The Princess’ Shadow Guard – Chapter 46

The Crown Prince Has Fallen, the Throne Changes Hands

Murong Yan had a very long dream.

In the dream, she rode a horse down a dark forest path, her back no longer feeling the familiar warmth.

            

She was alone.

An inexplicable fear and panic gripped her heart.

『Don’t be afraid.』

            

『I will protect you.』

Inexplicably, that reassuring voice rose from far behind her, urging her onward.

Looking past the interlaced tree trunks beside her, she could faintly see the lake in the distance.

            

That distant yet familiar voice sounded once more.

『I hate the water. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t learn to swim.』

It was Ah Qin!

            

The woman’s hands tightened on the reins as she desperately tried to wheel her horse around, to seek the figure who occupied her every thought.

『Yanyan, be good. Whatever you do, don’t look back.』

This time she did not choose to obey. She pulled the reins hard and resolutely looked behind her.

            

Cold lake water surged forth, rushing in from the end of the dark path. A bone-chilling cold climbed from her feet up to her neck.

A black silhouette bobbed up and down in the water, drifting slowly toward her. When she focused her gaze—deathly pale Ming Qin.

Her Ah Qin.

            

Her sunlight, her everything—her Ah Qin.

It was all her fault! All of this was her fault!

She should never have left. She should have stayed, stayed with Ah Qin!

            

She should have accompanied Ah Qin on the road to the Yellow Springs¹, rather than letting Ah Qin, who could not swim, drift alone in the lake, as she was now…

Drowned.

Desperate.

            

Alone.

Her Ah Qin.

On the bed, Murong Yan’s eyes snapped open, her expression stricken with terror. She gasped for breath, beads of sweat rolling from between her brows. These vexing nightmares had been hunting her relentlessly these past days, as if to devour the last shreds of her lucidity.

            

“Xiongzhang²! Xiongzhang!” Murong Yan called out toward the tent entrance, her voice thin and unsteady.

Murong Can, standing guard outside, hurriedly lifted the tent flap and strode in. He bent his knees to meet his struggling sister at eye level as she labored to sit up in bed.

“Xiongzhang, today… did they find anything?” Murong Yan asked, tense and hesitant, swallowing hard.

            

Murong Can shook his head with certainty. “No, Yue’er. A thousand men have been searching day and night. Nothing at all.” He clasped her trembling hands, offering what comfort he could.

Hearing his words, Murong Yan let out a breath of relief.

Today was the day the army would break camp and march south. Five days had passed since the initial order to search the entire forest and dredge the lake, and not a single piece of news confirming Ming Qin’s death had come back—bringing a sliver of dawn to her nearly despairing heart.

            

Ah Qin said she would not die.

Ah Qin did not lie.

Ah Qin must still be alive.

            

She had to be alive!

Once all this was over, Ah Qin would come back. She had never broken a promise to her.

Murong Yan clutched the hair cord tightly in her hand, pressing kisses to it, silently repeating the words over and over in her heart.

            

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That night, at the ancient temple on the hill outside the Capital, Murong Yan sat alone at the highest point.

As far as her eyes could reach, she could see the lights of the Capital—restless and unusually clamorous.

Today was the day of the decisive battle.

            

Yet Murong Yan remained indifferent, staying alone in the quiet mountain temple, as though the turmoil over the throne had nothing to do with her.

The furiously boiling water bubbled, breaking the silence. Dressed in a red robe, the woman sat before a go board with elegant poise, her gaze sweeping over the black and white stones already laid out as she poured water into the teapot.

She felt the exhaustion in her body, yet her mind was perfectly clear. She had been unable to sleep these past many days.

            

It was not the outcome of the battle she worried about—she simply loathed the relentless invasion of nightmares, day and night.

Thinking of the open and covert struggles centered on the Capital today, Murong Yan did not much care.

Though she despised her father’s inaction within the family, she had full confidence in 『the Prince of Yu』 who defended the realm, and in Murong Can, the Ever-Victorious General.

            

Besides, the meticulous woman had war-gamed on a sand table with the men of the household dozens of times. No matter how the situation shifted, their side had a response for every contingency.

She looked at the board, where the white stones had been overrun layer by layer by the black—already at their last gasp.

The game was nearing its end.

            

She poured tea for herself, the pale brown liquid swirling with white froth, lending a pleasant fragrance to this small chamber.

The Crown Prince’s faction controlled most of the civil officials—corrupt and rotten—but fortunately the state’s foundations were deep enough to endure. Many righteous men had long looked on with indignation, restrained from fighting back only by the weight of tyrannical power.

The Prince of Yu, bearing the imperial decree and tiger tally, was like the long-awaited morning sun, drawing people toward its light, ready at any moment to round up and hang that brood of underworld rats who fed on carrion.

            

Looking at the white side, whose defeat was now beyond doubt, she took a sip of tea, then swept the few remaining white stones off the board and tossed them aside. The clatter of stones scattering across the floor could not disturb the serene composure on the woman’s face.

She drained her cup and tilted her head back to look at the cloudless sky.

It was a black velvet so deep it seemed to devour, yet studded with brilliant points of light.

            

In truth, this game meant nothing to her at all, Murong Yan thought.

But she still hoped to win—not for anything else, only for Ah Qin.

If someday she saw Ah Qin again, she wanted to nestle against that familiar, warm embrace and tell Ah Qin with a smile that she had not wasted her efforts.

            

Ah Qin, you are a good Shadow Guard—a Shadow Guard who could draw a salary and retire.

So take me away with you.

If…

            

If… she truly could never see Ah Qin again, then on the road to the Nine Springs, she would take hold of that hand, already grown cold one step ahead of hers, and tell Ah Qin that the mission was complete, that there was no need to linger with worry.

Ah Qin, let’s be together—whether in the courts of the dead or the cycle of rebirth.

This time, don’t leave me again, all right?

            

The wooden door shifted slightly, interrupting the woman’s melancholy. A large, fluffy head squeezed through the gap. The tiger cub, now nearly half a year old, was sturdy and agile, already showing the form of a formidable beast.

It walked forward step by step with elegant poise, its muscular shoulders rising and falling with each stride.

“Hu’er, come.”

            

Murong Yan looked at the uninvited intruder. Sorrow she could not hide still lingered in her eyes, yet she smiled with tender affection and opened her arms.

At the call, the seemingly composed tiger could not help but flick its tail. It trotted over to the woman, nuzzled affectionately against Murong Yan’s face, then obediently crouched at her side—part companion, part sentinel.

Watching the beast’s demeanor, Murong Yan was reminded of its master, and boundless sorrow filled her heart once more.

            

She stroked the fluffy head at her feet, stroke by stroke, while gazing out at the towering city walls.

All through the night, she occasionally lowered her head to sip tea. More often, she simply sank into her gray thoughts.

The dark retreated. Dawn arrived with the rising sun in the east. The tiger’s half-lidded eyes suddenly widened, staring toward the Capital.

            

Murong Yan blinked and focused her gaze.

On the distant city walls, crimson flags covered every surface, fluttering like ribbons in the wind, lit bright by the morning sun.

It was done.

            

This was the signal of success.

The Crown Prince had fallen. The throne had changed hands.

The mission was complete.

            

A flash of emotions crossed her heart in an instant—not wild joy, not relief.

Instead, a feeling even more lonely, even more hollow.

The image in her mind froze on the day she left the city, when Ming Qin had gently drawn the fox fur coat tight around her and sworn to her with solemn weight:

            

『I will protect you.』

Ah Qin, you have protected me.

The mission is complete too.

            

So hurry and come find me, the way you did before.

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The author has something to say:

A second update will come later tonight.

            

Also, um… the angst isn’t over yet, but like I said before—a little angst now makes the sweetness sweeter later!! I’m writing the ending now, and it’ll definitely be a sweet happy ending!

Don’t be heartbroken, now~ (gently patting everyone’s back)

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