Chapter 6: Mangosteen
Halfway through the banquet, several rounds of song and dance had come and gone, and three rounds of toasts had been drunk.
At last the Emperor set down his cup and turned to matters of business.
"The Imperial Preceptor has traveled far this time. Beyond trade and commerce, I trust there is also the matter of a marriage alliance between the Northern Frontier and Great Zhao."
The Emperor's voice rang through the hall, carrying the weight of imperial dignity.
"I am already aware of the Great Khan's intentions. I have three princesses beneath my knee."
He raised a hand toward the seats of the three princesses, his gaze pausing ever so slightly as it swept past Shen Heng, then shifting away as though nothing had happened.
"Which of my princesses has the Northern Frontier taken a fancy to?"
He had not counted Shen Heng among them.
In truth, he did not dare to.
Shen Lin now guarded Liangzhou, and the two hundred thousand troops under his command were the most solid shield of Great Zhao's northern border.
Shen Heng was his only sister, his only kin.
If Shen Heng were sent to the Northern Frontier for a marriage alliance, Shen Lin would rebel on the spot, blade in hand, cutting his way from Liangzhou all the way to the capital.
This, the Emperor knew better than anyone.
He would rather marry off all three princesses than send Shen Heng to the Northern Frontier.
The three princesses clearly knew they were the ones up for selection.
The eldest princess's face had gone slightly pale, the second princess was twisting her handkerchief so hard it was nearly shredded, and the third princess looked on the verge of tears.
Raised in the deep palace since childhood, dressed in silk and fed on delicacies—how could they be willing to marry into a bitter cold land like the Northern Frontier?
They had heard that most of that country was ice fields and snow mountains, and that in winter the cold could freeze your ears right off.
Xun Zhuo took in the expressions of all three princesses, his own face utterly placid.
He set down his cup and said mildly.
"The Great Khan's meaning is this: whichever princess of Great Zhao is willing to marry into the Northern Frontier of her own accord, that is the princess the Northern Frontier will welcome. The decision rests entirely with the princess herself."
At these words, the whole hall fell silent once more.
This condition was practically giving Great Zhao all the face in the world.
Let the princess choose herself—no picking, no choosing, no refusing.
The Northern Frontier's posture was exceedingly low, so low that no one could find the slightest fault with it.
The Emperor's expression eased somewhat. He turned to the three princesses and asked them one by one.
"Mingyao, are you willing?"
The eldest princess's face was ashen. Her lips trembled for a long while before she managed to squeeze out.
"Your daughter... your daughter wishes to remain at Father Emperor's knee and serve him with filial devotion for a few more years."
That meant she was unwilling.
The smile on the Emperor's face faded a fraction. He asked the second princess.
"Mingyue, and you?"
The handkerchief in the second princess's hand tore with a ripping sound.
Her eyes rimmed red, her voice as faint as a mosquito's.
"Father Emperor, your daughter... your daughter cannot bear to leave Father Emperor..."
The Emperor's expression was already less than pleasant.
He looked to the third princess, his gaze now carrying a sharpness.
The third princess was even more direct—she shook her head like a rattle drum, her voice thick with tears.
"I won't go! I won't go! The Northern Frontier is so cold, I don't want to go!"
The atmosphere in the hall froze instantly.
Over on the Northern Frontier delegation's side, several warriors' faces had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
One burly man with a full beard slammed his cup down on the table with a heavy thud.
Great Zhao was humiliating them.
But Xun Zhuo remained unruffled. He sat upright in his seat, not even his eyebrows twitching.
It was only that the two guards beside him were already leaking killing intent, so much so that even Shen Heng, seated across from him, could feel it.
The Emperor's patience had clearly reached its limit as well.
He slammed his hand on the dragon desk, about to erupt.
"The Great Khan has one more thing to say."
Xun Zhuo spoke, his voice still steady, without a trace of the anger of one who had been humiliated.
"Once the princess arrives at the Northern Frontier, she may choose her husband freely. Whether it be the Great Khan himself or any of the princes of the Northern Frontier—so long as it is a Northern Frontier man the princess truly favors, any is acceptable. The Northern Frontier will treat the princess well and will never let her suffer the slightest grievance."
These were already extraordinarily generous terms.
For a princess sent in a marriage alliance, to choose her husband freely was simply a fantasy.
The Northern Frontier was giving every ounce of sincerity it could.
Yet the three princesses looked at one another, and still not a single one spoke.
The eldest princess kept her head down, not daring to lift it; the second princess's eyes were red and she was about to cry; and the third princess had directly hidden behind her two sisters.
Shen Heng watched this scene quietly from the side, perfectly clear in her heart.
This was exactly how it had been in the original book.
The three princesses had pushed the matter back and forth until finally they drew lots and shoved the second princess out.
And it turned out this second princess had a mind of her own—she eloped with her lover halfway there, turning the two nations' marriage alliance into a joke.
After that, the two nations went to war. The Northern Frontier's iron cavalry swept south, and in the battle where Shen Lin fell, the blood flowed like a river, and Great Zhao's northern defense line collapsed entirely.
Under Xun Zhuo's command, the Northern Frontier iron cavalry seized twelve cities of Great Zhao in succession.
Later, the iron cavalry arrived at the gates of the capital. A Gu swung his blade and cut down Great Zhao's crown prince, forcing the old Emperor to vomit blood and die.
And then?
And then Xun Zhuo dropped dead.
With Xun Zhuo's death, the entire Northern Frontier wept.
A Gu pulled back his troops and rushed back to the Northern Frontier, and only then did Great Zhao get a chance to catch its breath.
Later, Xiao Zhengting ascended the throne as a matter of course, and step by step led Great Zhao's soldiers to recover the lost territories...
The Emperor's expression could no longer be described as merely unpleasant.
He drew a deep breath, his chest heaving violently, clearly about to fly into a rage.
Just then.
A hand rose.
A slender, frail hand, standing out starkly amid the hall's brilliant lamplight.
"Father Emperor, I am willing to go to the Northern Frontier for the marriage alliance."
The hall went dead silent.
Everyone turned to look, and then drew a collective sharp breath.
The candlelight fell on Shen Heng's face, making those peach-blossom eyes even more striking.
The Emperor nearly leaped from the dragon throne.
The corner of his mouth twitched. His first reaction was not to be moved, but to want to spit blood.
The ones who should go won't go, and the one who shouldn't wants to!
"Heng'er..."
The Emperor drew a deep breath and forced out a smile.
"Your health is poor, and the Northern Frontier is bitterly cold. You couldn't endure it. I have my own arrangements for this matter, you—"
"Why doesn't she have to go?!"
The third princess, as if grabbing a lifeline, lit up and stepped forward.
She pointed at Shen Heng, her voice sharp and shrill.
"She's a princess too! Why is it only us who have to go and not her?!"
"Insolence!"
The Emperor slammed his palm on the dragon desk, the whole table shaking, cups and dishes clattering.
"Guards, drag her out for me!"
The third princess was still struggling as she was dragged away. Her shrieks echoed through the great hall, then gradually faded into the distance.
The hall fell quiet once more.