76 076 Yuan Yue VS Eighth Prince◇
◎A Naive and Passionate Soldier and a General Who Openly Suspects and Secretly Protects Him 2◎
Quan Bao was just saying that; even if he were asked to actually tear open Yuan Yue's wound, he wouldn't dare to do it.
However, he didn't show it on his face, pretending to be doing his best for her: "Third Sister, if you're not ruthless, your position won't be secure. You have to be tough."
Yuan Yue pulled her leg back: "You can be ruthless if you want, I just can't bring myself to be ruthless."
"No, Sister San, just let me tear it." Quan Bao said, reaching out to grab her leg.
Yuan Yue dodged around, saying, "No, no, I really can't be ruthless."
The Eighth Prince had just finished counting the number of wounded outside when he returned to his tent and saw them playing together. With a gloomy face, he kicked over a wooden stool placed by the door, deliberately making a noise to alert them.
Quan Bao secretly gave Yuan Yue a look, then turned around and asked, "Your Highness is back. Have you already counted the number of wounded?"
The Eighth Prince hummed in acknowledgment, then sat down silently without even glancing at Yuan Yue.
"Your Highness, I just went to the camp to check on the wounded and found that Third Sister was seriously injured. The blood has stained the ground red. Your Highness, please take a look."
The Eighth Prince glanced at him impatiently: "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Ah? Ah! Yes, yes," Quan Bao's eyes lit up. His Highness wanted to be alone with Third Sister. He immediately walked out: "I have to go to the kitchen and make some good food for Third Sister to nourish her."
As he left, the lively camp fell silent.
He didn't speak, and Yuan Yue felt a little awkward. Thinking about Quan Bao's words, she steeled herself, clutched her knee, and cried out, "Ouch! My knee!"
"Alright," the Eighth Prince put down the book in his hand and said disdainfully, "So pretentious."
Despite saying this, he still got up and walked to Yuan Yue's side, looked down to check her injuries, and suddenly said, "Tomorrow, I will send someone to escort you back to the capital."
Yuan Yue was enjoying herself when she suddenly heard him say that, and she abruptly pulled her leg back: "I'm not going back."
"Nonsense!" The Eighth Prince sat down opposite her, his gaze fixed on the injury on her leg. "This is just the beginning. If you continue down this path, this injury might end up on your stomach, your neck, or even your head. Don't you want to live?"
Yuan Yue immediately retorted, "If you don't want it, why should I want it!"
"I am a man."
"What about men, and what about women! Do you think we women are completely useless?" Yuan Yue looked directly at him, her tone showing no fear, but rather full of courage: "I will show you that we women are in no way inferior to men!"
The Eighth Prince gazed at her silently, expecting to see fear and timidity in her eyes. But there was nothing there, only courage, brightness, and boundless vitality.
His heart skipped a beat.
The two remained silent for a long time. Finally, the Eighth Prince stood up, flicking his sleeve: "Then so be it. But if you die somewhere in the future, don't expect me to collect your corpse!"
"I won't die, stop cursing me!" Yuan Yue shouted unwillingly at his retreating figure.
The Eighth Prince did not turn around, and said, "That would be best."
Although he and Quan Bao left, they didn't take the wound medicine with them. Yuan Yue had learned some bandaging techniques from the army doctor over the past few days, and after applying the medicine to herself, she returned to her tent.
After resting in place for half a day, the Eighth Prince ordered the entire army to speed up their advance. Although Yuan Yue's leg injury was not deep, walking for a long time caused her to struggle to pull down her trouser leg in the evening. She discovered that the wound showed no signs of healing and was still bleeding intermittently.
These days she's been busy training during the day and traveling afterwards, so she's been suffering from minor injuries and aches all over her body. She can now ignore the pain in her leg. Compared to cleaning the wound, she needs to rest properly.
Yuan Yue leaned against the bed, and in the short time it took to reach for her medicine, she felt drowsy. She was very sleepy and thought she might as well sleep for a while and apply the medicine when she woke up.
She slept very soundly, and when she opened her eyes again, the sun was just beginning to rise outside. In the distance, there were sounds of people shouting that they should eat quickly so they could get on their way sooner. Knowing that she had slept all night, she quickly looked down to check the wound on her leg, only to find that it had been properly bandaged and the pain had lessened considerably.
The felt tent flap was opened, and Quan Bao walked in with a smile: "Third Sister, I've brought you breakfast. Eat quickly. We'll be moving at full speed soon."
Yuan Yue asked, "What?"
Quan Bao's expression darkened: "The Fifth Prince has rebelled, and he's in Qingzhou. His Majesty is furious and has ordered us to rush to Qingzhou as soon as possible to provide support. The Eighth Prince is currently discussing with the soldiers that they must reach Qingzhou within two days."
A major battle between the two armies would inevitably result in countless deaths and injuries. Yuan Yue felt somewhat lost: "Quan Bao, have you ever fought in battle with His Highness before?"
“Yes, I have,” Quan Bao replied. Seeing the confusion on Yuan Yue’s face, he said, “Third Sister, are you scared?”
"Screw you, when have I ever been afraid? I just think it's a bit cruel. How many people won't be able to come back, how many families will be torn apart, how many parents will outlive their children?"
Quan Bao took a bite of the dry biscuit and said nonchalantly, "What can we do? It's war. It's just a matter of you dying a few people and me dying a few people. The more people die, the more we lose; the fewer people die, the more we win. You'll get used to it after you've been in a few more wars."
Hearing this, Yuan Yue fell silent, looking down at the bandaged wound on her leg, and suddenly felt a pang of heartache for them. Humans aren't plants or trees; no one is born so indifferent to life and death, with a heart as hard as stone. To be able to do this, one can only imagine how many life-or-death experiences they must have gone through.
Like a dream, they traveled day and night until they reached Qingzhou, where they faced the Fifth Prince's rebel army. The deafening sound of war drums and cannon fire, along with the stench of blood, quickly filled Yuan Yue's surroundings.
She felt like a soulless puppet, raising her weapon high, shouting and killing, her sword falling and then quickly rising again, tirelessly slashing at the enemy.
Her skin had long lost its ability to feel anything, and she felt nothing no matter whose blood was spilled on her face or body.
All she knew was that she couldn't stop. Even if she died from exhaustion here, she couldn't slow down her actions in killing the enemy.
Even as the retreating war drums sounded, she seemed not to hear them—no, she didn't hear them at all; she felt nothing in her eyes or ears. She brandished her sword and continued her relentless advance.
Seeing her acting like a madwoman, the Eighth Prince threw his sword to the security guard and ran over to stop her: "Yuan Laosan! Stop! The fighting has stopped!"
Yuan Yue ignored him and continued swinging her knife.
The Eighth Prince snatched her knife and threw it aside, shouting at her, "Stop! The fighting has stopped! Stop right now!"
Yuan Yue was jolted by the sound of his voice, completely dazed, before finally reacting: "Stopped?"
“Yes, it’s stopped, it’s already stopped.” The Eighth Prince put his hands on her shoulders, bent down and looked her in the eye: “It’s stopped, it’s already stopped, we won.”
His face, and the armor on his forehead, were still speckled with irregular bloodstains.
Yuan Yue stared at the bright red bloodstains, which seemed to have transformed into vivid people, dancing wildly on the Eighth Prince's face. Her eyes widened in terror, then everything went black, and she collapsed limply to the ground.
Without her sight, her hearing and sense of touch became much more acute. Yuan Yue clearly felt that the Eighth Prince had caught her, calling her name repeatedly in her ear, and then summoning a military doctor to examine her injuries.
She could touch and hear, but her eyes felt as if they were weighed down by a thousand pounds, so heavy that she couldn't open them.
People came and went in the tent, until finally the Eighth Prince drove them all out. He sat by Yuan Yue's bedside, silently watching her. She was much thinner than when he first met her, and her face was somewhat rough, but she was also much more radiant and flamboyant than before.
She was like the sun overhead, forcefully entering his life and leaving him no choice but to accept it.
He resisted, indulged, and refused, but she never backed down.
The Eighth Prince stared intently at her: "Third Brother Yuan, now that you're here, I will never let you leave again."
***
Yuan Yue was scared.
Every time she faced swords, her hands and feet seemed to go limp, and she couldn't even lift a scabbard.
Unable to keep up with the training, she could only work alongside Quan Bao, doing logistical support. One day, Quan Bao came to her: "Third Sister, His Highness wants us to go to the armory to clean swords and knives. Come with me."
Yuan Yue took a half step back: "I'm not going. I suddenly remembered that Zhang, the head chef in the kitchen, wants to see me about something. I'll go check it out."
“That won’t do,” Quan Bao said, pulling her back. “If I don’t do a good job on what His Highness asked me to do, he won’t let me off easy. Let’s go, let’s go.”
He half-pushed and half-dragged Yuan Yue to the armory.
The camp was quite large. Yuan Yue had just stepped inside when she was suddenly shoved from behind by Quan Bao. She stumbled a couple of steps and steadied herself by holding onto the wooden frame. She turned around to yell at him, but saw the Eighth Prince sitting in the central seat, carefully and patiently wiping a gleaming knife on the table.
Quanbao gestured for her to come over and carefully closed the door.
Yuan Yue hesitated as she walked in: "Your Highness, you wanted to see me?"
The Eighth Prince gestured for her to sit down, then casually picked up a dusty dagger and placed it in front of her: "Wipe it."
Yuan Yue smiled awkwardly, holding a cotton towel in her right hand, but her left hand was completely powerless, and the dagger kept slipping from her palm.
She glanced at the Eighth Prince, who was wiping his sword with his head down, as if he hadn't seen her.
Yuan Yue was somewhat unwilling to admit defeat, and tried again and again with her left hand. After countless failures, she finally managed to hold the dagger with her left hand.
She kept her head down and didn't see the Eighth Prince, who had been watching her the whole time, smile when he saw her. He quickly suppressed the smile as he looked up.
"Your Highness, look!" Yuan Yue excitedly raised her head, but seeing his still indifferent expression, she pouted and tried to pick up the dagger again.
The Eighth Prince put down his sword and took a dagger from the wooden shelf beside him. He held it in his left hand and slowly wiped it with a cotton towel in his right. Yuan Yue imitated his posture, trying little by little to overcome her psychological barrier and truly pick up the dagger.
The Eighth Prince secretly watched her movements, seeing her pick up the item, put it down, and then pick it up again. Suddenly, he said, "Last time, when I captured Fifth Brother, I lost a close attendant. The political advisor said you've been performing quite well lately and wants to promote you. Yuan Laosan, what do you think?"
"Really?" Yuan Yue's eyes lit up, and she immediately sat up straight excitedly, looking at him with great enthusiasm.
The Eighth Prince raised an eyebrow and looked at her hand.
Yuan Yue looked down and saw that as she stood up, her left hand unconsciously gripped the hilt of the dagger. She was surprised, but when she realized what had happened, her left hand lost its strength, and the dagger she was holding fell vertically downwards.
If it fell any lower, it would have pierced her feet.
Before Yuan Yue could react, the Eighth Prince pulled her arm, causing the dagger to fall to the ground and embed itself deeply in the earth.
Yuan Yue was startled by this sudden turn of events, still in shock, her heart pounding.
Seeing that her face was a little pale, the Eighth Prince helped her sit down: "It's alright. Look, it's just a dagger."
She polished the dagger until it gleamed, the blade reflecting her still-frightened expression. But Yuan Yue could still hear his words echoing in her ears: "It's alright, it's just a dagger."
Yes, it's just a dagger.
Just like those terrifying screams and dismembered bodies that appeared in her midnight dreams, it was just an experience.
She was determined to make a name for herself in the army, and she knew she might encounter far more horrific and terrifying scenes in the future. If she backed down now, the distance between her and the Eighth Prince would likely only grow wider.
Not to mention, it made the Eighth Prince look at him with new respect.
Looking at the dagger stuck in the ground, a surge of courage welled up within her: "Your Highness."
"Um?"
Yuan Yue bent down and pulled the dagger directly from the ground with her left hand. Her hand was clenched very tightly; although her palm was thin, the veins on the back of her hand were prominent, yet it contained considerable strength.
The Eighth Prince pursed his lips: "Not bad."
"So, it's settled then, about the personal attendants?" Yuan Yue held a dagger in her hand, her eyes shining as she looked at him.
The Eighth Prince smiled and asked, "What's agreed upon?"
"You just said you wanted me to become your personal attendant, Your Highness, you can't go back on your word!" Yuan Yue said anxiously when she saw that he didn't want to admit it.
The Eighth Prince stood up, put his hands behind his back, and walked out: "If you can clean all the swords and knives here today, I will consider it."
"You said it, you can't go back on your word!" Yuan Yue shouted at his retreating figure.
The Eighth Prince smiled faintly, without turning around: "I said it."
This side story is now complete.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com