Chapter 7: Crossing Medicine by Mouth

The young woman, Qingyuan, looked at him with disdain and sarcasm, saying, "Do you even need to guess? I am the princess of a fallen country, and His Highness is the fierce king who has achieved great success. After conquering the Tang country, who else can reward His Highness? Since that's the case, who else in the palace can be a loyal pawn, if not me?"

The carriage was very quiet.

Suyutian squinted at the woman, who looked like a bloodied figure. Her body was covered in wounds, with large patches of exposed skin showing bloody scars. Her hair was disheveled, and her face was as pale as a ghost.

But at this moment, she was so stunningly beautiful. In her dark eyes, there was a glint of wisdom that only someone who had seen countless deceptions and conspiracies could possess.

After speaking, Qingyuan no longer looked at Suyutian, but closed her eyes wearily and curled up in the carriage. The carriage was spacious and stable, and the cushion beneath her felt as soft as a cloud.

She was very tired, so tired.

If he didn't allow her to die today, then she would do it another day. Someday, she would exhaust his patience and that ridiculous hope.

In this world, no one can stop the falling of stars or the changes of the world. No matter how powerful Suyutian is, he cannot stop someone who is determined to die.

"You are indeed very clever," a cold voice sounded in her ear, but she didn't even have the strength to open her eyes.

It seemed that the voice didn't care about her reaction. It slowly continued, "You want to die because you no longer have any attachment to living in this world. But I won't let you die. If I don't allow it, you won't be able to die. Since you can't die, then live on. Live to see the day when your enemies fall one by one, to see Xie Yuming kneel in front of you with every last drop of blood and bone shaved off. Wouldn't that be an interesting sight?"

Interesting? She closed her eyes tightly, her breathing gradually becoming rapid, as if her heart and lungs were about to explode.

Interesting?

Cities being destroyed one after another, the land mourning for thousands of miles, dynasties changing hands, and countless lives sacrificed for one person's success. In the sea of corpses and blood, the bodies of loved ones were still warm. Her younger brother was pierced through the heart in her arms, never to close his eyes in death...

All of this, in his eyes, was just an interesting sight.

A devil.

The man in front of her was a devil. He was a demon who had climbed up from the depths of hell. Yet, this demon was reaching out to her.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the man, who was unbelievably handsome, and slowly cracked a dry smile. "Fine, I agree."

Suyutian smiled, and in an instant, his charm overshadowed everything else.

He reached out and touched her red lips, leaning in. "Qingyuan, what a beautiful name. When no one else is around, I will call you Qingyuan, how about that?"

She remained silent, then watched as he slowly peeled off her tattered clothes, as if peeling away her last layer of armor. In no time, her perfect figure was fully exposed before him.

She remained expressionless. She couldn't resist whatever he wanted to do, nor did she have a reason to resist.

She knew the weight of the word "alliance." What she was relying on now was just this alluring but broken shell. How he could make this alliance seem reliable was no longer within her control.

Suyutian's gaze swept over her, and he frowned, sighing, "I may have been too rough. These wounds may leave scars."

He took out a porcelain bottle from his pocket and opened it, releasing a valuable medicinal fragrance. He generously poured it over her. The medicinal powder felt like iron brushing against her skin, causing intense pain. She remained motionless, as if she had no sensation and was at his mercy.

Finally, Suyutian nodded in satisfaction. "This amount of medicine should sustain you until we reach the capital. Once we arrive at the palace, there will be better ointments to heal your scars."

Qingyuan remained motionless, as if what he said was about someone else.

The carriage continued on its journey, and she finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep. In a daze, a pair of slender hands gently brushed over her eyebrows, her eyes, and finally lingered on her cracked lips.

She wanted to push him away, but she couldn't. She could only allow the unfamiliar scent of medicine and the man to intrude into her endless nightmare.

...

The journey was very dull. They traveled at sunrise, made camp at nightfall, and nothing else happened. The excitement of conquering the Tang country had gradually faded among the soldiers of the Liang army, replaced by a longing to return home.

This time, the vanguard was led by Suyutian and his thirty thousand elite soldiers, while the remaining seventy to eighty thousand, mostly elderly, weak, and sick, were left in the Tang capital. Suyutian claimed that they were left behind for recuperation, but in reality, they were left to plunder the treasures accumulated by the Tang country over the past two hundred years.

However, Qingyuan sensed an unusual scent in Suyutian's hasty return to the Liang capital with his thirty thousand soldiers.

But these matters were no longer within her control. She had been tortured and was covered in wounds. Although her wounds had scabbed over under Suyutian's good medicine, the upheavals had caused her to fall seriously ill.

Throughout the journey, she was in a delirious state, unaware of her surroundings or the passage of time.

Day and night, she tossed and turned, calling out for her father, mother, and her beloved younger brother repeatedly. She had a high fever and couldn't eat a single grain of rice. Despite the efforts of the military doctors, she couldn't be roused.

"Your Highness... Your Highness, the princess may not survive..." Several military doctors knelt outside the carriage, trembling.

Inside the carriage, Suyutian's eyes were dark, and no one could discern his emotions.

"Why?" he asked calmly.

Several military doctors exchanged glances and could only kneel down and tremble as they said, "Princess... she may be suffering from excessive fear and sorrow..."

Suyu Tian's eyes grew darker. A bird, if held in a person's hand for too long, would die from fear. What's more, how could a pampered and delicate woman possibly remain unscathed after experiencing the upheaval of a nation and a family?

He understood this reasoning.

However, the sparrow hawk was no ordinary bird. And she was no ordinary woman.

"Prepare the medicine," Suyu Tian coldly ordered, "If she dies, you will answer for it!"

The military doctors turned pale with fear, but they could not plead any further. Bitter medicine was brewed and then delivered to the carriage.

Qingyuan was too weak to drink the medicine, so he drank it himself and then fed it to her mouthful by mouthful. Sometimes she struggled to drink a few sips, and sometimes she choked on it. But he remained unchanged, continuing with a steady expression.

Mouthful by mouthful, bowl by bowl...

Day after day, it was unclear whether his stubbornness had taken effect, or her resilience had finally helped her survive this ordeal.

When they were still eight hundred miles away from the capital, Qingyuan finally opened her beautiful eyes.

At that moment, the carriage was still swaying and moving. Sunlight filtered through the fluttering curtains, casting mottled shadows on her face.

And she saw Suyu Tian like this.

He sat upright in the carriage, looking out the window at a military report in his hand. His finely arched eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and his handsome face showed no signs of fatigue.

She tried to speak, but found that she had no strength to make a sound.