A Wuxia Tale: Blade in Training

Between Twins

(WANG HUA)

I will kill my brother. Really kill him. How dare he...?! He...Wang Dao, he...

"Let me get this in line," my fiance frowned as Prince Jin sat next to me on a long chair inside the Prince's Pavilion. Dao was sitting on a solo chair opposite from us, in the shared living room of this place for my Prince. "You have a "presence" in your mind?" Jin looked at me. "Did I use the right term? A presence?"

I nodded. "Yes. Last week, my stupid brother..." I gestured at Dao. "Lost to me on a combat because he is distracted about a nagging "presence" on his mind. I told him to block that presence so it won't affect his focus while guarding the Crown Prince..."

"And I tried doing that," Dao said quickly. "I thought I was succeeding. I thought I am doing it. Until today..." he looked around. "Speaking of my Crown Prince, are you sure he is fine?"

"Father is feeding him. He is fine," I scowled at my brother.

"I think so," Jin smiled as he agreed with me. "Your Father was quite efficient in pushing Princess Nadira out of the estate after what happened in the lake and ushering Han to have some fruits and flatcakes."

Yes. Yes that. But for now, Crown Prince Han is not the issue. It's my brother.

"Stop changing the subject and tell me again about your plan to reach this presence. Your said plan to find it." And idea that I find ridiculous. But I won't know unless my brother will talk so I am urging Dao to share more of his plans to me.

"Not it. Him. It's a male." Dao said as he relaxed against the backrest of his seat.

A male. Like that makes anything better in my perspective. "I don't care if it's a male, a female, a cow or a horse. I don't even care if it's a literal ocean. How will you find that presence?" My twin is frustrating me.

And Dao has the gall to smile at me. "I don't know." My twin jovially said.

That made me froze. Prince Jin, who is fast becoming familiar with my different moods, sat straight in attention. "My love," he reached for my hand. I let him hold it while I fixed my brother a bewildered look. "You...don't know? What do you mean you don't know?" My teeth started gnashing on each other.

Dao sighed. "Hua...it's a complicated process. It involves our minds."

"Our? Whose our?"

"Mine and that presence." Dao clarified.

"Oh. Those minds. I see..." I clamped my lips and breathed in deeply. "And so, are you pushing me on the side now? Excluding me? Wang Dao may I remind you, I am your twin! I didn't realize that my tone is going up in volume.

"I don't need a reminder for that," Dao winces before sighing. "I know we have a special kind of connection. But I think in this, you have to step aside and trust me to handle this."

"Trust you to handle this? After I watch you scream in pain and collapse on that bridge...you want me to step aside?" Is my brother losing his mind now?

Dao let his eyes met mine so I can see how serious he is about this matter. "Yes," he said. "Step aside, Wang Hua."

It felt like a sharp object piercing a part of my heart. That part I only reserve for my twin. Dao, I think he saw the pain in my eyes, sighed apologetically. "It's a battle I think I have to tackle by myself. It's between me and that person. There are too many unknown variables in this and I am not confident that it won't get out of my control. I don't want you caught up in the storm with me without any clear way out. I won't risk you that way," he told me.