She closed her eyes, feeling tears prick at the edges. "I know you can, and I know you will." She whispered. "I know that. You're the Crown Prince. You've never failed when you've promised something. I know you can protect them."
But even as she said it, her hands gripped the front of his robe tighter, bunching the fabric between her fingers.
"But..." Her voice grew smaller. "My mind won't stop running through possibilities."
"It keeps imagining things." Her voice trembled slightly. "What if you had arrived one minute later? What if the Shadow Guards were delayed? What if..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
Her shoulders began shaking slightly as she pressed her face harder against his chest. "I hate that thought." She whispered fiercely.
"I hate it so much. I know it didn't happen, I know he didn't actually have men, but I can't stop imagining it. I can't ever stop thinking about what could have just happened if you weren't there."
Luo He gently lifted her chin until she was forced to meet his eyes. His expression was serious, focused entirely on her with an intensity that made everything else in the world seem to fade away.
"Honey," he said simply. She looked at him, her eyes shining with tears she was trying to hold back.
"When you became my wife, when you accepted the title and bound yourself to me..." He didn't soften the truth or cushion it with pretty words. "Your life became more dangerous. That's simply reality." He said outright.
He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb, the gesture gentle even as his words remained harsh.
"But from the moment you choose me," he continued, his voice becoming softer but somehow more absolute. "I promiseed you will never face those dangers alone."
"Never. That's a promise I'm going to keep until my last breath, no matter what."His gaze never wavered, never lost focus.
"If someone reaches for you, they reach for me. If someone threatens you, they threaten me. And if someone is foolish enough to forget that, if they actually attempt to follow through on such a threat..."
A calm smile appeared on his face. Terrifying in its utter lack of anger, its pure certainty. "I'll make absolutely certain they'll remember the consequences. Every single one of them."
There wasn't a trace of anger in his voice, only a kind of serene confidence. The confidence of someone who had never made a promise lightly.
Confidence of someone who understood the full weight of his own power and would never hesitate to deploy it in her defense.
For several long moments, Jin Mulan simply searched his face, looking for any hint of doubt or wavering. She found none.
Then, almost timidly, as though she was afraid to speak after witnessing what he'd become in the washroom, she whispered gently. "...Husband."
"Hm?" He shifted slightly, giving her his full attention. "Will you stay beside me..." Her voice was small and vulnerable in a way it rarely was. "...for a while?"
His smile became gentler than before, the edges softening into something almost tender.
"I wasn't planning to leave." He said simply. "If you want me beside you, then I'll stay. You can cling to me as much as you like. I'm not going anywhere honey."
A tiny laugh escaped her, the first genuine one since the nightmare in the washroom began. It was shaky and weak, but it was there. The sound of something in her beginning to heal.
She buried her face against his chest again, her fingers still twisted in his robe.
Yes, he was dressed only she wasn't.
"...Husband," she murmured against the fabric.
"Hm?" He said calmly stroking her long hair. "I've always been proud of being strong." Her voice was muffled but clear enough for him to hear. Then her voice dropped even lower.
"But today, I felt so helpless. So completely powerless. And I..." She paused, struggling with the admission.
"I don't think I'm strong anymore."
She gently lowered her head as if in shame, and was unable to meet his eyes as she voiced what she perceived, as her greatest failure.
Luo He answered immediately, his response sharp and clear. "No." She blinked. "You're wrong." His tone wasn't harsh or dismissive. It was simply firm. The tone of someone stating an absolute fact.
"You haven't become weak just because you encountered someone stronger." He took her face gently in both hands, forcing her to look at him.
"The existence of a taller mountain doesn't mean the one you've already climbed is no longer impressive. It simply means you've discovered that the peak you've reached isn't the highest one that exists."
She remained silent, listening. "You've spent years becoming a pinnacle Grandmaster. You've pushed your cultivation to the very edge of Transcendence."
"That strength is still there. It hasn't gone anywhere." His thumbs brushed across her cheekbones. "Today, you merely discovered that there are mountains taller than the one you've scaled."
"That's not weakness. That's simply awareness." He released her and tapped her lightly over the heart. "You've reached the summit you knew. Today, you caught a glimpse of another."
"One that's higher, that requires more climbing. But the fact that you can see it means you can reach it." His expression became almost proud. "Now you climb again."
Those words seemed to settle deeply with in something inside her. She repeated them silently to herself, letting them reshape how she understood what had happened.
Not failure. Not weakness. A direction.
A next mountain waiting to be scaled.
Her fingers slowly tightened around his sleeve, and then, with a voice that was quiet but steady, she said. "...Then I'll climb it."
The spark had begun to return to her eyes, not confidence, not yet. Something quieter but deeper. Something that burned with genuine intention.
"I'll reach the Divine Realm." She continued, her voice growing stronger. "And when I reach it, when I break through that threshold, I'll keep climbing."
"I'll reach Divine Rank Two. Then Divine Rank Three." She gripped his robe tighter. "I'll never allow myself to stand there helpless again. Never. Not against any opponent. Not against any threat."
The determination in her voice was absolute. Luo He smiled, and there was unmistakable pride in his expression. Not the pride of someone superior looking down, but the pride of someone witnessing a warrior deciding to rise.
"That's the woman I married," he said softly. She rested against him once more, her ear positioned directly over his heart. Every beat reminded her of one simple, undeniable truth.
She was alive. She was safe. She wasn't alone. The memories of what had happened wouldn't fade quickly.
The fear would return from time to time, she understood that now. Trauma didn't simply vanish because someone had survived it. The scars would remain, the nightmares might come, the momentary panic might strike without warning.
She knew that now, and she accepted it.
But beneath those scars, another emotion was already beginning to take root, spreading like morning light across a dark landscape.
Not vengeance. Not hatred. Resolve.
The resolve of a warrior who had discovered her limits and was already planning how to shatter them.
Luo He felt the shift in her without needing a word spoken. The tension in her body was changing, the fear transmuting into something purposeful.
He simply continued holding her, one hand tracing slow patterns across her back. Sometimes, he understood, silence was the greatest comfort a person could offer.
Not because words didn't matter, but because the simple fact of presence, of absolute, unwavering presence, was more powerful than any promise genuine or otherwise could ever be.
Luo He and Jin Mulan returned back to the wedding nearly four hours later. The wedding festivities had already resumed their lively rhythm, as though nothing unusual had happened.
Servants hurried between tables as always, musicians filled the air with cheerful melodies, and nobles laughed over cups of wine. Luo He looked exactly as he had before.
The same plain robe. The same relaxed smile. Jin Mulan, on the other hand, had changed completely. Fresh robes of deep crimson wrapped elegantly around her figure.
Her makeup had been once again very carefully reapplied, and her long hair now fell in gentle waves over her shoulders. She had clearly taken extra care with her appearance.
Not for the guests. For the man beside her. She slipped her hand around Luo He's arm and held it possessively, her fingers refusing to loosen even slightly.
Luo He glanced sideways and chuckled.
"Planning to strangle my arm?" He teased. She squeezed even tighter. "So no shameless woman gets any ideas."
Luo He laughed. "That's reassuring."
She looked him up and down before narrowing her eyes.
"You didn't even change." He spread his arms dramatically. "My wife loves me, not my robe." He said proudly. He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Besides..."
He looked at the worn sleeves.
"This poor old robe has survived more assassination attempts than most generals." He said in her ear so others would clearly see the sudden shift in their marriage dynamics from before.