CH 45

to see a person while they are still alive, and to see their body after they have died（the ins and outs）

When Murong Yan woke up, she saw Murong Can with messy hair, red eyes, and holding her hand.

“Brother…” Murong Yan spoke with difficulty, her throat dry.

“Yue’er! You’re awake? Where’s the doctor?” The man saw his sister regain consciousness and quickly called for someone to check on her.

When Murong Can returned to the mansion after training, he found Murong Yan standing alone in a pool of broken ice, trembling and shaking.

He lifted her out of the water, barely conscious. If he couldn’t still feel her weak pulse, he would have thought that the cold and pale woman in front of him was already dead.

Hastily handing his sister over to the officials and doctors, Murong Can angrily stormed into the main hall after learning the details from the servants. As he entered, he saw his father and half-brother comforting the weeping Murong Fu.

No one had paid attention to Murong Yan, who had almost died alone in the water.

No one.

He was furious and, for once, not gentle. Ignoring everyone’s attempts to stop him, he gave Murong Fu twenty lashes on the thigh before chasing everyone else out of the hall and having a deep conversation with Prince Yu.

He expressed his dissatisfaction with the treatment of his sister and all the injustices that had been happening in his family – from his father’s favoritism to his mother’s suffering, his half-brother’s hypocrisy, Murong Fu’s arrogance, and Yue’er’s years of endurance and grievances. Everything poured out of his mouth.

Mourning the sacrifice his sister had made for the family, Murong Can was unsure how much the other party could comprehend. However, he hoped that his father, Prince Yu, could at least acknowledge his dissatisfaction or recognize the sacrifice his sister had made for the family.

After a flurry of activity from the doctors and attendants, Murong Can sat at his sister’s bedside, watching her weakly sip warm medicinal broth. Her eyes were lifeless, and his heart felt heavy.

From the wide cuffs of his clothes, he pulled out a clean hair tie that he had washed himself and handed it to his sister, gently saying, “Here you go, Yue’er.”

During the past two days, while his sister had been unconscious, he had ordered all the pools in the mansion to be drained. A hundred people dug through the muddy bottoms and finally found his sister’s treasured possession in a fish pond in the secluded courtyard.

Murong Yan looked at the object in the man’s hand with widened eyes, her cold expression breaking apart. Her fingertips trembled as she took the hair tie, cradling it carefully next to her cheek. Her eyes grew hot, and she couldn’t find the words to speak.

Watching his sister’s reaction, Murong Can whispered, “Is this the thing that the shadow guard left for you when she brought you back? Yue’er… values it a lot.”

Closing her eyes, Murong Yan held the black knot tightly, her voice hoarse as she spoke, “I treasure everything about her.”

Murong Can only nodded slightly in response.

He had already deduced from the scattered words and phrases his sister had mentioned about her escape that the shadow guard was in grave danger. But seeing Murong Yan, who was usually calm and composed, overcome with genuine emotion, he chose to remain silent.

After placing the well-fed small tiger on the bed, Murong Can gave a few intimate reminders before leaving.

In early spring, green sprouts broke through the soil.

Prince Yu, the Lord of the Northern Region, held the late emperor’s testament and announced to the world the great treason of the Crown Prince’s rebellion and usurpation.

Later, he led his son, General Changsheng, and Murong Can to march south and intended to sweep away the Crown Prince’s faction all the way, and then enter the capital to support the Eleventh Prince’s accession to the throne.

With the tiger talisman in hand, the troops from various states outside the capital surrendered one after another and awaited the order to gather and form an overwhelming force.

However, none of this had anything to do with Murong Yan.

The only thing she cared about was whether she could see the person she had been yearning for day and night when passing through the forest that always appeared in her nightmares.

Her thin arms were no longer able to hold the three- or four-month-old tiger cub that had been nourished with sheep’s milk and minced meat in the mansion.

However, the affectionate cub still lay next to her, its huge head lightly nudging her hand for a caress.

When the army set up camp in the local prefecture, Murong Can brought three bound men to Murong Yan, who was resting in a luxurious tent.

“These bandits confessed during interrogation that they were involved in the mission to pursue you along with Xiao Tai,” Murong Can said before handing a package wrapped in oiled paper to the woman. “Before they are convicted and sent to prison, I thought you might want to talk to them.”

For some reason, Murong Yan felt a bit scared, but she still took the package that the man handed her. Somehow, the small paper package felt hot in her hands.

She just held it, then looked at the three men kneeling on the ground, bound and gagged, and asked in a hoarse voice, “…So, do you know the whereabouts of the shadow guard who was with me on that day?”

Her tone was hesitant, as if she resisted knowing the answer.

“If it’s the woman in the black robe…” one of the bearded men hesitated to speak, “I’m afraid…she was killed by General Xiao’s men…”

“It’s impossible!” Murong Yan interrupted the man’s words, her suppressed voice filled with shock and almost out of tune, “You’re lying! Ah Qin can’t be dead!”

The little tiger, thinking that the three men in front of him had bullied his beloved mistress, looked at Murong Yan’s intense reaction and jumped off the bed, showing his sharp teeth and growling fiercely.

The bearded man stuttered, trying to clarify, “I didn’t lie, that woman really…” but he trailed off as he saw the woman’s increasingly subdued reaction.

Murong Yan stood with a furrowed brow and spoke up, “What exactly happened that day? Quickly tell us in detail!”

“The Princess’s shadow guard was indeed very strong,” the bald man said, looking at the hesitant expression of the bearded man. “That day, with just a sword in her hand, the woman stopped us. At that time, I estimated…” He glanced at the man with the braids as if to confirm something.

The man with the braids continued, “Including General Xiao, there were fifty-one people.”

“Yes, there were fifty-one of us. At that time, that woman drew a line on the ground and didn’t let anyone continue to chase you. Even if dozens of people fired their bows at the same time, she could still stand unscathed in the rain of arrows.”

The bald man recalled the scene that day and continued, “As soon as anyone dared to cross that line, she would immediately cut them down from their horse. After ten or so people died, no one dared to try again.”

“Later, General Xiao ordered that he would delay that woman himself while the rest of us were to go around to continue the pursuit…” The bald man hesitated at this point, took a deep breath, and continued, “That woman blocked General Xiao’s attacks while stabbing all the horses of the other men, and then… she went mad.”

He shuddered.

“Mad?” Murong Can was a bit puzzled, “What do you mean by mad?”

“She went mad… she really did. I was standing at the front and saw it all clearly.”

The bearded man stared as he recalled, then said with a trembling voice, “At that time, she had almost bled out, was poisoned on the shoulder, and seemed completely indifferent to the fact that she was dying… but after General Xiao said a few words to her, she went crazy like a wild beast and slashed at General Xiao recklessly.”

At that time, the woman had bloodshot eyes and a blood-stained body, and a fierce and ruthless look in her eyes when talking with General Xiao, emitting a suffocating bloodthirsty aura like a demon from hell.

Although her right hand was almost unable to hold the sword due to the blood, and her body had been slashed several times, she continued to dance wildly like she didn’t care, vowing to die together with General Xiao.

“The two of them fought in the woods, and we couldn’t get close due to the flashes of swords and blades…” the bearded man whispered, nodding towards the paper bag in Murong Yan’s hand. “Later, General Xiao killed her and came back alone from the woods, cutting off one of her ears. The rest of the body… was thrown into the lake.”

Hearing this, Murong Yan felt as if she were suffocating and slowly opened the tightly grasped oiled-paper bag in her hand.

Inside lay a blood-stained pomegranate stone earring.

It was a pomegranate-colored earring that matched the one on her own earlobe.

Her heart sank.

She couldn’t breathe.

“Despite being injured and facing General Xiao alone, she managed to cut off one of his arms. She truly deserves admiration,” said the bald man in a low voice, even though she was once their enemy.

The man with the braided hair recalled, “Before the two disappeared, I heard the woman shouting something. Suddenly, she looked up in confusion and said, ‘Kill you?…Protect…Yan? Yan Yan?'”

Upon hearing these words, Murong Yan stood up suddenly, but then swayed and squatted down, holding herself tightly and trembling violently. Her teeth were chattering as if she could faint at any moment.

“Yue’er! Yue’er!” Seeing his sister in such an unusual state, Murong Can hurriedly approached to help her, while also ordering his subordinates to take the three kneeling people outside the tent.

“Ah Qin… dead!? How could she die? How could it be because of me…”

Murong Yan tightly grabbed her brother’s collar, her heart in agony, her body twitching uncontrollably, and she gasped irregularly. “Ah Qin can’t die… I won’t allow it, I won’t allow it!”

The woman collapsed weakly into her brother’s arms, her eyes red, but not a single tear fell. She looked empty and kept muttering, “Not allowed… I won’t allow it…”

Murong Can was completely unprepared for his sister’s reaction to the death of a shadow guard. Her desperate expression seemed as if she might follow that person into death at any moment.

He felt a heart-wrenching pain and regretted allowing his sister to meet with the three men. He tried to console her, flustered and at a loss for words. “It’s just an earring, Yue’er. It’s just an earring.”

Seeing Murong Yan regain focus, Murong Can continued, “The emperor’s shadow guards cannot die easily. Just an earring is not enough to prove anything, right, Yue’er?”

The surrounding noise seemed to be blocked out.

Murong Yan couldn’t hear anything, she just stared at her brother’s moving mouth, pondering his words.

Yes.

To see a person while they are still alive.

To see their body after they have died.

It’s just an earring.

Just an earring.

It can’t prove anything, can it?

Ah Qin.

In the next second, Murong Yan collapsed like a broken puppet and lost consciousness.

Murong Can was left alone holding his unconscious sister in the tent, anxiously pressing her acupoint and shouting for a doctor outside.