"You—"
Taiwen Merlin pointed at Wu Liang, lips trembling, unable to squeeze out a single word.
His face shifted from livid to liver-purple, then from liver-purple to deathly white.
He had spent his life in the saddle, survived countless savage battles, faced every cruel foe the Empire could field.
But never had he met tactics so absurd.
This was no longer war.
It was humiliation.
Naked, unmasked humiliation.
The pride of the Imperial elite, broken like livestock, legs snapped, then herded into pens.
"Well, Father-in-law?"
Wu Liang watched Taiwen teeter on the brink of apoplexy, feeling wonderfully refreshed.
"Time to make the right choice."
"Die on your feet, or live on your knees—and add a few bricks to my daughter's dowry in the mines?"
"Pfft—!"
Taiwen could bear it no longer; a mouthful of old blood sprayed into the air.
His body swayed, on the verge of collapse.
"Father!"
Arthur caught him, eyes bloodshot as he glared at Wu Liang.
"A knight may be slain, never shamed!"
"Savage bastard! If you've any guts, kill us!"
"Kill you?"
Wu Liang gave a cold laugh.
"What profit is there in your corpses?"
"Your bodies would take up space even as fertilizer."
"But turn you into labor and the math changes."
"Every one of you will create value for me, day after day."
"Each lump of ore you dig becomes a bullet shot into your Empire's heart."
"I want you to dig your own Empire's grave—personally."
His voice, though soft, sank like poisoned blades into Taiwen and Arthur's hearts.
Heart-killing words.
These were true heart-killing words!
"You… you demon…"
Arthur ground his teeth, longing to leap up and tear the brute apart with them.
Wu Liang ignored the outburst and looked down at Aniya in his arms.
By now her face was streaked with tears.
She watched her father spit blood, saw the hatred blazing in her brother's eyes.
And heard Wu Liang's ruthless logic; her heart shattered into countless shards.
She knew he spoke the truth.
From the cold calculus of war, it was the most rational, most profitable choice.
But from the eyes of a daughter, a sister, it was cruelty beyond bearing.
"Wu Liang…"
Aniya lifted her head, pleading with her gaze.
"Please… don't do this to them…"
"He is my father, he is my brother…"
Wu Liang studied her tear-soaked, lovely face, then fell silent for a moment.
He reached out and gently wiped the tears away.
"Aniya, remember this,"
his voice softened a fraction.
"War is no dinner party."
"Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to yourself."
"If I let them go today, tomorrow they'll return with more legions,"
"march over our corpses, kill every last one of us—including you."
"I keep them alive not because they're your family,"
he cupped her face, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"but because you are my woman."
"I won't have you bear the name of patricide and fratricide."
"This is the greatest concession I can give you."
Aniya's body trembled.
She stared into Wu Liang's deep pupils and saw cold tyranny—
yet, more than that, a possessiveness that brooked no refusal.
She understood at last.
From the instant she chose to stay in Black Rock Tribe, to become this man's woman, the road back had vanished.
Her fate was bound to his, inseparably.
Her heart ached.
Yet, at the same time, a strange peace settled over her—
as if, after endless struggle and pain, she had found a harbor she could finally lean upon,
even if that harbor reeked of blood and iron-handed rule.
Aniya drew a long breath, as though settling on some momentous decision.
She turned away from Wu Liang and faced her father and brother.
The tears on her cheeks had dried.
In their place stood a calm and resolve she had never known.
"Father. Brother."
Her voice carried no plea now, only a detached quiet.
"This is the last time I address you as such."
"From this day, I, Aniya, am no longer a daughter of the Merlin Family."
"I am Wu Liang's woman, a member of Black Rock Tribe."
"Your honor, your dignity—none of it concerns me any longer."
"I have said my piece."
"Live or die—choose for yourselves."
With that she turned her back on them without another glance, walked straight to Wu Liang's side.
She slipped her arm through his and pressed her body close against him,
a gesture as sharp as any blade, severing every tie to her past.
Taiwen and Arthur stood frozen.
They stared at that resolute back, at the woman nestling against the barbarian chieftain, and the last flicker of hope inside them died.
Daughter, sister—she was lost to them.
She had chosen the enemy.
All color drained from Taiwen's face.
He seemed to age ten years in an instant.
His straight spine collapsed.
He had lost.
Lost not only the war but his daughter as well—
lost everything.
"Heh… heh-heh-heh…"
Taiwen began to laugh, the sound hollow and self-mocking.
"Fine… fine daughter of mine…"
"Fine Black Rock Tribe…"
"Retreat! Fall back to Tiee Fortress!"
With all his remaining strength Taiwen roared the order.
"Everyone—retreat to Tiee Fortress!"
Arthur, propped up by two knights who could still stand, shot Wu Liang and Aniya one venomous glare.
The surviving Imperial Soldiers threw away helmets and armor, scrambling and rolling toward the road they had come from.
Those lightly injured helped the grievously wounded along.
Those still able to ride whipped their mounts, cursing that their parents had not given them four legs.
The Imperial battle line collapsed completely.
"Akomann, Ignis."
"Present!"
Two valiant figures stepped forward, their armor still spattered with enemy blood.
"One hour: round up the prisoners, clear the field."
"Send the badly wounded to the rear Medical School—let Alesha operate."
"Yes, sir!"
"In one hour,"
Wu Liang's gaze sharpened like a blade, fixed on the distant outline of the fortress.
"the whole army marches—objective: Tiee Fortress!"
"Understood!"