“I didn’t want to bother you, who are tired from defeating the empire and returning home, so I was dealing with the thieves alone…”

While hearing the soldiers swallow their dry saliva, the man slowly stood up using the sword stuck in the ground.

“Yet the assembly was too late? Has discipline fallen since we won the war?”
“My apologies for the delay, General Hades!”

The soldiers uniformly bowed their heads to Hades after kneeling. However, the man didn’t even respond to the soldiers.

Because he had more important matters than punishing his late subordinates.

After kicking away the crowded hunting dogs, he drew his sword and swiftly wiped the notyetdried bloodstains off onto his black robe.

“It appears we have desert people captured nearby. I’ll quickly scout around, so you take care of their spoils.”

Desert people had an unwritten rule to help each other. Moreover, he couldn’t just overlook the situation knowing what was happening; it was not his style.

He took out a piece of white linen used for bloodstaunching from his robe pocket, wiped it vigorously on the ground to remove the smell of blood, and said,

“You, come here. Yes, correct. I’m talking to you.”

Calling the hunting dog that had acted strangely earlier, he rubbed the linen against the dog’s snout to detect the faint scent of jasmine, then threw it to the other dogs.

The hunting dogs that got the scent began to run somewhere, and Hades straddled his black horse and instructed his subordinates.

“Keep your guard up at all times as there may be more remnants of the bandits coming. I’ll be back soon.”

“Yes, General Hades!”

The infamous Mad Dog, surviving after disobeying the mood of General Hades. Every one of his subordinates bowed their heads with hidden joy and readiness.

The distant cries of the desert people and the howls of beasts that had been heard for a while had long ceased. The women of the refugee group slowly relaxed their stiff bodies and cautiously peeked outside.

Most of the refugees were women, children, and the elderly, as the men had been conscripted and taken away due to prolonged civil wars and wars.

And thieves and slave traders were stirring everywhere to capture such people.

“Has it quietened down now? Have they all retreated?”

“I….think we should wait until dusk, there could still be bandits around.”

Latifa timidly responded to a woman’s question.

The current situation was suspicious to step outside. It was extremely quiet, there were no sounds of receding hoofbeats, and it felt a bit uneasy to think that the bandits had withdrawn.

“Don’t talk nonsense. We don’t have time to linger here.”

“But the danger is still…!”

“Latifa. It’s getting dark soon and we haven’t even found firewood. I don’t know what noble work you’ve done before, but stop acting childish now!”

Brenda, seemingly forgetting how Latifa helped her earlier, yelled at her.

“If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can go out and live on your own right now!”

“No, that’s not it…. I, just….”

Latifa, pressed by her strong energy, eventually could not respond and dragged her words. Even when she was a princess, she couldn’t express her opinions properly, what could she do now?

‘Right. I can’t do anything even if I step in…’

There was never a time in her life when she felt useful. Embracing her position as the 17th princess for years, the builtup feelings of incompetence and selfloathing didn’t surprise her anymore.

‘Let’s go out and gather some dry branches.’

The moment she was about to move quickly, thinking that another hand would be helpful, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle again.

“Ah! My ankle hurts so much….”
At a glance, it was an abnormally swollen ankle, reddish in its inflammation. Knowing that if she showed it to Brenda, she would only be scolded for getting injured again, she hurriedly dropped the hem of her skirt to conceal the swollen ankle.

‘If I become more useless here, Brenda might really abandon me.’

Then, the sound of horse hooves started to come from somewhere.

Startled by the sound of hooves hitting against the wall and the barking of hunting dogs, the people hurriedly gathered together in a circle.

“Don’t stand there like idiots, move!”

“Ahh!”

Sensing someone approaching, Brenda forcefully pushed Latifa aside and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

As the fallen Latifa scrambled to stand up, the wall behind her collapsed with a loud noise.

“Argh!”

The sound of the hunting dogs barking could be heard as a cold wind blew through the collapsed wall.

‘It’s really over now.’

Thud, thud, swallowing dryly at the sound of footsteps approaching over the rubble, the sounds grew closer until they finally stopped right in front of her.

In the shadow of death approaching closely, she covered her mouth with both hands, trembling with her eyes tightly shut.

And then, pat.

“……!”

Startled by the feeling of a gentle hand stroking her forehead, she quickly lifted her head.

When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem

This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Synopsis:

“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”

Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.

Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.

While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the  Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…

Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.

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