Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Before I even had time to scream, Wang Yu grabbed me with one hand and shoved me into the deep woods behind the stone pavilion.
The trees here grew thick and close, and they did hinder the assassins’ line of sight to some extent, but it was no long-term solution. We ran one behind the other through the mountain forest, and in less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, the crisp snap of breaking branches was already sounding faintly behind us.
Perhaps because they had failed to catch us for so long, the assassins began to lose patience. They simply tracked us by sound, and volleys of arrows, heavy with force, came shooting viciously toward the direction we were fleeing!
In all my dozen-plus years of life, I had never run as fast as I did today. I even vaguely outpaced Wang Yu, who had been raised in luxury, and still found the breath to look back and call him by name.
“Wang Yu, we have to split up!”
His answer was to seize my wrist and shove me hard into a low cave up ahead. He followed right after, then tore off the black lower hem of his robe and used it to cover the cave entrance.
After that, we clamped our hands tightly over our mouths and noses. Outside, we heard chaotic footsteps rush past the mouth of the cave.
There was more than one assassin!
I did not know how much time had passed before I shifted slightly and whispered to the person beside me, “Wang Yu, what do we do now?”
His answer was a muffled groan. “…Don’t talk.”
Only then did I realize my hand was faintly damp. Wang Yu lifted the black cloth and examined himself by the bright, snowy moonlight. An arrow was lodged squarely in the middle of his thigh, and blood had already spread down to his knee.
A dreadful silence filled the cramped cave.
After a long while, I murmured, “They’ll come back.”
Wang Yu said nothing. He only stared at his wound, his expression empty. No doubt he knew as well that once the assassins heard no movement, they would realize he had hidden himself. This mountain was not large; if several assassins searched back and forth a few times, they would certainly find us before dawn.
Wang Yu could no longer escape. But if I stayed by his side, I would likewise have no way out except death.
Unbelievable. The vast gulf that status and rank had once placed between us was about to be stripped away entirely by impending death.
To die together with Wang Yu of Langya might even make me the envy of every maiden in Great Ye. It was practically a greater honor than becoming empress.
The more I thought about it, the more I could not help finding it a little funny.
He tore off more of his lower robe and bound it above the wound to stop the bleeding, asking coldly as he did, “What are you laughing at?”
Perhaps because death was near, I inexplicably grew a little bolder. “My legitimate younger sister once said that if she could spend one night with Young Master Wang, it would be worth dying the next morning.”
“Who would have thought her wish would be fulfilled entirely by me?”
Wang Yu: “…Heh.”
That cold laugh, ambiguous yet indifferent, was enough to show his attitude toward such remarks.
After a pause, he suddenly asked me, “You were against your legitimate mother making you a concubine. Why didn’t you resist?”
I laughed despite myself.
Under the moonlight, two or three wild mice crawled over our feet. I shook my leg and pointed at the mice as I asked him, “May I ask, my lord, why do cats like eating mice, but mice don’t like eating cats?
“Could it be that cat meat is so sour and astringent that mice simply can’t stomach it?”
Hearing this, Wang Yu fell silent.
In truth, this Wang Clan Legitimate Son, a trusted pillar of the Sima Clan, was likewise trapped in the very center of the whirlpool of power. He was in the prime of his youth, yet had already fallen into a place of certain death.
Since we were destined to die in the same place, what was the point of comparing whose misery was worse?
My gaze quietly followed the wild mice as they fled in panic, until I could no longer see them. Only then did I say softly, “Wang Yu, I’m willing to go down the mountain in your place.”
At that, his eyes, cold as ice and snow, finally deigned to glance at me. “What do you intend to do?”
“As long as I make noise the whole way, I’ll confuse their judgment and buy you time.”
He only gave a faint hum, as if it made no difference to him either way. I continued, “If I die, then it was not the assassins who killed me, but my legitimate mother who forced me to this end. You must expose her wickedness to others.”
“…”
“If I live, then I will ask my lord for one request.”
“What request?”
“I haven’t thought of it yet.”
“…Very well.”
Once I heard him agree, I reached out and removed several strips of bloodstained cloth from around his wound. Then, in one burst of courage, I crawled out of the cave, plunged into the dense forest, and sprinted madly down the mountain!
This journey was almost certain death!
After that, I fled while tossing the bloodstained silk strips into the grass, onto tree branches, into caves…
Not far behind me, several whistles gradually drew closer.
The farther down the mountain I went, the steeper the slope became. I lost control of my balance more and more, even falling several times. I had run so hard that one of my shoes was gone, and the sock on my bare foot had long since worn through, clinging wetly to the sole.
Behind me, the assassins were already closing in. All I could hear beside my ears was the hiss of arrows slicing through the air. My foot slipped, and in an instant, my entire body went tumbling down toward the foot of the mountain!