Arc 5.3 Empress of Four Kingdoms
General Long's impressive silhouette could already be seen near the entrance of the capital. Currently, Li Feifei and Li Yun had reserved a private room on the top floor of a luxurious restaurant not too far from where the female lead had been jumped by the thirty assassins sent by the Third Prince's enemies.
The room had an expansive and open balcony where the occupants could overlook all of the capital. Consequently, the people below could also see within from outside because it was an open area.
At the moment, Li Feifei was standing at the edge with her hands on the jade guardrail.
This setting was intentional, as how else could Li Feifei get a front row seat to watch both the female lead and the peerless young general's generic first encounter? The alley that the female lead was, was just to her right as the general was approaching from the left.
The female lead was injured greatly, covered in numerous cuts ranging from small to large and minor to lethal. Who knew if the blades of the swords and daggers of her assailants were coated with poisons?
But, the princess paid no heed to the female lead's well-being as she was the female lead. Even in the original timeline the female lead survived without any difficulty and even gained an extra admirer, ah!
Unfortunately, she didn't take into consideration her terrible luck, as right when the general's gaze met hers and before she could take in his gallant features, a sharp projectile immediately flew towards her direction--aimed right at her head!
Her beloved fiancé, being the gentleman that he was, simply kept his face deadpanned as if his fiancée wasn't just about to die right in front of his face; he didn't even bother warning her either.
As for Li Yun, her doting brother who was proficient in not only the scholarly arts but also martial arts, was at the door and just returning from his short trip to the bathroom and was too far from Li Feifei to help her.
That didn't mean he didn't try, though, as he launched himself from his initial spot at the door to his precious little sister who definitely couldn't protect herself! Unfortunately, the assassin's bloodied dagger was a few seconds faster than him and he wouldn't have been able to make it on time.
Thankfully, his worries were unfounded as Li Feifei made it seem as if she were surprised by her brother's sudden actions, turning quickly to face him and smoothly avoided the incoming danger as if by a total fluke.
"Yun-gege! You're finally back, ah! It was so boring without anyone to talk to for the past few minutes!" She beamed as the dagger hit the wall beside her with a resounding thump!
Below, at ground level, General Long's long and thin dark brown eyes narrowed in suspicion as Li Feifei's escape was far too close for it to just have been purely coincidental.
The Crown Prince, on the other hand, let out a huge sigh of relief as he pulled his little sister behind him to shield her from the indiscriminate debris and blades of the offensive taking place three floors below them in the remote alley that was hidden from the public's eyes in the shadows between the tall buildings.
When he saw that thirty or so swift and deadly men dressed in black were ganging up on a slender little girl who was barely holding up her own, he was immediately conflicted as to whether or not he should help her out. He only had a few seconds to consider before Li Feifei's concerned and pleasant voice sounded out beside his ear as she nudged him slightly, "Yun-gege, you should help her out! Fei-er will stay here on the third floor and should be fine, so don't worry about Fei-er!"
With that, he immediately agreed and jumped down from the third floor of the restaurant to become the hero who saves the beauty.
Unfortunately, Li Feifei's luck really did her no good as the assassins immediately associated her brother with the female lead, and therefore dragged Li Feifei into the scuffle as they had seen Li Yun jumping from her own balcony. Thus, they had sent ten men to kill her off while leaving twenty to deal with the injured female lead and her older brother.
In this case, Li Yun really had his hands full with twenty assailants as the female lead was as good as dead weight. So, although he knew that ten assassins had jumped up to deal with his little sister on the third floor he couldn't do anything as his hands and feet were occupied with his own share of trouble. He was so anxious and scared. It had only been a few seconds since he'd initially jumped into the fight but he was already drenched in his own sweat worrying about the safety of Li Feifei!
"Fei-er!" He called out as his attention was temporarily drawn to the balcony that he'd just left. But he had to immediately redirect his focus to his opponents as they didn't allow him even the slightest distraction or he would lose an arm or a leg.
"Fei-er will be fine, Yun-gege!" Li Feifei reassured him with a loud voice as she was backed onto the left guardrail. Glancing down at the general's expression below, she saw that he was smirking as if waiting to see his beloved fiancée being hacked to shreds in front of him!
He probably thought she was relying on him to save her, thus her reassuring Li Yun that she would be okay.
But Li Feifei really didn't need any help.
Since her brother was occupied and she was no longer in his range of vision, Li Feifei's previously innocent and harmless eyes immediately sharpened as she winked at the arrogant general with slightly upturned lips before lowering her body to dodge an oncoming sword strike from the black-clothed assassin in front of her.
Before he could recover from his failed assault, Li Feifei sent out a sweeping kick from her lowered position, causing the surprised assassin to fall sideways harshly onto the floor. Then, using the man's own sword, which she had forced out of his hand as he fell, she stabbed him right in the heart, killing him within seconds.
The other nine individuals were not idle, however, as when their companion was so quickly dealt with right in front of their own disbelieving eyes they immediately upped their game and quickened the tempo of their assault.
Li Feifei was a grandmaster swordsman, however, so even if her stats had been decreased by a certain percentage due to her body's shitty parameters she could still deal with these mission world residents with relative ease.
She even had the leisure time to throw continuous winks and smirks to General Long whose brows had been furrowed from the moment she killed the first man.
Combining her maxed taekwondo with her grandmaster swordsmanship skills, it took no longer than five minutes to ruthlessly stab and hack apart her opponents. On the other hand, Li Yun was still busy trying to deal with his opponents while protecting the female lead from getting more injured than she already was.
As she was freed from her strenuous labor of the day without even breaking a single sweat, Li Feifei casually and gracefully hopped down from the third floor balcony to land right beside the general who now couldn't help but put up his guard against this hidden dragon of a princess.
Wasn't she just a weak and pampered princess?
Were my spies wrong? When I return, I must remember to give them the appropriate punishment!
The wronged spies waiting eagerly at the general's manor for his return after ten whole years, "QAQ."
Even though Long Zheng had never personally met this fiancée of his, he had already confirmed her identity when her brother, the Crown Prince whom he'd spoken to on multiple occasions, made his appearance. Actually, when he first saw her standing at the edge of the balcony he had already guessed who she was but was only able to confirm it when Li Yun showed up.
Throughout her exchange of blows with the ten assassins, Long Zheng had moved form his initial spot in the crowd on his horse to the shadows to continue observing Li Feifei from his hidden location. He was suppressing his aura and hiding stealthily so he was surprised she was perceptive enough to find him despite being occupied at the same time by her battle.
Furthermore, she even managed to finish off her enemies in less time it took for her brother to finish his twenty. While the quantity of the opponents could have been a deciding factor, Long Zheng felt that even if their roles were reversed, Li Feifei would have still finished before Li Yun.
Li Yun was known throughout the Li Kingdom to be the only other individual that could rival his skills in martial arts, but now he knew from today's encounter that his fiancée had really hidden herself quite deeply over the years!
"Welcome back," Li Feifei lifted her chin condescendingly towards this supposed fiancé of hers.
Long Zheng's eyes were sharp and wary but she just lazily smiled and turned her focus back to her brother who only had three more assassins left to deal with.
When she stared at general earlier she didn't neglect to ogle him.
This young man--or should she say teenager--had long, light brown hair tied up in a wild ponytail and sharp, narrow dark brown eyes and a distinctive mole under his left eye. He was over three heads taller than herself but then again she was still a developing little girl and he should have been developing too but whatever. His silver armor had been taken off and probably carried back to his manor by his soldiers, and only had on his dark blue cloth inner garment.
For a fourteen-year-old he was pretty tall and well-built already. These ancient men matured so fast. Even her older brother who was only sixteen could already be mistaken for a fully-grown adult even if his features were slightly feminine.
As Li Feifei kept her attention on her brother's dashing figure, Long Zheng was watching her the entire time and she inwardly smirked at how catching the young general's attention was so easy.
When she thought about it, he fell for the female lead just because she could fight and defend herself a little bit.
Her impression of him went down really low because he was automatically classified as extremely fickle if all it took for him to fall in love was for the woman to be slightly different from the other women.
Speaking of love, she was wondering how long he hubby would be able to stay in love with her.
Well, even if he fell out of love one day she wouldn't let him leave her until she permanently had her little baby.
The general only saw that his fiancée was lost in thought and before he could ask what she was thinking about, Li Yun had finally finished taking care of the remaining assassins while the female lead leaned against the wall in tatters.
The female lead had long noticed Li Feifei when the latter had first been called out to by Li Yun. As she was relatively free compared to the Crown Prince during this battle, the female lead didn't fail to witness how the rumored spoiled and pampered princess of Li had dealt with her own share of assassins as if she was just taking a stroll down the park.
But, since it wasn't any of her business she kept her mouth closed and remained silent, only briefly glancing at the daunting general beside her petite form before bringing her gaze back to the Crown Prince, who had run up to his little sister to check for injuries, with conflict evidence in her eyes.
As the lover of the Third Prince, how could she not be aware of Li Hao's plans for the Royal siblings before her? He had only spoken of how he wasn't resigned to the deferential treatment of their Imperial father, but seeing as the pair were actually innocent and not as bad as he made them out to be, the female lead resolved in her mind to convince Li Hao to spare the siblings as they couldn't be blamed for the parent's wrongdoings.
Most importantly, seeing the two interacting she was reminded of her past life where her own older brother who died unjustly, which was the reason she had become an assassin in order to get revenge.
Li Yun checked all over his little sister's spotless figure to see if she had any injuries, and before he could ask how she got out unscathed Li Feifei immediately soften her features and turn to the general. Bending slightly in a curtsy she quietly but resolutely voiced out, "Thanking general for saving this princess's life!"
Long Zheng had been rendered speechless at her swift change in countenance and persona. Li Yun, however, took his silence as an affirmation so he also lowered his head slightly to thank the general for stepping in to save his little sister,
"Allow this prince to show his gratitude for protecting Fei-er, General Long."
From the corner of her eyes, Li Feifei saw that the female lead had one brow raised but she didn't say anything to refute Li Feifei's claim despite having seen the general just standing by idly during the entire ordeal.
General finally snapped out of his daze and glanced at the formerly aloof and unrestricted Li Feifei that was now gentle and refined. He narrowed his eyes but didn't decline or acknowledge the siblings' show of gratitude.
He also didn't miss the sharp glint in his fiancée's eyes, making him more interested in what she was truly like.
As for his impression of the female lead, naturally it went nowhere as she had been greatly overshadowed by Li Feifei this time around.
Before the silence could drag on and get awkward, Li Feifei seemed to have remembered something and turned to the female lead with a worried look, "Young miss Bai is injured. It would be best to return to the palace and have the imperial physicians tend to her wounds."
Long Zheng
To my Patrons, wwwooooo finally caught up with the quota of staying two chapters ahead of Wattpad. So sorry about that, guys ;w;).
As for how this arc is playing out so far, how do you guys like it so far? Does it make sense? Is it boring? Input is always welcome haha! and even though I sometimes don't reply to comments I do take them into consideration when I'm writing each chapter!
Thanks for waiting and enjoy!!
Also I finally drew Tian Xi and Gu Yuan lmao