The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 45
by Little PandaAlive, One Must See the Person; Dead, One Must See the Corpse (The Whole Story)
When Murong Yan startled awake, she saw Murong Can gripping her hand, his hair disheveled, the rims of his eyes reddened.
“Xiongzhang1…” Murong Yan forced the word out, her throat cracked and dry.
“Yue’er! You’re awake? Doctor, where is the doctor?” The moment the man saw his sister revive, he hurriedly called for someone to examine her.
When Murong Can returned to the mansion after his drills, the first thing he saw was Murong Yan standing alone in the pool, her hair unbound, trembling feebly amid the broken ice in the water.
He hauled her from the water in one motion—she was all but unconscious. Had he not still been able to faintly feel a weak pulse, he would nearly have believed the cold, pale woman before him was already a corpse.
He hastily handed his sister over to his subordinates and the doctor, then asked the servants for the whole story before storming into the main hall in a fury. The first thing he saw was his father and his half-brother clustered around Murong Fu, coaxing the boy as he wailed and threw a tantrum.
Nobody had paid any mind to Murong Yan, alone in the pool, nearly perishing.
Nobody.
Furious beyond restraint, he abandoned his usual gentleness for once. Ignoring everyone’s attempts to stop him, he laid twenty blows of the board across Murong Fu’s thighs, then drove the rest out of the hall and spoke privately with the Prince of Yu.
Indignant on his sister’s behalf, he held back none of the words he had buried in his heart—his father’s favoritism, his Royal Mother’s suffering, his half-brother’s hypocrisy, Fu’er’s arrogance, and Yue’er’s years of forbearance and grievance—all of it poured out.
Murong Can did not know how much the other man took in, but he hoped at least that his Royal Father would recognize his displeasure.
Or at the very least, acknowledge the sacrifices his sister had made for the family.
After a bout of flustered activity from the doctor and the maids, Murong Can sat at the bedside, watching his sister drink warm medicine as she reclined weakly against the pillow, her eyes devoid of life. A bitter ache filled his chest.
From his wide sleeve he drew out the hair cord he had washed clean, held it out to his sister, and said gently, “Yue’er, here. This is yours.”
During the two days she had been unconscious, he had ordered every pool in the mansion drained and mobilized a hundred men to sift through the muddy bottoms, until they finally found what his sister treasured like a jewel in one of the fish ponds in the side courtyard.
Murong Yan stared at the object in his hand, eyes wide. Her cold composure shattering, she took the hair cord with trembling fingertips and cradled it reverently against her cheek, her eyes burning, unable to speak for a long moment.
Watching his sister’s reaction, Murong Can said softly, “Is this something that guard who brought you back left for you? Yue’er treasures it so.”
Eyes closed, Murong Yan clutched the knotted black cord tight and said in a hoarse voice, “…I treasure everything of hers.”
Murong Can only nodded slightly at these words.
In truth, from the fragments his sister had let fall while recounting her escape, he had already deduced that the guard was likely doomed. But seeing the always composed and self-possessed Murong Yan so rare and unguarded in her sincerity, he chose to say nothing.
He scooped the well-fed tiger cub up onto the bed, gave a few gentle reminders, then took his leave.
Early spring. Green shoots broke through the earth.
The Prince of Yu, lord of the Northern Borders, held the Late Emperor’s posthumous decree and proclaimed to the realm the Crown Prince’s treason and usurpation.
He then marched south with his son, the Changsheng Jiangjun2 Murong Can, intending to topple the Crown Prince’s perverse faction all the way to the Capital and support the Eleventh Prince’s accession to the throne.
With the tiger tally in hand, the troops of every prefecture outside the Capital had already submitted, awaiting only a single command to converge into an overwhelming tide.
Yet none of this had anything to do with Murong Yan.
The only thing she cared about was whether, when the army passed through that forest that always appeared alongside her nightmares, she might catch sight of the person she thought of day and night.
Her thin arms could no longer hold the three- or four-month-old tiger cub, fattened sturdy on goat milk and minced meat at the mansion.
But the young beast, attached to the woman, still lay beside her, its large head nuzzling her hand, begging to be petted.
When the army made camp at the local prefecture, Murong Can had three bound men brought before Murong Yan, who was resting in a lavish tent.
“These scoundrels confessed under interrogation that they had taken part in the mission to hunt you down alongside Xiao He,” Murong Can said, then silently handed the woman an oil paper packet. “Before they are sentenced and imprisoned, I thought you might want to speak with them.”
For some reason, Murong Yan felt afraid, but she took what the man held out to her.
Inexplicably, the small oil paper packet felt almost hot to the touch.
She merely held it in her hand, then looked at the three men kneeling on the ground with their hands bound behind their backs, and asked, her voice dry and hoarse, “…So you know…the whereabouts of the Shadow Guard who traveled with me that day?”
Her tone carried a hesitation no one else could detect, as though she were resisting the answer.
“If it is that woman in the black robe…” one of the men, who had a beard, began hesitantly, “I fear…she has already been killed by Xiao Weishuai3…”
“Impossible!”
Murong Yan cut the man off, her suppressed voice full of terror, nearly breaking pitch. “You’re lying! Ah Qin could not have died!”
Seeing Murong Yan’s violent reaction, the tiger cub thought the three men before it had bullied its master’s beloved woman. It leaped from the cot, bared its rows of white teeth, and growled—fierce, yet still soft with milk.
The bearded man stammered a clarification. “I’m not lying, that woman did indeed…” But as the woman’s reaction grew more agitated, his voice shrank smaller and smaller.
Murong Can stood frowning at the side and spoke up. “What exactly happened that day? Tell us in detail, now!”
“The guard beside the Commandery Princess was indeed formidable.”
Seeing the bearded man cowering, another man kneeling beside him—a bald one—spoke up in his stead. “That day, she alone, with nothing but a sword in her hand, held us off. At the time, we reckoned…” He glanced at a man beside him with a braid, as if to confirm.
The man with the braid picked up, “Including Xiao Weishuai, fifty-one men.”
“Yes, fifty-one. The woman drew a line on the ground and wouldn’t let anyone pursue further. Even with dozens of men loosing arrows at once, she stood unharmed amid the rain of shafts.”
The bald man recalled the scene and continued, “The moment anyone dared cross that line, she cut them down from their horse instantly. After a dozen or so died, no one dared try again.”
“Later, Xiao Weishuai ordered that he would hold the woman off himself while the rest of us circled around to continue the pursuit…” The bald man hesitated here, drew a deep breath, and went on. “While fending off Xiao Weishuai’s attacks, the woman stabbed and lamed every one of the remaining horses. And then…she went mad.”
He gave a visible shiver.
“Mad?” Murong Can did not understand. “What do you mean, mad?”
“She went mad…she truly went mad. I was standing at the front then, saw it clearer than anyone.” The bearded man recalled, eyes wide, then said in a trembling voice, “By then her blood was nearly all gone, and her shoulder was poisoned—she looked as if she couldn’t care less about dying. But after Xiao Weishuai spoke a few words to her, she turned into a maddened beast and threw herself at Xiao Weishuai, hacking with total disregard for her life.”
The woman, her eyes red-rimmed and her body stained with blood—in the instant after exchanging words with Xiao Weishuai, her gaze had churned with savage ruthlessness. Her whole body radiated a suffocating, bloodthirsty killing intent, like a rakshasa4 walking out of hell.
The woman’s right hand was so soaked in blood she could barely hold her sword, her body had taken several blade wounds, yet she seemed utterly indifferent, still whirling her shattered body in a frenzy, determined to take Xiao Weishuai down with her.
“The two of them fought tangled through the forest—the flash of blades was so intense that none of us could get close…” the bearded man said low, nodding toward the packet in Murong Yan’s hand. “Later, Xiao Weishuai killed her and came back from the forest alone. He even cut off one of her ears, and her body…was dumped in a lake.”
Hearing this, Murong Yan felt as if she were about to suffocate. With trembling hands, she slowly unwrapped the oil paper packet she had been clutching tight.
Inside lay a bloodstained garnet ear stud.
From the same pair as the garnet ear stud on her own earlobe.
Her heart plummeted.
She could not breathe.
“To have crippled one of Xiao Weishuai’s arms while riddled with wounds—she was truly admirable.” Though she had been an enemy, the bald man still murmured his admiration.
The man with the braid recalled, “Before the two of them disappeared, I heard the woman shouting something over and over.” He suddenly looked up and said, confused, “‘Kill you?…protect…Yan? Yanyan?'”
At these words, Murong Yan lurched to her feet, but swayed and crouched back down, arms wrapped around herself, trembling violently, teeth chattering as if she might faint at any moment.
“Yue’er! Yue’er!” Seeing his sister in such an alarming state, Murong Can rushed forward to support her while calling his subordinates to remove the three kneeling men from the tent.
“Ah Qin…is dead?! How could she die? How could she—because of me…”
Murong Yan gripped her brother’s collar tight, her heart torn, her whole body shivering, breathing with no rhythm at all. “Ah Qin can’t die… I don’t allow it, I don’t allow it!”
The woman slumped powerless against her brother’s chest, her eyes reddened, but not a single tear fell. Her expression hollow, her mouth murmuring over and over, “I don’t allow it… I don’t allow it…”
Murong Can had not anticipated that his sister would lose composure so completely over the death of a guard. The despair in her face looked as if she might follow that person into death the next second.
He felt a wrenching pain in his heart, regretting that he had let his sister meet with the three men, and fumbled awkwardly to comfort her. “It’s only an ear stud, Yue’er. Only an ear stud.”
Seeing Murong Yan’s eyes regain a flicker of focus, Murong Can went on. “A Shadow Guard directly under the Emperor cannot die so easily. It’s only an ear stud—it can’t prove anything, right? Yue’er?”
The noise all around seemed to fall away.
The woman heard nothing, only stared fixedly at her brother’s moving lips, turning his words over in her mind.
Yes.
Alive, one must see the person.
Dead, one must see the corpse.
Only an ear stud.
Only an ear stud.
It proves nothing, right?
Ah Qin.
The next second, Murong Yan crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut and lost consciousness.
Only Murong Can remained in the tent, holding his unconscious sister, frantically pressing her philtrum5, shouting for the doctor outside.
Footnotes
- A formal term for 'older brother,' used by a younger sibling to address their senior with respect.
- 'Changsheng Jiangjun' means 'Ever-Victorious General,' a military epithet for Murong Can.
- 'Weishuai' is an abbreviated form of the title 'Crown Prince's Guard Commander,' used informally with the surname prefix by subordinates and enemies.
- A rakshasa is a man-eating demon from Buddhist and Hindu mythology, often used in Chinese literature to describe a terrifying, bloodthirsty figure.
- In traditional Chinese medicine, pressing the philtrum—the groove between the nose and upper lip—is a common first-aid technique to revive an unconscious person.
I love the brother fūck everybody else they can die and I know my girl ain’t dead
Aww, I love murong can. He’s so sweet!
Aww, I love murong can. He’s so sweet!
I knew it! I insert curse knew it! I was wondering about it last chapter but nobody really cared about the princess hence no one bothered to follow her out. I knew it was strange. She was in the lake for far too long. It was obvious after she rushed out of the room that she was going to find that hair tie. Considering she’s a princess and is currently very frail, I thought someone would have followed her. If someone followed her, servants would have dragged her out already long before she started losing consciousness but no one arrived. Turns out, nobody actually bothered. I insert curse knew it! Hah! Serves that insert curse brat right for getting lashed!
Oh noo, she lost her ear 😭
She’s still alive right? What if she disguised her self and choose to wear the armor of the general or the general lets her go. And thank you for the chapter!
I knew it! I insert curse knew it! I was wondering about it last chapter but nobody really cared about the princess hence no one bothered to follow her out. I knew it was strange. She was in the lake for far too long. It was obvious after she rushed out of the room that she was going to find that hair tie. Considering she’s a princess and is currently very frail, I thought someone would have followed her. If someone followed her, servants would have dragged her out already long before she started losing consciousness but no one arrived. Turns out, nobody actually bothered. I insert curse knew it! Hah! Serves that insert curse brat right for getting lashed!
Oh noo, she lost her ear 😭
She’s still alive right? What if she disguised her self and choose to wear the armor of the general or the general lets her go. And thank you for the chapter!