Chapter 60 The Beauty Kidnapped by the Empress 01
"She is the princess of the Di Kingdom! Capture her! His Majesty will reward you handsomely!"
The blood-red setting sun shrouded the sky. On the knee-deep meadow, warhorses galloped, and flaming arrows, like shooting stars, traced arcs across the sky before falling to the ground and igniting clusters of flames. The clanging of swords and spears sounded like a frenzied sonata.
Jiang Yiqing opened her eyes and found herself on a chariot. The wild horses neighed and charged forward aimlessly. She gripped the reins tightly to avoid falling off the chariot.
She didn't know why she had such a dream.
Fresh blood splattered onto her face and body every now and then. The stench and sticky texture terrified her, making her tremble all over.
A large sword slashed down from her side and behind. As Jiang Yiqing dodged, the reins were severed, and she tumbled off the chariot. A crisp sound, accompanied by pain she had never felt before, assaulted her. She wished she could just faint.
But in this situation, she knew that if she closed her eyes, she would die completely. So she gritted her teeth, almost burying herself in the grass, silently praying that no one would see her...
In the gaps in her view, she could see a shallow lake in front of the meadow, where countless people with weapons were slashing at each other. Many people screamed in pain, and many fell and disappeared into the swamp, which was either reflecting the red sunset or stained with blood.
For Jiang Yiqing, this was nothing short of a scene from hell, but it was not over yet.
"She is the princess of the Di Kingdom! Capture her! His Majesty will reward you handsomely!"
At that shout, several warhorses galloped toward her.
"I'm not! You've mistaken me for someone else!" Jiang Yiqing shouted.
My legs, which had been weak from fear, regained their strength, and I got up and ran. However, my shoes came apart, and I fell to the ground after only a few steps.
She watched as a woman wielding a spear walked towards her. Looking down at her from above, she seemed to frown: "Are the people of Zhai Kingdom all so vulnerable? Judging from her appearance, coming to the battlefield is no different from coming to her death."
"Please, don't kill me!" Jiang Yiqing cried out, covering her head.
"A cowardly rat."
A moment later, a cold object pierced towards her. Jiang Yiqing was so frightened that she tried to cover her head, but then she heard a dignified female voice—
"Don't move, you'll really die if you do."
"..." Jiang Yiqing was so frightened that she didn't dare to move.
The tip of the sword lifted Jiang Yiqing's chin.
Jiang Yiqing spread her arms and looked up, and saw a woman on a silver-saddled horse. She wore a crown on her head, her face was like that of a goddess, but her eyes were cold and stern, making people feel as if they were standing on the edge of an abyss.
"She's quite good-looking."
She heard the woman's thin lips part slightly, and she uttered those five words with a playful air.
Jiang Yiqing felt she was probably going to die, so her infatuation kicked in again. She said to the woman, "If I can die in your hands, then my time travel won't have been in vain."
The woman was stunningly beautiful, with noble, shimmering phoenix eyes. She looked down at her and said, "You won't die so soon. I've kidnapped you."
Jiang Yiqing felt somewhat relieved to learn that she wouldn't die immediately.
The woman condescended to extend a hand from her horse, and her men pulled Jiang Yiqing up from the ground, dragging her towards the woman's horse as if she were an object.
Jiang Yiqing winced in pain: "I have a broken bone, don't be so rough..."
"Please get this straight, okay? You're a hostage of our country right now," the female subordinate said.
“Hostages have human rights too, okay?”
Upon hearing this, the woman wearing the crown grabbed her waist and placed her in front of her like a kitten.
Jiang Yiqing wondered how she had accidentally stumbled into a large-scale cosplay event. What was wrong with this woman? Why did she look so much like a real female boss?
"Human rights, what are those?" the woman behind her asked.
When she spoke, her breath sprayed onto the back of Jiang Yiqing's neck, making her feel itchy, as if it had a pain-relieving effect, and she felt that her ribs were not so painful anymore.
Jiang Yiqing clutched her ribs, trying to lean back and find a comfortable position. Since she was already in this predicament, she wasn't afraid of anything anymore and simply resigned herself to her fate: "My right to be born a human being is called human rights. Although I'm in such a miserable state now, we are no different. I don't know who you are, but even if I become your hostage, you have an obligation to treat me. This is called protecting the human rights of hostages, understand?"
"You audacious hostage, how dare you speak to His Majesty like that?"
"...Your Majesty?" Jiang Yiqing wondered if she had misheard, or if these people were just too crazy; getting so into character wasn't a good thing.
"This is Her Majesty the Empress of our Qin Kingdom. When you speak to Her Majesty, please use the term 'sinful subject.' What kind of language is this? What kind of talk is this?"
“You are His Majesty, but I am the Empress of Russia!” Jiang Yiqing said indignantly. “No, I am Wu Zetian!”
Why should she, a young woman born with a silver spoon in her mouth who retired as soon as she entered society, encounter such an outrageous thing? Is it because she is too lazy?!
"Who is Wu Zetian?" the woman asked.
“My idol!” Jiang Yiqing said.
What is an idol?
"Language barrier," Jiang Yiqing muttered softly, "Did I really time travel?"
"I thought you were really badly injured. You're quite the talker, aren't you?" The woman chuckled and said, "Have you ever seen real hostages and prisoners? How about I tie you to my horse and let you experience what it's like to be a real prisoner?"
That cruel, icy smile froze Jiang Yiqing's expression. How outrageous! This woman, she'd make her pay! So what if she has power and influence? Is being an empress really that great?
"No way, Your Majesty, am I not... a princess? I must be more valuable to be alive. I'm delicate and precious. If you really kill me, it would be a pity, wouldn't it?" Jiang Yiqing earnestly promoted the purpose of her life to her.
"Although you are a princess, you have long been abandoned by your country. Otherwise, why do you think you would be on the battlefield?" The female subordinate seemed to find Jiang Yiqing's self-proclaimed title of "princess" very ironic.
“Even an abandoned princess is still a princess.” Jiang Yiqing said with a flushed face, “Your Majesty, you are so magnanimous to spare my life. I will do anything for you, you are my benefactor. Would you consider it?”
"..." The woman said something to her subordinates, but Jiang Yiqing didn't understand it this time. She only heard that the woman was going to take her to do something and then gave her a title.
When the female subordinate looked at Jiang Yiqing again, she was more respectful than before, and said, "You mean, as long as you're alive, you can do anything, right?"
"...?" I didn't say that, but Jiang Yiqing looked at the woman's imposing phoenix eyes and nodded under her tyrannical power.
"good."
The empress wrapped one arm around Jiang Yiqing's chest, gazed into the distance, said something to her subordinates, and then suddenly sounded the retreat.
Jiang Yiqing looked around, and the battle situation was indeed very clear; the Qin Kingdom should have won a great victory.
As he watched her on horseback beneath His Majesty the Empire, a man suddenly widened his eyes and said to her, "Princess Anxu, how can you compromise with the enemy?!"
"Don't you have any self-respect as a woman?!"
Jiang Yiqing's lips trembled as she said, "Am I just supposed to die?"
The man had barely finished speaking when his head was chopped off from behind. Jiang Yiqing was startled. Before the gruesome scene could fully unfold before her eyes, a hand covered her vision.
It was a gold, noble arrow-shaped ring on a long, slender, and white hand. Jiang Yiqing buried her face in that hand like a lost fledgling, as if it could shelter her from the wind and rain.
She thought it must be her imagination. But at that moment, she was truly grateful for the kindness she had shown.
After the troops regrouped, the woman began to speak, and then they began to break camp and head back. So much had happened on the way that Jiang Yiqing fell asleep halfway through the journey.
When she woke up, she was in excruciating pain and her forehead was covered in cold sweat. She looked around and realized she was probably in a carriage. She tried to get up, but the wound on her ribs seemed to have spread. She cried out and fell back onto the bed.
For a moment, Jiang Yiqing considered running away, but she felt the possibility was infinitely close to zero and the mortality rate was infinitely close to 1, so she gave up.
At the very least, we should wait until she recovers from her injury before discussing it further.
She stared at the ceiling, beginning to mourn her irretrievable modern, laid-back life. Death triggered her instincts, forcing her to immediately accept that she was living in ancient times. Jiang Yiqing was grateful to her parents for having taken her to experience-based jungle survival programs, so when faced with adversity, she wasn't a complete fool, utterly clueless about what to do.
While she was lost in thought, the curtain was lifted, and the woman walked in with another woman carrying what appeared to be a medicine box.
The woman opened the curtain of the car window, and the bright sunlight shone in, illuminating her pale face. Jiang Yiqing felt that she looked even more like a weak, imprisoned little animal.
"Where are you injured, young lady?"
“Rib,” the woman answered for her.
"Please pull up your clothes so I can see your injuries."
Jiang Yiqing lay there dumbfounded, not moving, when the woman reached out and lifted her clothes. Her armor was already worn out, and the woman easily removed it, using her beautiful yet cold fingers to peel her skin layer by layer like an onion, revealing the innermost flesh.
A large patch of bluish-purple discoloration was visible around the slightly sunken ribs, creating a stark contrast with the surrounding fair skin.
"The injury is quite serious," the female doctor said, using her hand to measure the fractured part of Jiang Yiqing's bone.
"Ah...!" As soon as that cold hand touched her, Jiang Yiqing began to tremble in pain. She wondered if everything related to hospitals was so cold and indifferent.
"Please, Your Majesty, support her and don't let her move around. I'll set her bones first," Jiang Yiqing heard the female physician say.
"Anesthesia... I need anesthetic..." Jiang Yiqing shouted through gritted teeth.
The woman asked her curiously, "Anesthesia? What's that?"
"We are still in the wilderness, and I have not prepared any anesthetic. Please bear with me, young lady."
"...?" Jiang Yiqing had never suffered like this in her life. The woman directly touched her broken bones, and the pain immediately made her resist.
The woman held her arm tightly, and even when she started kicking the female doctor, she used her long leg to press her legs firmly onto the bed.
Jiang Yiqing immediately let out a painful cry. The woman looked down at her, her eyes showing no pity, but rather a kind of curiosity as if she were looking at a pet.
Jiang Yiqing was furious. Taking advantage of the moment when her arm pressed down to restrain her, she turned her head and bit her arm.
A sweet, metallic taste immediately filled Jiang Yiqing's mouth from that jade-colored arm. The female doctor, startled, tried to pull away, but Jiang Yiqing only heard the woman's voice, as calm as still water—
"Continue with the bone setting."
"..."
The female doctor had no scalpel in her hand, yet it felt like some cold instrument cutting into Jiang Yiqing's abdominal cavity, causing her excruciating pain. The more she was in pain, the harder she bit the piece of flesh in her mouth, as if she wanted to tear it off.
To her surprise, the woman was like a lifeless piece of wood; she not only didn't cry out in pain like she did, but she also didn't show any emotion whatsoever.
Finally, the female doctor stopped, and the pain gradually subsided. Jiang Yiqing found that her ribs didn't seem to hurt as much anymore.
She loosened her grip, and when she released it, she saw a bloody tooth mark on it, one that would probably never disappear completely.
She looked up at the woman, who was looking down at her with a meaningful gaze, but there was none of the ruthlessness Jiang Yiqing had expected.
"Your Majesty, let me treat your wound first."
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