Thanks for the follow! I too love the wuxia genre, and the occasional k-drama. Be sure to recommend me some if you would like too!

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"Thank you for taking it easy one me."

The General glanced at her, and shook his head, clearly disagreeing with her train of thought.

It had been a long hard day of training, and they now found themselves on a large field at dusk, exhausted and hopeful that their efforts had panned out.

"Really, you've been such a good player when I kind of hijacked your men away from you," the Cheiftain's Daughter teased. Looking deep into the General's eyes, she quickly realized what she was doing and turned her head towards the stars.

For a second there, she could have sworn she saw starlight glittering in his eyes. How silly was that?

The General, formerly known as the First Prince of the Chen Family, merely smiled, amused at her words.

Quickly tracing characters in the sand, he wrote, Eldest Prince. Leader. Conqueror. Order.

"Yes, but you are still the General. You could have refused to let your men be trained," she corrected. Knowing that she could probably never change his mind, she rambled on about the names of the stars above and how others thought they were tied to people's fate.

He eyed her out of the corner of his eye, wondering what would have happened had he not called for her help that day. Perhaps the Conqueror would have not asked her to discipline them in under a month...Although, it had given the men motivation to train harder-being selected as a troop acting on special orders, that is.

Now, if only their Captain, the Eldest Prince, had been as...cooperative as the men that followed him.

Chen Bowen grimaced upon recollecting using the Conqueror's prior used method of pouring buckets of water on the recovering alcoholic. At the end of the day, Chen Bowen was a General, not the Captain of that regiment. He could not lead them everyday when there were other squadrons and battalions that needed supervising.

However, a miracle occurred throughout this month. Successfully, the Chieftain's Daughter taught the men battle tactics from her nomadic tribe. Sharpening their skills in the wilderness, he believed that they suffered more than most had during their entire lives. Fortunately, he was now confident that the Conqueror would spare his brother, the Eldest Prince, at the end of this month.

If there was one thing he regarded as treasure in this life, it would be the bond between brothers. Although the Conqueror treated the Eldest Prince differently, the General thought that half-brothers should still be thought of as brothers. After tragically losing his only brother, it made him see how precious life can be.

Power, riches, war, glory...even fame cannot compare to the tender moments shared between blood brothers. As he viewed it so in his eyes, he commanded the regiment to respect their leader, and secretly provided him with adequate food, lodging and support. Who knows? Maybe one day he might put a stop to end his philandering days and make his brother, the Conqueror, proud.

Startled from his thoughts by the sigh of his companion, he braced himself for sad news. Only to recognize it as a sigh of utter contentment and see the smile illuminating her pale face.

Under the moonlight, she shined brighter than the stars above.

She remarked, "The stars shine radiantly tonight."

Without thinking twice, Chen Bowen traced characters lightly on her gentle hands. Not as radiant as you do though.

The Chieftain's Daughter, Altani, giggled, brushing up his attempt with a mere wave. "Nice try, but the stars existed long before us, resplendent in their glory. And they will probably outlast us all. Are you trying to conject such an ancient being could not compare to an average face as mine?"

Altani observed that he seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, only to see him patting the ground beside him.

"Want me to sit with you?", she asked, shocked that someone so reserved as him would desire that.

He nodded, pulling out a blanket when she scooched closer. Motioning her to sit on it, he presented a canister filled to the brim with water.

"What is this?"

Pointing to it, she reckoned he wanted her to look inside it. Once she did, she spotted the full moon reflecting on the still water.

"Yes, the moon..." Once again, he shook his head, and she sighed. Trying one more time, she saw the sight he intended her to see.

A pretty face stared back at her. Startled, she noticed features she had never observed before: pastel thin lips, a defined chin, pearly skin and eyes full of wonder. Rubbing a hand through her luscious locks, she wondered if this is how the other soldiers at camp viewed her.

Not that the General was right in his assessment, clearly the stars glistened much much brighter than any human could strive to...but she was not as plain as she assumed.

Which made her think...why would someone like the General point it out to her? Perhaps could he...no, he was not the type to flirt with woman like the Sixteenth Prince, or assume they would leap into his arms like the Eldest Prince, or not spare a second glance as the Conqueror...however, that would not explain...

I heard you say you lacked confidence in your appearance. Having a commander lack confidence in any area is dangerous, he wrote.

Oh, so he did it to be polite. Typical, she misread the situation. Reminding herself that not all men were like the Sixteenth Prince, constantly asking for her hand, she strove to not misunderstand in the future.

A man like the General, a former King, probably had many options to choose from including several intelligent beauties serving in the Jurchen army. Why pick the daughter of a nomadic tribe?

Hiding her tears, she buried any hint she might hold some feelings for the gentleman, and grinned.

Noticing Altani faked her grin, Bowen opened his mouth. Then, he remembered the vow of silence he made after the untimely death of his mute brother. Asking her what was wrong also probably went far beyond what a supervisor should do. In fact, maybe hanging out with her after the month was over would be a bad idea from now on.

A bad idea for whom? He could not say.

Rising to his feet, he almost offered his hand to help her up, but refrained. What if she got the wrong idea?

Suddenly, the Archer, Yang Haoran, came upon them on his nightly stroll. Bowing before the General, Chen Bowen stopped him, and directed him to relax.

Yang Haoran spotted the lady packing up the items in her sack, and asked, "Would you like me to accompany back to camp?"

"Of course," she quipped, placing her elbow through his arm so as to not lose her way in the dark. After all, only the moon and stars flickered to light their way.

The General bristled, making him wonder if perhaps...He found himself reaching for her hand as she left. Noticing she glanced back, he returned it to its proper position, pretending everything was fine.

It was not. In his head, the warning bells were going off on full blast. Was he...no. It had been more than six years, and he had not broken his vow of silence. Although attractive women existed in this world, he had not been tempted to break it to speak to any of them...However, the Chieftain's Daughter was...Nope.

Sealing a lid on that train of thought, he promised to henceforth interact with her less outside of mandatory meetings in the war tent at camp. Leaving other matters to his subordinates would be good for them, not that he could claim to be a micromanager...

Wait, would this be considered avoiding her presence? Why would he need to do that as he was a functioning adult? What had she done wrong?

Walking into camp, he realized it was not what she had done, rather how he treated her. Interacting with his subordinates in a professional manner was proper, following the orders of the Conqueror was natural, but the way he treated Altani compared to the other women in the army...was he perhaps favoring her? No, not favoring her...but what on earth prompted him to take it upon himself to call her more radiant than the stars?

Was he a fool?

Pausing before his sleeping quarters, he observed the Archer showing the Chieftain's Daughter a new bow he made by himself. Unexpectedly, the sight stirred up some strange feeling in his heart he had never felt before-at least not to this extent.

Alas, what could a deaf-mute general give to a lady like that compared to a wealthy merchant like Yang?

Was he...no. He laughed it off, heading into his tent for a good night's rest.

Still, a tear silently streamed down his face once he succumbed to sleep.

Forsaking love was easy in the daylight, harder in the harsh silence.

Never had silence been so suffocating.

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Author's note: *cries* I love the General! (Great...I fell in love with a fictional character yet again.) In my eyes, you're worthy! (I can't believe I'm crying over a man that doesn't exist!) Anyways, does anyone else want to see him find happiness...eventually?