𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲'𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 || 敵の旦那様 (𝐁𝐋) ✔ [COMPLETE]

61. The hunt

Shen Yue stood staring at his General in mild surprise.

He had never seen such open hostility emanating from the General towards anyone in his entire military career, General Haoran was the kind of man to display his aggression in action. He never walked around proclaiming his hate or need to kill. He'd just kill.

But now...

What could the seventh prince have done to incur such primordial wrath from the General? He really didn't know and though he had his suspicions, he knew when to shut up and focus on the task at hand.

"General," he looked down as he spoke swiftly, "I presume it'd be extremely hard for us to give chase and catch them if they've planned on escaping from the back gates. Travelling around the moat and outer wall, outside the Empire, will take at most a fortnight to reach to the back gates due the natural endowments for the Empire."

"Can't we reach them from within the Empire?" Haoran asked.

"From within the Empire..." Shen Yue mentally calculated. "Depending on the authenticity of the information I've acquired, if they began journeying from the back gates since the failure of the slaughter, then if we make it through the Empire inside I'm sure we can capture them before they cross the continental border. They cannot have a lot of guards protecting them because a

considerable amount is already dead beanstalk in our hands. According to folklore, though I cannot vouch for its reliability, there's a road we can cross through Silver Mountains that would take only 3 days to tour."

General Haoran sneered. "Lieutenant, do you remember the third regiment I classified as illegible to participate in war and left behind at Blazing Sun to guard the Empire?"

Shen Yue stared. "The regiment headed by Lieutenant Jiang?"

"That's right," he added. "Do you know where they are now?"

"At..." he replied cautiously, "the Blazing Sun?"

"No." General Haoran pressed a finger to the ground. "They're right here with us. Just not above the ground–they're beneath the ground waiting."

General Haoran recalled everything his emperor said the day the crown prince arrived with his 'peace' negotiations and tributaries. His esteemed self had specifically asked for the absence of his three subordinates before he told anything about the whole affair. Once the door was closed, he had gazed into General Haoran's eyes and asked,

"You read the clues my spy stationed at Silver Mountain accumulated about the entryway?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," he had replied fervently, understanding the urgency of what the Emperor was about to spill. "I even have a place in mind–I assume and perceive that to be the entryway."

"You mean the brown cave?"

Haoran had gazed at him astonished, "Your Majesty...?"

In return, his Emperor had only simply laughed. "I am the liege Haoran–this Empire is my body and its people my heart. Every wall and tree within its confines are my eyes and ears. Anything that is of your knowledge is mine too."

"Of course." He had bowed his head in obeisance. "It was my atrocity to think otherwise."

"Don't exaggerate now." He had tapped Haoran's shoulders with his smooth fingers. "The reason I secluded you today is to inform you of something crucial."

He had fallen on his knees immediately. "Your Majesty."

"I believe the spy I implanted in the Silver Mountains has defected to the enemy side." His voice had spilled forth like the seamless silk, husky, sweet but precarious. "I had this suspicion etched in my mind for quite a while now but I bade my time with the marriage and let it remain because I had another plan in mind–to plough an underground tunnel all the way from Blazing Sun to the Silver Mountain."

Haoran could hardly believe his ears. "Your Majesty?"

"And it's done now." Emperor Guang's lips curled; the indolent smile of a player who knew both his and the enemy's hand in the game. "However I want you to remember that the tunnel is our final, ultimate and last resort because its existence is an advantage I'd like to secure for future benefit as things can go wrong even if we manage to conquer Silver Mountains for the time being. So fear not, if my suspicions are false we would get into the inner Silver Mountains through the clues provided, but if they're proven true, we would still get into the Empire–through the tunnel."

General Haoran's large palms balled into fists as he recalled the Emperor's words.

He ordered Shen Yue, "Command the regiment underground led by Lieutenant Jiang to besiege the Empire from within." He got up, wiping the blood on his sword. "Meanwhile we will give chase to catch those imperial bastards and unalive them."

Surprised for the second time that honourable General Haoran used the word 'bastard' twice in his life within a day, Shen Yue replied, "If we're unable to catch them, Your Grace?"

"We will catch them," he said, mounting a horse nearby. "Uncertainties are for strategists to conjure, soldiers have one job: shed as much blood as they can."

"This war, we were destined to win it."

True to his words, when the inner siege from within the internal Empire began under Lieutenant Jiang's command, whatever real probability and monopoly Silver Mountains wielded over victory immediately crumbled.

There was civilian resistance from both the nobles and commoners alike, the measly bodyguards of some nobles trying to rally against the trained soldiers of Blazing Sun and failing miserably. Within a day of entering Silver Mountain, the capital and both the imperial palace were conquered, the Silver Mountain flag now replaced by one of the Blazing Sun.

Once the inner Empire was completely subjugated, General Haoran commanded the entire army to join hands against the imperial family that was now escaping and give chase. He galloped with a feverish frenzy, almost snapping the horse's knee in half and kept rushing on and on with an entire army of soldiers behind him. But as they arrived at the back gates, it was wide open and all that remained was dust.

Or so he thought, until he caught sight of the familiar figure.

"Soldiers." General Haoran's voice crackled through the air. "Capture the Imperial Prince of Silver Mountains, Seventh Prince Fu Lin, under the imperial edict of His Royal Majesty and bring him to me."

He screeched his horse to a halt.

"I shared a promise of life and death with him once, after all. Hence, I would be the one to gain the honour of putting him to his measly death."

* * * * * 

Dun dun dun! The General has finally found the culprit who deceived him, what do you think is going to happen?? 

Stay tuned to find out! *Trailer ends* 

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