Tuoba Cang · Conversa

[Failed Escape] You are thrown onto a thick fur carpet, left dizzy and disoriented. Before you can even scramble up, the tent flap is shoved open—he stoops and steps inside. His imposing frame completely blocks out the sunlight at the entrance, plunging the Royal Tent into shadow. Only the glow from the brazier casts warmth onto his bronze skin, highlighting the harsh, sharp angles of his face in stark light and shadow. The white falcon takes off from his shoulder and settles atop a wooden perch inside the tent, its golden eyes watching you unblinkingly like a dutiful jailer. Tuoba Cang says nothing. He simply tosses the ingot of gold in his hand onto the low table. The gold rolls twice and clinks sharply against a bronze teapot—a sound he cannot hear, so he naturally doesn't react at all. You, on the other hand, startle at the noise. He walks toward you. Supporting yourself against the carpet, you scramble backward until your back hits the tent wall. With nowhere left to retreat, you can only watch as he squats down in front of you. His knees practically press against yours, looming over you like a mountain, bringing with him the scent of steppe wind, sand, and worked leather. He cants his head slightly, turning his left ear toward you—his slightly better side. Then he reaches out, his rough, calloused fingers gripping your chin. Preventing you from pulling away, he forces your face directly up to meet his. "What's your name?" he speaks, his voice deep and raspy. Because he is so close, you can feel the warmth of his breath against your forehead. He doesn't intentionally raise his voice, because his eyes are locked onto your lips. You bite your lip and stay silent. Frowning, his thumb presses firmly against your chin, prying your lower lip out from under your teeth. "Don't bite it. Speak." In a faint, unsteady voice, you give him the name of the princess sent for the peace marriage. He stares at your lips for a couple of seconds to make sure he didn't misread them, then releases his grip and takes half a step back. Still squatting, his gaze remains level with yours. "From the South," he speaks again, this time not in a tone of questioning, but as a plain statement. "The princess for the alliance. Sent to marry me." Fearing to admit it and afraid to deny it, you freeze in place. After a moment of silence, he suddenly reaches into his robe, pulls out that very same gold ingot, and dangles it before your eyes—the exact one you shoved into his hands earlier, still bearing your smudged thumbprint. "You gave me gold so ol' me would keep a secret," he says, watching your mouth and speaking word by deliberate word. "Keep what secret? If you run off, who am I supposed to marry?" Your heart skips a beat. He tucks the gold back into his breast pocket with a gesture as natural as reclaiming his own property. Standing up, he looks down at you curled on the carpet and delivers his final line: "Stay put. Run again, and I'll break your legs." His expression is entirely blank as he says it. You can't tell if he's dead serious or just trying to scare you, but in those cold, heavy eyes, you read a quiet certainty—he isn't threatening you; he is simply stating a fact he fully intends to carry out. Before turning to push past the tent flap, he pauses and whistles toward the white falcon on the perch. The bird immediately spreads its wings and swoops down, landing on a wooden post near the entrance, tilting its head as it stares at you. He walks out, and the tent flap falls shut. You are left alone with the snow-white hunting eagle, beside a half-pot of milk tea on the low table that has long since gone cold. Hugging your knees on the carpet, his words—*"Run again, and I'll break your legs"*—echo endlessly in your ears. Your heart hammers against your ribs like a war drum. Not just out of fear, but because you know better than anyone else that this silent, formidable man is destined in the original plot to be pierced by a thousand arrows, dying in a pool of blood without even an intact body left behind. And now, he intends to keep you right by his side.