At dawn, they were already approaching Citong Town. From a distance, they could see the city walls and buildings.
"Can you still hold on?" Aenwyn asked the person behind her.
No one answered her.
Indigo had reached his limit the moment they arrived. He had been guiding them the whole way, holding out until now.
Aenwyn panicked a little, "Hey, wake up. I don't have an identity plaque." She remembered that going in and out of the city required an ID check. Before, no one dared question her because of Indigo.
Aenwyn helped Indigo off the horse. His face was pale like a ghost. They had expected Shun to meet them at Death Valley, but no one showed up.
Maybe it was from her shaking him that he woke up.
"Don't go back to the Yue residence," he said weakly.
"What's wrong?"
"Something might've happened there." He had seen a red silk cloth fluttering from a corner of the city wall.
Indigo was involved in shady business. If it wasn't safe to return home, someone would hang a red silk cloth near the city wall as a warning.
"Was it those people chasing you?"
She had wanted to ask before. The people from yesterday were clearly after Indigo. But their trip to Keta'er was a last-minute decision. How could those people have known and set an ambush?
"Not necessarily, cough cough." He covered his stomach and started coughing.
"Hey, take it slow." If he coughed again, he'd start bleeding.
"So what do we do now?" Aenwyn asked. He was seriously hurt. Without a doctor, he might die.
"Figure out how to get into the city first," Indigo said.
Sneak in, huh? Aenwyn bit her finger. She had an idea. There was still a small box of oil pastels in her bag, usually used for painting.
She held Indigo's face and stared at him strangely.
Maybe her look was too odd. "What are you trying to do?"
"Disguise you. Don't we need to sneak in?" Aenwyn said. They had nothing else, so they had to make do with the oil pastels.
Aenwyn had painted human bodies before with oil pastels, but this was her first time painting a face.
She was a bit excited.
They found a hidden spot. Her slender fingers gently pinched Indigo's chin.
She painted carefully. Compared to regular oil pastel makeup, this everyday disguise needed better control of color to look natural.
Maybe the movement was too intimate. Indigo seemed to regain some energy. His breathing got heavier, and his face slowly flushed with a strange red.
Aenwyn pinched his cheek.
"Don't think weird thoughts!" she scolded him harshly.
"I'm not," Indigo denied weakly. "The wound hurts." His expression was unusually fragile.
Aenwyn looked at him suspiciously. Something felt off. Since they left the desert, he had seemed more soft?
Not just weak from injury. It was more like acting cute?
She remembered saying she liked younger guys, tall with long legs, and who were clingy.
Could it be that he was trying to please her?
Aenwyn shook her head. That couldn't be it. She had clearly made that stuff up to fool Haozhou.
Haha, a person shouldn't get ahead of themselves. Indigo was probably just hurt.
Yes, that must be it. Aenwyn reassured herself.
Just a bit more around the eyes and it's done. She added the final stroke.
She held his face and looked from left to right.
Hmm, not bad. He looked like a completely different young man.
The features hadn't changed much, but it was impossible to tell who he really was. Aenwyn took out the small mirror from her bag and let him see.
Indigo took one look. "Aenwyn, you're amazing." He complimented her sincerely, looking more spirited.
After finishing Indigo's disguise, Aenwyn quickly did a rough job on herself.
When they got to the city wall, the guards there were clearly on high alert.
"What's going on up ahead?" Aenwyn asked someone in line.
"No idea. Rumor has it Elder Wen's son is missing, so the city's under lockdown," someone whispered.
Missing? Aenwyn and Indigo exchanged a glance. He was lost in Keta'er, so how could they say he went missing here?
The guards at the gate were unfamiliar faces. They weren't just checking people, they also inspected ID plaques.
"What's wrong with him?" one guard asked, noticing Indigo's odd gait.
"He's sick. We're on our way to see a doctor," Aenwyn said in a low voice.
The guard looked him over a few more times. He had a nice voice. "Show your ID plaque."
"Brother, help us out. Our young master is ill. We left in a hurry and forgot it." Aenwyn secretly slipped the guard a silver ingot.
The guard weighed it in his hand, looked them over, and pocketed it. "Alright, go on."
They passed through the gate smoothly and were about to find a doctor when they ran into Shun halfway there. At first, he was confused by their faces, but once he recognized them,
he burst into tears. "Young master, how did you get hurt?" he asked, then quietly took them to a nearby house.
"How did you get injured so badly?"
"We got ambushed on the road. The attackers were vicious. We nearly didn't make it back." Once inside, Aenwyn clearly relaxed.
Shun brought some wound medicine and began treating Indigo. When his shirt opened, there were deep wounds underneath.
Aenwyn was once again forced to see Indigo's eight-pack abs. She had seen them when she changed his bandages before. She didn't expect this little brother to have such a great body.
"Who did it?" Shun looked at the wound, furious. He knew his young master's skills well. Ordinary people couldn't have injured him like this.
"It was a death soldier," Indigo said.
While changing the medicine, the pain was intense. He let out a muffled groan. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Aenwyn, come here," Indigo began to call for her.
Shun immediately moved aside. "Miss Aenwyn?"
Sighing, Aenwyn stepped forward to treat the wound. Even after coming back, she was still being ordered around.
"Was it someone from the capital?" Shun asked again.
"No," Indigo replied. In his heart, he had some vague guesses. Such a bold move, it couldn't possibly be done by that woman's people.
The attacker was trying to stop him from entering the capital and clearly knew his real identity. He thought about it, eyes dark and deep.
Maybe the medicine was working. Not long after, Indigo fell asleep.
Aenwyn and Shun quietly stepped out and closed the door.
"Miss Aenwyn, stay here these next couple of days. Don't go out," Shun said. "People outside are looking for you."
"Looking for me?" Aenwyn was confused. "Aren't they looking for Haozhou?"
"No. The magistrate somehow heard about you and is searching for you. Hiding a female sovereign is a serious crime. They claim the one at the auction was a female sovereign."
Shun also looked puzzled as he said this. What proof did they have that Miss Aenwyn was a female sovereign? She had no identity plaque, and there wasn't even a cinnabar mark on her forehead.
"Elder Wen was taken away. The magistrate's people have already searched his house," Shun said, his face tense. And all this happened right when they were about to leave for the capital.
The young master was ambushed. Yet they had only decided to go to Keta'er at the last minute. How did the magistrate even know Miss Aenwyn was at their residence?
Shun carefully explained everything to Aenwyn.
"Could there be a traitor in the residence?" Aenwyn asked. Haozhou only confirmed her identity later. Then how did the magistrate know and label her as a female sovereign?
According to Shun, hiding a female sovereign was a serious offense.
They wanted Indigo dead. Since the ambush failed, they were trying other methods.
"Does Indigo have another identity?" Aenwyn asked.
"Yes, our young master is the second son of the Yue family in the capital."
"The Yue family in the capital? A powerful family?"
"Dukes and high ministers for generations," Shun described with just a few words.
The son of a prime minister? Aenwyn was shocked. "Then why live here like this?"
"It's complicated. Our young master left the capital's Yue residence ten years ago." Shun never thought they would return. But the young master wrote a letter, and Elder Yue agreed to let them come home.
Aenwyn found it unbelievable. A son banished to the borderlands, and a second son at that. What made him worth such a large-scale effort?
Even if he returned to the capital, missing ten years of connection, he wouldn't be able to stir much.
Indigo was sixteen when he left, and it's been ten years, meaning he was just six when he left home. Now he must have changed so much that they probably wouldn't even recognize him.
…
"Ishmael, don't you have a younger half-brother in Danzhou?" someone asked on the march.
Ishmael smiled. His long brows curved elegantly, and his refined features remained graceful even in battle gear, making others feel inferior.
"My second brother has been away for ten years. Father is already preparing to bring him home," Ishmael said.
"Why was he away for so long?" the man asked, curious. There were rumors that Lady Yue was jealous and couldn't stand a concubine's son.
"His health was weak. A fortune-teller once said he had to stay far from the capital to survive," Ishmael explained calmly.
People in the capital had always speculated about this. Just like when they sent the second brother away, there were many opinions now about bringing him back.
And their mother had always been the subject of public suspicion and gossip.
Marching was boring. People naturally started chatting, and Ishmael actually answered.
Someone else asked, "Then after all this time, would you still recognize him?"
"I don't know what he looks like now," he replied, wondering if they would even meet this time.
That person laughed. "Then if you meet on the road, you wouldn't know it's him."
Ishmael shook his head. "Not necessarily. Every Yue family member carries a passed-down jade pendant." Seeing the jade was like seeing the person. There was no way to miss each other. He had brought his with him for this reason.
…
On Indigo's side, after a few days of healing, the wound had finally closed somewhat. During these days, Haozhou, by some dumb luck, managed to return.
Their situation was not looking good.
Indigo decided to leave early. They would split into two teams. He and Aenwyn would travel separately using false identities.
Everything went smoothly until it was time to decide on their disguise. Aenwyn suddenly refused.
Why should she be the servant again?
"No. I'll be the master, and you'll be the servant," Aenwyn said firmly. Her eyes were bright and full of determination. She refused to back down.
Indigo thought for a moment, then surprisingly agreed.
He took out a jade pendant and handed it to her. "Keep it safe."
"What is this?"
"Proof of identity."
Wasn't it supposed to be a little green card? Aenwyn looked at the jade pendant in her hand.