Ch.26 What’s His Name?

Luo Yue could not stand the stuffiness in her heart. Lately, it seemed as though every little thing could threaten to break her exterior mask. Be it her nostalgia for this place or her annoyance to a certain man.

And talking about this certain man… she found her mind drifting towards him again.

Luo Yue stared into the black eagle’s golden eyes -the eyes which looked too similar to his. Her finger gently smoothened the feather at the crown of its head. “Xiao Hei, have I grown weaker?”

The black eagle flapped its majestic wings once as its head bobbed.

Luo Yue gave that impudent head a light flick of her finger. “How dare you call your master weak. Do you want to end up in Xiao Liu’s stomach?”

Xiao Hei rubbed its beak fondly against the palm of her hand as though it was conceding to her before pointing one of its wings towards the sky.

“You say it’s because of my illness?” Luo Yue could read Xiao Hei easily. Her head turned towards the sky for a while as she pondered. Then, she shook her head. “No, it might have been part of the reason, but I have to admit that he is indeed strong. Even if it was five years ago, I have a feeling that I would have been in trouble in a direct fight with him if he had been my opponent on a battlefield. Although, of course, as a tactician, I would have made sure he had died before even meeting me.”

Despite her words, Luo Yue could not help thinking that perhaps, all the battles that she had been through would have been more interesting if he had been her opponent then.

“Forget it,” she dropped the topic as though he was not worthy enough to stay too long in her mind. “I’m going for a walk.”

The lady suddenly jumped from the window, landing lightly on the ground as her hair settled down neatly around her waist. Not in the least bit surprised by her action, Xiao Hei fluttered around her. Knowing that his appearance would attract too much attention and that his master disliked any kind of attention, he did not land on her shoulder. Instead, he soared back up into the sky and disappeared. Presumably going after Xiao Liu. How dare that greenhorn think of eating him?

Luo Yue walked around the city, purposely avoiding the soldiers whose eyes had been beaming with even more admiration after the spar. The fan in her hands opened up as she covered her face and strolled around.

“Hey, stop. Where are you going?”

Thinking that one of the soldiers was calling out to her, Luo Yue stopped walking. However, the voice of another obviously younger soldier replied instead, “I heard there’s another horse in the back stable, so I was on my way there to feed it too.”

“The back stable?” the first soldier mumbled to himself before he seemed to remember something. “Are you out of your mind! Don’t you know whose horse is being kept there?”

“W-…whose?” the younger soldier’s expression suddenly turned pale as he came to a realisation himself. “General Wu’s?”

“If you value your life, you’ve better get stay away from that place. Didn’t you hear the general saying that he would feed it himself, so no one is to go near it?”

“Is it true that a few years ago, one of the other three kingdoms gifted it as a tribute to our North only because a lot of great riders had died trying to tame it?”

“As far as I know, only one person has ever successfully gotten near that black horse from hell and that person is the general. I heard it’s a rare purebred of great intelligence and pride. Don’t even think about feeding it. One of our soldiers has already gotten his skull kicked in trying to do that on the night of the general’s arrival.”

She stood on the spot, musing over the conversation that she has just heard.

‘How interesting.’

She turned and changed her direction.

The lady made her way towards the back stable, intrigued by the rumoured ‘horse from hell’. As she got nearer to the stable, the back of a familiar figure made her furrow her eyebrows.

Wasn’t she meeting him a bit too much lately? Although it was unavoidable considering how they were currently in the same troop.

The man who was feeding his horse turned when his sensitive ears picked up the noise of footsteps against the paved ground. Although he also had not expected her presence, there was not a single change in his expression. Instead, he cocked his head to one side as he looked her up and down.

“How many of the same clothes do you have?” he suddenly blurted out.

He remembered that he had clearly made a cut through the hems of her clothes. Yet, she was now once again dressed in the exact same white robe that he had seen her in this morning.

“All,” she gave a short but truthful reply.

“…” What a weird lady. Wu Zhe Yan did not know of any lady whose wardrobe was any less colourful than a rainbow.

She… really was different from other ladies. Although he still had not made up his mind whether that was a good or bad difference.

Luo Yue walked up to him as the rumoured black horse slowly entered her sight. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise as she took in the majestic-looking horse. It towered over even Wu Zhe Yan as beautiful, thick mane fluttered down to its withers. Its compact, muscular body coupled with strong, well-chiselled bone structure and wavy tail made it look more powerful than any others. And the jet-black horse seemed to know that itself as it stood tall and carried itself with a grace that came from its pride.

It turned its head slowly when it felt Luo Yue’s presence.

Wu Zhe Yan had not bothered to lock his horse up, mainly because he knew what a fuss that prideful thing would throw if it was restrained. As though curious, the black horse lazily walked out of its stable.

Wu Zhe Yan reached out to hold it back in case it decided to attack Luo Yue, but the horse easily dodged his hands. It locked eyes with her and found that it could not sense even the tiniest bit of fear coming from this small human.

Further intrigued, it took a few steps forward, abruptly pushing its head closer to hers and giving a low snort in an attempt to infuse some alarm in that calm face.

Luo Yue stayed unmoved and merely watched in slight amusement at the black horse trying to intimidate her. Behind her fan, Luo Yue’s lips curled slightly. Really, this horse was exactly like its master. She could see why no one else but Wu Zhe Yan had been able to tame it.

She reached out a hand, but Wu Zhe Yan suddenly grabbed hold of her wrist. “What are you doing? Do you want to have your hand bitten off?”

Their eyes met and there was something about her stare that made him all the more conscious of the small wrist in his hand. She was intelligent yet, whenever she wasn’t throwing snide remarks, he could feel a layer of innocence beneath her dazed and blank gaze. He let go with a cough.

She paid no attention to him, clearly more interested in the rumoured horse. She raised her hand again and patted its mane. The sleek, black horse made a sound, took another look at Luo Yue before it quietened down and allowed her to do as she pleased.

Standing beside the horse, Wu Zhe Yan watched with slight disbelief before he gave it a light hit. “What’s gotten into you? I’ve never seen you this obedient before.”

The horse gave him a snort as it knocked away his hand and moved a bit closer to Luo Yue.

“Can I ride him?”

Wu Zhe Yan blinked, unsure if he was more surprised by the lack of sarcasm and hostility in her words or how unruffled she was in front of the haughty horse even he cannot fully control. He folded his hands and smirked, “are you sure you can handle him? He’s the most ill-tempered of all the horses I’ve seen. You’ll snap your neck if he throws you off.”

“I wonder about that,” Luo Yue snapped her fan shut, tied it back around her waist and then, without any warning, jumped onto the horse.

Wu Zhe Yan had not expected her to be this fearless. He had not been joking when he had said that her neck would be snapped if she were to be thrown off. That horse was ill-tempered enough to return and stomp on its rider who had been thrown off.

Before he knew it, she had already kicked off. “Hey! At least put on the reins first!”

~~

Wu Zhe Yan sat on the grass with one leg propped up and an arm resting on it. He was leisurely leaning against a pillar, while his gaze followed after the lady riding his horse. The horse that was notorious for its temper.

How many more surprises does she have hiding up her sleeves? He mused and as he watched her, he wondered if his obsession was getting even worse.

Luo Yue was as steady as a rock and even without holding onto any reins, her control over herself -be it her balance or the way she was adjusting her weight- was perfect. The haughty horse had still been trying to throw her off at first. However, after several failed attempts, it had given up and fully succumbed to her.

She finally pulled to a stop and jumped down beside Wu Zhe Yan. For a moment there, she completely covered his vision. Her face glistened with sweats and there was a shadow of a smile etched on her lips.

The horse turned towards the lady and fondly nuzzled up against her. Its attitude had taken a complete change after the short hours of riding. Wu Zhe Yan who was watching raised an eyebrow at the traitorous thing. “Hey, you haven’t forgotten who your master is, have you?”

With a well-calculated swish of its tail to Wu Zhe Yan’s face, the horse believed that it had given its reply.

“…”

Luo Yue gently ran her hand down its smooth, black mane. Unlike its master, the horse was already permanently on her good side. She asked, “what’s his name?”

Wu Zhe Yan pushed himself up, dusting away the loose blades of grass as an indifferent answer left his mouth.

“Horse.”