A campfire at the bottom of the valley, where feelings subtly stir.
She walked up to Zongzheng Hengyu and looked down at him.
At this moment, he had lost his imposing presence on the battlefield. His face was pale from blood loss and drowning, his sword-like eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and his thin lips were pressed into a straight line. Even in his unconscious state, he exuded an unyielding stubbornness and coldness.
Water droplets slid down his angular face, flowed over his beautifully shaped jawline, and disappeared into his soaked collar.
Tiny water droplets clung to his long eyelashes, creating a breathtaking beauty—a blend of fragility and strength—in the dim light filtering through the clouds.
Munasha raised the stone in her hand and aimed it at the back of his head.
Her hands trembled slightly.
This is the Great Shang Heng King who strikes fear into the hearts of the Northern Abyss soldiers and keeps her father, the king, awake at night.
Is this the man who fought her for dozens of rounds in Falling Eagle Gorge and whose marksmanship was like a god?
She scrutinized him closely. Putting aside their adversarial relationship, she had to admit that he was an exceptionally outstanding man.
His handsomeness differed from the ruggedness of the men from Beiyuan; it was a sharp, cold kind of handsomeness, like the cold jade on the summit of a snow-capped mountain. Even in a coma, his features and brilliance could not be concealed.
She had heard of his name long ago, and besides hostility, she also harbored a touch of curiosity about the strong and... an indescribable admiration.
This time, he volunteered not only for Bei Yuan, but also because he wanted to see this legendary man with his own eyes.
Now, he lies unsuspecting before her, his life hanging in the balance.
Killing him would be a great achievement... but...
Munasha's heart was pounding, and she hesitated to lower the stone.
Looking at his pale face and furrowed brows, what came to mind was his heroic figure on the battlefield, dominating the world, and the heart-stopping power and skill he displayed when fighting against him.
"If he were to die now..." A thought uncontrollably popped into my head, "Wouldn't the world lose a rare rival? Or even... such a dazzling man?"
She was the most unconventional princess of Beiyuan, with her own thoughts and feelings, and was not entirely bound by national and personal hatred.
At this moment, in this extreme environment, a more primal and complex emotion overwhelmed the pure intent to kill.
Finally, she slowly put down the stone in her hand and let out a barely audible sigh.
She crouched down, carefully reached out, and checked his breath. Although faint, it was still there.
She checked his injuries again; his left arm was visibly twisted, and there were large bruises on his ribs, requiring immediate treatment.
Munasha looked at the unconscious Zongzheng Hengyu with a complicated expression, muttering to herself in a voice so soft that only she could hear, "Zongzheng Hengyu... I never thought that you and I would end up in such a state. Killing you would be too boring."
"I want to see what kind of expression you'll have when you wake up and find out that you were saved by the 'Northern Barbarians' you despise..."
She stood up, looked around, and began searching for a place where she could temporarily take shelter from pursuers and wild animals. She decided that she should wake him up first.
As for the future... she looked at that face, which was still breathtakingly handsome even in a coma, and a bold and adventurous idea quietly arose in her mind.
Night fell like a giant, dark velvet blanket, slowly covering this secluded valley, with only the rushing river wailing ceaselessly in the darkness.
Munasha struggled to drag Zongzheng Hengyu into a shallow, narrow cave she had found, which almost exhausted her already dwindling strength.
The cave was not deep, but it was enough to shelter us from the night dew and any wild animals that might be present.
She groped around and collected some dry branches and moss from outside the cave, and with the survival skills she had learned on the Northern Abyss Grassland, she managed to start a small campfire.
The orange flames leaped up, dispelling the darkness and chill in the cave and illuminating Zongzheng Hengyu's pale yet handsome profile.
Muna sat by the fire, catching her breath for a moment, before carefully tending to their injuries. Her own wounds were mostly superficial, so she simply cleaned away the mud and blood.
She unfastened his dark outer robe and inner garment, which were soaked through by the river and clung tightly to his body, revealing his strong and muscular chest. Besides the old scars, the newly added large patches of bruises and the unnatural bend in his left arm were shocking to behold.
When Munasha's fingers touched his cool skin and hard muscle lines, her heart skipped a beat and her face flushed.
She forced herself to calm down, found a relatively straight branch, tore off a relatively clean piece of fabric from her inner garment, and carefully used it to fix his severed arm, moving as gently as possible, afraid of waking him up, or... hurting him.
"If you knew it was this princess who saved you, you'd probably rather die from the pain, wouldn't you?" she muttered to herself as she bandaged him, her tone tinged with self-mockery and an indescribable complexity.
In the firelight, his sleeping face lost some of its usual coldness, and his long eyelashes cast a faint shadow under his eyelids, giving him a rare sense of tranquility.
She couldn't help but reach out her finger and gently brush it across his furrowed brows, as if trying to soothe the pain.
“What an… ridiculously handsome man,” she murmured, her voice so low it was almost drowned out by the crackling of the flames.
This close, unguarded contact allowed the curiosity and secret fondness she felt for the legends and their encounters to spread like wildfire, fueled by oil.
The night was deep and the dew was heavy. Although there was a campfire inside the cave, the soaked clothes still brought a biting chill.
After hesitating for a long time, Munasha finally blushed and moved Zongzheng Hengyu closer to the fire, sitting down next to him and trying to warm each other with their body heat.
Feeling the powerful presence emanating from the man beside her, a presence that persisted even in her unconscious state, she found it difficult to calm her emotions for a long time.
Zongzheng Hengyu woke up amidst a violent cough and a dull pain in his chest.
He suddenly opened his eyes, and what came into view was a leaping campfire and a rough rocky cave ceiling.
Memories flooded back into my mind like a tidal wave: Eagle Falling Gorge, the ambush, the fierce battle, the highly skilled general of Beiyuan, the collapsing cliff, the icy river water...
He's still alive!
His alertness returned instantly, and he instinctively tried to sit up, but this aggravated the injuries to his left arm and ribs, causing him to groan in pain and break out in a cold sweat.
It was only then that he noticed someone beside him, and... his wounds, which had been simply treated, and the splints that had been immobilized.
He turned his head sharply, his sharp, hawk-like gaze instantly locking onto Munasha, who was leaning against the cave wall, seemingly taking a nap from exhaustion.
It was her! The Northern Abyss general who fought him at Falling Eagle Gorge! She didn't die either? And... she saved him?
Zongzheng Hengyu's gaze instantly turned cold and scrutinizing. He calmly sized up the "man" before him.
By the light of the campfire, he noticed that although the other person was wearing a Northern Abyss military uniform, his figure was slender for a man, and his face was too handsome, with his Adam's apple not very prominent... In addition, he heard the word "Princess" before he fell...
A guess came to mind.
Munasha, who was already a light sleeper, was startled awake by his intense gaze. Her eyelashes fluttered a few times, and she opened her eyes.
Their eyes met, and the air inside the cave seemed to freeze instantly.
Zongzheng Hengyu's eyes were cold and wary, with a condescending scrutiny, as if he were looking at an object, or rather, an enemy whose threat needed to be assessed.
Munasha felt a little guilty under his gaze, but she was more intimidated by his imposing aura after waking up, and also felt a bit embarrassed by being "caught in the act".
She forced herself to remain calm, cleared her throat, and spoke in her usual clear voice, "You're awake?"
"Did you save me?" Zongzheng Hengyu's voice was hoarse from his injuries and dehydration, but it still carried an undeniable coldness.
Munasha nodded and pointed to the bandages on his body: "You're badly injured. Your left arm is broken, and your ribs are probably cracked too. If I hadn't dragged you up, you would have frozen to death on this riverbank, even if you hadn't drowned."
Zongzheng Hengyu paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the strips of cloth covering his body before returning to her face. His tone was unreadable: "Why did you save me?" He didn't believe that the princess of Beiyuan would be so kind as to rescue the commander of an enemy country.
Munasha was taken aback by his question. She couldn't very well say it was because he was good-looking that she couldn't bear to kill him, could she?
She avoided his sharp gaze and casually made up a reason: "Your life is more valuable than your death. The life of a prince of great entropy can always be exchanged for some benefits." This reason sounded reasonable.
Upon hearing this, Zongzheng Hengyu's lips curled into an extremely cold smile, laced with sarcasm: "So you want a bargaining chip. Unfortunately, I never accept threats, much less allow myself to become a bargaining chip for the enemy to use against Great Entropy."
His tone was resolute, carrying a chilling air of someone facing certain death. Munasha's heart trembled slightly; she could feel the weight of his words.
“You’re injured like this now, do you think you have a choice?” Munasha tried to retort with force.
Zongzheng Hengyu stopped looking at her and turned his gaze to the dark night outside the cave. His voice was calm but carried an invisible pressure: "You can try. Kill me now. Otherwise, once my injuries have healed, you may not have another chance."
His words were like a cold knife, piercing through the temporary calm and bringing the naked hostility between the two back to the forefront.
Looking at his cold, hard profile, Munasha felt a tightness in her chest, mixed with a vague sense of loss.
Even when he was in dire straits and seriously injured, this man remained so proud and so...unapproachable.
"Hmph, kill you? Easier said than done." She retorted defiantly, but made no move. She stood up, walked to the cave entrance, looked at the deep night outside, her back to him, her voice tinged with resentment.
"But don't worry, Ben... I don't want to kill you right now. It's uncertain whether we can even get out of this desolate wilderness alive. Keeping you around might give us another scout."
Silence fell over the cave, broken only by the crackling of the campfire and the sound of each other's breathing.
After a long silence, Zongzheng Hengyu suddenly spoke, breaking the stillness: "Water."
Munasha paused for a moment, turned to look at him, and saw that his lips were chapped and he definitely needed to drink water.
She pursed her lips, then walked to the riverbank, carefully scooped up some water with a large leaf, and brought it to his lips.
Despite his pain, Zongzheng Hengyu took the water and slowly drank a few sips.
The cool, sweet river water slid down his throat, quenching his thirst. Throughout this process, his gaze remained fixed on her face, filled with scrutiny and inquiry.
Munasha felt extremely uncomfortable under his gaze. After feeding him water, she immediately stepped back, sat back down opposite the fire, hugged her knees, and refused to look at him again.
The two spent the next two days in this strange and subtle atmosphere.
Munasha was in charge of finding food. She used a small dagger that she carried with her, which she luckily didn't lose when she fell off the cliff, to set a trap and catch two rabbits. She also caught a few fish by the river.
She skillfully peeled and roasted the food, and although the only seasoning was simple salt, the roasted food smelled delicious.
She distributed the grilled food to Zongzheng Hengyu. At first, he just watched coldly, but later, perhaps due to physical needs, he silently accepted it and ate it slowly.
The two barely exchanged a word; one responded with a cold expression, while the other was secretly frustrated.
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