Duodun’s big plan.
Duo Ercha shared her mindset. With the halo of the new King Rizhu above his head, he had led 100,000 cavalrymen here and received the recognition of his tribe as well as the warm welcome of two of the Khan’s descendants. He was at the peak of his life, and he would never forget those scenes and feelings even if he had only experienced them once.
However, all this had been ruined by a woman who was originally supposed to kneel and pledge her allegiance to him.
Duo Ercha had slow reflexes. Back at that time, he had been paralyzed in horror. And what had flustered him even further was that Zhe Su hadn’t taken his side. So in his frozen state, he had no choice but to choke down the sheer humiliation.
The more Duo Ercha thought about it, the more wronged he felt. He became suspicious, feeling that everybody around him was laughing at him — Why didn’t the officers bow as low as they did yesterday? Why did the soldiers stop whispering as soon as they saw me? Why was the slave girl’s smile so bold when she was in my bed?
He couldn’t bear having so many insecure thoughts possess his mind and he had to find a way to release them.
Duo Ercha was not capable of formulating an intricate plan, and pouring wine over the Second Consort’s face was all he could come up with. He had ordered his four guards to keep the others out of his way.
The Second Consort reared up like a furious female lion who could summon packs of jackals with a single roar.
Watching her reaction, Duo Ercha’s mind was completely blank. He had lost his sanity and become even angrier after pouring the wine.
Duo Ercha grabbed the Second Consort’s hair, dragged her down from the thick felt blanket, slapped her heavily on the face, and, in front of all the people in the tent, yelled, “Bitch!”
“Duo Ercha!” Zhe Su shouted even as he was in a terrible state of shock, his eyes widening to such an extent that his eyeballs seemed like they were about to fall out of their sockets. The Second Consort’s attendants immediately rushed over, but were stopped by the four guards.
Many people shared the Dragon King’s original opinion, and thought that this was a trap of the Naihang Tribe. So, some people started fleeing out of the tent, and some others pounced on Zhe Su. The entire situation instantly fell into bedlam.
Duodun’s first reaction was to charge at the Second Consort to save her from Duo Ercha, but Liman and several other companions stopped him because they couldn’t let their prince take on any risks. They forcefully grabbed Duodun and rushed out of the tent, pushing and kicking their way through the crowd.
Fang Wenshi put his arms around Shulitu and yelled, “Dragon King!”.
But Gu Shenwei rushed towards the Second Consort. Duo Ercha’s furious roar had made him realize that this was not a well-planned trap. There were too many people in his way, so he had to strike down the four guards first.
Seeing the chaos behind him, Duo Ercha regained a small part of his sanity. He whipped out his saber, pressed it against the Second Consort’s neck, turned around, and yelled at the crowd, “Nobody move close to me! Nobody leave!”
Gu Shenwei had no choice but to stop.
“Duo Ercha! Are you out of your fucking mind?” Zhe Su took a stride forward.
“If you get any closer, I’ll cut her head off!” Duo Ercha’s eyes turned fearfully red as if blood was about to leak from them. He had no idea what he was doing, but he didn’t care.
Zhe Su stopped, his face alternating between red and white — Duo Ercha was serious. He had never seen anything like this during his decades of service to the old King Rizhu.
Those who had already reached the exit of the tent stopped. No executioners had shown up, and there were no arrows shooting at them nor anything unusual happening outside the tent. Both their attendants and guards were standing right where they had always been — everything indicated that there was no trap to be sprung here.
Duodun angrily pushed Liman and the others aside and had just taken two steps forward when Duo Ercha yelled again, “I said nobody move!”
Duodun looked at Zhe Su and demanded, “What the hell is this?”
Zhe Su was flustered. Originally, he had everything under control and was about to win enormous profits for the Naihang Tribe, realizing part of the old King Rizhu’s wish. He had never expected that the man he had personally chosen would ruin everything. He tried hard to calmly say, “Duo Ercha, let the Second Consort go. This is not a game.”
“Stop treating me like a child.” But Duo Ercha’s anger didn’t subside a single bit. “If this bitch doesn’t apologize to me, then today will be her last day alive.”
Sitting on the ground, the Second Consort’s head tilted back unnaturally. Although her voice was quivering, there was a steel-like determination in her words. “Stop dreaming, Duo Ercha. If you can, just man up and kill me. If you fail to cut my head off with one slash, then you have no balls.”
Duo Ercha clenched his teeth so hard that they started chattering. “Bitch! You’re in no place to talk. You think that I don’t know the dirty things you’ve done? Ha-ha, ‘under Khan’s gaze’ my ass! If he had seen you and Duodun in the same bed, he would have already fucking spat out blood!”
“Shut up!” Zhe Su reprimanded.
“Bullshit!” Duodun went crazy.
Many people had heard of the affair between the Second Consort and Duodun, but most Norlanders felt that it was acceptable as long as the two didn’t cross the line. Besides, if Duodun succeeded the throne, it would actually be right for him to marry the Second Consort.
“Bullshit?” Duodun switched his target from the Second Consort to Duodun. “Stop your acting. I’ll kill her right now. If there’s no adultery between you two, you can just step aside and watch in silence.”
Duodun was both anxious and furious as he accosted, “Is Naihang Tribe publicly rebelling?”
“This bitch is a member of the Naihang Tribe. I can do whatever I want to her. I’m King Rizhu! Who dares to oppose me?”
There was a general consensus among everybody that Duo Ercha had gone mad. Zhe Su struggled to subdue his anger and tried to reason with him. “Duo Ercha, you can have the title of King Rizhu. No one’s going to take it away from you. But you have to calm down. Think about it — what would your father do?”
Duo Ercha’s eyes widened to such an extent that it seemed like if his eye sockets were about to break. “My father’s dead. I regarded you as my father, but you betrayed me. You bullied me along with the outsiders. You’re a traitor, Zhe Su, and you’re in no place to lecture me.”
Zhe Su nearly died from regret, wondering why he had ever chose Duo Ercha in the first place.
Duodun calmed down first, as he believed that he could still talk things through since Duo Ercha hadn’t killed the Second Consort yet. “Let the Second Consort go, Duo Ercha. You’ll get everything you want.”
“Ha-ha, do you think that I’m stupid?” Even though Duo Ercha himself didn’t know what he wanted, there was still one thing that he cared about. “Tell this bitch to apologize.”
This was exactly what Duodun deemed to be the most difficult. He lowered his voice even further and quietly murmured, “Just apologize, Second Consort.”
The Second Consort was silent for a moment and then said, “If you don’t kill me, Duo Ercha…” She paused, as if she were making a final decision, and then finished, “I swear that I’ll cut you to pieces.”
Duodun sighed — the Second Consort was very intelligent, but she was also too proud. Other than the Khan, she had never yielded to anybody before. This was the very part of her that had fascinated the Khan so much back then.
Duo Ercha raised his saber — he didn’t know what choice he still had except to continue down this path of revenge.
But he had forgotten that the Dragon King was still in the tent.
As the crowd yelled in astonishment, Gu Shenwei made his move. He had been waiting for this opportunity all along. And hopefully, he could save the hostage without anybody getting hurt.
Duo Ercha had no idea how his saber had disappeared, and he hadn’t even seen the figure of the Dragon King. He just some great force hit him in the chest, and then involuntarily flew backwards, even as he firmly held a strand of hair in his left hand.
In the blink of an eye, Gu Shenwei had completed his rescue mission. Before anybody could react, he had helped the Second Consort to her feet, brought her to Duodun in a movement that almost looked like dragging, and then handed her over along with the saber.
Duodun subconsciously took the saber. Although the Second Consort’s previous words had been tough, her scalp still ached and her body was so weak that she instantly fell into Duodun’s arms. Her body was both unable to stand up and unwilling to leave his side.
Duodun hugged her tightly as he cast a grateful gaze towards the Dragon King.
Duo Ercha picked himself up and confusedly turned around, looking for his saber. Then he saw that it was in Duodun’s hand, and he also saw the Second Consort.
His anger, courage, and stupidity all suddenly vanished at the same time. Duo Ercha knew that he was in fatal danger. With a wild yell, he mindlessly rushed towards the exit.
But a fat body was blocking his path.
Pressing his hands down on Duo Ercha’s shoulders, Zhe Su firmly halted Duo Ercha in his steps and said, “You’re King Rizhu’s son and I won’t watch you die.”
Duo Ercha stood there transfixed and asked, “Really?”
An accident had brought an end to the negotiations with the Naihang Tribe receiving nothing. All the guests had left in a hurry, and none of them had any more faith in the alliance.
Upon returning to camp, Shulitu immediately ordered the whole army to stay on guard. Duodun didn’t interfere, which was very rare. In fact, he spent the whole night in the Second Consort’s tent, trying to comfort her.
Shangguan Ru had heard the news and was waiting for the Dragon King in his tent the whole time.
It was already quite late at night when Gu Shenwei finally finished assisting Shulitu in issuing a series of orders and could return to his tent.
“Will there be a war?” asked Shangguan Ru.
“Zhe Su said that he would deliver Duo Ercha’s head here tomorrow, so — it depends on that, I think.”
“The Second Consort…”
“She’s okay. All that happened was that she lost some of her hair and was a little scared.”
Shangguan Ru exhaled deeply and then asked, “Is this good or bad for you?”
“I don’t know.” Gu Shenwei still couldn’t clearly judge the current situation. “But the good news is that the Naihang Tribe is unlikely to form an alliance with Duodun, and the bad news is that Zhe Su might burn his bridges and end up going east to take Luoluo’s side.”
They both remained silent for a while as they digested this information, before Gu Shenwei said, “I need you to tell me the truth.”
Shangguan Ru nodded. Under these circumstances, she couldn’t hide it from him any more. “Come in.”
A middle-aged woman walked into the tent. She paid her respects to Shangguan Ru, but ignored the Dragon King.
“She’s my Shadow Guard, a green-faced assassin,” explained Shangguan Ru.
