Old Wounds

Most importantly was the fact that the fourth prince's mother was accused and sentenced to confinement in the cold palace for the case of the death of the first empress, the crown prince's mother.

The two women had always had a strained relationship from the beginning, one was the side consort and a childhood friend of the Emperor, and the other was a princess who seemingly dropped in from nowhere and took the crown princess's position the other had long hoped for.

Later on, when the Emperor took the throne, the two switched roles. The side consort was elevated to the Empress and the crown princess was demoted to a noble consort.

 The side consort gained the position, support, and power, while the crown princess, who had the status, position, and support of a whole country lost everything all at once.

Therefore it was no secret that the two tolerated each other's existence, but it seems that the situation came to a head after a big altercation, where the empress had ended up exercising her power and publicly humiliated the fallen Xia princess by having her whipped.

Of course, this matter reached the Emperor, but it seemed he decided to stay out of the situation. So the fallen Xia princess endured the humiliation with no recourse, and the Empress went untouched in the end.

Then a few days after this incident, the Empress then suddenly became terribly ill and died, it was ruled to be poisoning, and the obvious culprit was the fallen Xia princess. Despite her denial and pleas for justice and the emperor's hesitation on the matter, she still ended up being held responsible for it.

The fallen Empress' father who was the Defense minister at the time moved the entire court to act on the death of his daughter, and the fallen Xia princess' past atrocities that had been covered up were dug up and aired out, such as deaths and terrorization of other Imperial wives and other malicious schemes. The court as a whole asked for the death of this malicious woman.

 Of course, the fallen Xia princess vehemently denied all the accusations, but whether she was guilty or not was irrelevant to most people there, as they all unanimously thought that it was not good for her to remain at the Emperor's side for a variety of reasons and this was a golden opportunity that they would not let go.

In the end, the Emperor did not kill her but punished her with confinement for life.

Therefore, there was also this blood feud between the crown prince and the fourth prince.

Once the crown prince gets on the throne, that would mean the end for the fallen Xia princess, and there is no way the fourth prince will be left alive either. It was impossible for both princes to exist under the same sky.

The current emperor sighed as these unpleasant memories flooded his mind.

He remembered that the day before he left, their father had held a send-off banquet for him and the generals that would be leaving and remembered the crown prince, his first brother staring daggers at him the entire time and chuckled.

His second brother was behaving ambiguously, as usual, always seeming aloof and uninterested and...his third brother, as usual, was looking at him with an expression of veiled anger.

 After a while of being at the banquet, Jun Kai excused himself and wandered around for a while and found himself near the courtyard with the little pond, he walked to the pond and stood there for a while reminiscing his time playing here when he was younger.

Now looking at the quiet scenery, the memories seemed like a dream, an illusion that never was.

{...Things were definitely simpler then...}

 "Why are you here?" A strained voice asked from behind, and he turned to find his third brother, Jun Shan standing there with a frown.

Jun Kai smiled, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" At this time, the second and third princes had moved into their own residences outside the palace, so only the crown prince and the fourth prince still lived in the palace.

Jun Shan narrowed his eyes and didn't say anything. He walked forward and stood at a distance from Jun Kai.

After a while of standing in silence, Jun Shan asked, "Are you trying to get on father's good side by going off to war?"

Jun Kai looked at him on the side and smiled, "And why would I need to do that?" Even though their father was a cold person, it was no secret amongst the princes that Jun Kai was his father's favorite son. 

Jun Shan kept looking forward with a straight face, "Then why are you joining the war? Do you think war is the same as sparring matches? Are you that anxious to die?"

Jun Kai laughed and sat down on the grass, "It isn't that much different here, is it?"

Jun Shan looked down at him, "So you've made up your mind to leave?"

"And you seem to have made up your mind to stay. I thought you would have left by now." Jun Kai said looking up with a smirk.

 Jun Shan frowned and turned to leave, when Jun Kai spoke up, "You should be careful, First brother can be quite paranoid...Well, sometimes it is for good reason." Jun Kai finished with a laugh.

Jun Shan stood there and clenched his fists, "Since you're leaving, don't come back." and then walked off.

Jun Kai snorted and called after him, "I'll try." and then continued to sit there staring at the pond for a while.

 The next day, Jun Kai went off to join the war. They had spent about five weeks on the journey and had finally crossed into Han country and were on schedule to arrive at the main army camp in about a week's march.

They had made camp for the night when a soldier on a galloping horse suddenly rode towards their camp, he had come with a letter bearing the seal of the commanding general of the main army.

The war situation had changed and they were in need of reinforcements urgently, the enemy troops have currently surrounded the city they are occupying and have also poisoned the city's water source and so a lot of soldiers are currently out of commission because of this so their numbers have dwindled.

They were currently boarded up in the city trying to stall the confrontation and so needed urgent assistance, as they were unsure how long the city gates could hold.

If they decided to move the whole army, they may arrive too late and so the generals decided to split the army, with one half speeding ahead to break the enemy lines and back up the main army, while the other half traveled behind with the rest of the artillery and provisions.

The generals had decided and advised that it was best for Jun Kai to stay behind with the second troop, as the situation was too dangerous and unpredictable.

At that time, the voice in his head had insisted that he go with the first troop, but he had brushed it off as his own mind acting up. He wasn't afraid of going into battle, but this was not the time to be stubborn and insistent, he told himself that there would be plenty of opportunity in the future to prove himself, and so he agreed to go in the second troop.

 The first troop broke off and left immediately.

The next evening when the second troop made camp, they were suddenly ambushed, not by the Han army but by the Beiyuan army, a neighboring country of Han country.

They were greatly outnumbered and it was turning into a slaughter. Their commanding general shouted to retreat and Eunuch Li pulled Jun Kai and ran into the surrounding forest along with the dispersing troop, with the enemies chasing behind.

 After a while of running and fighting, their group ended up cornered by the enemies. The other soldiers who were around them were taken out, leaving only Eunuch Li and Jun Kai facing tens of enemy soldiers.

When all seemed grim, a group of black-clad warriors arrived on the scene and joined the battle, swiftly overturned the tides.

Jun Kai was confused at the scene but kept fighting. When the enemies were defeated, the black-clad warriors then turned and bowed towards him and Eunuch Li and the one at the front explained, "Your highness, General Li, we have alerted the Long army ahead, reinforcements should be arriving soon. For now, we will give our all to protect the prince."

Jun Kai looked at them with a confused frown

{...General?...Then this must be...}

He glanced at Eunuch Li, who explained to him that they were part of his troop from the Xia army and they all followed him into the Long empire and have sworn to protect Jun Kai and his mother, the remnants of the Xia royal family and the only hope for their people.

While Jun Kai was trying to process this scene, three arrows came wheezing towards him, Eunuch Li immediately reacted and pulled him to the floor, while three of the black-clad warriors shot out towards where the arrows came from.

Then they heard a whistling sound.

Jun Kai groaned on the ground, one of the arrows had hit him in the shoulder on the way down. Eunuch Li pulled him up and broke the arrow, in the next moment another wave of the enemies came running into the clearing and another battle ensued.

The enemies seemed to be increasing in numbers and coming from all directions, it was clear that the whistling sound was a signal and the enemies were all converging on this location.

They were all fighting desperately while trying to look for an opportunity to escape before the enemies completely entrap them. Jun Kai ignored the injury and also bravely fought, not wanting to become a burden as it was clear they were being forced into a tight corner.

As he was fighting, he realized his vision was going blurry and his movements were getting slower. Eventually, he collapsed and was struggling to get back up but could barely move, he heard the sounds of the battle and Eunuch Li and others calling out to him, but the voices seemed so distant now.

{...Of course, the arrow's poisoned...It seems I'm really going to die this time...I guess that's fine too...}

Jun Kai struggled to keep his eyes open, glancing up at the warm sun as his mind seemed to be leaving the scene. He squinted his drooping eyes as something caught his attention.

{...Is that a petal?...I'm pretty sure the flowers should be dead now...it's not the right season...}

 Jun Kai's eyes followed the petal as it fell to the bloody ground, and then eventually closed.

{...*I told you not to go with them!...}

 {...What?...}

 {...*I told you not to go with them!...}

 {...Hm, I must really be dying now...I'm hearing ghos-...}

 {...*I told you to go with the other troop!... Haah, these children just love to complicate their lives...Next time I say something, you better do it or you will no longer have a next time! Got it?!...}

 {...}

{ ...*Hey! Are you listening?!...}

{ ...}

 {...*Hey?!!... Ah, he's unconscious...Fine then...}