The cold, rusty smell mingled with the stench of blood, thick and heavy, pressing down on the cramped military tent. Several tallow lamps flickered with a dim, yellowish light, casting distorted shadows onto the rough tent walls, like ghostly figures dancing wildly. The air was thick and viscous, each breath a heavy strain on the lungs, carrying the lingering scent of death.

Lu Zheng lay on a rough-clothed cot, his face ashen, his lips cracked and chapped, thick bandages still faintly seeping blood wrapped around his chest and abdomen. A perilous encounter, a poisoned arrow, had nearly cost this young prince his life. He was trapped in a boundless chaos of darkness and burning, his consciousness rising and falling, hearing distant sounds of battle, painful groans, and… a suppressed sob, filled with indescribable panic and fear, yet all too familiar.

The voice was like an extremely thin thread, pulling him along in the endless dark mire. He struggled, trying with all his might to grasp that thread.

"Water..." His chapped lips moved, uttering hoarse, broken syllables, so faint they were almost inaudible.

Almost instantly, a cool hand gently cradled the back of his neck, the movement incredibly tender. The rim of a rough earthenware bowl touched his lips, and warm liquid with a faint, bitter herbal taste slowly flowed into his burning throat. The hand cradling his neck had icy fingertips, yet it trembled slightly.

He swallowed greedily, his hazy consciousness prying open a crack thanks to the warm, nourishing rain. His heavy eyelids felt like they were weighed down by a thousand-pound boulder, and he struggled to lift them a tiny slit. In the blurry, swaying light, a face was very close.

It was an utterly unfamiliar face. Pale and thin, stained with dirt and sweat, his hair haphazardly pulled back inside a worn military cap, the brim pulled low, almost obscuring most of his forehead. Only his eyes… those eyes, wide open with extreme tension and worry, looked like obsidian immersed in a cold pool under the dim light, wet and brimming with an almost overflowing panic and a kind of… unmistakable focus and heartache.

Lu Zheng's heart sank, his chaotic mind shattered as if by a thunderbolt! Those eyes! Those eyes that had appeared countless times in his midnight dreams and in the lines of his letters! Even now, hidden by dust and exhaustion, even with such a clumsy disguise, how could he not recognize them?!

"You..." He swallowed hard, wanting to speak, but the movement aggravated the wound in his chest and abdomen. A sharp pain shot through him, causing him to gasp for breath and break out in a cold sweat.

"Don't move!" The man disguised as a soldier immediately whispered, his voice deliberately low and hoarse, but the clear, melodious tone at the end, like the lingering echo of a broken string, completely shattered Lu Zheng's last shred of doubt.

It's Luo Qingrou! The young lady of the Prime Minister's mansion, who should be playing the zither and painting in the capital, adored by countless people! She's here! In this frontier military camp filled with bloodshed, death, and rough men! Disguised as a man!

The immense shock and the ensuing rage instantly overwhelmed Lu Zheng, shattering all his rationality like lava. How dare she?! How dangerous was this place? If his identity were exposed… he dared not think about it! A mixture of excruciating pain and rage surged through him, his blood rushing to his throat.

"Pfft—" A mouthful of dark red stagnant blood spurted out without warning, staining the bandage on her chest and splashing a few drops onto Luo Qingrou's panicked face, warm and sweet.

"Lu Zheng!" Her disguise completely crumbled, the deliberately suppressed hoarseness transforming into a piercing, terrified sob. Luo Qingrou was terrified, frantically wiping the blood from his lips with her sleeve. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably, like broken beads, falling onto Lu Zheng's blood-stained clothes and spreading a small, dark patch. "Medical doctor! Medical doctor, come quick! He's vomiting blood again!" she screamed towards the tent entrance, her voice trembling uncontrollably.