Song: Moon Legend
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"It's been a while since we had a chance to be alone." Mei Yanran exhales, her breathing misting in the frosty afternoon air as she tugs her fox fur cloak tighter around her body. "Why did you suddenly call me here, Moxiao?" Her brows crease, furrowing into the frown he'd seen so many times in the past few months. "Was the information I gave you faulty? Did the rebels escape?"
"No." Ling Fengxiao's eyes linger on her face before he leans in to smooth her forehead. "It was perfect. As always." He doesn't smile, but Mei Yanran still makes a little noise of happiness when he pulls her close by the shoulder.
"That's good," she snuggles close to him as they watch the hills and trees before them. The branches are still bare, with only a few buds sprouting here and there; it would be a few weeks more before they properly flowered into plum blossoms. The heat of her body next to his is all but scorching, yet Ling Fengxiao cannot decide if this is a sign of her clear guilt or his own unsteady heart.
"Yan'er..." he begins, then stops.
"Mm?" she leans against him, content.
"You've been asking a lot about the enemies these days," Ling Fengxiao forces himself to continue.
"Of course!" Bright eyes look up to meet his, untainted and clear. "This is a crucial time. We can't afford to make any missteps, or else something worse could happen!" She already lost them the second prince while preoccupied with her feelings. She can't afford to lose anyone else again.
"What else are you expecting?" Ling Fengxiao's voice drops a few degrees cooler, his fingers tightening their grip on her cloak.
How much do you know? What else are you planning to hide?
A moment passes before Mei Yanran replies. When she does, her voice is so soft that Ling Fengxiao has to bend down to hear her.
"I don't want...anyone else to die..." she drifts off, then catches him staring at her and shakes her head. "I know people have to! That's how it works when they won't listen to reason. I just..." She thinks about the novel, the long intricate chapters of vengeance and warfare, the single sentences painting all of Ling Fengxiao's slaughter in the shadows in ensure Chu Yexuan's peaceful rule. She can live with that, she thinks, but words aren't enough to tell her the suffering of years, the silence of death.
"I just hope you can kill them quickly," Mei Yanran finally murmurs. Maybe then, we'll see peace sooner.
Ling Fengxiao's chest clenches, but all he manages is a hollow, "Why?"
Mei Yanran gives him an uncomprehending look. More and more often these days, she finds herself unable to read him at all. Perhaps she never could.
"Are you that impatient to see them gone?" Ling Fengxiao goes on, his voice as flat and smooth as silk. "Will your heart never rest until the evidence against you is dead and buried?"
"Evidence? What are you..." Mei Yanran's eyes widen as she tries to turn in his arms. "You still think I'm a spy?!"
"When have you ever proven otherwise?" Ling Fengxiao's expression is perfectly calm.
"You—Mo Xiao!" Mei Yanran's hands tremble as she clutches at his arms. "I've told you before, I'm not!"
"Then explain to me how you always know what's going on!" Ling Fengxiao retorts. "Whether it's the emperor's plans or the enemy's moves, you never make a mistake! Are you telling me you can read their minds? Or are you some sort of god?!"
"Take me as a seer then, or whatever you like! But I won't betray you. How could you even think that?"
"Last year you said you were from another world," Ling Fengxiao said dully. "Now you'll have me believe you're gifted with strange skills. Will you never cease toying with my mind? Or is this another part of your plan?"
"Plan?! I have no plans!" Mei Yanran sputters. "Back then you said you didn't believe my words, only the facts, so that's what I gave you. I told you everything I know so we could help everyone. And we have! Now that the third prince is emperor and the second prince's murderers caught, things will be all right again. They have to be," she adds, as if to reassure herself, then turns on him again. "What do you think I have to gain by ingratiating myself on purpose?"
Ling Fengxiao narrows his eyes. "Rulership in the south has been unstable as of late. It is far better to ally with the north when the day comes for His Majesty to conquer and subject their territory."
"Why are you suddenly talking politics?" Mei Yanran demands.
"A wife of a prime minister who holds a longstanding friendship with the current sovereign is a very valuable position," Ling Fengxiao went on coolly. "You would have the power to affect my emotions, and by that extension, be more privy to matters of national policy."
"No," Mei Yanran shakes her head. "I don't care about that—I barely have the brains to follow your train of thinking with those things!"
"Then what do you want? Riches, fame, glory?" Ling Fengxiao presses. "Shall I introduce to you some foreign dignitaries? Perhaps buy up a little retreat in the countryside, for you to live out your days with Chu Yeguang? Heaven knows you've been raising him already for the past three months!"
"He has nothing to do with this!" Mei Yanran bristles at the mention of the former crown prince. "He didn't even do anything wrong this time!" Instead of leading the main enemies against the male and female leads, Chu Yeguang had fallen far sooner—and lower, leaving him an object of pity. She could argue and plea his innocence, but something hard in her betrothed's eyes tell her that this isn't what she needs to say.
So instead, she bets everything on her heart instead.
"I did it all for you, Ling Fengxiao!"
Ling Fengxiao laughs. It is a short and ugly sound, more like a bark, or coarse sand scraping against rock.
"So it's Ling Fengxiao today, and Chu Yeguang tomorrow?" he arches his brows, then pushes her away. Mei Yanran nearly stumbles over in the snow, but gets her bearings to glare at him in determination.
"There won't be a 'tomorrow!'"
"You're right," Ling Fengxiao nods. "You've thrown all your chances with me, so you have no other choice."
"That's not—why are you so suspicious about everything?!" Mei Yanran cries. But even as she asks, she knows. For the man who grew up expecting betrayal, it is its absence that brings unease. For the prime minister who cleaned out the rotten trash of the country, who filled his heart and eyes with the filth of the greedy, the power-hungry, the sly—to suspect was to survive.
"I don't have a choice either," Ling Fengxiao says grimly. "But at the very least—I can give you one last option."
And he speaks—a confession more than a request, of how the country ails and the courtiers cry, not because of their victories, but because of the woman who led them there, who stood in the spotlight time and time again to point out their flaws and mistakes, even as he tried to hide her in the shadows with him. Mei Yanran looks back with him and sees where she went wrong: too clumsy, too obvious, too bold!
They too, suspect her of being more than she is. But they will not humor her like Ling Fengxiao has done, and they cannot abide her here for long.
"Shuy—His Majesty will give you safe passage out of the country," Ling Fengxiao goes on as she listens blankly. "The you of right now can't exist. They won't accept it. I can force them, but not for long, and the people will suffer from our struggles as a result."
"I don't care about them," Mei Yanran stammers. "I...I only care about you."
Ling Fengxiao gives her a long look, his face blank. "I can't accept that." I want you to be accepted by the world and me. You'll suffer otherwise.
"You..!"
"I can fight them for a lifetime, but what about the people of Chu?" Ling Fengxiao breaks in. "Will you have them lanquish because of squabbles at court? Will I, as the prime minister, give up my duty to protect our people to dedicate myself to you instead?"
"I don't want you to do that either!" Mei Yanran exclaims.
"Then listen to me," Ling Fengxiao steps forward and grips her by the shoulders. "If you want any possibility of us being 'together,' then Mei Yanran must die. Do you understand? Afterwards, I'll take you as a ward in my estate and protect you under the prime minister's title."
Still reeling, Mei Yanran looks at him with unfocused eyes. "A ward?"
"Yes. Legally, you'll be considered a daughter of the Ling Clan and my sister, making you immune to any repercussions. If they object, I'll—"
"And in the future?" Mei Yanran interrupts, her voice rising. "How long am I supposed to stay as your 'family?'"
"....." Ling Fengxiao falls silent.
"Three years? Five?" Mei Yanran keeps pressing. "Or are we supposed to be 'sister and brother' for the rest of our lives?"
A flash of doubt flickers across Ling Fengxiao's eyes, but he's quick to steel his gaze. "This is the best I can do." For now.
"The best—do you even hear what you're saying?!" Mei Yanran explodes. "Is this what you want?!"
"The people of Chu will only accept you as thus!" Ling Fengxiao replies. "If not this, they'll brand you as a spy and execute you!"
"So I can be your sister, but I can't be your wife?!" Mei Yanran is furious. "You tell me if that makes any sense!"
Frustrated, Ling Fengxiao can only grip her tighter. "This is for your own good!"
"I know what's good for me!" Mei Yanran snaps back. "If 'Mei Yanran' won't do, then I'll be someone else! I can fake my death, change my looks, ruin my face so they won't recognize—"
"You'll do no such thing!" Ling Fengxiao thunders. How could he let her hurt herself like that? He softens his voice and adds, "But I won't take any other woman to be my wife, either. It'll just be you and me, so—"
"I can take anything, but I won't accept this!" Mei Yanran digs her hands into his arms and forces him to let go. He's less persuaded by her nails than the fierce look in her eyes.
"I can't see you as anyone until you admit your crimes," Ling Fengxiao pushes back. "Yan'er, right now there's no other way. Tell me what you've done, and I'll use it to deal with them before burying this behind us."
"What crimes?" Mei Yanran cries. What do they think I've done?
"Any crime will do!" he insists. "If you won't—or can't tell me, then we'll make something up! You know my methods, the deception will be foolproof."
"But that means admitting that I'm guilty," Mei Yanran's voice rings hollow. "Is that what they think? What you think too?"
"You haven't given me any way to prove your innocence, so even if I wanted to—"
"Ling Fengxiao, just who am I in your eyes? An ally? An enemy? The woman you love—or at least, I thought you loved?"
She waits for him to answer, but his silence stretches on. His eyes flicker between emotions—she can't read them all, only guessing at his inner conflict. Disappointment wells up within her, followed by a hot, angry indignation. She reaches into her sleeve for the item she's kept on her all this time—
"Protect the prime minister!"
At the same time a shout rings out, arrows fly into the clearing.
"No!" Ling Fengxiao dives at her—uselessly, pointlessly.
Neither of them are trained in martial arts, and Mei Yanran's dancer reflexes only clues her into the attack milliseconds in advance. Her body moves subconsciously to shield the man she loves as an arrow pierces her shoulder. Her back. Her chest.
Blood stains the front of her robes even as she tastes bitter copper on her tongue. She doesn't know when she falls, but the jolt of agony that shoots through her body when Ling Fengxiao catches her midway makes her gasp in pain. The object in her hand falls listlessly to the ground, caught between snow and blood. Ling Fengxiao catches a glimpse of it: it is the twig of plum blossoms he picked for her last year, its flowers perfectly preserved.
This was his promise to her, to love and protect.
"Who told you to shoot?!" He snarls at the woods hiding his archers. The captain stammers an answer—they were too far to hear the conversation, and thought Mei Yanran was pulling out a concealed dagger when she reached inside her sleeve. Ling Fengxiao doesn't stop to listen and yells at them instead.
"Hurry and find a doctor, or leave your heads here!"
The captain flees.
—
Mei Yanran thinks she knows how this goes. A fatal attack, a noble sacrifice—isn't that how all the love stories end? But oh, she was so, so stupid. These aren't even enemy archers, but Ling Fengxiao's own men.
He had them waiting in the woods this entire time...
She looks for him desperately, trying to find answers in his face. But he's too busy shouting at his men to pay her any attention. She thinks she should say something instead, but the blood pooling in her throat makes even breathing difficult.
Love stories are such lies, Mei Yanran thinks a little hysterically, I can't even have my five-minute monologue after getting injured...
But what would she even say? His archers shot her. Perhaps it was a mistake—well then, they made a fatal one. Hadn't one of the arrows pierced her heart? Or was the pain she felt simply heartache from it breaking into pieces?
Why, Ling Fengxiao?
Why do you make me question myself, again and again?
The Goddess of Fates had said she only had one chance. Once she was dead, it was over.
Is this the end of my story?
Her eyes drift up—beyond him to the trees above. The branches are pitifully bare, the sky above them dull and gray.
How ugly.
If only...I had lasted long enough to see the plum blossoms again.
"Yan'er! Yan'er, stay with me!" Ling Fengxiao finally turns to Mei Yanran, but her eyes are already shut. She's so still that he's seized with a sudden, horrible fear that she's already gone.
"Yan'er, don't die! There's still things I haven't said—things I don't understand!"
Ling Fengxiao stumbles to his feet, cradling her in his arms as makes for the manor with long, desperate strides. His men follow behind him with uneasy looks, their faces deathly silent. All of them are careful to step around the spots of blood on the ground, bright scarlet bursts of color on the stark, still white. More blood drips from Mei Yanran's body as Ling Fengxiao runs, the droplets scattering on the ground like wet petals.
Mei Yanran is wrong. The plum blossoms are blooming after all.
But after they flower, they can only wither away.
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