Ch.33 Meeting The Current Emperor

~Meanwhile~

By the time Luo Yue arrived before the Imperial Court, everyone had already been escorted out of the Imperial Palace. The place was empty except for Eunuch Liu waiting outside.

“Please grant me a moment. I will let his Majesty know of your arrival,” the Head Eunuch greeted her in front of the closed doors before he went inside.

Only after making sure that everyone else had left did he push open the door and announce her presence.

“The God of War, Luo Yue, has arrived.”

She walked into the silent court and stopped before the Emperor sitting on the golden throne elevated atop a short flight of steps. She saluted, “Luo Yue greets the Emperor.”

The first thing Emperor Xuan noticed was the sleeves grimed by dust. It was not hard to tell where she had just been to. He frowned but did not say anything. Instead, he reached out for the cup of Boneflower tea on the table before him.

It was the usual cup of tea he only ever drank, the one that was colourless unlike everything else yet surprisingly fragrant. A calming scent coupled with a rich taste and a small beautiful white flower floating on it. He had always thought it to be one of the few wonders in the world and the only thing that seemed capable of settling him down. And now that he was dealing with the God of War, the cup of tea seemed more indispensable.

After a sip, he placed the cup down. “We have not seen each other since Imperial father’s death, have we?”

The lady untied the white cloth resting on her nose and revealed a face that seemed to have defied time. Contrary to the many speculations circling around the God of War, the features on that mysterious face were well-defined and flawlessly pale. Like a glass without a crack, a porcelain well contained in a case. She would have had a line of suitors waiting outside her doorstep if not for those condemning eyebrows or that overly scathing tongue. “That is correct.”

Emperor Xuan had known the lady before him since he was a child, but he still found her hard to get along with or even approach. “And how have you been?”

Even Luo Yue would find it hard to explain the relationship between the two of them. They could be considered childhood friends yet, ‘friends’ wasn’t really a word that could describe the tension between them. Perhaps, it would be more accurate to say they were like the sun and the moon, working together for the same purpose yet never seeing eye-to-eye. In harmony, yet in doubt. On the same side yet never on the same page.

“I have gotten used to the peace and quiet in the mountain. It is a tranquillity that I have not felt for a long time.”

“What are your plans from now?”

“I do not have any plan to leave for a while.”

The Emperor nodded, “your disappearance was sudden, but it seems like Peach Blossom village has been adjusting well. The Lonewolf must have done a commendable job governing that place in your stead.”

Peach Blossom village was a very small village located in a deserted place. The people there had been living happily with no natural disasters until a pack of barbarians barged in and took over the village one day. It happened out of the blue and no one was able to stop the sudden invasion. Overnight, villagers became slaves to the barbarians, giving up homes and food stocks and some even their lives. Over the years, they had tried in vain efforts to report the situation to the Imperial Court.

One day, a few officials were finally sent. However, before they could raise their hope, it crashed down to the ground. The corrupt officials took briberies from the barbarians in exchange for keeping a closed eye. Soon, the people of Peach Blossom village entered an even darker hell. Those who had tried making contact with the authorities were all killed as a warning.

As time continued to pass, the people had long lost all hopes, their eyes dulling as they slaved away their lives. Family and friends had long returned to dust and the remaining few people there knew their time would soon come as well.

However, it seemed they had not yet been forsaken by the gods. One day, with a small troop following behind her wake, the God of War happened to stop for a rest at Peach Blossom village with the rest of the Lonewolf.

Once again, when the day had finally changed, everything in Peach Blossom village had also changed. The God of War was after all, not someone who would pardon such atrocities in front of her very eyes.

The barbarians were imprisoned, and the villagers were freed. However, they had suffered through too much to trust an outsider ever again. They refused all help from the Imperial Court. However, unable to leave them alone after having something terrible like this happen in his Kingdom, the Late Emperor had finally decided to gift the village to Luo Yue to govern.

Luo Yue and the Lonewolf had settled down there and under their governance, the village had become self-sufficient and remained closed off to outsiders. The villagers regarded the God of War as their saviour and the Lonewolf soon became the most prestigious group in the village for being the God of War’s personal troop. All children’s greatest dream was to one day entered the Lonewolf and they would always try all sorts of means to join the Lonewolf’s training.

And so, Peach Blossom village’s name soon spread across the entire nation. Not only because the Lonewolf had taken residence there, but also because there was a rumour that not a single villager there was not a trained martial artist.

When they had heard of her disappearance, they would have taken up arms and stomped into the palace immediately, if a certain lunatic hadn’t found out that she had merely entered seclusion in the Forbidden mountain.

“Indeed, Peach Blossom village can be left in their hands.”

“However, there has been much commotion in the court recently,” the Emperor started as he carefully watched her expression. “The Officials are worried that a group of exceptional fighters has been left alone for too long.”

Luo Yue’s brows knitted. She could tell where this was going.

“Since you have decided to stay away from military affairs, why don’t you hand over the authority of your personal troop to someone else in the military?”

“The Lonewolf is not my personal troop.” Luo Yue gave a straight answer.

The members of the Lonewolf were all people that she had found herself or rather -people who had found and clung to her. There were all kinds of unique characters and despite the small number, it could be said to be the strongest band of hidden fighters within the North. The only problem was that they were as arrogant as their master, and having recognised her as the strongest, were unwilling to obey anyone but her.

In the absence of the God of War, they continued their lives as usual, doing whatever they wanted and occasionally joining only wars that they were interested in as mercenaries. However, despite the number of times the Emperor had sent officials to Peach Blossom village to talk to the leader of the Lonewolf, they had never once budged from their place.

They took not even a hint of interest in the official positions in the Northern military that they were promised and stubbornly insisted that they would only work under one person. Even if that person were to never appear and lead them on a battlefield ever again.

Luo Yue continued, “I have never asked them to fight for me and so, I believe it would be rude of me to ask them to fight for someone else. Please understand, your Majesty.”

The atmosphere became colder as Emperor Xuan took another sip of the Boneflower tea. “If you put it that way, it’d be unreasonable of me to push you any further. Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Luo Yue thanks your Majesty for your understanding.”

The Emperor took in the lady who had managed to stay out of his sights for the last 5 years. Even after so long, he found that he could not read the unchanging blank expression on her face. She had always been the one person he had felt was even harder to understand than his own Imperial Father.

If there was one thing he understood about her, it was that she had always been alone. She never sided with any of the split factions within the court, always standing in the centre like a stainless canvas, a clean state, and an uncharted territory.

That only made her even more dangerous in his eyes. If she, one day, does pick a side, with the immense power she held in her hands, the balance in the court would completely topple over.

An existence like that could only put the North into jeopardy.