Volume One, Chapter 18: Cast Aside, an Eyesore

Li Lan quickly dodged but still got her calf injured. The scorching wooden beam instantly burned her leg. She cried out in pain, yet countless beams fell one after another. She tried desperately to avoid them but could not escape.

Her leg injury had not fully healed, and she collapsed to the ground, supporting herself with her palms. What she touched was sticky.

Looking down through the smoke, she realized the ground was covered in oil.

Someone had deliberately set a trap to kill her!

They had chosen a moment when the barbarian was absent!

Though the tent was thick, without the wooden beams to support it, it quickly showed signs of collapse.

Li Lan was already burned in many places, and the air she breathed through her nostrils was growing thinner.

She could only hope that the barbarian would find her soon.

She was unwilling—unwilling to die like this.

She had yet to see the Crown Prince awake with her own eyes; she was still waiting to escape the grasslands hand in hand with him. She wanted to return to the capital city as his radiant Crown Princess.

There were so many things she wanted to do with the Crown Prince, so many words she wanted to say when he woke.

She could not die...

The fire burned for more than an hour. Gesar, who had witnessed the whole event from start to finish, said:

"The King came out of the fire holding that barely breathing woman from the Central Plains. His face was dark and solemn, as if he had just emerged from hell itself."

She did not exaggerate in the slightest.

At this moment, Kedash’s eyes were bloodshot. His rough hands gripped Baoqin’s throat so tightly that his red eyes seemed ready to kill at any moment.

“Did you do this?”

Baoqin’s eyes rolled back, “I—I have always treated Sister Lan with respect.”

“Lies.” He saw through her in an instant, tightening his grip.

Baoqin’s toes barely touched the ground; she could no longer utter a full sentence. With one more squeeze, she would die.

Beside them, Baozhu anxiously tried to pry the man’s iron-like hand away but to no avail.

“Your Majesty, since Sister returned from the Central Plains, her temperament has been much gentler. How could she commit such a cruel act as setting fire to someone? The woman from the Central Plains must have refused to submit to Your Majesty and deliberately set the fire to burn the tent and frame it on others!”

Slap!

A crisp slap landed on Baozhu’s face, instantly swelling the right side.

“Shut up.”

Kedash’s sharp eyes locked onto her, his imposing aura striking fear.

Baozhu cowered, no longer daring to speak recklessly.

The pressure from his hand increased; at this moment, Kedash was like an enraged beast, ready to strike anyone at the slightest provocation.

Just thinking of how fragile his woman was in his arms made him want to kill the two people before him.

“Stop!”

A deep voice rang out.

Baozhu recognized the newcomer immediately and burst into tears, crawling to his feet and clutching his leg.

“Grandfather, save me!”

Huzanke leaned on his cane. Though aged, he was vigorous, standing straight with great dignity.

“Kedash, I honor you as King, but do you intend to sacrifice my two precious granddaughters for a woman from the Central Plains?” His voice was deep and commanding, forged by years of battle. Anyone else would bow in submission.

Yet Kedash disregarded him completely, speaking with deliberate emphasis: “General Huzanke, I respect your age and address you as such. The tribe obeys and respects you. But without me, you are nothing.”

“Curse you!” Huzanke’s eyes blazed with anger.

Baozhu cried, “Grandfather, please beg the King to spare Sister. If this continues, she will die.”

Huzanke kicked Baozhu away. “Worthless.”

Baozhu cried harder, tears streaming, “Your Majesty, it’s my fault. I did it all. I was jealous of that little vixen’s beauty and wanted to ruin her. I set the fire; it had nothing to do with my sister. Please, please release her!”

Huzanke looked at her with a mix of frustration and disappointment, “No matter who did it, no matter the cause, a grassland person is a grassland person; a Central Plains person is a Central Plains person. No one from outside should harm our own. King, do you agree?”

Experience breeds wisdom.

These words made it clear that if Kedash killed his own people for a woman from the Central Plains, he would be betraying his own and deserve the condemnation of all on the grasslands.

Veins bulging on his forehead, Kedash’s hand constricted with distinct tendons, his eyes filled with struggle.

After a long moment, he released his hold.

“Take them away. Each of them shall receive twenty lashes and be thrown into the sheep pen, without food for ten days.”

“You...” Huzanke opened his mouth to reprimand him, but Kedash strode away, anger burning in his back.

Inside the medicinal tent, Li Lan and Pei Qizhou lay side by side. Li Lan rested on a soft couch, while Pei Qizhou was moved to a worn wooden bed.

Gesar sighed deeply.

One was barely clinging to life, and now another unconscious.

When had his little medicinal tent become so lively?

Kedash entered and saw the two lying side by side. For some reason, this scene unsettled him.

Bang!

He kicked the already dilapidated wooden bed, toppling Pei Qizhou to the floor in a twisted posture.

The blood flow, which had barely stopped, surged anew.

Gesar startled and immediately sat up.

Kedash’s face darkened. “Throw him out. Eyesore.”

Gesar, puzzled by the sudden madness, hurried to have the barely living man carried out.

Only the more pleasing sight remained inside the tent, and Kedash’s eyes softened.

Sitting by the bed, staring at the pale woman devoid of any blood color, his heart ached fiercely. He wished he could rush back and kill the culprit himself.

She said he was the one who could protect her, but this time, he had failed.

He had caused her injury.

Though usually hard-hearted, seeing her so fragile, he felt a rare pang of guilt.

Meanwhile, after receiving twenty lashes, the two sisters were thrown into a filthy, stinking sheep pen.

Baoqin, covered in bloody whip marks, glared with pure hatred.

Thinking of Li Lan’s face, she gritted her teeth in fury.

“It’s that wretched woman’s fault that I was punished by the King! I am the Queen, after all!”

Baozhu embraced her, shielding her from the lambs’ attacks. “Yes, it’s all because of her. You and the King grew up together, deeply in love. It’s her appearance that made the King change.”

Baoqin’s eyes burned with fierce flames. Having escaped death this time, she vowed to make her pay.

Baozhu’s eyes darted, and suddenly she had an idea.

“Bahu’s uncle is a professional snake breeder. I heard him mention a snake called the Hundred-Flower Snake. It’s about the thickness of a finger, with deadly venom so strong that even a bite or a mere touch of its body can require amputation of the entire arm. Given our friendship with Bahu, if we could borrow such a snake…”

Baoqin narrowed her eyes dangerously and then smiled cruelly.