When Jun Kai woke up, it was a few days later and he was in the Long army camp. Eunuch Li was there and filled him in on the details of what happened after he had passed out. They managed to carve out an escape and were able to lay low until nightfall when the Long troop that had left before returned and were able to chase the enemy back. It turns out that the report about needing urgent reinforcements was false. The commanding general had noticed that someone had used his seal and had immediately sent a messenger, along with his emblem that he always carries on person that the generals on the other side would recognize to warn the army en-route of this development, just in case something happened while they worked on sorting out the situation on their end. 

The messenger came across the first troop, who were currently at a standstill in confusion, as they had received a message attached on an arrow early that morning instructing them to turn back because the second troop was in trouble. The generals were busy debating over the validity of the message on the arrow, some wanting to turn back, while others wanted to keep going believing that the message must be a trick to delay them. Luckily the messenger arrived and informed them of the real situation and they realized the report they received was fake before the situation escalated and so speedily turned back and were able to turn the situation around.

Eunuch Li also informed him that the Xia army had caught the person who shot the arrows, it was the same Long soldier who had arrived with the fake report. They had interrogated him and discovered that he had been instructed to leak the information about the fourth prince to the Han country, who had decided to collude with their neighboring country, Beiyuan who were afraid that they would be next after the fall of Han country. The plan was to kidnap the fourth prince to use as a bargaining tool with the Long emperor. While the Han army kept the main Long army occupied, the Beiyuan troops were to skirt around them. Once they had successfully done this and were in position, the soldier, who was one of those who served directly under the commanding general was then to create a fake report and deliver it to the reinforcing troops to force them to break off.

The soldier was then to follow whichever troop the fourth prince was in, and then secretly tied a red piece of cloth to an eagle which the Beiyuan army had following him to inform the Beiyuan troops that the fourth prince was with the second troop. Before the attack, he also pointed out who the fourth prince was to the Beiyuan troops. The soldier also secretly closely trailed them as they ran through the forest, as he had secondary orders to that if the kidnapping plan had any complications, he was to find an opportunity to kill the fourth prince. So with the arrival of the Xia troops, the situation had become complicated and so he fired the arrows and then blew the whistle to alert the Beiyuan troops to their location as he fled the capture.

"Who sent him?" Jun Kai calmly asked.

Eunuch Li glanced at him but remained silent.

"The crown prince?" Jun Kai asked.

"He is definitely involved." Eunuch Li responded

Jun Kai snorted, "He is definitely involved...so who gave the orders?"

Eunuch Li knit his brows, "Your highness, there are some things one cannot help but acknowledge..."

...I see...then it's third brother's doing then?... Was he so anxious and couldn't even wait for me to try and fail first?...

Jun Kai burst out laughing and ended up coughing because of his injuries. Eunuch Li handed him some water and then quietly asked, "What do you want us to do with him? Should we hand him over to the army?"

Jun Kai narrowed his eyes and coldly said, "Kill him."

Eunuch Li nodded in understanding and then went out. If they handed him over to the army, the case will definitely be investigated, killing him was the best choice. While if he was handed over to the Long army, he could expose the crown prince and the third prince's plot, but there is also the problem that he could bring some trouble for the fourth prince by revealing that he has secret forces. While he may not know that the origin of the secret troops, a prince having secret forces is enough for the emperor to use to punish him, and if it is suspected to be Xia troops, then he could be accused of a rebellion. Even if the emperor doesn't do anything, he will become wary of him and this emperor is not one to just stay wary, he is the kind to eventually eradicate any source of uncertainty in his way.

Jun Kai was left alone sitting on the bed staring blankly and then he sighed.

...this was the only way I could get out of that suffocating place...I thought if I were lucky...unlucky I would die on the battlefield...but they can't even let someone fight and die in peace...even him...unfortunately for them, it seems I am quite tenacious on remaining alive...

From that day, Jun Kai felt like he was losing hold his mind. He couldn't sleep peacefully and kept having the same dream starting that moment where he thought he was going to die and then the voice screams, 'I told you not to go with them!!', and then he immediately wakes up in cold sweat, panting and retching.

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He also recalled the memories of his time in the cold palace with his mother, his escape to his father, the events with the empress, his third brother...his father's departing back with the words, '...compassion is useless, you should be better.'

All the events he had pushed to the recesses of his mind plagued him every night, delaying his recovery and making him weaker. Everyone around him worried about his condition, thinking that he may really end up dying if this continues and tried different means to help him but nothing seemed to help. Every time he went to sleep, it would always start with the moment he was passing out at the battle scene, sometimes he would wake up after that and then the memories flood in after. At other times, the memories flipped around in the dream and then return to the battle scene and then the voice screams and he jumps up. He tried calling to the voice again several times thinking it could help but never received any response.

Eventually one night after waking up in cold sweat. Still dazed, he felt an itch to draw and so dragged himself to the desk and then started drawing, and eventually ended up falling asleep on the desk, and for the first time in a while, he didn't dream of anything. When he woke up, he found himself on the bed, and went over to the desk and saw that he had drawn the scene of him passing out. He scrutinized it for a long while, he couldn't understand why but after that, he no longer had the dreams anymore and was eventually able to recover properly. The memories stopped haunting him, while he didn't forget them, he was in control of his mind again.

Later on, when they completed the journey and reached the city the main army was stationed, he found some painting materials and then properly painted the scene. Since then he took this painting along with him through all his battlefields and would often take it out to look at it.

The painting represented the things he wanted to forget but needed to remember, his past regrets and the reality he so desperately wanted to ignore at one point.

It was a reminder of the world he lived in...and everything he hated about it.

"Emperor, Commander An is here." Eunuch Li called from the doorway, interrupting the emperor's thoughts.

"En." The emperor simply responded still looking at the painting.

Eunuch Li left and quickly returned with Commander An, who bowed in greeting when he entered the room.

"How did it go?" The emperor calmly asked without turning around.

Commander An straightened and reported, "According to the informant in the Lei manor, Noble consort Lei is someone with a reserved and indifferent personality who rarely interacts with others, even when it comes to her family. Since she was a child, the only person she ever seemed interested in interacting with or enthusiastic about is General Lei, other than him, everyone else around her received a cordial but distant treatment. After General Lei left for war with you, she became even more withdrawn from the family, and always kept to herself, the only person she seemed okay with having around her was her personal maid. She didn't interact with her parents more than necessary, her younger sister often went to spend time with her, but from the looks of it, she found it bothersome and seemed to be tolerating her presence, and would often end up scolding and making her run off crying. Other than occasionally going out shopping, she rarely went out and never attended any banquets or parties, so she doesn't have much interaction with other nobles..."

"How come?" The emperor asked with a raised eyebrow, "As the defense minister's daughter she should have at least been to the palace banquets."

"Well, the days leading up to any such occasions, she would always fall ill, so never got the opportunity." Commander An explained.

"Every time?" Emperor asked with a snort, "How convenient...Continue."

Commander An nodded and went on, "She has also been praised as a natural-born genius, who despite a lack of interest in the arts, excelled in them without much effort in learning. She was considered to be master qin player as a child, when she was a child she would often play for the family, although after General Lei left she seemed to lose interest, announced it was boring and stopped playing altogether despite her parents' encouragements..."

The emperor nodded.

...Well, that could explain her lack of skills in that aspect...

"...Her embroidery pieces were also considered to be masterpieces. Although she wasn't able to attend the late empress's birthday banquet earlier in the year because she was ill, she sent an embroidered piece with her family as a gift. The late empress greatly praised her for having exquisite skills..."

The emperor snorted again, cleared his throat and turned to look at Commander An, "Are you sure about that?"

...exquisite skills? Or have the standards seem to have changed while I was gone?...

Eunuch Li on the side also knit his brows in contemplation as he listened to Commander An's words, recalling Lei Xing's revolutionary work during the competition.

Commander An looked at the emperor with a perplexed expression, "Yes, your majesty. It is Noble consort Lei, the first daughter of the defense minister and younger sister of General Lei. Is there something wrong?"

The emperor shook his head, "Continue."

Commander An nodded, "The reason I spent so long on this, is that I was investigating some matters that seemed complicated. There was an incident three years ago, where she suddenly disappeared one night and was missing for about two weeks. At that time, they had found her personal maid knocked out in her room the next morning, along with a note she had written saying that she went out horse riding and will be back after a while...At first, they had thought that she was kidnapped and quietly sent people to look into her whereabouts but discovered that she had ridden out of the city gates by herself. Her parents were worried it will affect her future and so tried to keep it quiet and sent people to quietly search for her while waiting for her personal maid to wake up to find out what really happened. It seemed her personal maid had been heavily drugged, as two days went by and she still hadn't woken up, then on the third day, her personal maid also disappeared before the family could interrogate her. There was some suspicion that she may have eloped..."