Vol 8 Chapter 59 (2/2)

“Did you know, elder brother? In one of the battles, Lord Huang Zu left the city and met the enemy in battle because the enemy insulted your name.”

“… Oh?” Liu Biao’s eyes bulged when he heard this.

“That battle was not ours to fight but she didn’t regret it at all afterwards. Because she felt that she was fighting for your honour.” When I said this, I looked at Liu Biao and saw that he looked a lot more serious than before and decided that this was enough, “So, with respect to Lord Huang Zu, I hope that you can give her a fair judgement. Because while Lord Huang Zu’s strength was insufficient, and she herself had admitted as much, she has truly done everything she could.”

Yes, she has done everything she could. And exhausted her life in the process, to fulfill the promise to ‘defend to the death’ (死守).

“So such a thing happened huh,” Liu Biao said with warm eyes and sank into thought for a moment before shaking his head, “Even though she never really addressed respectfully nor did she show her respect in other ways. If you never told me this, I would have thought that she resented me for making her stay in Jiangxia.”

“No,” I immediately refuted this, because I know that the truth is not as Liu Biao said.

“Lord Huang Zu said that she has always been willing to help you in any way and has never resented you for making her lead the garrison of Jiangxia.”

— Jiangxia is an important city. To the east is the Sun clan and to the north is Cao Cao. It is a bridgehead that connects Jing state to Jiangdong. For the sake of lightening my lord’s burden, I am willing to defend this place to the death. I don’t have much else that I’m good at, but I do have the ability to fight to the death.

“… Eh.” Just as I finished, Liu Biao closed his eyes and silently lowered his head and softly called out to Huang Zu. He placed the hand he had been using to stroke his goatee on the table and looked lost and sad.

“I’ve let Huang Zu stand guard at Jiangxia for 5 years now. I save her when she was about 10 or so, settled her in Xiangyang for 2 years, brought her with me to my battles for another 2 years, and sent her to Jiangxia thereafter.” Liu Biao said softly, “She was still a child back then, and only a year older than Liu Qi but she’d already had more than her fair share of experiences in the battlefield. Her const.i.tution isn’t very good but she’s always been a fighter. When she left, she even engraved ‘死守’ on her plate skirt.”

“Yes, when I reached Jiangxia, Lord Huang Zu was still wearing the very same plate skirt.” I added, “Until the very end, Huang Zu was fulfilling her mission.”

“Un… Yes.” Liu Biao said, before muttering, “She didn’t have to…”

Perhaps Liu Biao thought so but Huang Zu would definitely disagree. Given her personality, if she said she would defend it to the death, she would definitely do it.

“Elder brother, what do you think about Lord Huang Zu?”

“How do I think about her huh…” Liu Biao sank into deep thought. I don’t know if it was because he was merely finding the right words, but he quickly raised his head and said firmly, “Though this might sound strange, but I’ve always thought of her who had a commoner background as ‘royalty’.”

“I see…” I smiled and nodded.

If it were someone else, they would definitely not understand what Liu Biao meant. If it were not for Huang Zu who told me the meaning behind her name, I would probably not understand it.

I have to admit, when it comes to Liu Biao, that is perhaps the greatest praise he can give.

Did you hear that, Huang Zu…

“Ah…”

“Ah, ah, you’re awake now huh?”

“Un… This is… Am I…”

“Umm, don’t worry, you’re still alive.”

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