A few days later, the situation at the frontier spread to the capital along with this covenant.

Lin Qing was both physically and mentally exhausted during this time. Hearing that there was an update from the frontier, he was inevitably nervous and worried that there would be further bad news.

It wasn’t until he saw Xi Xun’s letter and the covenant that all the worries in his heart turned into shock as he sat in his high and mighty position, rendered speechless for a long time. The guards who served him thought it was about the army’s defeat, and they were frightened, but they heard him slowly say, “Summon Princess Yong An.”

Lin Feilu had been in mourning during this time, kneeling until she couldn’t even feel her legs anymore. Hearing Lin Qing suddenly summoning her, she vaguely felt that something important might have happened.

Was it their defeat?

Was it to have her escape with the Empress, who was about to give birth?

She walked into the palace with a very conflicted mood, and Lin Feilu didn’t react until she read the letter and the covenant that Lin Qing handed her.

After a long time, she slowly raised her eyes to look at the dignified Lin Qing, pointing at herself suspiciously, “Princess Yong An?”

Lin Qing nodded heavily.

Lin Feilu, “…”

Hold on, what happened to the script that had my stand-in? Why did the plot take a sharp turn to a stupid Emperor that yearns for beauties and not an entire empire?!

Lin Feilu recovered from the shock and was silent for a while before she opened her mouth to speak.

However, she was cut off when Lin Qing frowned, exclaiming loudly, “You can rest assured, Little Lu— even if I die defending the gates of this empire, I will never hand you over!”

Lin Feilu, “…”

She was silent as she looked down at the covenant in her hand. It was written word for word— a treaty that would benefit the Great Lin Empire and its citizens to escape this situation without suffering any harm nor losses. She looked up at Lin Qing, “Imperial Brother, you do know the significance of this covenant to you, the entire empire, and its people, don’t you?”

How could Lin Qing not know the weight of the proposed covenant?

The agreed time of peace was enough for him to secure the throne and even reinforce the Great Lin Empire. At present, if he were to accept it, that treatise alone would have solved all the difficulties and troubles as the Yong Kingdom would be the one vulnerable towards the cooperation of the Great Lin Empire and the Song Empire.

But this was the Imperial Sister he watched grow up, the one he loved and cherished so deeply.

Lin Qing clenched his fists tightly, and his voice came out from between his gritted teeth, “It’s not that the empire is incapable of fighting…”

Lin Feilu shook her head, “If there’s a choice not to fight, why should we fight?”

Lin Qing looked at her steadily.

She unconsciously rubbed the covenant with her fingers and sighed, “With the flames of war, lives will be destroyed, and the people will suffer. When the corpses pile up in this burning wasteland, whose life isn’t going to be considered a life?”

For those who grew up in a society that was ruled by law, the bottom line that could never be crossed was the price of a human life.

Lin Feilu suddenly remembered something from a few years ago, when the Empress Dowager was still alive.

That year was the last year she and Lin Ting had spent with their Imperial Grandmother. At that time, she made a wish on Mount Wutai, hoping for peace in the world.

It never occurred to Lin Feilu that this wish she made would ever come true.