Li Qingjun stood still, holding the jade pendant, feeling lost and confused.
Qin Yi had criticized her for being thoughtless, but that wasn't entirely fair. Li Qingjun was no less clever than him. As the only princess of Nanli, she had always been treated like a precious gem. No matter what silly things she did, her father spoiled her and her brother let her have her way. She had never faced a situation that required her to think carefully, so she had grown used to acting recklessly.
At this moment, holding the jade pendant, a sense of foreboding washed over her. Li Qingjun suddenly realized that the issue at hand was not about who she would marry or how she could throw a tantrum to get her way. It was about an unprecedented upheaval in Nanli that could determine the fate of the entire kingdom.
Her brother must have sent her away last night to discuss something that would be hard for her to accept. Unfortunately, for some reason, he hadn’t told her about it, nor had Qin Yi. Now, she was left in the dark, unsure of what was happening, and she didn’t even know how to help.
Wait… there was someone who would definitely know!
Li Qingjun turned around and ran to Ye Ling's small courtyard.
Ye Ling was lying on the ground, fast asleep, with a small blanket over her. The pill Qin Yi had given her yesterday was meant to heal internal injuries, which wasn’t exactly right for her situation, but it still had some healing effect. The feeling of recovering made her very sleepy, and she had been out for about five or six hours, completely unaware of her surroundings.
With a loud bang, the door swung open, startling Ye Ling awake. Li Qingjun clearly saw her wings suddenly spread out, and her little face looked fierce enough to bite.
But the moment she realized it was Li Qingjun, her wings drooped, and her face turned awkward. “P-Princess…”
“Ye Ling, you’re really fierce…” Li Qingjun walked slowly inside.
“Uh, haha… I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed…” Ye Ling backed away slowly.
“Your wings can move? I thought they were just a cloak.”
Ye Ling retreated to the corner of the wall, and Li Qingjun stood a few feet in front of her, not pushing her but quietly watching.
Ye Ling lowered her head and mumbled, “I’m a monster, Princess.”
“No wonder you, such a small guard, have your own courtyard and are assigned to protect Qin Yi—though you haven’t really done your job.” Li Qingjun wasn’t surprised and said softly, “Yesterday, the air in the manor was filled with demonic energy because of you, which is why my brother and Qin Yi came to talk here. So… you must know what my brother and Qin Yi are discussing, right?”
“I really don’t know what they were talking about. Yesterday, when Qin Yi disagreed with the prince’s proposal, the prince just left…”
“What proposal?”
Ye Ling squatted down, covering her head with her wings. “I didn’t hear clearly…”
Li Qingjun looked at her black feathers, then up at the hole in the roof, where the charred edges were still visible. She stared for a long time before slowly saying, “Black, monster. The one who killed my brother is you.”
Ye Ling jumped up and ran toward the back courtyard.
“No need to run.” Li Qingjun said calmly, “Since it’s you, then you’re just a knife in my second brother’s hand.”
Ye Ling stopped in her tracks.
“No wonder Qin Yi wanted to keep this from me. He didn’t want me to know about it.” Li Qingjun gave a self-deprecating smile. “It’s my own fault for not thinking; I should have seen many signs.”
Ye Ling cautiously watched her expression, realizing she was truly calm.
Li Qingjun opened her hand to reveal Li Qinglin’s jade pendant. Her expression grew more complex.
This was something that could save Li Qinglin’s life, yet he had given it to her. From the reaction of the corpse-insect monster when it touched the pendant, it was a genuine treasure, worth more than its weight in gold. It might even be something that couldn’t be exchanged for the entire territory of Nanli.
“You are the biggest flaw in my second brother’s plan. Why hasn’t he killed you?” Li Qingjun suddenly asked.
Ye Ling hesitated for a moment and shook her head.
Actually, the reason Li Qinglin had protected her back then, based on her connection to Minghe, now seemed a bit hard to explain.
The most plausible explanation seemed to be that Li Qinglin had acted out of compassion, protecting her even at the cost of leaving a huge flaw in his plan.
Li Qingjun looked at the pendant and pondered, “No matter what they were discussing last night, since Qin Yi didn’t agree, then I don’t want to know. I just want to know what my second brother is doing now.”
Ye Ling pouted. She had thought she knew more than Li Qingjun and didn’t want to answer, but now she realized she might not know much more than her because she didn’t know the answer to that question either…
Suddenly, Li Qingjun had a thought: “Oh no! Qin Yi went into the palace alone; he’s in danger!”
Without thinking further, she grabbed her spear and rushed out.
A flash of black light appeared as Ye Ling blocked her way. Her usually cute face turned serious: “If you go out now, you’ll truly be alone.”
Li Qingjun squinted at Ye Ling’s speed. She didn’t blame her for stopping her but said, “Then you come with me. Aren’t you Qin Yi’s guard?”
Ye Ling replied earnestly, “I can go, but you can’t. Right now, in their hearts, your safety is the priority. You should go to Qin Yi’s backyard and stand by that wooden sword formation. Don’t go anywhere else. In that place, besides Minghe, no one can touch you.”
Li Qingjun glared at her: “I’ve trained my whole life in martial arts, not to wait around like a delicate lady needing protection.”
Ye Ling pressed her lips together: “Unfortunately, in this situation, your martial arts are no different from needlework.”
She looked up through the hole in the roof at the sky, where white clouds floated lazily, changing shape in the strong wind.
“Princess, if I wanted to kill you, it would probably only take one move.” She said softly, “But I don’t know how many monsters like me are in Dong Huazi’s hands.”
…
Qin Yi was running through the crowd, feeling like he was in an action movie, chaos all around him.
There was no choice. Even though the previous fight seemed impressive, the other side had the numbers. If they caught up to him, it would be over. Even on the way back to the prince’s manor, there were ambushes waiting for him, making it hard for him to return.
The setup for this ambush was quite meticulous, even planning for the possibility of him escaping, aiming to finish him in one go.
But the enemy never expected that he would recognize one of them, leading to their entire plan falling apart.
A spiked club swung through the air with a roar, smashing into a strong man who bent over in half. Qin Yi didn’t stop and ran over the man’s body, not heading back to the prince’s manor but rushing toward the princess’s residence.
He didn’t know that Li Qingjun hadn’t returned to the manor. Given the current situation, he felt that if Li Qingjun was at the princess’s residence, she would definitely be in danger, and he needed to meet up with her.
Dong Huazi and Mang Zhan wanted to kill him, which was understandable. They hoped to establish Li Qingjun and Mang Zhan’s status before the king died. As long as he, Qin Yi, was dead, even if the king got angry, he wouldn’t have any more choices.
But there was another way to handle this, which everyone knew: “Drug her.”
If Mang Zhan got to Li Qingjun first, then it would be over. Although Nanli was a small and remote country, it had known etiquette for many years. Just by looking at how shy Li Qingjun was around Qin Yi, one could tell she cared a lot about her purity. Once she found herself in that situation, she would either commit suicide or resign herself to her fate; there wouldn’t be a third option.
So, since someone was ambushing him, would there be someone going to the princess’s residence to take her?
Perhaps they were initially afraid of Li Qingjun’s well-known fierceness and thought she would likely commit suicide, which was a last resort they couldn’t use. But since the ambush on him failed, that last resort might have to be used.
Because the king really didn’t have many days left, they had to settle things during this time; they couldn’t afford to delay.
Understanding all this made Qin Yi even more anxious, but his mind remained calm.
Ahead, there was a commotion, and another group of people intercepted him. Someone exclaimed, “Hey, this Qin Yi looks a bit familiar!”
Another person had a grudge against him.
Qin Yi’s heart was like still water as he sped up and darted into a side alley.
(End of Chapter)