After crying sadly, Suyin sniffed her nose and blew the stubborn ones on the tissue that General Feng thoughtfully handed to her. She wiped the tears that had washed away her foundation and that had stained her face with streaks of salty leftovers.
"I'm sorry..."
General Feng shook his head, "It's okay." He looked at the obvious palm mark on her cheeks again and was a little bothered. "Did something happen between you and the Crown Prince?"
Suyin's silence confirmed his doubt.
"I will go talk to him," he said, turning to the door. The woman quickly caught his arms, preventing him from leaving.
"Don't go. I wanted to delay the wedding, but he disagreed and got a little... violent," she trailed off. "I'm okay now, but can I ask for a favor?"
The man replied with a nod of his head.
She looked at him innocently while biting her lips as if she had just made a hard decision and said, "Can I stay at your place? I don't want to face him yet..."
The man's eyes stretched in disbelief. "You want to... Is it appropriate?"
Her voice faltered again, "I'm scared."
"Don't worry, I'm here for you."
Suyin put her head on his chest, and with the gentlest tone she could muster, she said, "Thank you."
On the other side of the city in the Palace was Yanyue. She was sitting across the desk from the king. Her stomach was getting big, so the king was extremely cautious and also had the servants serve some snacks and tea.
As Yanyue munched on the chewy biscuit, the door opened from the outside. It was Beichen, the person that she and the king had been waiting for since a while ago.
The incoming man saw Yanyue and immediately frowned.
He bowed with his hands folded in front of him as he greeted the king, "Your Majesty, father."
The king did not want to cast a glance at his son, who purposely ignored his request to show up an hour ago.
"You know that I'm your father, then how did you treat the wife that your grandma and I chose for you?"
Beichen was silent.
The king continued, "You have disgraced the royal family with that mistress of yours."
"She's not a mistress," Beichen defended firmly. "She's my true wife."
The king's eyebrows wrinkled unfavorably. He roared out sharply, "Your only wife is Yanyue! She's the only daughter-in-law that I will ever accept!"
"I will never recognize her as my wife. The only woman I love is Wanyue." Beichen retaliated, forgetting that the person he denounced was also in the room. In his eyes, Yanyue was merely an object that he used to release his urges. Otherwise, he would disregard her every other time.
"You!" the king raised his finger angrily. He was apologetic to his daughter-in-law for marrying the bastard son of his. But he knew that he couldn't change his son's mind for the time being.
He huffed, almost resigned to his son's will, but the sight of Yanyue's protruding stomach changed his mind. "Anyway, today, you must show the world who your wife is. There was an earthquake in the northern territory, so go with Yanyue to pass out relief and ease the people's minds up there."
Yanyue was lowering her head the whole time as she did not want to show how hurt she was by Beichen's words. When she heard the king's proposal, she gazed up at the father and son duo firing out eyes of daggers at each other.
She sighed, disheartened. Beichen's contemptuous expression only meant one thing; he didn't want to go with her. But she knew that he could not disobey the king's order even though he was displeased.
Still, she was silently looking forward to this trip. Perhaps, their relationship would be better as they spend more time together.
Beichen only glared at her as her thoughts wandered off. At last, he sneered and walked out of the room with troublesome footsteps. Even though he hated the woman, he could not ignore a prince's duty.
*
The northern territory was vastly different from the inner city. It was mostly an area of vegetation with little development. The people living up there contained a mixture of tribes who relied on the land to survive. For this, many of the people were humble and lived in peace.
However, that peace was threatened by an earthquake recently. The earthquake broke the dam holding the water reserve. All the water flooded the farmlands, killing the new crops; the villager's most reliable food source was gone in one day.
They could have received aid from the surrounding villages, but the nearest one was at least sixty-five kilometers away.
The distance was not an issue, but the only road out was destroyed by the earthquake's impact. The unrecognizable path made it impossible for the impoverished villagers to reach out for help.
The crown prince was on an urgent diplomatic trip to Zanark, so the king sent his second son to solve the aftermath. He also hoped that through this mission, his son and his daughter-in-law's relationship would get better.
However, the king underestimated his son's dislike for the woman.
It had been a day since Beichen and Yanyue arrived by car, then by plane to cross the mountains at the newly set up army base in the village, but he had not spoken to her at all.
Yanyue tried to communicate with him, finding topics about the village and the people to talk with each other. All she got from him was silence. Things became awkward, and he looked impatient, so she also stopped trying.
On this day, their mission was to pass out the first round of relief to the villagers.
"Your Highness!"
A soldier rushed to the tent, his face pale.
The soldier exclaimed, "Someone breached the storage! Almost all of the boxes containing the relief packages meant for the villagers got stolen!"
Beichen frowned. He did not say anything else and hurried out of the tent to the storage unit.
"Your Highness," greeted Captain Sean, opening the storage tent for Beichen.
Beichen furrowed his eyebrows. There were only a few boxes left on the ten palettes placed side by side on the ground. The boxes would not even be enough for a few families of five. Along with the food packages, the medical supplies were also gone.
"Who was on night duty?" Beichen asked Captain Sean.
The captain explained, "The two soldiers on night duty... we found them behind the storage. They were poisoned with a strong substance and weren't alive by then."
Beichen pondered for a few minutes. Then, he finally ordered, "Call the backup unit to fly in extra relief and medical supplies as soon as possible."
He said again, "Take me to see the bodies."
Captain Sean nodded. He took Beichen to a secluded tent on the edge of the base.
Two lifeless bodies were lying on separate tables. White cloth sheets covered over their cold bodies. Both were unveiled by the captain.
Beichen observed the bodies up and down as if he were a specialized pathologist performing an autopsy.
On the surface, one could see that the veins on the dead soldiers' colorless faces were dark and showed an indigo color. The same odd pattern continued down to their toes. Captain Sean put some gloves on before prying open one eye of a dead soldier.
"His eyes," Beichen frowned, "They are indigo too."
"Yes," the captain assented solemnly. "Both of their eyes were like this. No current poison we knew existed exhibited any signs of indigo eyes, so we don't know what poison they used. Their bodies also had no injection point..."
"They could have consumed or inhaled the poison," proceeded Beichen.
"That's what we think," confirmed the captain. "The bodies also had no traces of a struggle. It was as if they were lured in by an acquaintance."
Beichen frowned again, his eyes serious like a blank panther hunting. He was concerned because whoever murdered the soldiers and broke into the storage tent was most likely an insider based on how smoothly the crime went without alerting anyone.
While this was going on, the desperate villagers clamored for the relief packages.
"Everyone, please be patient," Yanyue said, one hand shielding her big belly. The unrest made her a little fearful, especially because she was right outside the gate that separated the base from the villagers.
She turned to the soldier beside her and asked, "Where are the supplies?"
The soldier shook his head, "I don't know. I was called over from a different unit to make sure the villagers don't ransack the storage tent."
Yanyue bit her lips after hearing no positive answers. She faced the villagers again.
A lot of them were elderly, but there were also parents with children. The men were rowdy because they were afraid that they would not be able to get food for their families.
All of their behaviors were understandable. After all, they have not had any way to get food these past few days due to the natural disaster that caused many other problems.
When they heard that the government was coming to pass out relief, they were happy and excited. However, they had been waiting for a while now and had not received any help. Their patience was running low due to hunger.
So, Yanyue tried to ease the crowd again. "I promise that you will get help!"
"Are you lying to us? We have been waiting for a long time now!"
"I have a one-year-old who hasn't had anything to eat for three days now! Please, give us some food!"
"Yeah!"
"We're starving! Help us!"
One after another were cries of concern sung out. At this point, Yanyue had to go and see what was up with the supplies. As she retrieved back inside the gate, she was pushed away by one of the villagers who tried to force his way in as well.
"Ah!"
She held onto her stomach as her body lost balance, and she tumbled backward. Her heart dropped. She thought that her baby's life would end right then when she hit the unforgiving ground.
But why was the ground so warm? And it was beating fast.
Badum, badum, badum...
It was beating just like her excited but fearful heart.
Yanyue was breathing laboriously, catching her breath as she composed herself.
She slowly opened her eyes.
"Your Highness..."
Beichen looked at the woman coldly before removing her from his chest. Discomfort was written on his face, contrary to his uncontrollable heartbeat.
Standing tall, unperturbed, he announced, "Everyone, I understand your situation. There was a problem with the supplies, but they will be arriving soon. Before that, please line up over at the cafeteria for some warm porridge and water."
His strong ability to captivate and attract the villagers convinced them to remain quiet as soon as he finished the announcement. Their obedience was stark opposite to before. The man who tried to get inside also stopped in his tracks due to Beichen's noble presence.
Yanyue's heart was beating fast as she admired Beichen from the sideline.
At this moment, she found herself more in love with him. It was especially so because he had saved her from the fall just now. Even if that was a coincidence, she persuaded herself that it was fate because this was the third time he had saved her life.
The first time was well over fifteen years ago. The second time was when he pulled her out of the ocean. And today was the third time.
He was always scoffing at her, but she could never forget his saving grace.
Captain Sean led the villagers to the open cafeteria. Yanyue breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad that things were calmer now.
As she passed Beichen, she heard his voice and her footsteps stalled.
"If you're just going to be in the way, then go back to your tent."
She didn't dare to raise her head to face him. "I'm sorry," she said under her breath.
Indeed, she was useless as she couldn't even get the villagers to calm down earlier. But with just a couple of sentences from him, they stopped their complaints. She thought that as his princess consort, she needed to do better so that she wouldn't disappoint him.