Frankly, Yuehwa didn't care who the princess eventually ended up marrying, but she agreed to stick her hand into the fray because she didn't like it when people were made to do things against their own free will. If she had been in the princess's shoes, she would have kicked up a storm in the palace instead of hiding in a corner of her room crying.
There were three days left till the start of the sparring championships—and Yuehwa was pilfering barbecued stingray from the palace kitchens.
"You simply can't think on an empty stomach," she said to herself as she took a whiff at her lunch.
Even though she now had a legitimate reason to be wandering around the palace and the princess had arranged for all her meals and lodging to be taken care of, she still preferred to go around hunting for her own food. The food that the palace maids ate was bland and dull, much too simple for a connoisseur like the Phoenix.
Lunch in hand, she wandered off to her favourite lunch spot in the palace—the little pond in the gardens with the rainbow-coloured fish. Even though her first experience by the pond had ended in a soggy mess, that didn't stop her from returning to it again.
"Would you like some?" She waved her chopsticks above the pond, teasing the poor fish within. "I don't think it'd be ethical for me to feed this to you. It would be tantamount to eating your cousin." She flicked her wrist and sent the mouthful of barbecued ray into her own mouth instead.
"Fancy seeing you again," a familiar voice called out.
Turning round, Yuehwa scowled when she realised who it was. Still dressed in his black guard's uniform, the man whom she had kicked into the very same pond a couple of days back walked over and sat himself down on the grass beside her. She ignored him and continued picking at her plate of barbecued ray.
"I'll bet you're the only palace maid I'll find eating her lunch by the pond," he continued. "You serve the princess, don't you? I've seen you leaving the princess's quarters before."
"And why does that matter to you?" Yuehwa snorted.
A guard from Gi who was keeping an eye on the princess's quarters. Clearly the crown prince of Gi was highly interested in the prospect of marrying the princess, else he wouldn't have sent his subordinate to keep watch.
"Just curious, that's all," he replied. "They say the princess of Dahai is the most beautiful woman in all the five kingdoms. I wonder what she must look like if her palace maids are all as beautiful as you are."
Yuehwa almost choked on her fish when she heard that, her cheeks flushing bright red.
Shooting the man an evil glare, she picked up a stray rock that was lying around and threw it straight at his head. It bounced lightly off his forehead, landing back on the ground with a soft thud.
"Are all men from Gi fond of opening their mouth and spewing nonsense?" she retorted.
"Have you met many of us around?" He winked in response. Laughing jovially, he leaned back against the grass, propping his hands beneath his head. With the sun's rays illuminating his face, he looked even more radiant and suave. "It wasn't nonsense though, I meant every word. Will you be accompanying the princess to the sparring championships?"
"That's none of your business."
"I hope you'll be there," he said, "to watch me take home the championship trophy."
"And the princess too?" Yuehwa glanced over towards him and raised a cynical eyebrow. "Maybe you should think twice about throwing your hat into the ring. I don't really think the king of Dahai would fancy having someone like you as his son-in-law." Anyone could register to participate in the tournament, even commoners, but everyone knew that it took much. more than that to make it past the preliminary round.
"You mean someone as handsome and capable as me?" The man turned to her with a broad smile on his face.
Handsome was most definitely right, as for capable, that was highly questionable. Still, it annoyed Yuehwa that someone could be so full of himself.
"Who knows," he continued, "if the princess is indeed as beautiful as everyone says she is, perhaps I might try my luck at winning her hand, even if the king has his sights set on someone else. Although I dare say I don't think anyone could ever be more beautiful than the lovely lady sitting by my side right now."
Yuehwa rolled her eyes. It was going to be difficult to have a decent conversation with someone who was determined to make her throw up, no matter how handsome he was. He obviously thought he was being charming, but she thought otherwise. Just as she was about to open her mouth and give him a piece of her mind, she caught sight of a familiar shadow fly past in the distance.
She immediately picked herself off the ground and began running in the direction of the shadow, determined not to let him get away this time.
"Hey, where are you going?" the guard from Gi sat up and shouted after her. "You haven't told me your name yet!"
She hadn't been intending to anyway.
#
"Where did he go this time..."
Yuehwa chased after the elusive fellow for as long as she could, ignoring the curious stares of the various palace maids and guards that she passed along the way. Stopping in the middle of a junction, she looked left and right, not quite sure where the shadow had vanished to.
"Is the princess still refusing to come out of her room?" a silky smooth voice rang out in the distance. Looking to her left, Yuehwa caught sight of an entourage turning the corner, at the head of which stood a lady dressed in silks the shade of blood and embroidered with the finest gold thread. Her skin was so fair that Yuehwa wondered if she might be fairer than the first snow on the mountaintops, and her hair, dark as night, was pinned elegantly behind her head in a butterfly coiffure, held in place by a dozen golden hairpins.
"Yes, my lady," the palace maid standing beside her replied. "It has already been a week since she has emerged from her quarters. The king is getting worried. Should we stop by to check in on her?"
The lady in red waved her hand dismissively, saying, "There's no need, she'll come out of hiding soon enough. This time she can throw all the tantrums she wants but the king isn't going to budge. There is far too much at stake." As she spoke, her blood red lips curled up in a satisfied smile.
Yuehwa remained standing at the junction, observing the lady and her entourage curiously. Before they could notice her presence, someone had grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the scene, sending the both of them leaping upwards onto the nearest roof.
"Hey, what was that for?" Yuehwa snapped. "I knew it was you. What do you think you're doing skulking around the palace like that? Are you stalking me?"
"Shh," Shoya clapped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. His eyes remained peeled to the entourage that was passing by, and he didn't let go of Yuehwa until they made a left at the junction and disappeared from view.
Turning to her, he said, "In case you didn't realise, I think you were the one who was following me, so who's stalking who? Also, I'm not the one who's lurking around under the pretense of being a palace maid."
Since every word that Shoya said was technically true, Yuehwa pursed her lips tightly and said nothing. It wouldn't have been the first time that she was silenced by this man. He was back in his trademark white garb, his mask still partially obscuring his face. There was nothing that Yuehwa wanted to do more than to rip that mask off his face so that it wouldn't seem as if he always had some secret to hide.
"Who's that lady?" she jerked her thumb towards the direction that the entourage just left.
"Lady Kang, the king's favourite concubine."
"And you dragged me away because..."
"Lady Kang is not someone you want to be messing with. I'm sure you know that she isn't on good terms with the princess. The last time one of the princess's servants crossed paths with her, the poor girl couldn't walk for months. Also, her background is a mystery. They say she was a gift to the king from one of the kingdoms across the Sapphire Sea, but it's all very hazy and questionable, if you ask me."
"You think that woman will be able to lay a finger on me?"
"She won't be able to lay a finger on the Phoenix, but right now you're not the Phoenix are you? If you give away your true identity, then you can forget about continuing to wander around the palace stealing food. I'm sure the king wouldn't appreciate having his precious daughter befriending an assassin. Do you really think you can defeat all of Dahai's imperial guards by yourself?"
And once again, Shoya had won the battle.
Folding her arms, Yuehwa flopped down onto the roof, annoyed that he always got the final say. "How is it that you even know that I've been stealing food if you haven't been following me," she muttered under her breath.
Shoya smiled, sitting himself down beside her.
"Are you really going to help the princess?" he asked.
Nodding her head vigorously, Yuehwa replied, "Of course! I've already given her my word, and everyone knows that the Phoenix never reneges on a promise. Besides, it's just a monetary transaction. I'll get paid my dues."
"This is a first, the Phoenix accepting a job that doesn't require snuffing the life out of someone. Or maybe I'm wrong and that's already part of your plan." Shoya laughed. "Not that I'm doubting your abilities, but the princess will be married to someone by the end of the tournament, the only question is who that person will be."
"I bet you wish that person will be you."
Shrugging his shoulders, Shoya replied, "Why not? I wouldn't complain if I got to marry the most beautiful woman across all the five kingdoms."
Yuehwa turned to him and jabbed his forehead with her index finger. "Why are all men so shallow? Is it only beauty on the outside that is important? What good is a pretty face if she is rotten to the core, just like the king's concubine!" She didn't know much about Lady Kang, but a single glance at the snide smile on her red lips already led her to the conclusion that the woman was a nasty piece of work.
"Beats someone who is neither pretty outside nor inside," Shoya replied, throwing her a sideways glance.
At this point, Ember, who had been openly eavesdropping on their conversation, couldn't resist bursting out in peals of laughter. To the human ear, it sounded like any other bird chirping rather animatedly.
Yuehwa shot both of them death glares, quietly seething with rage. Just a while ago another man had praised her for her beauty, and now this one was blatantly insinuating that she was nothing much to look at. Even while she didn't think she was more beautiful than the princess of Dahai, Yuehwa still considered herself well above average.
Seeing that she was remaining silent, Shoya continued talking.
"The annual sparring championships this year will be like no other," he said. "It is not just the princess's hand in marriage that people will be fighting for, it's also an alliance with Dahai. The peace across the five kingdoms had been balancing precariously for a long time now, and it won't be long before someone upsets that balance."
"I heard that the king has his sights set on the crown princes of Gi and Feng. But why does it matter to you anyway? Since when did people like us need to care about the politics that goes on between the kingdoms?"
Shoya fell silent for second, before he replied, "You're right, it doesn't. Although I'm sure you realise that what you're doing now is meddling with the state of affairs."
"That's not true. What I'm doing is facilitating the process. Like you said, the princess will marry someone by the end of the tournament, regardless of whether I interfere or not. All I am doing is helping her identify the best candidate so that at least she won't spend the rest of her life in misery. If none of them catches her fancy, then I'll just help her find a way to reject them all. I'm trying to do a good deed here, to build up some good karma."
As if playing matchmaker once in your life will undo all the bad karma you've already accumulated thus far, Ember snorted.
"The crown prince of Gi is an obvious candidate," Shoya remarked. "After all, we've heard all those glowing stories about him from his adviser on the journey here."
At the thought of Park Maroo and the slimy guard from Gi that she had met by the pond, Yuehwa had already concluded that the prince of Gi was likely to be an utter disappointment. After all, birds of a feather flocked together.
"What about the prince of Feng? Have you heard anything about him before?" she asked.
"No."
"Hmm, looks like I'll have to wait till the start of the tournament to find out more then," Yuehwa quipped. "Anyway, what exactly is it that you're looking for? Why don't you tell me so that I can help you look around too? I don't really have very much to do while waiting for the tournament to begin. I thought the Dahai palace would be exciting, but it's getting a little dull."
"It's fine, I can look for it on my own," Shoya replied brusquely.
A little upset that her gesture of goodwill had been fed to the dogs, Yuehwa pulled a face and threw a light punch against his arm. "I was just trying to be helpful. If you don't need my help then so be it, don't need to be so snappy."
To her surprise, a smear of red began to spread across Shoya's white sleeve, right at the point where she had punched him. "That couldn't be me," she burst out. She hadn't even used actual force with that punch. "You're injured? What happened?"
Before he could react, she had already grabbed his arm and lifted his sleeve, revealing the bandage beneath.
"It's nothing serious," Shoya replied, trying to shake himself free from her grip. "The wound opened up again. It'll be fine in a while."
It was only then that Yuehwa noticed that Shoya looked a shade paler than he normally was. She hadn't been paying close enough attention earlier, but it suddenly struck her that his injuries were perhaps a little more serious than he was letting on. The question was: how did he end up this way? He was the White Scorpion, one of the best exponents across the five kingdoms, yet somehow someone had managed to deal him such a blow.
Sensing her confusion, Shoya sighed and said, "I was too complacent so I let my guard down. Don't worry, it's only a couple of cuts and bruises."
Without a word, Yuehwa ripped a strip of white cloth off Shoya's sleeve, undoing the bandage that he had on his arm and carefully replacing it with the new piece of cloth instead. "A small injury can become life-threatening if you don't look after it carefully and allow it to fester," she said as she tied a sturdy knot with the new bandage. "You of all people should know that. You're supposed to be a physician of sorts."
When she looked up at him, she frowned when she saw that he had his usual half-smile on his face, the one that she could never read. "What?" she asked.
Shaking his head, he rolled his sleeve back down. "Nothing. You're absolutely right. Thank you, for giving me a new bandage out of my own clothes."
"What exactly happened to you? Did you get that injury here in the palace?"
The more Shoya refused to speak of this mysterious object he was searching for, the more curious Yuehwa became. She was almost certain that he had sustained his injuries in the process of hunting for this thing, and something that was so heavily guarded that the White Scorpion was unable to reach must be of great worth.
"Don't get involved, it's for your own good. Just concentrate on playing matchmaker for the princess, alright?" Giving her a quick wave, Shoya leapt off the roof and disappeared round the corner, vanishing from sight.
"He's hiding something," Yuehwa remarked to Ember, narrowing her eyes suspiciously, "and the more he wants to hide it, the more I'm going to find out what it is."