Bai Luochu could hear the embarra.s.sment in Pei Rumo"s voice and she wanted to tease him about it. However, she decided against it. Now that he had already done so much for her, it wouldn"t be nice for her to make fun of him.
Despite being able to sit down with Bai Luochu for a proper meal, Pei Rumo didn"t start eating straight away. He picked out her favorite dishes one by one and placed them into her bowl. He didn"t stop until her bowl was filled.
Bai Luochu picked up her bowl and realized it was full. She knew that Pei Rumo had been busy serving her and with his personality, he wouldn"t eat until she started. “You need to eat too. Stop giving me all the food.”
Pei Rumo shook his head and chided, “You suffered too much these few days and you need to replenish your strength. The soldiers might think that I"ve mistreated you seeing as how you lost so much weight.”
Hearing what Pei Rumo said, Bai Luochu burst out into giggles, “Hahaha, what nonsense! If your soldiers think that I"ve lost weight, they would think that I"m being picky about the food in the Desolate Region. They wouldn"t blame Your First Highness!”
“That"s hard to say…”
“Why would you say that? Aren"t I the outsider when it comes to your army?” Bai Luochu didn"t seem to care that she was the outcast.
“They treated you like an outsider initially but that"s not the case now.” Pei Rumo placed his chopsticks down and continued to explain, “The troops under me are straightforward men and they haven"t seen much of the world other than the battlefield. They are a little slow when it comes to dealing with people and they never thought that a woman would be able to keep up with them on the battlefield. Moreover this is your first time joining the expedition and it"s nothing strange for them to see you as an outsider. However, didn"t you realize that the situation changed after you brought them out of the fog? They started to listen to your orders and they are even treating you as their superior.”
“They seem afraid of me more than anything else. They witnessed the scene where I used my spiritual energy to kill all the demonic beasts attacking us and it was a gory scene to behold. A normal lady wouldn"t be able to do such things. However, it"s nothing strange for them to be afraid of me. People will always fear the unknown…” This scene wasn"t new to Bai Luochu. After all, her sect was annihilated due to the fact that the members cultivated much faster than disciples of other factions. It was the reason they were hailed as an evil sect and the so-called righteous sects killed them off in order to feel more at ease.
Pei Rumo fell into silence after hearing Bai Luochu"s explanation. He didn"t know why, but Bai Luochu emitted a type of melancholic aura after she became blind. Her personality also experienced a huge change.
Pei Rumo immediately dismissed his thoughts. When people lost their sense of sight, their other senses would be heightened. Bai Luochu"s brain activity increased after the incident and her memories of her previous and current life would surface in her mind from time to time. It was the reason she felt different from before.
After a short while, Pei Rumo spoke up again, “That"s fine. If they are afraid of you, they will not dare to bully you. After the campaign to conquer the Desolate Region you probably won"t interact with them anyway.”
Bai Luochu mused, “Aren"t you afraid that they will start spreading news about me in the capital? Won"t they say that Divine Physician Bai is a terrifying female witch? I might turn into an evil witch if the rumor spreads all over the city.”
The same thing happened in her past life. She had outstanding strength when she was young and everyone gave her the name of the evil dao witch. It was human nature to label everyone stronger than them as a monster and work towards that goal. They wanted to stand on the peak of the world like those "monsters" but they slander the "monsters" every chance they get. It was all to keep their pathetic sense of pride or whatever they had left.
Pei Rumo fell silent. When he saw that Bai Luochu"s bowl was empty, he started picking out more dishes for her. “Nonsense! I will ensure that they do no such thing. There is no way they will ruin your reputation after going back to the capital city.”
“What if they do?”
“I"ll deal with them with martial law.” Pei Rumo placed the first bite of food in his mouth and he carelessly replied.
Martial law? Bai Luochu smirked. Before she could ask, Pei Rumo started to explain himself.
Pei Rumo glanced at Bai Luochu from the corner of his eye and said, “The campaign is a secret mission to begin with. If they leak any information regarding our journey, they will be violating martial law. It"s the same as committing treason…” Pei Rumo hesitated for a moment and he felt that if he didn"t continue his explanation, Bai Luochu"s impression of him would change. He was afraid she would see him as a vicious general. However, when he thought about it, his image in her mind was a prince who would use any means to get his way. Since he had already said it, he might as well rea.s.sure her.
“I"ll execute those who spread rumors about you.” Pei Rumo spoke casually. It was as though executing his soldiers was nothing more than raising his hand. However, his words struck Bai Luochu heavily.
How can he speak of killing them so casually? They are the brothers who braved life and death with him.
“Those are your trusted subordinates. You trained those soldiers up yourself.” Bai Luochu reminded him softly.
“If they refuse to listen to my orders, why does it matter if I kill them? Anyway, all the soldiers under me will definitely follow my orders. There is no way they will start to spread rumors about you. I merely wanted to rea.s.sure you that nothing will happen after we return to the capital city.” Pei Rumo didn"t want to stress Bai Luochu out and he hastily explained himself.
Bai Luochu laughed when she heard his explanation. “I guess it"s fine. Imagine the First Prince killing his loyal soldiers for a woman… You"ll be labeled with the t.i.tle of a muddle-headed ruler blinded by beauty. A disaster will fall on my head if that happens.”
Pei Rumo broke into laughter after Bai Luochu. “Hahaha, I never thought that you would start making fun of me! It seems like this trip isn"t a wasted one.”
Perhaps it was because Pei Rumo knew that she wasn"t able to see him, he looked at her with a tender expression he had never shown others before. He gave her his word, “As long as I, Pei Rumo, am alive, I will hide the secrets you want to keep hidden.”
Bai Luochu heard his solemn vow and her body shook. She felt a burning gaze lock onto her body and she hurriedly lowered her head. After avoiding Pei Rumo"s pa.s.sionate gaze, she muttered, “I"ll have to thank Your First Highness in advance…”