416: Set off

The moment the carriage curtain fell, Li Xuan seemed to see a crystal tear quietly sliding from the corner of her eye, tracing down her cheek and disappearing into her collar.

On the other side, Li Danying bowed to Li Xuan and said:

"Don't worry, Brother King. Once we reach the Northern Border, I will definitely take good care of Imperial Sister-in-law and won't let her suffer even the slightest grievance!"

Li Xuan nodded, his throat tightening, unable to speak.

He waved his hand toward the Guard soldiers and the driver, his voice so raspy it was almost inaudible.

The driver understood, flicking the reins in his hand as the crisp crack of the whip broke the morning silence.

The carriage slowly began to move, its wheels rolling over the bluestone road with a rumbling sound, heading toward the Northern Border.

The dust kicked up by the wheels blurred Li Xuan's eyes and clouded his heart.

Li Xuan stood where he was, gazing in the direction where the carriage had vanished, not moving for a long time.

Behind him, Mysterious Clarity Master appeared at some unknown moment, his deep gaze fixed on the Northern Border. After a slight sigh, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

He knew that this move was the right one.

Jiang Yan had lived alone in the inner palace for years; though she seemed noble, she was in fact nothing more than a bird in a cage.

This wasn't him forcing her; he was helping her escape the cage of the inner palace and giving her a brand new opportunity.

At the same time, it was also to curry favor with Situ Jun.

And for Tianqi, because of Situ Jun's existence, the national fortune was bound to reach new heights, and the state would become even more stable.

As for Li Xuan's distress, to him, it was merely a trivial matter.

After all, those who achieve great things do not sweat the small stuff, let alone when there are so many concubines in the inner palace; he could simply choose a new Empress... On the Official Road toward the Northern Border, a low-profile Guard of honor was traveling quietly.

She lifted a corner of the carriage curtain. The scenery outside receded rapidly, from the bustling Capital to tranquil villages, and then to continuous mountain ranges.

Gazing at the unfamiliar scenery, her tears finally fell silently, soaking her sleeves.

She did not know what kind of fate awaited her.

Would it be Situ Jun's endless harassment? Endless humiliation? Or perhaps... a death without a burial place?

All she knew was that from the moment she stepped onto this carriage, her life was no longer her own to decide.

She was no longer the Empress of Tianqi, no longer Li Xuan's wife.

She was just Jiang Yan, a woman personally given away to someone else by her own husband.

The carriage headed north, going further and further until it finally vanished into the vast horizon.

Before long, the silhouette of the Capital was left far behind, like an old dream that could never be returned to.

The rumbling of the wheels and the crisp sound of them rolling over the bluestone road were gradually swallowed by the wind and sand of the wilderness. Soon, this procession, traveling under the banner of "The Empress accompanying the Princess to the Northern Border to pray for blessings," drove out of the Capital City's territory.

The procession was not large, and the honor Guard was so simple it was almost meager.

There were no gongs to clear the way, no flags that blotted out the sun; only a few dozen black-clad Guards on horseback escorting several plain carriages, traveling silently through the autumn wilderness.

Rather than a royal excursion, it looked more like a convoy of high-ranking officials' families, low-profile to the point of being intentional.

Aside from the necessary Guards, palace maids, and eunuchs, Li Xuan had sent no court officials to see them off, nor had he made a public announcement. Everything proceeded in deliberate low-profile and silence, as if afraid of disturbing the coldness of the Capital City's outskirts.

Only a few apricot-yellow banners embroidered with pale gold cloud patterns flapped in the biting cold wind, becoming the only bright spot in this bleak landscape, barely indicating a hint of royal dignity.

In the center of the convoy, the most spacious Phoenix carriage was the core of this journey.

Thick cloud-patterned velvet carpets covered the floor of the carriage, soft and silent to step on; benzoin incense burned in the four corners, emitting a faint, peaceful scent; the silver-thread charcoal in the heater burned brightly, its orange-red flames dancing and warming the carriage comfortably.

Yet even so, it could not dispel the heavy coldness that permeated the air.

Li Danying leaned against a soft pillow, her lower abdomen already slightly bulging. A loose palace dress of green satin embroidered with crabapple blossoms draped over her, making her complexion appear even softer, her brow carrying the gentleness of an expectant mother.

Her fingertips gently stroked the double-fish jade pendant tied at her waist, a token of love given to her by her husband Situ Jun. Its warm touch always reminded her of the towering City Lord's Manor in Northern Border City, and the man with the upright posture and smiling eyes within.

Thinking about returning to the Northern Border and her husband's side, the corners of Li Danying's mouth couldn't help but curve upward, ripples of longing and joy spreading in her eyes.

But those ripples were soon covered by a layer of faint doubt. She frowned slightly, her long eyelashes trembling gently, a hint of confusion regarding her royal brother's arrangements hidden deep in her eyes.

She was no fool.

Even if Li Xuan and Mysterious Clarity Master spoke of "praying for blessings and averting disasters to stabilize the national fortune" in the most grandiloquent terms, she vaguely sensed that having the Empress leave the court and travel far to the Northern Border to "pray" for a year was definitely not as simple as it seemed.

Her royal brother had always kept her under house arrest in the imperial palace, attempting to use her to firmly control Situ Jun and the Northern Border.

This time, not only was he letting her return to Northern Border City, but he was also having Imperial Sister-in-law accompany her to the Northern Border in the name of praying for blessings. Was it really just to appease the people? Or... was there another scheme?

Li Danying gently touched her lower abdomen, and the child within kicked her lightly, as if responding to her thoughts.

She took a deep breath, suppressing those chaotic thoughts.

She chose to believe that her royal brother would no longer continue to hinder her pursuit of happiness.

Compared to Li Danying's complex emotions, Jiang Yan, on the other side of the Phoenix carriage, was calm to the point of deathly stillness.

She wore a moon-white plain brocade palace dress, the fabric embroidered only with a few sparse ink-wash bamboos, elegant to the point of being plain.

Her unadorned face was pale to the point of being translucent, and even her lips lacked any trace of color.

Her long hair was loosely held up by a single suet-white jade hairpin, with a few stray strands falling by her cheeks, swaying gently with the jolting of the carriage, adding a touch of pitiful fragility.

She leaned against the carriage window, her elbow propped on the sill, her gaze hollow as she looked out the window.

The scenery outside was quietly changing with the rolling of the wheels.

From the red walls, grey tiles, and bustling crowds of the Capital City, it gradually turned into the continuous greenery and crisscrossing paths of the countryside, and then all the way north, transitioning into the vastness and desolation unique to the north.

The withered yellow grasslands stretched to the horizon, like a piece of overturned golden satin, boundless and infinite.

The wind swirled with grass debris, sweeping past with a whistling sound.

Occasionally, the peaks of distant snow-capped mountains pierced through the clouds, their white snow reflecting a piercing light in the sun that made one's eyes ache.

Jiang Yan's gaze seemed to fall on the summit of the distant snow mountains, yet also seemed to see nothing at all. Those eyes, which had once been bright and expressive, capable of captivating the entire court, were now shrouded in an impenetrable mist, terrifyingly empty.

Only the faint traces of tears remaining at the corners of her eyes and her tightly pursed pale lips betrayed the restless waves surging within her heart.

Since that day in the bedchamber when Li Xuan had finished speaking those words to her, her heart felt as if it had been hollowed out alive.

Twenty years as husband and wife, from the green years in the Eastern Palace to his ascension as the supreme ruler of the world, she had accompanied him through the bloody path of the struggle for the throne, endured the internal and external troubles of the Early Stage of his reign, and helped him manage the Tianqi Dynasty step by step.

She once thought that even if the emperor's heart was unpredictable, at least that years-long affection and respect were real, enough to withstand court disputes and the weight of the state.

She never expected that in the face of so-called "national righteousness," she would become a bargaining chip that could be traded at will or even offered up proactively.

A pawn used to curry favor with the Northern Border City Lord and strengthen the national fortune.