Chinese GL

Shen Ni, unable to stop her shijie Bian Jin from going to war to defend their country, secretly sneaks into the army to join her. On the battlefield, she's rescued from nearly certain death by Bian Jin. Bian Jin, as the de facto leader of their sect, punishes Shen Ni for violating her orders orders to stay behind by giving her ten merciless lashes of her whip.

Several years later, Shen Ni has become the empire's top machinist. The (presumed robot) soldiers she has constructed have won many military victories. The emperor has granted her the title of Duke of Jing'an. Bian Jin meanwhile is missing after the troops she was leading were decimated in battle. She's rumoured to have deserted, betrayed the empire and taken up with the (female) emperor of Xuanzhou, an enemy nation. Shen Ni rushes to the capital when she hears that Bian Jin has been captured. She finds Bian Jin covered in wounds: her cybernetic body battered, her mechanical spine broken.

Shen Ni tilted her chin up with warm fingers, letting Bian Jin look at her. "Come with me," she said.