Luo Wushuang glanced up at the sky and ordered the servants to fetch a restorative tonic from the small kitchen. She then stood outside the hall for a long while.
Only when her emotions had completely settled did she take the tray from the palace maid and turn to enter the hall.
Shangguan Liqian was already awake. She was reclining on the Phoenix Bed, leafing through a book with an air of nonchalance. Sensing someone enter, she merely spared a faint glance upward before returning her focus to the pages.
Seeing this reaction, Luo Wushuang knew that her Sister’s temper had not yet subsided.
Had it been any other time, Liqian would have greeted her return with a poised, gentle smile and asked softly where she had been. She would never have been this cold.
However, the moment Wushuang remembered exactly why Liqian was angry, her confidence vanished. She felt she didn’t have a leg to stand on.
It’s my fault. Last night, I got carried away and lost all sense of propriety…
Carrying the tonic, Luo Wushuang walked forward slowly and placed the bowl on a side table. After carefully gauging Shangguan Liqian’s expression, she asked in a low voice, “Does Sister… still hurt?”
That single sentence shattered Liqian’s facade of calm.
Her fingertips trembled. Liqian suppressed the urge to splash the tonic into Luo Wushuang’s face. She kept her eyes down, her gaze fixed back on the book, refusing to acknowledge the woman.
“Sister…”
Luo Wushuang opened her mouth to ask again, but she immediately met Liqian’s cold, warning gaze. The words died in her throat, and she swallowed them back down.
Seeing that Liqian still looked somewhat exhausted, Wushuang felt a pang of heartache mixed with a bit of regret.
Fine, she admitted it. Last night hadn’t just been a spur-of-the-moment impulse; it was… a long-premeditated plan…
It was just that Sister had suffered for it.
Luo Wushuang bit her lower lip. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she had been a beast. Sister had practically begged her last night, yet she still…
Sigh…
Luo Wushuang squatted obediently by the side of the bed, her brows lowered and her eyes downcast. She looked utterly pitiful.
A flicker of hesitation crossed Liqian’s beautiful eyes, but the memory of the previous night hardened her heart once more.
This woman was becoming increasingly overbearing. She couldn’t be indulged any further. Otherwise, the only one who would suffer would be herself…
After squatting at Liqian’s feet for a while, Luo Wushuang noticed that the lighting wasn’t very good. She wanted to help Liqian move to the daybed by the window.
Liqian saw through her intentions and had no desire to mistreat herself. She followed Wushuang’s lead and leaned back against the daybed.
It wasn’t that she was being difficult; it was truly because a certain someone had gone too far last night. She didn’t know where Wushuang had learned such wicked tricks, it was simply…
Before Luo Wushuang had returned, Liqian had thought about getting up on her own, but while the spirit was willing… the flesh was weak.
Seeing that she hadn’t been rejected, Luo Wushuang grew a bit bolder.
She stole a glance at Liqian’s face, then carefully leaned in. Kneeling halfway before the daybed, she began to gently massage Liqian’s sore and aching waist.
Liqian’s hand tightened around her book. Just as she was about to speak, a weak voice drifted up:
“Sister, I know I was wrong.”
It was a soft admission of guilt, like a kitten acting spoiled. It sounded quite pitiful.
Liqian lowered her eyes and remained silent.
Luo Wushuang breathed a secret sigh of relief and began to talk about the war reports mentioned in today’s memorials.
Originally, Liqian had intended to scold her for being noisy. However, upon hearing that the kingdoms of Liang and Qi had gone to war and that the Empress of Liang was leading the imperial procession herself, her elegant brows instantly knitted together.
She remembered that in her previous life, the war between the two nations hadn’t broken out until after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Why was the decisive battle happening now, before autumn had even arrived?
Did I remember it wrong, or… has something changed?
Liqian fell into deep thought, subconsciously ignoring the voice beside her.
Luo Wushuang prattled on for a long time without receiving any response. When she looked up, she saw Liqian’s dazed expression.
Wushuang pouted, her eyes filled with grievance.
What is Sister thinking about? She’s not even listening to me!
I know I went too far last night, but she can’t just loathe me like this, can she? She should at least give me a chance to make an excuse…
Just as Luo Wushuang was contemplating whether she should start crying and making a scene to soften Liqian’s heart—ideally enough to turn the page on last night’s events—a slightly raspy voice spoke from above:
“Bring the memorials you just mentioned. I want to see them.”
In this world, Shangguan Liqian was likely the only person who could order the Empress Regnant around as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
And yet, Her Majesty the Empress Regnant relished it.
Her mind was filled with only two thoughts:
Sister was listening to me after all!
Sister spoke to me—does that mean she isn’t angry anymore?
Luo Wushuang scrambled over to the desk to grab the memorials, then jogged back, presenting them to Liqian like a child showing off a treasure.
Liqian took the memorials and flipped through them casually. Her frown deepened.
Qi and Liang had indeed gone to war.
The outcome was no different from her previous life; it was a one-sided slaughter from the very beginning. The Fourth Princess of the Kingdom of Qi truly lived up to her title as a God of War; she was certainly capable.
Aside from the timing being moved forward, everything else was the same.
Am I overthinking this, or was there some variable that forced the war to start early?
Her gaze swept over Luo Wushuang, who was watching her expectantly. She remembered that the Empress of Liang shared a blood relation with Wushuang.
In her previous life, it seemed Wushuang hadn’t provided much help to the Empress of Liang. It should be the same this time, right?
However, knowing that the Kingdom of Liang could not escape its doom, Liqian couldn’t help but ask, “Regarding you and the Empress of Liang…”
Luo Wushuang was stunned for a moment before realizing what Liqian was asking.
Her eyes instantly grew misty. Uuuu… Sister is still worried about me even when she’s angry. Sister really does love me!
Wushuang didn’t even hear the rest of Liqian’s question. Swept up in her own self-moved emotions, she lifted her tear-streaked face and smiled. “Feng Liuli is just a cousin. She isn’t important… Besides, I have already promised to provide sanctuary for her top general.”
In Wushuang’s eyes, Feng Liuli was merely someone she shared some blood with but wasn’t particularly close to. Consequently, she didn’t care in the slightest whether the woman lived or died.
Saving Liu Yun was merely a trade of interests.
As Feng Liuli’s right-hand man, saving Liu Yun would require a significant amount of effort. Fortunately, the reward Feng Liuli had offered was generous enough.
In addition to delivering all of Wushuang’s enemies to her doorstep, there were countless rare treasures. Wushuang originally had no interest in such things, but then she thought she could use them to please Liqian, so she hadn’t refused.
As for any feelings toward Feng Liuli, she had none.
Liqian, however, didn’t know this. Seeing Wushuang “cry,” she assumed the girl was mourning her own helplessness.
Her heart softened instantly, and the desire to give Wushuang the cold shoulder vanished.
Her free hand gently stroked Wushuang’s head as she offered soft comfort. “The Empress of Liang’s obsession is too deep. You cannot blame yourself.”
She reached out, using a soft silk towel to wipe away the tears trembling on the woman’s lashes. Liqian continued, “And from what you said, that female general must be very important to her…”
Otherwise, who would go to such lengths to arrange a path of retreat for a subordinate?
Liqian felt that the Empress of Liang was more like someone blinded by obsession, unable to distinguish what she truly wanted.
I only hope she doesn’t live to regret it…
