Downfall (6)
A single general knelt in the center of the execution ground after the beast's death.
"Zhang Liao!" Cao Cao let out a cheer the moment she saw him. "Aren't you the true second-in-command of Lü Bu's army? How about it—will you serve under my Cao army?"
"...If you give me a promise that's not quite a promise."
"What is it?"
"Please don't kill the family of the late general."
Zhang Liao knelt deeply. "They've suffered so much already. They're not asking you to protect them. They just beg that you not condemn them by association for General Lü's death."
"But didn't they try to form a marriage alliance with the family of a traitor?"
"How could a powerless woman defy her husband's wishes? Even if she wanted to, General Lü forced it through, making refusal impossible. The other generals know this too."
Zhang Liao glared at the others. "Is it true, Song Xian?"
"Well, yes. That's right. Lü Bu's daughter didn't want the marriage and was even tied up with ropes to force her into it."
"The bastard! Forcing a woman into marriage, and even trying to marry off his own daughter to Yuan Shu just to save his skin!"
Cao Cao shook her head with a sigh. "We can't have that. Listen up—release Lü Bu's daughter—"
"My lord!!"
Guo Jia rushed into the command tent, her face pale. She whispered carefully into Cao Cao's ear.
"...What?"
The news that reached Cao Cao's ear was "suicide attempt."
"Cough, cough!"
Lady Yan collapsed to the floor, gasping roughly for breath. Her daughter, Lü Lingqi, rushed to her side, propping her up and shouting.
"Are you insane?!"
"...How can I go on living when my husband is dead?"
Lady Yan tilted her head upward. A rope tied to the ceiling beam had been sharply cut, and a sword was embedded in the wall. Lü Lingqi had flung the sword to save her mother. And not just any throw—she'd snatched it from a nearby guard and hurled it.
In a situation where she could have seized the sword and attempted an escape, she chose to use it to save her mother instead.
"What's all this commotion?"
"Ah, my lord...!"
Cao Cao had come to see Lady Yan herself. She bit her lip at the sight of Lü Lingqi cradling her mother.
"Why try to follow Lü Bu in death?"
"...He was my husband of half a lifetime. It's a wife's duty to follow her man."
"Hah. What nonsense."
Cao Cao shook her head with contemptuous eyes. "If every woman had to die when her husband did, why would we have terms like widow or chaste wife? Don't be foolish. I won't kill you."
"Pardon...?"
"I promised as much."
Cao Cao turned her gaze eastward. "To the late Chen Gong."
Whoosh.
The wind blew. Chen Gong—no, the woman who had been Chen Gong—climbed a hill overlooking Xiapi Castle alongside Cao Cao.
"I never imagined we'd be talking alone like this again."
"...Yeah."
Cao Cao treated Chen Gong casually. Chen Gong treated Cao Cao with equal familiarity.
"If you hadn't surrendered, I would've executed the advisor who betrayed Lü Bu."
Cao Cao opened the conversation. "I spared you because you're Chen Gong. You get what I mean?"
"...Because I'm the only one in the world who knows what a mad bitch you really are."
"Ahahaha!"
Cao Cao clutched her stomach and burst into laughter. "Even with your life in my hands, you call me a mad bitch!"
"I'm pretty mad myself. No sane person could work under a cruel woman like you."
"...So that's why you betrayed me?"
A flash of killing intent crossed Cao Cao's eyes. "Did Lü Bu seem that impressive that you'd betray me and join him?"
"Back then? Honestly, between the idiot who killed Dong Zhuo and the mad bitch who slaughtered tens of thousands just to play filial piety, the latter was obviously more repulsive."
"Fair enough. Xuzhou—I rethink it a hundred times, but I stand by it. I admit it."
"Admitting it was excessive just proves you're still a mad bitch."
Chen Gong sighed and looked up at the sky. "A mad bitch like you commanding the realm."
"Keep calling me a mad bitch, but I'm not that mad anymore? I've grown up a bit."
"Grown up enough to flood Xiapi Castle? A couple more growth spurts and the whole continent's done for. Sigh. It's time for this land to fade into history with a woman like you in charge."
Chen Gong turned to Cao Cao, who just kept grinning. "I haven't forgotten about Yeobaksa."
"Yeah. And because I haven't, I'm sparing you—again."
Cao Cao extended her hand toward the hill below. "I may betray the realm, but the realm can never betray me!"
"...Words you spat after murdering the benefactor who saved your life."
"True. But you didn't turn me in. You even came to Chenliu, helped me establish a base, and rise again. Until the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition ended, you were our army's chief advisor."
Genuine gratitude colored Cao Cao's voice. "That's why I'm saying this: I'll let you live. But don't point a blade at me. If you won't serve me, at least don't raise your spear against me."
"......I have some shame. How could a defeated advisor do something so shameless? I'm not Lü Bu."
"You were Lü Bu's strategist."
"Lü Bu's dead. Not anymore."
There was no guilt in Chen Gong over surviving while Lü Bu died.
"Honestly, I was half-doubting until we talked. You'll really use a traitor like me again?"
"After washing off Lü Bu's stink?"
Cao Cao pointed west. "Go to Jingzhou. There's an academy I know there. Stay a few years, sort your mind. Then, if you want to conquer the realm again with this mad bitch Cao Cao, come find me."
Cao Cao spread her arms toward Chen Gong. "I'm doing this because you're me."
"...What the hell does that mean?"
"One of the only two people in the world who truly understands me. The only woman."
"Hah, with all those advisors around you, and you say... Wait."
Chen Gong's eyes widened. "A man who sees through you?"
"Yeah. I cast dozens of fishing lines, and one hooked him. But he read this Cao Mengde's heart and gave the right answers."
"No way.... Wait. ...You aren't telling your subordinates or others to marry that man, are you?"
"Wanna marry him?"
"You mad bitch."
Chen Gong cursed at Cao Cao again. "What kind of nonsense is that?"
"I'm serious? Marry him and judge for yourself if he really knows this Cao Mengde."
"What does that have to do with me marrying him?"
"So I'll have an excuse to devour him?"
Cao Cao smirked slyly. "If he's the husband of you, of all people, I can rest easy and take him."
"I shouldn't have said anything."
Chen Gong shook her head. "...Honestly, I don't get it. Why go this far for me? Just because I ignored your wanted poster?"
"Of course."
Cao Cao reached out to Chen Gong. "Without you, I'd be dead. Dong Zhuo nearly crushed me, but you saved me. You betrayed me once, but I was a bit mad then. I'll consider it a mitigating factor."
"Hah... "
"All my advisors fear me. Even the closest ones treat me with utmost deference and watch their words. What I need is someone like you to provoke me."
"And if I piss you off, you lop off my head?"
Chen Gong pointed to her bobbed hair. "'How dare you speak like that?'"
"Could happen. That's what serving under me means. So, will you or won't you?"
"......I need time to think."
"Fine. But drag it out too long, and I'll come with a blade."
Chen Gong just shrugged at Cao Cao's threat. "There's a thing called deliberation."
"Quick decisions."
"This isn't a word game."
"Same here? Gotta wash out Lü Bu's remnants fast if I'm reusing you. The board's already set."
Cao Cao patted Chen Gong's shoulder. "A certain scholar named Jin died recently. Before passing, he left his adopted daughter as heir. Her name's the same as her father's—Jin Gong."
"......."
"Already talked to her. She watched your situation and felt sorry for you. How about a new life? Jin Gong's done for. The brighter I shine, the more you'll be the woman who betrayed me for Lü Bu."
"That's..."
"Fool who followed Lü Bu to death, or renowned scholar who gave her all for the realm?"
"I..."
Chen Gong placed a hand on her chest. "Your mother—still in Chenliu? Over seventy now. Time to serve her remaining days."
"...Fine. If you want me that badly, I'll recuperate in Jingzhou, heal body and soul, then come curse you to your face."
Chen Gong pulled a lock of hair from her bosom. The severed strands from her near-execution at Xiapi's grounds fluttered on the wind toward the castle.
"Think it over. Chen Gong died here. Next time we meet, you're either another woman helping me, or the traitor Chen Gong who betrayed my trust again, deceiving and mocking me."
Lü Bu's strategist, Chen Gong, was dead.
"What'll it be, Lady Jin?"
"......I must pay my respects. This humble one is at your service."
Now, the only one here was a woman of the Jin clan who had once dreamed of becoming Han Xin.
"I am Jin Gong."