For the Sake of My Love, I Command You to Fall on Your Sword and Depart This World

Ren Tianye quickly handled his official duties.

Since Su Xiu of the Su family had invited him, he had to give them face, both out of respect for Su Hong and because the Su family could provide an endless supply of resources.

Once he had mostly finished the tasks at hand, Ren Tianye stood up. "Wang Ming."

"Here!"

"Come with me to the Su Manor."

"Yes, General!"

"Speaking of which, this is my first time visiting the Su Manor. I've heard it's the largest estate in Yunji City; I ought to take a good look."

Ren Tianye was in a fairly good mood and felt inclined to banter a bit with his lieutenant, Wang Ming.

Led by Wang Ming, he stepped out of the General's Manor, only to see a rider galloping madly toward them. From a distance, the rider shouted, "General! General! Someone from the palace has arrived..."

Ren Tianye paused slightly.

The palace?

Empress Xiao Mingzhao had sent someone?

However, after a brief thought, it made sense.

It had been a while since he started his rebellion. Many things had happened during this time, and he had even crossed paths with General of the Guards, Lu Qing. His capture of Yunji City could no longer be kept a secret.

It was not surprising that Empress Xiao Mingzhao knew.

But...

So what if she knew? What was her purpose in sending someone?

To negotiate as an envoy?

Or something else?

Ren Tianye didn't dwell on it. To him, Xiao Mingzhao was the chief culprit behind the absurdity of this Great Yu world.

With an Empress who only cared about romance, her subjects would naturally follow suit.

And the logic of a female-oriented romance novel was beyond normal human comprehension. He simply asked, "Where are they?"

"They have reached the city gates," the messenger reported. "It is an imperial honor guard from the palace. The carriage is painted vermilion with a phoenix head motif on the roof."

"Sounds similar to the carriage we used to bluff our way through the gates of Yunji City."

Ren Tianye nodded. "Who is delivering the message?"

"Armored soldiers are clearing the way, and there seems to be an old eunuch sitting inside."

"Then summon them to the General's Manor. I am quite curious to see what the Empress is up to."

Ren Tianye took his lieutenant Wang Ming back into the manor, sat down on his tiger-skin chair, and closed his eyes to rest.

It didn't take long before the sound of footsteps echoed at the entrance. A group of people filed in, led by a hunched, pale, beardless man with a face full of wrinkles.

"How insolent!"

"I am here on Her Majesty's orders to deliver a decree. How dare you, Ren Tianye, not set up an incense altar and come out to receive it? How dare you remain seated behind your desk?"

"Do you have any respect for Her Majesty?"

"Do you have any respect for the imperial court?"

The old eunuch spewed a stream of curses right off the bat, striking an arrogant and overbearing posture.

However, the moment he finished speaking, the fully-evolved Guerrilla General Sun Xiang stepped up and slapped him across the face.

"Impudence! The man before you is the Great General!"

"What kind of lowly creature are you?"

"How dare you speak to the Great General like that?"

"Believe it or not, I'll castrate you a second time!"

The old eunuch stumbled from the slap, clutching his face in sheer disbelief. "Ren Tianye, you... you... you really have rebelled."

"Smack!"

Sun Xiang delivered another slap. "If you have something to say, spit it out! Cut the crap!"

Only then did the old eunuch stand up resentfully. He glared coldly at Sun Xiang, as if trying to memorize his face, before saying, "I have come specifically to deliver a decree to you."

"However, before I left, Duke Ren privately slipped me a note, asking me to give it to his worthless... to give it to his son."

"Ren Tianye, take it."

The old eunuch took out a letter and handed it to Sun Xiang. After checking it for any hidden dangers, Sun Xiang passed it to Ren Tianye.

Ren Tianye frowned slightly.

Duke Ren?!

Wasn't that his predecessor's blatantly biased father?

If the eunuch hadn't mentioned it, he would have almost forgotten. His predecessor was the true young master of the Duke Ren estate, but he had been discarded by them like an old shoe.

Therefore, he had basically never used the name of the Duke Ren estate.

Otherwise, with the title of Duke Ren behind him, he wouldn't have had to put in so much effort to start a rebellion.

If he had raised that banner, countless people would have willingly joined him; he wouldn't have needed to build his forces bit by bit like this.

After all, his previous identity was merely a Guerrilla General.

In the Northern Frontier military hierarchy, the highest rank was the General Who Guards the North, followed by the General Who Pacifies the North, then the Garrison Commander, and then the Regional Commander!

The Regional Commander also had a direct subordinate Commandery, responsible for military training and logistics.

Only after that came the Guerrilla General!

He was just an inconspicuous mid-level officer in the Northern Frontier military system.

With no one at his disposal other than a twenty-man personal guard, he had been forced to seize the military tally and attack Yunji City.

Now that he had succeeded, his predecessor's cheap father was sending a letter?

Ren Tianye was completely dismissive.

But he unfolded the letter anyway.

The opening lines were a shock.

"You insolent brat, how dare you rebel?"

"The century-old reputation of the Duke Ren estate, generations of loyalty, have all been destroyed by your hands!"

With just those sentences, Ren Tianye lost all interest in reading further.

Needless to say, the rest would be nothing but reprimands.

The problem was, when his predecessor first returned to the estate, the Duke Ren family made things difficult for him in every possible way, allowing the fake young master to suppress him while the whole family took the fake's side.

They exiled his predecessor to the frontier, giving him only the minor post of Guerrilla General, and deliberately placed him under the command of Zhang Wei, a well-connected staff officer, just to keep him down.

They tormented his predecessor until he died of depression.

And now they were talking about disgracing the family name?

How truly laughable!

Ren Tianye closed the letter, though his eyes accidentally caught the last line of text at the bottom.

"Surrender at once and submit to Eunuch Wang's judgment!"

He simply picked it up and ripped it to shreds with a tearing sound.

"Good, good, good..." Eunuch Wang's anger deepened upon seeing this. "Ren Tianye, you truly are lawless. You even dare to tear up your own father's letter?"

"Can you really not see that your rebellion will implicate your entire family?"

"Smack!" Sun Xiang delivered a third slap and hauled Eunuch Wang up by his collar. "If you spout any more nonsense, or utter one more disrespectful word to my Great General, I will throw you off the walls of Yunji City right now."

Meeting Sun Xiang's vicious glare, Eunuch Wang's already pale face turned ghastly white, and he timidly shut his mouth.

He took an imperial decree from the young eunuch behind him and said, "Ren Tianye, receive your orders."

Seeing Ren Tianye sitting motionless, he didn't dare say anything else. He could only open the decree and read the Empress's handwritten words aloud, pausing after every word.

"Among My many body doubles, you were the one I favored the least..."

Unexpectedly, this imperial decree did not begin with the traditional formal phrasing. Instead, it was written in almost colloquial language.

However, spoken in the old eunuch's shrill voice, it made the already awkward atmosphere even more uncomfortable.

Eunuch Wang paid no mind to this. Instead, with a smug look on his face, he read it with immense emotion.

"But I never expected your love for Me to be so deep and sincere. To attract My attention, you did not hesitate to rebel. To claim your place in My heart, you actually killed Zhan Shubai."

"I am deeply moved."

"However, My heart already belongs to another."

"The Third Prince of the barbarians, Tuoba Xiangtai, is a man of noble character. Our love is as deep as the ocean, making him a perfect match for me."

"I have already gifted him Shanhe City as my dowry. He has also taken a liking to Yunji City, and I have agreed to his request."

"For the sake of my love, you are hereby ordered to immediately withdraw your troops from Yunji City and end your own life. I will remember you in my heart forever!"

...