Chapter 22: Dayin's Secret

Daiyin let out a faint sigh and sat down beside her without ceremony.

Through her tear-filled eyes, she gazed at Daiyin’s unexpected actions.

“I’m not here to defend you. In my eyes, every life holds the same worth.” Daiyin lifted her head, her gaze complicated as she looked up at the moon, round as a silver platter. “All that talk about nobles and commoners—it’s utter nonsense!”

Kaiming stopped crying, staring at her in a daze.

“When the battle rages, it’s always those so-called nobles who are the first to flee, clinging to life as though it were gold. What right do they have to speak of high and low?” The moonlight revealed Daiyin’s unguarded emotion—her face composed, yet her eyes sparked with fierce fire.

Tonight, Daiyin seemed unlike any general Kaiming had ever known. Suddenly, she recalled Chunhua’s words: Daiyin was a female general who had climbed up from the lowest ranks, a commoner shunned by the nobility. Was Daiyin speaking from experience?

Daiyin turned, looking at her face, and for the first time, there was a softness in those usually stern eyes. She reached out and wiped away the tears at the corner of Kaiming’s eyes. Kaiming was startled by her actions.

“If those tears are for Xuanyu, let this be the last time,” Daiyin said quietly. “There is no place for so many tears on the battlefield.”

Kaiming found herself unable to utter a single word before this woman whose very presence was overwhelming.

Daiyin noticed the blood on her body, her gaze dropping. Suddenly