The Beloved Guide Was Forced in a Love-Rival Shura Field - Chapter 97

The commotion in front of the imperial palace’s bedchamber was like someone had thrown a bomb into the depths of the Imperial Capital, instantly shaking the entire upper echelon.

Imperial Marshal Xiao Lin directly activated his S-level domain, suppressing the palace guards on the spot, the tip of his sword nearly piercing the face of the Crown Prince.

Every single word in this news was enough to make anyone who heard it dizzy for a long while.

For a moment, beneath the surface of the Imperial Capital, dark currents surged. Outside the Marshal’s residence, countless eyes from the shadows were staring intently. Everyone wanted to know: who exactly was this young man, so treasured and guarded by the empire’s strongest sentinel?

Yet at the eye of this storm, inside the Marshal’s reception room, it was so quiet that the drop of a pin could be heard.

Late at night, Gu Qingfeng dismissed all his attendants and came alone.

He was still in his impeccably tailored formal clothes, wearing that gentle and harmless smile, as if he had simply come to chat over tea with a friend.

Yet the tension in the air was suffocating.

Xiao Lin sat silently beside Ning Ning. His tall frame was like an iron mountain, shielding Ning Ning completely. His black eyes, capable of frightening enemies on the battlefield, now locked onto Gu Qingfeng with unmasked scrutiny and cold sharpness.

The gaze clearly said: Try to lay a hand on him, and see what happens.

Ning Ning was caught in the middle, palms sweating. He could feel the tension in Xiao Lin’s body, like a protective wolf guarding its den, ready to pounce and tear the intruder’s throat out.

Across from them, Gu Qingfeng seemed oblivious to the deadly aura, slowly blowing on his cup of red tea.

He set the cup down, then lifted his eyes—those bottomless eyes—directly toward Ning Ning.

“Ning Ning,” his voice remained gentle but carried an unmistakable seriousness, “I’ve come to propose an alliance with you.”

Xiao Lin’s eyes darkened instantly, and the temperature around him seemed to drop several degrees.

Ning Ning’s heart skipped a beat.

An alliance?

He instinctively glanced at Xiao Lin beside him, then at Gu Qingfeng across the room. One was the empire’s war god, the other a top contender for the throne. These two represented the pinnacle of the empire’s power.

And now… they were asking him to join forces?

Gu Qingfeng seemed to see through his thoughts, the corners of his mouth curling into a deeper smile.

“Don’t misunderstand,” he said slowly, each word like a tiny hammer tapping Ning Ning’s heart. “What I want isn’t your ‘Moon God’ power that could destroy the heavens and the earth. That’s your trump card—but why should it become a chain that binds you?”

He paused, his gaze growing intensely focused, even carrying a faint, barely contained, near-crazed glimmer.

“What I want… is you.”

“Not the power that calms tens of thousands in the Seventh Star Sector; not the one that even tames the fiercest wolves of the empire; not the image the common people see as a symbol of peace and hope… I want you. I want ‘the heart of the people’ that you embody.”

These words completely stunned Ning Ning.

He had never imagined that, in their eyes, his value wasn’t merely his special ability.

Gu Qingfeng continued, raising the stakes, his voice carrying an irresistible temptation: “The Crown Prince is foolish, the Emperor greedy. They see you only as a treasure, a ‘sacred object’ to prolong life and consolidate power. They’ll lock you away, using you until the last bit of usefulness is drained. But I am different.”

“Join forces with me. When I sit on that position, I promise: no one will command you, no one will dare imprison you. The entire empire will be a wall protecting you, not a cage locking you in.”

He finished, quietly waiting for Ning Ning’s answer.

The reception room was silent.

Xiao Lin still said nothing, but Ning Ning could feel the hand resting on the sofa’s armrest, knuckles whitening with tension. Every word from Gu Qingfeng was like a needle precisely striking the one spot Xiao Lin feared most: that Ning Ning might see Xiao Lin’s love as a cage.

Ning Ning looked at the refined and ambitious prince in front of him. He laid his own ambition and sincerity on the table. Then he turned his gaze to the silent but equally steadfast marshal. Xiao Lin’s eyes held no schemes, only clumsy but burning protection, as if saying with them: Don’t be afraid. Whatever you choose, I’m here.

One was a gentle and calculating predator; the other, a loyal giant wolf defending to the end.

Both were waiting for his choice.

Ning Ning knew that what he was about to say could determine whether these two would be enemies or allies, even… the future of the entire empire.

He took a deep breath, and surprisingly, his racing heart began to calm.

He didn’t think long.

Because the answer had been clear from the very beginning.

On the front lines, in life-or-death moments, it was these two—one on the left, one on the right—who had always held up a sky for him.

That trust had already been carved into his bones.

Ning Ning lifted his head, his clear violet eyes as clean as if washed by rain. He first looked at Gu Qingfeng, then at Xiao Lin beside him.

Under the almost holding-their-breath gaze of the two men, he spoke gently but clearly:

“I choose,”

His voice was soft, yet like a warm current, instantly melting the icy standoff in the room.

“Not anyone’s power… but you.”

Those words stunned both men at the pinnacle of imperial power simultaneously.

Xiao Lin’s clenched jaw visibly relaxed. The vigilance and hostility in his eyes shattered like ice under a spring breeze. He stared at Ning Ning, barely believing what he had heard.

Gu Qingfeng’s carefully maintained elegant mask also stiffened, then something truer emerged beneath it. His eyes lost their scheming and depth, leaving only a complex expression mixed with astonishment and relief.

Ning Ning’s answer was brilliant.

He avoided the deadly trap of having to choose between the two.

He didn’t choose anyone’s power—he chose both of them.

These words were more effective than any love confession.

Like the gentlest hand, they removed all the thorns from the hearts of two top-tier jealous men.

“So,” Ning Ning said, violet eyes shining with unprecedented resolve, “whether it’s the Crown Prince or the Emperor… the three of us are on the same side, right?”

“We are comrades.”

The deathly silence was finally broken.

Xiao Lin swallowed, looking into Ning Ning’s trusting eyes. His heart, long suspended by fear and tension, finally fell into place with a thud. A huge, hot, and sour emotion surged through him.

He said nothing, only reached out with a nearly reverent, careful gesture, grasping Ning Ning’s hand on the sofa.

Warm, steady, and with undeniable strength.

Across from them, Gu Qingfeng finally exhaled softly, almost inaudibly, after a long daze.

He leaned back against the sofa, relaxing completely. He looked at Ning Ning, safely held by Xiao Lin, and smiled again—this time, with a genuine sincerity even he hadn’t realized he was showing.

“Good,” he said softly, like answering Ning Ning, yet also like speaking to himself.

“We are comrades.”

That late-night discussion did not end in conflict.

A solid “iron triangle” alliance quietly formed at the center of the empire’s storm.

Gu Qingfeng stood to leave. At the door, he turned back, looking at Ning Ning, shielded by Xiao Lin in the lamplight, and smiled:

“Then, prepare yourselves. Tomorrow… it will be our turn to deliver a ‘grand gift’ to the Emperor and the Crown Prince.”

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