My Partner Always Wants to Dig My Grave - Chapter 45

Excruciating pain radiated from her abdomen and chest, spreading through every limb, causing Si Wan’s body to tremble uncontrollably. Her increasingly pale complexion made her tightly furrowed brows appear as if coated in frost, exuding a chilling intensity that kept others at bay.

Si Wan’s hand pressed tightly against her chest, where warm, sticky fluid seemed to seep through her fingers, intensifying her agony.

“General!”

The panicked voice of a soldier and the swirling yellow sand jolted Si Wan awake from her suffering.

The armor worn by the soldier before her was identical to that of the skeletal soldiers she had seen lining the corridors of the ancient tomb.

Her gaze fixed on their armor, Si Wan lost herself in thought, momentarily forgetting the pain she had just endured.

As she stood dazed, a few drops of blood splattered near her feet. A figure hurried past her, carrying a basin of bloody water that caught Si Wan’s attention. The cotton cloth soaked in the water had lost its original color.

Though the blood in the basin had been diluted, Si Wan knew that in an era with underdeveloped medical knowledge, such a significant loss of blood meant the person had narrowly escaped death.

Suddenly, a violent cough erupted from the tent ahead. Even in such a state, the person seemed to suppress the sound, as if afraid of being discovered by someone.

Once the coughing finally subsided, a hoarse voice spoke from within.

“Has… His Highness Nan… been sent away?”

“Reporting to the General…”

The subordinate hesitated, but a cold glance from the general prompted him to lower his head and prepare to answer. At that moment, another voice, all too familiar to Si Wan, reached her ears.

“Where is your general? Si Wan… Where is Si Wan?!”

Sheng Zhen’s tone was frantic. Ignoring the soldiers saluting her along the way, she hurriedly made her way to the general’s tent, only to be stopped by the guards outside.

“Your Highness, the Eldest Princess, you cannot enter…”

“Why?!” Sheng Zhen’s expression darkened as she demanded an explanation.

Noticing their evasive demeanor, her face grew even more troubled. She spoke again, her tone leaving no room for refusal.

“How dare you! This princess’s status is of the highest nobility. If you dare block my path again, I will have you punished. Let me in, I must see her!”

Sheng Zhen’s arrogance was palpable, but Si Wan, observing from the side, noticed something others might have missed: every one of Sheng Zhen’s actions now betrayed the panic that comes with deep concern.

Si Wan studied Sheng Zhen closely. She appeared no different from the last time Si Wan had seen her in a dream, except…

Her gaze lingered on the delicate, slender white jade hairpin nestled in Sheng Zhen’s intricately styled hair, accentuating its translucent purity.

Faced with Sheng Zhen’s threats, the guards at the tent exchanged uneasy glances. Hesitant to lay hands on someone of her esteemed status, they were at a loss.

Just then, the voice from inside the tent spoke again, clear and composed, as if the person who had been coughing violently moments earlier was someone else entirely.

“Let it be. Allow her to enter.”

With the general’s permission, the soldiers had no choice but to comply.

The moment she was granted entry, Sheng Zhen rushed inside, her steps unsteady. She grabbed the military physician who was about to pass by, her face etched with worry.

“How is she?”

The female military physician flinched at Sheng Zhen’s sudden movement. Her eyes darted toward the general, who had already straightened up, but a sharp glance from the latter sent a chill down her spine, laden with warning.

Seeing no response, Sheng Zhen tightened her grip on the physician’s arm, her brow furrowed as she demanded, “Speak! What exactly is wrong with her?”

Finally snapping back to reality, the physician attempted to bow in respect, but her arm remained firmly in Sheng Zhen’s grasp. Wiping cold sweat from her forehead, she replied in as calm a tone as she could muster, “Your Highness, General Si is not in serious condition.”

“Nan’an, did you hear that? I’m truly fine.” The seated woman forced a faint smile, suppressing the metallic taste of blood in her throat as she spoke, trying to maintain her usual composure.

But her words only earned her a furious glare from Sheng Zhen, who snapped, “Do you truly think I am blind and deaf?!”

Stunned by the rebuke, the general felt the blood rise in her throat once more. An uncontrollable cough bent her upright posture, though she struggled to steady her trembling shoulders.

Seeing this, Sheng Zhen immediately released the physician’s hand and rushed to sit beside her. Yet, faced with the general’s state, she froze, unsure of what to do.

“Si Wan, Si Wan…” Panic-stricken, Sheng Zhen hesitated to touch her, afraid of aggravating her injuries.

“What are you standing there for?! Help her, now!” she cried out anxiously to the physician.

Just then, the general grasped Sheng Zhen’s wrist. Weak as she was, her grip lacked its former strength.

Realizing this, Sheng Zhen fought back tears, her expression pleading as she whispered, “Please, Si Wan, listen to me. If the military physician can’t help, I’ll take you back. The imperial physicians will surely have a solution.”

But the general merely waved a hand, dismissing the physician. Only after the woman had left did she turn to Sheng Zhen, her gaze unusually tender, though her tone remained as stern as ever. “Nan’an, desertion in the face of battle is a capital offense.”

At these words, the tears Sheng Zhen had been holding back burst forth like a broken dam, warm droplets falling onto the general’s hand. Choking back sobs, she said, “Si Wan, nothing matters more than you staying alive.”

Standing nearby, Si Wan listened to Sheng Zhen’s choked voice. More than heartache, she felt a growing confusion about the name Sheng Zhen had used repeatedly in this dream, “Si Wan.”

The similarity between “Wan” and “Wan” in pronunciation was slight, yet Sheng Zhen had addressed the general as “Si Wan” multiple times. This stirred a long-buried thought within Si Wan, hinting at a possibility she had suppressed.

Before she could ponder further, the general spoke to Sheng Zhen in an unusually gentle tone, “My Nan’an, delicate as jade and gold, it was my selfishness that brought you to this corpse-strewn frontier, exposing you to such frights. I am deeply remorseful. With the battle imminent, I will arrange for your return to the capital…”

Before she could finish, Sheng Zhen glared at her with red-rimmed eyes, cutting her off. “You still want to send me away? In your current state, how could I dare to leave?”

Seeing Sheng Zhen’s resolve, the general could only sigh in resignation and pull her into an embrace.

Mindful of the general’s injuries, Sheng Zhen remained perfectly still, allowing herself to be held.

Sheng Zhen’s nostrils were filled with the scent of blood mixed with herbs from the other person. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, yet it made her heart ache as if being torn apart by a knife.

Suddenly, Sheng Zhen felt a sharp pain in her neck, and then her vision went dark. Before losing consciousness, she vaguely heard the other person speak to her with an apologetic tone.

“Nan’an, I’m sorry.”

Watching the two embracing, Si Wan’s heart was a tumult of conflicting emotions, unable to articulate what she truly felt. Then, she shifted her gaze away from them and began observing the interior of the tent.

A suit of armor placed to the side caught Si Wan’s attention. The armor, reflecting a cold gleam, had a red cloak draped behind it, which triggered a memory of a mural in the first tomb chamber she had entered, depicting that very same red cloak.

At this thought, Si Wan froze for a moment and looked again at the person holding Sheng Zhen, a strange feeling stirring within her.

Unaware of Si Wan’s presence, the person merely lowered their gaze slightly, looking at the unconscious Sheng Zhen in their arms with a reluctant expression. Their fingertips gently brushed Sheng Zhen’s face before lingering on the hairpin in her hair, caressing it for a moment as if lost in thought.

“I always knew it was me who held you back.”

They spoke, mercilessly blaming themselves.

But in the end, they forced themselves to stand up, lifted Sheng Zhen, and walked out step by step. Despite being severely injured, their movements remained careful and gentle, and every step was steady.

They placed Sheng Zhen into a carriage that had been prepared long ago, taking one last look at her. In that instant, it was as if they finally understood why, in their youth, they had been forced to leave under other pretexts.

As the carriage carrying Sheng Zhen gradually faded into the distance, the person finally allowed a trace of exhaustion to show, staring for a long time in the direction the carriage had gone, just as they had stubbornly longed to return in their younger days.

Si Wan’s ears were filled with deafening shouts. In a daze, the glint of blades and shadows of swords appeared before her, severed limbs, rivers of blood, the smoke and flames of war, all the things that disgusted and shattered her, impossible to ignore.

These scenes transformed her recurring nightmares into vivid images, revealing a hellish landscape where the red cloak behind that person fluttered in the fierce wind, its arc identical to the one in the mural.

The blood-soaked ground and scattered bones beneath her feet were concealed by wild grass, yet the brutality of war made the land seem as if it were haunted by thousands of aggrieved souls, wailing and reliving the battles of their past lives.

Sheng Zhen’s haggard figure brushed past Si Wan, stumbling over something on the ground. Seeing the horrifying bones beneath her feet, the emotions she had suppressed for days finally erupted, shattering all traces of her former elegance and composure.

She wept as if her heart were breaking, though not out of fear of the bones.

Si Wan watched helplessly as Sheng Zhen scrambled on the ground, searching for something in her disheveled state, a sight that tugged at the heartstrings. Si Wan reached out to help her up, but the moment her hand passed through Sheng Zhen’s body, she remembered, this was nothing but an unfamiliar dream to her.

Sheng Zhen’s fingertips were caked with mud, yet she paid it no mind, muttering to herself.

“It was me… I came too late…”

Sheng Zhen lifted her head, her eyes burning with boundless hatred, making her appear like a vengeful spirit clawing its way out of hell.

“Why did they force you to marry, yet still refuse to let you go?”

Si Wan met Sheng Zhen’s gaze. Though she knew it wasn’t her that Sheng Zhen hated, she still froze momentarily at the intensity in those eyes.

A faint, ethereal voice whispered beside her ear, jolting her abruptly from the dreamlike state she was in.

“Si Wan, Si Wan… is this too frightening? I’ll make them leave right away, alright? Please don’t scare me like this.”

Gradually regaining her senses, Si Wan found Sheng Zhen’s worried, fearful face hovering before her. Almost instinctively, she forced a faint smile and opened her mouth to offer comfort out of habit.

“I’m fine.”

Hearing Si Wan’s words, Guan Yue and Nian Nian finally let out sighs of relief.

Guan Yue helped Si Wan sit down, furrowing her brows as she said, “You scared us to death just now. We almost thought you were going to die here.”

…