She chose a certain future
She chose a certain future
"What? No—He Jin's remnants?"
"Y-yes! They are pouring into the Imperial Palace right now and slaughtering every last eunuch!"
"Those... those bastards..."
Zhang Rang and the Ten Regular Attendants had believed that He Jin's assassination ended everything.
But they now realized too late how gravely mistaken they had been.
What they had thought was the head of the beast, He Jin, was in truth not the head but the leash.
A leash that kept the fierce and ever-dissatisfied Pure Stream Faction under control.
The moment that leash vanished, the beast called the Pure Stream Faction began to rampage in fury, and the Ten Regular Attendants had no means left to stop it.
"For now, we flee the Imperial Capital as quickly as possible. We will take the Emperor and leave Luoyang, then somehow join up with General of the Left Dong Zhuo."
"Th-the Emperor, you said?"
"What of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager..."
"There's no time to bother with that bitch! What matters is the Emperor. We take only the Emperor and escape this place! Hurry. Stand around dazed and we all die!"
"U-understood, Zhang Rang."
Following Zhang Rang's orders, the remaining Ten Regular Attendants moved, leading the surviving Imperial Guards.
Once the enemy who had breached the Imperial Palace sealed the gates, it would be truly over, so they mounted the hastily prepared warhorses and spurred them on in a rush.
"There! The eunuchs are fleeing!"
"After them! Kill every last one of those beardless gelded bastards!"
Arrows and javelins flew from behind.
In the process, a considerable number were slain, but the Ten Regular Attendants no longer had the luxury of looking after fallen comrades.
Screaming from every direction and flames shooting up all around.
Within that, those who once held this nation in their grasp struggled frantically simply to survive.
And at last, a city gate came into view.
Once through it, the warhorses and the imperial carriage immediately began to head west.
*
"What? A revolt in Luoyang?"
"Yes, General Yuan. Colonel Zhao's main force has already secured the Imperial Palace, and Colonel Yuan is searching for Her Majesty the Emperor, whose whereabouts have become unknown, and the remnants of the Ten Regular Attendants."
"Ah... fuck me..."
"Sir? Wh-why do you..."
"Haah... never mind. Good work. Rest here tonight and at first light, go to Benchu and deliver the news that I have arrived."
"Ah... yes. Understood."
Late at night, on a plain half a day's distance from Luoyang.
After several days of forced march made further travel by the soldiers impossible, we had no choice but to rest.
The news from Yuan Shao left me deeply chagrined.
I had already expected that General-in-Chief He Jin would mobilize troops once Emperor Ling died.
But unlike the Original Timeline, even I had not expected that He Jin would be assassinated this quickly and that Luoyang would be turned upside down.
'Damn it... I deliberately prepared in advance and rushed here the moment I heard the news... my luck really is something else...'
In the Original Timeline, when the Imperial Palace was seized by Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, Zhang Rang and several other Ten Regular Attendants attempted to flee, taking Emperor Shao and Prince Liu Xie with them.
Then, finally facing capture, Zhang Rang took his own life, but this allowed Dong Zhuo, who happened to be near Luoyang, to luckily secure the Emperor, which ultimately became the catalyst for Dong Zhuo seizing power.
I had already dangled bait to Dong Zhuo, with whom I had built ties, in order to prevent such a situation in advance, but still, the best thing was to stop the troublesome situation itself from occurring.
So I had planned to lead my army and surround the Imperial Palace ahead of time, blocking the Ten Regular Attendants' escape route... but...
Before my plan could even begin, before I even reached Luoyang, He Jin got himself fucking killed and it all went up in smoke.
Worse, given the circumstances, Zhang Rang's party was surely fleeing west, the very direction Dong Zhuo, a fellow member of the Turbid Stream Faction, was approaching from.
With Dong Zhuo now more likely to meet the Emperor than in the Original Timeline, I felt my guts begin to rot.
'I tried to prevent Dong Zhuo from seizing power at all costs... but does this mean that part has failed in the end...'
Honestly, I could not judge what Dong Zhuo would do if she got her hands on the Emperor.
Would she come this way to keep her promise to me?
Or would she toss me aside, using the Emperor as a pretext, and lead her army into Luoyang just like in the Original Timeline?
In the worst case... she might raise her blade against us as a potential hindrance.
Dong Zhuo casting aside her promise to give up the realm,
ultimately succumbing to the temptation of power and becoming the same tyrant as in the Original Timeline.
"If that happens... I have no choice but to steel myself."
"Steel yourself? Steel yourself for what?"
"To steel myself for the possibility that Dong Zhuo betrayed her prom—"
"Oh? Then, if she kept her promise to you, what do you intend to do?"
"Naturally, I must keep my promise to her as well... huh?"
I recognized the sense of incongruity a beat too late while deep in thought.
Frozen for a moment by the buffering in my head, I slowly turned my head with a grinding sensation.
Immediately after, a familiar face appeared before my eyes.
The moment I saw that person's face, I reflexively rubbed my eyes, thinking I was seeing things.
Yet, her figure remained, smiling at me without vanishing.
In this moment, feeling both overjoyed and still unable to believe in her presence, I called that name with a trembling voice.
"Zho... Zhongying...? H-how... are you...!"
Before my words could finish, a soft sensation as if wrapping around my entire body.
A second experience,
the utterly rapturous feeling of having my whole body buried in her large and beautiful chest.
Then, deep joy,
and her voice, tinged with longing, began to reach my ears.
"Did I... not promise? That I would come see you at once. To me, nothing is more important than that."
"Ah..."
Dong Zhuo spoke while pulling me into an even stronger embrace.
Then, she slightly released my body, which she had held tight, and held something out before me.
A hairpin, glittering gold in the moonlight.
Receiving the token of the promise I had made with her,
I carefully gathered up her hair and pinned it into place.
"Mmm... I'm not sure I'm doing this right...!"
—Smack.
"!"
Before my words were even finished, an intense sensation.
That which coiled around my lips
was so hot yet at the same time utterly sweet.
A thick sensation, like coating one's lips with heavily burnt honey water.
The moment it ended, leaving behind a faint touch of regret,
Dong Zhuo whispered into my ear in a thick, low voice.
"I missed you... General Yuan... no... my Gonglu."
*
Accompanied only by two thousand elite cavalry and the strategist Li Ru, Dong Zhuo had advanced at a terrifying speed.
Entrusting the forty thousand troops following in the rear to Hua Xiong, Li Jue, and Guo Si, she brought only those soldiers who could move in the shortest time and practically crossed the vast distance from Xiliang to Luoyang in an instant.
However,
the reason she had gone this far was not simply greed for power.
'Surely, that person... will return to Luoyang as well?'
The political situation had begun to surge with the Emperor's death.
In relation to this, Luoyang was highly likely to become an arena of struggle for those craving power sooner or later.
Though she was stationed on the frontier as General of the Left, the Ten Regular Attendants had summoned her for this very purpose.
Now that things had come to this,
it was clear that General-in-Chief He Jin, standing opposite the Ten Regular Attendants, would also summon Pure Stream Faction-affiliated warlords stationed in other regions to counter them.
And this soon meant...
that the man who possessed one of the most prominent forces among them was also very likely to come to Luoyang.
The very cause that had made her commit her full strength to suppress a rebellion in the shortest time possible,
the man who even now made her heart pound.
Yuan Shu.
Truly delighted that she could see that person again...
and at the same time, that the heart she had carefully nurtured could finally bear fruit, Dong Zhuo at last arrived near Luoyang.
Immediately after, Dong Zhuo scattered scouts in all directions and began surveying the surrounding situation...
Moments later, three pieces of news reached her.
One: a revolt had broken out in Luoyang, General-in-Chief He Jin had been killed, and his enraged subordinates had stormed the Imperial Palace and were butchering the eunuchs.
Another: through the west gate of Luoyang, a procession including a lavishly ornate carriage had slipped out and then vanished somewhere.
And the final piece of news...
was that Yuan Shu's army had arrived about forty li south of this position.
Hearing this, the strategist Li Ru smiled deeply and immediately spoke to Dong Zhuo.
"This is truly a heaven-sent opportunity, my lord. That ornate carriage is surely a procession made by the Ten Regular Attendants to spirit away the Emperor. Let us search the area west of Luoyang at once. If fortune is with us, the Emperor could fall into our hands—"
"Forty li..."
"... My lord?"
Those words spilled from Dong Zhuo's lips.
Then her gaze began to turn slowly southward.
Puzzled, Li Ru carefully asked Dong Zhuo the reason.
"Er... my lord? Why do you do this? This is an opportunity to possibly seize the Emperor. We must hurry—"
"... Li Ru. There is one thing I wish to ask. Can you answer?"
"H-huh? Ah... yes. Of course..."
Showing slight bewilderment at the sudden question, Li Ru nonetheless accepted it.
Looking at her, Dong Zhuo asked in a serious voice.
"Would you choose to attempt to seize one uncertain thing immediately and give up the other forever, or would you take the time to secure both with certainty? Which of the two would you choose?"
"Excuse me?... Well... isn't it obvious that choosing the latter is correct? Thinking ordinarily, obviously one ought to take the certain thing even if it takes time..."
"Yes, I think so too. The entire army will turn south!"
"H-huh? W-wai... my lord!"
An incomprehensible question followed by an incomprehensible command.
Feeling confounded, Li Ru had no choice but to follow Dong Zhuo without knowing the reason.
And.
It took her, who possessed an intellect surpassing others, a fair bit more time after that to grasp its meaning.
*
The moment she arrived near Luoyang, Dong Zhuo rushed to where I was without a moment's hesitation.
At her actions—where she had not even glanced toward Luoyang, which she must have passed right by—I was greatly surprised, and at the same time, felt sincere gratitude and thanks.
Honestly, though we had made a promise, I had not imagined she would go this far.
Since she was sharp-minded, had she searched the area near Luoyang, she could have pinpointed and secured the Emperor without difficulty, as in the Original Timeline.
Yet Dong Zhuo put aside everything concerning the Emperor,
everything concerning the Luoyang court, and came straight to me.
To keep her promise.
To show her sincerity that she would abandon her own path and walk my path together with me.
Feeling relief that, unlike the Original Timeline, Dong Zhuo had not become corrupted...
No, to be honest, feeling joy.
With the tension easing, I was able to stretch my legs out properly and sleep like a log for the first time in ages, thanks to the aftermath of the several days' continuous night marches.
And the next day.
In front of my eyes, which opened after sleeping in quite late due to the deep sleep...
"..."
"Heh heh..."
"... Er... don't tell me you've been here continuously since last night?"
"Does it matter? We are to be bound together soon anyway. Even if the full relationship is not yet, merely lying together is no problem at all."
"Mmm. Well... that is true, but..."
"If you truly desire it, we could do it right now, you know? Is it not just the two of us here, you and I."
"Urgh..."
She looked at me, her chest half-exposed in light attire.
For a moment, the impulse surged to chuck decorum and everything else aside and jump straight into the main event, but
Only the urgency of the moment let me suppress it and rise from my seat.
"I-it's fine. It's late, so let us depart, General of the Left. Are there not many things to do immediately."
"Heh heh. Very well, I understand. I shall gladly follow my husband's will."
"Ha ha..."
And so we made our late commute (?), following an exceedingly sweet morning situation.
But then...
"What... did you say? Wh-what does that..."
"Say it again. Who did what, and how?"
"General Ding Yuan... has joined hands with the Ten Regular Attendants."
"..."
"..."
At the news that flew in immediately after our commute, Dong Zhuo and I lost our words for a moment.