After My Brother and the Emperor Got Their Happy Ending, the Princess Confessed to Me - Chapter 3

Chapter 8

Kongtong was a very tall mountain.

I was on this side.

My brother and his lover…

were on the other.

Chapter 9

“Young General Qin, if you hadn’t come back, perhaps your brother wouldn’t have been thrown in prison.”

After we had eaten and drunk our fill, the Emperor looked at me solemnly.

Huh?

What the hell does that have to do with me?

Only after the Emperor explained did I finally understand.

As it turned out, the Emperor and my brother had been carrying on a secret romance!

They had never gotten official approval from the Empress Dowager at all.

The Empress Dowager was already advanced in years. How could she possibly endure suddenly discovering that her son was into men?

Especially when the man her son was into was the brilliant, peerless Prime Minister who stood at the head of all civil officials.

And the Prime Minister’s younger sister was a great general who held the military tally and had never lost a battle!

With one civil official, one military commander, and the Emperor’s favor on top, sooner or later we would surely harbor thoughts of rebellion.

The Empress Dowager had always been decisive. Better to find a pretext…

and strangle everything in the cradle!

“Your return became that pretext. Do you understand?” the Emperor asked me gravely.

I… I finally understood.

I finally understood what it meant when they said that when someone wants to condemn you, they never lack for charges!

You two are the ones dating. What the hell does that have to do with me?

All I did was obediently go off and fight a war.

Who would’ve thought that this heaven-sent fortune wouldn’t land on me…

but this heaven-sized black pot would land right on my head.

Damn it.

Scheming gays.

Chapter 10

When would this farce end?

Kneeling at the Meridian Gate, waiting to be beheaded, I thought gloomily.

According to the result of the Emperor’s reasoned argument with the Empress Dowager…

my brother was suspended from office pending investigation and barred from political affairs.

As for me, because I had returned to the capital without permission with intent to commit treason, I was to be dragged out to the Meridian Gate and beheaded.

The Emperor said this was both him and the Empress Dowager each taking a step back.

The Emperor also said I didn’t need to panic. Someone would come save me.

Damn it, it was almost three quarters past noon.

Where is this person? Where are they?

The Empress Dowager sat upright on the execution platform, looking around.

In a ringing voice, she said, “Qin Huaize, accept your fate. With you gone, everyone will be better off.”

I was about to cry.

“Boohoo, Empress Dowager, can’t you consider taking away my military authority instead?

“Or, you know, demoting me would be fine too!

“Can we please not chop off people’s heads the moment we disagree?”

The light on the sundial shifted. Time was up.

The placard listing my crimes was removed from my neck, and the executioner raised his blade.

Then he spat a great mouthful of wine over it.

In the scattered droplets, the sunlight refracted into rainbow colors.

Who would’ve thought? I, Qin Huaize, had spent my life fighting on battlefields, yet I wouldn’t die a worthy death wrapped in horsehide.

Instead, I was going to die because of my brother’s lethal love life.

Sigh. I only hoped the princess would settle the war in Southern Chu and complete my final battle for me.

The bright blade came slicing down with the wind.

Suddenly, an arrow shot over from the distance and knocked the blade away.

“Stay the blade!”

I opened my eyes in excitement. The Emperor hadn’t lied to me-someone really had come?

Only… why was that someone the princess?

I saw the princess riding toward us on horseback, her fiery red dress billowing in the wind like flames.

“Xian’er? Why are you here?”

Under the Empress Dowager’s agitated gaze, the princess stepped forward.

She shielded me behind her, then knelt and bowed.

“This daughter knows the reason behind all of this. Please calm your anger, Mother.”

With that, the princess took my hand and said firmly, “Imperial Brother does not like women. This daughter does!”

My mouth fell open in shock.

Oh my. So I really did have a part in this farce after all!