MTLNOVEL Chapter 160: Try And Get Her
Sun Longzi stood at the edge of the ridge, the heel of his boot pressed into the dirt as he stared down at the valley below. The forest camp had been arranged with military precision—rows of tents divided by command rank, fires spaced just wide enough to avoid catching in the underbrush, guards rotating in quiet, methodical intervals.
It was flawless.
Which meant he both appreciated it and hated it all at the same time.
Flawless camps meant restless minds. There were no immediate threats, and nothing to do but watch the cracks begin to show in the people around him.
And his own.
He exhaled through his nose, arms crossed over his chest, watching as the hunt party below gathered for the evening meal. Nobles in borrowed armor, posturing like hounds. Foreign dignitaries trying to smile their way into influence. Even the Emperor's younger sons were mingling by the wine barrels, pretending they weren't watching every move the Crown Prince made.
And above them all, just barely visible through the trees—her.
Zhao Xinying.
She was walking along the upper ridge with that black-clad Shadow always two steps behind her. Her sleeves were rolled to the elbows, a line of dried mud trailing up one boot, and her hair half-pinned like she couldn't be bothered to fix it after something… difficult.
She looked like a soldier.
Like one of his own.
And it was killing him.
Because she wasn't.
She wasn't a soldier. She wasn't under his command. She wasn't someone he could give orders to or protect. Hell, she wasn't someone who needed protection.
He had seen what she was capable of; he had lived through it.
Sun Longzi didn't believe in rumors. Not because he was above them, but because he'd watched too many men die from listening to whispers instead of facts.
But this wasn't hearsay.
He had been there.
He had seen her black mist roll over the southern battlefield like a storm cloud torn from the underworld, had heard the screams turn into silence, had smelled the blood that clung to the ground like it belonged there. No swords. No arrows. No shouting.
Just silence.
And her.
Completely unbothered. Her entire being still. Her eyes were completely unreadable.
She had walked across the battlefield like she owned it. Like the dirt bent for her, and death waited for permission.
He hadn't asked her for help that day.
He hadn't needed to.
And yet, after it was over—after the massacre and the confusion and the horror—she'd looked at him and said, "You're bleeding." Then simply raised her hand.
White mist.
He remembered flinching. Not out of fear, but from the memory of a completely different color mist. The black mist had taught them all to fear her. But the white mist? That was new.
Healing was never loud.
It felt like warmth. Like something inside his chest had been wound too tight for years, and suddenly, it loosened.
She hadn't asked for thanks.
She hadn't even demanded loyalty, even though, for the first time in his life, he was willing to take a knee for someone who was not the Emperor.
She had simply turned and walked away, that Shadow Guard following like a second heartbeat.
Now, standing in the cool dusk air, Sun Longzi found himself watching her without meaning to. Tracking her movements like a general studying a map. Except this battlefield wasn't on land for new territory.
This battlefield was inside of him… for something a lot more vulnerable than any land.
"She's very pretty."
The voice behind him was light, but sharp and polished like broken glass.
Sun Longzi didn't bother to turn toward the voice. "She's dangerous."
"And yet… that's not a denial," the woman replied. This time, he turned slightly. Lady Huai stood beside a smooth rock behind him, dressed in traveling silks dyed in soft plum, her posture perfect, her smile tighter than it should have been.
She was his betrothed.
Both in name and by contract.
And yet, after three years of carefully postponed wedding ceremonies and border deployments, he still didn't know if she liked her tea sweetened or not. She was clever. Beautiful, too. The daughter of a powerful noble who had raised her to be a political asset. She knew how to walk, how to bow, how to make a man feel chosen without ever offering anything real.
And she seemed to hate Zhao Xinying.
"I saw how you looked at her," Lady Huai continued, her voice still pleasant. "Like she's a weapon you'd rather wield than avoid."
Sun Longzi didn't answer.
Because she was right and wrong. And that just went to prove just how much she didn't understand.
He didn't want to wield Zhao Xinying.
He wanted to understand her. To know how she had turned trauma into precision, fear into silence, and rage into something so controlled it felt holy.
He wanted to know how she could carry a thousand lives behind her eyes and still walk like nothing touched her.
"She'll never bow," Lady Huai reminded him quietly.
"No," Sun Longzi agreed. "And she shouldn't."
Lady Huai smiled softly, still the perfect image of a Daiyu woman. "She is not the type of wife the heir to the Dukedom of Sun needs," she said, her head held high. "I don't expect you to fall in love with me, but I do expect you to understand your place in all of this. I am your primary wife, and she is married to the Crown Prince. Fall in line, General, or you will not like what happens next."
Sun Longzi hadn't even bothered to reply; he waited until his fiancée left before letting out the breath he didn't even know he was holding.
Cracking his neck from side to side, he forced himself to release his tense muscles. He knew she was right. Even with all the power that his family had, there were certain things that could never happen.
And marrying someone who was already married was one of them.
"You have a choice," grunted Zhu Deming as he came to a stop beside Sun Longzi.
"Do I?" replied Longzi, his voice coming out thin and unsure. "Because from where I stand, I don't see any choices. My life has been planned out by my parents, and that is how it is going to be until the day I die. The only thing that will stop what happens in the future will be me dying on the battlefield."
Deming chuckled softly under his breath as he spun a silver cherry blossom hairpin between his fingers. It was the twin to the one he had made for Xinying… it was his way of feeling close to her even when they were miles apart.
"I think you might want to move, then," he said, looking down at the bright white flowers and soft pink center. "Because from where I stand? That woman doesn't mind not following the beaten path. In fact, she is more than happy to find her own."
"What are you saying?" demanded Sun Longzi. All signs of weakness were gone from his voice as his back straightened. "And since when do you speak 'court'? Say what you mean."
"I am saying, you figure out what you want. You, not your parents, not the Emperor, and not some woman you have never spoken more than ten words to. If you want her… come try and get her."