Quyang City.
Shangguan Yun came out of the City Lord’s Residence and boarded the carriage heading to the military camp.
It had been a day and a night since Gu Jiao set off for Pu City. She wanted to see if Gu Jiao had returned yet. Besides, the court’s army would attack the remnants of the Liang Country’s army the day after tomorrow, so visiting the military camp more often was a way to boost the morale of the troops.
Quyang City had regained order.
Despite the lingering fear of war hanging over the citizens’ heads, the thought of Dayan’s Princess leading the army as a substitute for the emperor filled them with faith in the royal family and the court.
The carriage wheels creaked and turned, making the carriage sway.
Shangguan Yun sat quietly inside the carriage, not uttering a word.
Huanhuan, however, was quite intrigued by the customs and scenery of the border pass. She had never traveled far, and everything felt novel to her.
"Your Highness, their cakes are so strange," Huanhuan said as she glanced at Shangguan Yun on the carriage seat.
Shangguan Yun seemed not to hear her, lost in her own thoughts.
Huanhuan slowly lowered the curtain, leaving a narrow gap for the glow of the lights outside to filter in.
She hesitated for a moment before softly asking, "Your Highness, are you thinking about that man?"
"Hmm?" Shangguan Yun’s awareness returned, "What?"
"That man... um... His Highness Changsun’s father," Huanhuan said.
As the trusted palace maid of the Princess, Huanhuan gradually earned Shangguan Yun’s trust and learned about Xiao Hen and Shangguan Qing’s identities, and recognized that handsome man as the father of the two young Highnesses.
"Why would I think about him?"
"You came out so quickly that night, like..."
Fled in panic.
Huanhuan held back those words.
Shangguan Yun murmured, "Quickly? I felt like I talked to him for a long time."
Huanhuan remarked, "That’s because you were avoiding him, so every word felt long, but actually, neither of you even asked if the other had been well over the years."
Huanhuan was naive, not stupid. As an outsider, she saw things clearer than Shangguan Yun.
The two didn’t know how to face each other that night; they were both bemused and dumbfounded.
The Princess had originally intended to stay at the military camp but moved into the City Lord’s Residence to avoid that man.
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