Blood Moon Rising Over The Plains - Chapter 5: Zhongdu (1)

“Alright, get down!”

“Hey, does he understand when you talk like that? He’s a foreigner.”

“Oh, right.”

All the way here, they hadn’t taken their eyes off me.

Only five of them. With just a few people, they were pulling a baggage cart, and they only took me out of the sack once a day to eat. That was the only time I could go to the bathroom, too.

The way they guarded their surroundings was so sharp, as if they would cut me down with their swords the moment I showed any strange behavior. Because of that, I couldn’t activate the safety alarm, but the more I looked at them, the more strange things I found.

They were dressed like ordinary commoners, but they never let their guard down and were constantly watching their surroundings. Judging from the sounds, the only time they stopped was once a day to eat, and even then, they usually just ate tough jerky.

Of course, I couldn’t eat properly, and I barely managed to swallow some water. Temujin really cherished me. I belatedly realized this obvious fact in a place where he wasn’t.

The soldiers who appeared, parting the cloth of the baggage cart I was in, were wearing familiar armor.

They put shackles on my arms and legs, and then, assuming I wouldn’t understand, they stopped talking and forcefully grabbed my arm. I was led weakly by their hands down from the baggage cart.

After traveling for three days and nights, we arrived in front of a stone wall. Or, was it the entrance to somewhere? Or maybe a back door. The surroundings were desolate, with not a single person in sight, and I was led somewhere by the soldiers, with only my blindfold removed.

The inside was very large. It was full of various buildings, and the people I occasionally saw were neatly dressed. Seeing several people wearing the same clothes, it seemed like some kind of uniform.

Judging by the fact that they weren’t covering my hair, it seemed they wanted me to stand out. Tap, tap. Small pebbles were kicked up by my bare feet.

Clink.

The shackles around my ankles had short chains, allowing only small steps, hindering my movement. The handcuffs on my wrists were even worse. The handcuffs, which were tightly fastened to my wrists without any space, were so heavy that it was difficult to lift my arms.

“Ugh.”

The red sunset was blinding, as if it were evening. I narrowed my brows and moved my feet, led by the soldiers who were lined up as if guarding me.

“That foreigner is the Great Khan’s wife?”

“That’s what they say.”

“So, if we have this foreigner, the Great Khan will [surrender]?”

“Rumor has it that the Great Khan is so infatuated with this foreigner that he’s head over heels? She must have melted him well.”

“…I still can’t imagine it.”

“It’s not strange that those [barbarians] are obsessed with lust. Besides, that guy used to roll around in the [outhouse] as a [slave], right? What could he possibly be, even if that guy becomes the Khan of Mongolia?”

“I guess so.”

“Quiet.”

I was hoping there would be something that could be a clue, but the soldiers, who had been chattering in small voices, shut their mouths at the heavy words of the man in ornate armor who was walking in front.

How long had we walked? I was led to the most magnificent building inside. It was more than just a building, it was a palace with a structure, a mix of red and gold.

I walked for a long time even after entering the palace. The heavy shackles pressed down on my wrists and ankles, and the soles of my bare feet were sore. But why wasn’t the alarm going off?

Just as I was reaching my limit, the soldiers stopped walking. The wide hall was covered with a long red carpet, and at the end of it was a throne that rose as high as a two-story building. It was a much more ornate chair than the one in the castle where I had sat with Temujin.

The soldiers pressed down on my head, which was standing blankly, and made me sit on the floor. Was this what they called prostration?

Rolling my eyes around, I saw that the others were in the same position as me. I think this was called kneeling?

“Yes, you’ve worked hard. You may rise.”

It was an elderly voice. The natural commanding tone made me realize the class society anew. As the force pressing down on my head weakened, I raised my head. At the bottom of the stairs, several people decorated in red and gold were standing.

There were three men of different ages, and around them, soldiers with spears were lined up.

The youngest of the three seemed to be the [Prince] I had met with Temujin.

The [Prince] was looking at me with a stiff face, as if he was holding something back, and the middle-aged young man standing next to him curled up one corner of his mouth as he looked at the [Prince]. It was the same look as the woman who had seen me in the courtesan village. I thought they were on good terms because they were standing side by side, but I guess not.

“That girl is the one that guy cherishes?”

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

The soldier standing next to me lightly clenched one fist and held it out, then bowed his head and answered. I remembered seeing that somewhere, it was called a Baoquan (wrapped fist).

“I will never forgive what that guy did to me…!!”

Thud!

I tilted my head at the sight of the Emperor, whom I could only see after raising my head for a long time.

The face of the old man, with his raised white hair and long white beard, had several age spots, and his forehead was full of wrinkles. It was a face that I would never see in the future, where even age spots and wrinkles were rare.

The old man was breathing heavily, pounding the armrest with his fist, as if he was so angry about something. I wondered if his blood pressure would rise. I heard there was such a thing as senility in the old days.

“My sons, what do you think should be done with that girl?”

“How about sending her to be a plaything for the soldiers and beggars?”

The young man who seemed to be the oldest of those standing below answered first to the old man’s question.

“How about cutting off her limbs, blinding her, deafening her, and throwing her into the [outhouse]?”

The next to answer was the young man who had been sneering next to the [Prince]. The [Prince], who had become haggard at the young man’s words, hurriedly retorted.

“Isn’t she a hostage? Let’s use her as a price for the [agreement].”

“What are you saying, brother? Look at what that guy did to Father! How can you bring up something like an [agreement]!”

“Kuhahaha! Good, good idea! I respect both of the [Prince]’s opinions! Immediately send her to the soldiers’ [quarters]— no, wait. It’s evening, so I’ll embrace her before that. It wouldn’t be bad to taste the woman that [tamed] that dog-like guy. What are you doing? Why aren’t you [dressing her up] and sending her to my [bedchamber]!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

I was dragged away again by the soldiers. How long were they going to make me walk? I wish they would at least loosen my mouth.

The soldiers dragged my arm and handed me over to the women dressed in the same green and white clothes. They immediately stripped off my clothes before I could react, and put my body into a wooden tub with steaming vapor rising from it.

In the process, the ornament hanging around my neck was snatched away and fell to the floor. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to be thinking of removing the shackles, so the watch that was fastened below it was hidden and not taken by them. I was planning to activate the safety alarm somehow if they tried to take it by force.

I wondered if the safety alarm would be activated if I hit my head. It was an idea that came to me when my legs became uncomfortable on the way here. For example, by hitting my head hard enough to bleed and get hurt. I had never tried it, but according to my theory, there was a high possibility that it would work.

Splash!

They were so busy that they hurriedly rubbed my body with a cloth. I didn’t even have time to smell the fragrance coming from the water in the wooden tub.

I was spun around in their hands, had clothes put on, and had my hair decorated. There were no other ornaments. My hair was parted in half, rolled up in a circle, and a hairpin was inserted, and flower hairpins were placed on top of my head.

The decorations were one thing, but this wasn’t clothes, it was underwear. It wasn’t something like a bra or panties, but a robe-like garment, but I knew that this was a garment with the same meaning as underwear here.

The white clothes were translucent, revealing the curves of my body as well as my skin. I felt it from the conversation earlier, but shouldn’t that old man be careful of senility? Hmm, I think people here could die from apoplexy while doing it.

I was soon transferred back to the hands of the soldiers. The soldiers carefully examined my scantily clad body.

“Is this going to come to our [quarters] soon?”

“Dream on. The [Generals] will taste it first, and it will come to us after going around in circles, right?”

“Damn it, it won’t be in good shape by then.”

“It probably won’t come out in good shape even now. You know that rumor. Do you think the Emperor will leave her alone?”

Rumor. Come to think of it, I still hadn’t heard about the rumor from Temujin. Rumors there, rumors here. What kind of rumor is there here that the old man won’t leave me alone?

“……”

“……”

In the suffocating silence, many elite soldiers couldn’t even open their mouths. If they opened their mouths, the Khan sitting in front of them would personally cut off their heads.

Even when invading the Western Liao, he wasn’t this murderous. Buka didn’t even swallow his saliva because of the cold sweat flowing down his back.

Huchite and Bayan, who had met their lord after a long time, couldn’t even greet him because of the hair standing on end on their skin and the oppressive feeling pressing down on their bodies due to the murderous intent emanating fiercely from the Khan.

It was difficult to expect a proper answer in a situation where he couldn’t even open his mouth, no matter how much he gestured to Buka, who seemed to know the culprit of this incident.

Buka was just as frustrated. He thought he was using a peaceful method of making them a vassal state, but the alliance was bullshit, and another country was about to be destroyed.

The woman who had disappeared without a trace from Daedong, whether she had soared into the sky or sunk into the ground, suddenly appeared in Zhongdu and was being held hostage.

He didn’t even believe it when the Khan said that she had been kidnapped, not that she had run away, but his hunch was right. He didn’t know that the situation would escalate to this worst-case scenario because of it.

Buka’s head was spinning furiously. Judging from his actions so far, the Khan was blinded by that foreign wife. He never thought that the saying ‘blinded by love’ would apply even to the Khan.

With the Khan’s attitude now, he seemed ready to charge into the imperial city alone. What was even more absurd was that the Khan was a person who would do that. No matter how much of a Khan he was, facing tens of thousands of soldiers in the imperial city alone was no different from suicide.

He thought that only the young prince in Jin was using his head, but the Emperor was the Emperor, and he had planted a mole.

The mole not only recognized the Khan’s weakness, but even kidnapped that weakness. He never thought that they would abandon Daedong and set a trap in Zhongdu.

They were probably giggling, not knowing what they had touched. Whatever the Khan was, the opponent was the Emperor of Jin. He was already furious with the Khan, so it was unlikely that he would leave the woman in his hands alone.

At least it would be fortunate if she was still alive, but Buka knew that the possibility of that was very slim. That’s why he was silently consistent, not saying a word to the Khan, unlike usual.

“Buka.”

“Yes, Khan.”

“I will infiltrate alone at dawn tomorrow.”

“Yes. …Yes?”

Buka asked back with a dumbfounded face at Temujin’s simple words.

“I, alone, will go.”

…Ah, his eyes have gone bad. Gone bad. Buka finally let out a heavy sigh at the golden eyes that had gone crazy.

***