Jin Mulan folded her arms. "He wants to provoke you." She said. "Of course he does." Luo He agreed. "And?" she asked. Luo He smiled faintly. "And we will let him try."
Jin Mulan looked at him carefully now.
There was something unsettling about how relaxed he seemed. No frustration.
No wounded pride. Almost as if humiliation itself meant nothing to him.
Luo He leaned lazily against one of the carved stone pillars nearby. "You should understand something clearly," he said calmly. "What we are walking into today is not a social gathering."
Jin Mulan remained silent. "This palace," Luo He continued, "is filled with starving people wearing silk." He said. Her brows furrowed slightly.
"Men desperate for authority. Noble families gambling entire bloodlines. Officials praying to stand on the winning side before the emperor dies."
His eyes drifted toward the distant inner palace walls. "And at the center of all of it sits the Crown Prince." The faint smile on Luo He's face became colder. "A man trying very hard to convince everyone he already controls the empire."
Jin Mulan slowly exhaled. "And we came here to mock him." She asked. "We came here," Luo He corrected, "to remind him that not everyone fears him."
Then he glanced sideways toward her.
"But understand this carefully." His voice lowered slightly. "From the moment we stepped through these gates, this stopped being about pride." He said sternly.
The atmosphere around them seemed to sharpen. "This is politics now," Luo He said calmly. "Which means smiles are weapons, delays are insults, hospitality is manipulation, and even silence carries meaning."
Jin Mulan nodded slowly. She understood. Luo He looked back toward the distant gate where the guards still pretended not to watch them. "Right now," he continued, "the Crown Prince wants us angry."
"And why would he want that?" She asked. "Because angry people make mistakes." He said calmly. "And he some how knows that the emperor will stand straight only till I remain beside him."
Then Luo He smiled again. "Unfortunately for him," His tone almost sounded amused now. "We are not leaving." Jin Mulan raised an eyebrow slightly. "Even if he keeps us standing outside for hours?" She asked annoyed.
Luo He shrugged lightly. "Unfortunately, then we will have to stand for hours." He said lightly. "And if he refuses to see us entirely?" She said.
"He can't." Luo He said confidently. "He knows I am a wild card, so he has to make sure I stay out of it, at any cost." He explained to her gently.
"The Crowned Prince will have to either convince me not to take part in the successions. Or either convince me to help him. In the worst case silence me permanently."
Jin Mulan stared at him for a moment before understanding slowly appeared in her deep red eyes. No matter what the Crown Prince chose Luo He intended to win the situation anyway.
If they were welcomed, he gained access. If they were not taken in then Luo He's next move will be hard to predict. And the crown prince can't afford even a single loose string.
The Crown Prince had already stepped into the game the moment he acknowledged them. Jin Mulan let out a quiet breath. "You planned for this." She asked deeply worried for her lovers safety.
"I expected this," Luo He corrected casually. Then her gaze softened slightly as she looked toward him. "So don't worry." Luo He reassured her. A faint grin appeared on his face afterward. "We won't loose no matter how much he wants us to."
Luo He glanced back once toward the distant palace gate where the guards continued pretending not to watch them.
Then he looked completely unconcerned again.
He lazily adjusted his sleeves before turning back toward Jin Mulan with a faint smile. "Now then," he said calmly, "where did we stop our conversation?" He asked.
Jin Mulan looked at him blankly for a moment. "You were continuing..." She began. "Or of course." He said. "We are currently being politically insulted outside the imperial palace." He acted as if he just remembered that.
"And while they waste our time, I might as well continue educating my wife." He said proudly. "That is somehow even more insulting." She said in a disappointing tone. Luo He ignored her completely.
"Ah," he said suddenly, snapping his fingers lightly. "I remember now." His expression became suspiciously pleased with itself. "I was telling you about my childhood adventures."
Jin Mulan nearly groaned aloud. "Calling them 'adventures' feels deeply dishonest." She said annoyed. "I prefer optimistic wording." He reassured.
"In my defence I was eight when I did it." Luo He repeated the last line of the story he had been telling, before starting again.
"The soldiers survived," he added confidently. "Better than they would have otherwise." He said proudly. "That somehow does not improve the situation." Jin Mulan answered.
Luo He looked mildly offended at her lack of appreciation. "You are interrupting before the intelligent part arrives." He said in annoyance.
"There is an intelligent part?" She asked curiously. "Yes honey, when did your husband ever acted stupid." He said confidently. Jin Mulan crossed her arms tightly.
"I am waiting with fear." She responded. The outer palace garden stretched around them while servants and guards moved around them.
Behind them, the wrapped dark cloud shuttle is resting on the stone floor.
Meanwhile Luo He looked increasingly pleased with himself as he continued.
"I sent false military orders before my father's real orders arrived," he explained casually. "I forged deployment instructions using my mother's seal."
Jin Mulan froze completely. "You forged the empress's seal?!" She asked amazed. "I technically borrowed it." He said enthusiasticly. "That is worse!" She said.
A nearby guard instinctively glanced at them, then quickly looked away as if he had not heard anything at all. Luo He ignored her entirely.
"At the time I had no friends," he admitted more quietly. "My mother was the only person inside the palace who actually spent time with me properly. Except for my sister."
For a brief moment his tone lost some of its usual arrogance. "Most servants obeyed me to my face while mocking me behind my back," he continued.
"But my mother treated my nonsense seriously." Jin Mulan listened more quietly now. Even her posture relaxed slightly without her realizing it.
"I told her I needed the seal for a strategy game I was playing alone," Luo He said. "And she signed it without even checking properly." He said.
"That is horrifying parenting." She said.
"It was supportive parenting." Luo He argued. "It was criminal negligence." She said. Luo He smiled proudly.
"The general obeyed the orders exactly as expected because they carried the imperial seal." He said as if it was a great deed. Then his eyes sharpened slightly.
"But I had been studying the battlefield reports beforehand." He said proudly. Jin Mulan blinked once. "You understood military maps at eight?" She asked curiously.
"I was bored often. And I had no company. What do you think I did on my free time?" He asked as if it was completely obvious. "That explains absolutely nothing." She said.
A distant palace bell rang once from deeper inside the inner gates, slow and heavy, as if marking time for something unseen. Luo He continued walking side to side beside her again while explaining.
"The enemy prepared two hidden ambush formations," he explained. "My father's war council only predicted one."
His expression became strangely focused while speaking now.
"Their official strategy was to crush the first ambush directly." He said. "And?" Jin Mulan asked curiously. "And if they had done that," Luo He replied calmly.
"The second hidden formation would have collapsed onto their exposed flanks." He said proudly. Jin Mulan slowly realized where this was going. Her gaze sharpened.
"How many casualties?" She asked. "Several thousand at maximum. But that was nothing over all. With or without it our soldiers were far better." He said with pride gleeming in his eyes.
"Our soldiers were better armed, armoured and had the best training. They would have crushed the enemies non the less." He continued.
The joking atmosphere faded slightly. Even the passing servants seemed to walk more quietly around them without knowing why.
"But my iligidimate orders were different." Luo He continued. "How were they different?" She asked practically jumping with excitement.
"I instructed our forces to pretend they failed to detect the first ambush." He continued. Jin Mulan's eyes widened slightly. "You baited the enemy?" She immediately understood. She was his wife after all.
Luo He nodded once. "Then after the first enemy formation committed fully, I ordered hidden cavalry to circle behind both ambush positions simultaneously." He calmly explained.
"They expected a counterattack." He said. "But instead they walked into a larger ambush themselves." He laughed.
Jin Mulan stared at him silently now, as if trying to decide whether to admire him or be horrified by him.
"The battle ended before my father's actual orders even arrived," Luo He finished casually. Several moments passed.
She was left utterly speechless, unsure of what to even say. Becoming a master strategist at the young age of twenty was already a feat that surpassed most men of his generation.
But the fact that he had begun studying and practicing the art of strategy at only eight years old, placed him on an entirely different level. Such talent was not merely rare.