The morning sunrays seemed to seep through Xiu Xiang's closed eyelids. Groaning at the bright light, Xiu Xiang forced herself awake. She frowned at the opened window and with a sharp wave of her hand, the window slammed shut. She slumped back into bed, searching for a comfortable position. Right as soon as she did, she was about to close her eyes when someone rapped lightly on her door.
"Miss, we were order to bring up your breakfast and water for your bath," a soft female voice sounded from the other side of the door.
Xiu Xiang thought about sending them away, however, her nose picked up an inviting scent. Her stomach instantly rumbled at the delicious scent that wafted into the room. Groaning loudly, she finally dragged herself out of bed and went to open the door. A young girl came in with a tray of food while two younger boys followed after with buckets of hot water.
She watched as the inn workers quickly shuffled in and shuffled out. A tray of food was set on the table and the tub on the other side of the folding wall was completely filled with water. There was even a new dress set aside for her to change into after too.
Xiu Xiang didn't order any of this so it could only be that mysterious person who had followed her yesterday.
It would be rude to ignore his kind gesture...
Since she was already up, there was no point in going back to bed. She quickly untied her dress and got into the warm bath. Once she was done bathing, she took one look at the dress and found it quite pretty. It was a light shade of blue and embroidered with flowers. There were even accessories and makeup sitting underneath the dress.
"He must've spent a fortune on this..." Xiu Xiang eyed the accessories and makeup. Just one look was enough for her to know that everything was of great quality. Just as she was wondering how the mysterious person knew that she didn't have any of these stuff on her, she couldn't help but turn her head to look at the window that she had closed earlier. She was sure that the window had been closed the night before.
"That person must've snuck into my room last night," she thought. Anger boiled up inside her for a moment. What was worse, somehow she had slept through the night without even noticing his presence!
How dare he sneak into my room in the middle of the night? Was he a pervert?!
She had half the heart to throw everything out of retaliation, however everything was extremely pretty and the makeup was something she always wanted but couldn't use because it was inconvenient as the ruler of the Demon Realm. Sighing heavily, she put on the dress and finally wore all the accessories.
"Worst comes to worst, I'll just sell everything later and get some money out of it," she thought.
When she finished getting ready, she finally turned her attention on the food on the table. There was a bowl of porridge, steam buns, and fruits. Once again, she was struck by the fact that the food tasted the same as before. There was the feeling of 'home' when she ate it.
"Did that person perhaps cook this...?" she thought. Feeling stunned at the unnecessary kind gesture, she felt the urge to find this person just so that she could see what he looked like.
Xiu Xiang finished eating all the food on the table and decided to head out.
It was already late morning when she finally stepped out of the inn. The streets were already starting to fill up with people. Despite having eaten, just the smell of fresh noodles in the morning, made her stomach rumble like there was an empty pit inside of her.
She followed the delicious scent and found the small stall. A wooden sign board wrote, 'Severing Spicy Oil Noodles'. Her eyes lit up in delight. She stepped forward only to come to stop. Among the several small wooden tables used to serve customers of the small stall, there sat quite a few people from the traveling Circus Troupe.
Xiu Xiang clicked her tongue in annoyance. In her rush to enjoy the day, she had forgotten that she tossed aside her mask the day before. The sound of oil sizzling and splashing entered her ears. A delicious scent wafted towards her nose. In the end, she decided that as long as she sat several tables away from them with her back turned, there was no way they would notice nor recognize her.
"Old man, one bowl of noodles, please!" Xiu Xiang chirped.
Since her back was facing the Circus Troupe, she hadn't noticed that Yao Yao among the group had heard her. No one in the group aside from Yao Yao recognized her voice. A look of delight and fear flashed in her eyes.
Yao Yao got up to her feet wanting to confirm her suspicions. She hasn't forgotten the person who rescued her from the bandits despite feeing scared.
"Yao Yao? Where are you going?" her father asked. Everyone was already finished with their meal and was ready to head back.
"Nowhere. I just want to check something out. I'll be right back," Yao Yao replied. The troupe didn't think much of her getting up as they needed to hurry up and get back to perform for their audience, so they quickly left her behind, disappearing amongst the crowd.
With each step Yao Yao took, her heart sped up. There was fear and anticipation. She was scared yet she admired Xiu Xiang. She couldn't understand these feelings of hers and wanted to see Xiu Xiang again to make sense of it all. Just as she got closer, she heard a few male voices speak up.
"What is a beautiful young lady like you doing all alone? Why not sit down and join us?" Two men dressed in wind worn clothing, stood up from their table. They had long noticed Yao Yao and had been waiting for her to be alone like a young bird separating from her flock.
Just one look and anyone could tell that the two men weren't good people. Yao Yao instantly backed away, looking like a frightened little lamb. Her shivering little figure only seemed to entice the two men as they drew nearer. Their actions quickly drew everyone's attention, yet not a single person stepped forward to help as it was a normal occurrence to see riffraff causing trouble.
"I don't want any trouble. Please let me be," Yao Yao managed to say under immense pressure. Her eyes subconsciously fell on the slender back several tables away. Not once did the slim figure turn around.
"Come with us. We promise not to hurt you," the two men teased. They grinned mischievously at Yao Yao. Their eyes glimmered with ill-intent. They hands reached out to grab her.
"No!" Yao Yao avoided their hands and rushed towards the one figure in blue, hoping to catch her attention, however, her foot caught on one of the small wooden stools. Her hip smashed into a table, knocking it over. Like a domino effect, the table hit a nearby wooden pole. That pole in turn fell over right onto the small stall where the old man was preparing the hot sizzling noodles. The oil splashed into the old man who toppled over, screaming out in pain.
Startled by what she had done, Yao Yao froze on the spot. This caused her to be instantly caught by the two men. They laughed at her trembling figure and started to pull her away.
"Let me go! Someone, help!" she screamed.
SMASH!
A small wooden bowl came flying out of nowhere, smashing into one of the evil men's head. Hot oil noodles spilled down the front of his face.
"My eyes!" screamed the man as he tumbled to the ground. He clawed at his face; his eyes burned from the hot and spicy scorching oil. His partner turned his head in the direction where the bowl had flown from. Nearby the broken stall, he saw a slim figure in light blue helping an old man stand up.
"You! Did you throw that bowl?" the dirty man shouted. He pointed an accusing finger at Xiu Xiang.
Completely ignoring the man, Xiu Xiang helped the older man to a stool while looking at his burned arm.
"Are you able to go by yourself to find a doctor?" Xiu Xiang asked the old man.
With a slight nod of the old man's head, she smiled and handed him several gold coins. "This is for the destruction of your booth."
"I can't take your money, Miss," the old man said feeling startled by her kind gesture.
"Don't worry, Old Man. This is nothing. Think of it as those two ignorant men paying you for their rude actions. After all, I'll be getting this money back shortly," Xiu Xiang said while sending the confused old man off.
Not only will I get my money back, I'll get it back in profit.
She turned her attention onto the man still standing, then onto Yao Yao. Sighing at the sight of the pretty young girl, she wondered what sins this girl had caused for her to be constantly entangled with smitten perverted men.
A look of hope and desperation filled the girl's eyes as she looked at Xiu Xiang.
"Let her go," Xiu Xiang said. She sounded almost annoyed.
The man let out a sharp laugh. He then pulled Yao Yao into his embrace and smirked at Xiu Xiang.
"You're quite pretty too. Why don't you follow me too? I assure that you won't regret it," the man said.
Xiu Xiang smirked at the man while cocking her head to the side.
"Me follow you? You're not even worthy for me to beat up. You've already ruined my meal. Let her go or you'll the be one to regret it," Xiu Xiang said.
A sudden hint of fear crept up the man's spine as he eyed Xiu Xiang up and down. Why did he find her so familiar? His mind spun as he searched his memory. As if a light bulb went off in his mind, he lost his grip on Yao Yao. His legs felt like jelly.
"Y-you...!" He wasn't able to finish his words as he lost the ability to. The reason why he found her so familiar was because she was the one who had robbed them days ago!
Xiu Xiang frowned at the sudden change of behavior in the man. What she didn't realize was that she had already met him once in passing. That was, the man was part of the Black Bandit Group. He was among the several small groups that she had bumped into and stolen from.
Feeling the loose grip on her, Yao Yao debated on whether she should escape now. Before she could decide, the man let out a rippling scream and tumbled backwards. His hand was still on Yao Yao so she was falling backwards with him.
"Ah...!"
A strong hand reached out to grab Yao Yao by the hand, pulling her back to safety.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Yao Yao looked up to see her savior. The man had a kind smile on his face. That smile only heightened his amiable appearance.
Xiu Xiang scowled at the man in white who had saved Yao Yao. This man was Chu Ling!
"Isn't he that guy from yesterday?" she thought feeling more annoyed. Why was she bumping into everyone who caused her endless headaches?
"I'm alright. Thank you for saving me," Yao Yao replied.
When Chu Ling saw that Yao Yao was alright, he turned to look at Xiu Xiang.
"Are you also alright, Miss?" he asked kindly. The smile on his face was dazzling. Everyone in the crowd couldn't help but swoon.
It wasn't like Xiu Xiang needed saving. She could've taken care of the man with her pinky if she wanted to. She was surprised with her patience. Ever since she woke up in her original body, her patience had gone up compared to when she was the Demoness who was easily ticked off.
"I'm fine." She was about to wave him off, when Chu Ling stepped forward.
"Miss, next time, you shouldn't step forward to go against men like these. It's dangerous and you could get hurt."
She wanted to laugh. If only he knew who she was, he'd probably be trembling from fear right now. Instead, she merely smiled.
"Thank you for the advice. I'll keep that in mind," Xiu Xiang said with a slight nod of her head.
Chu Ling was taken back by the calm demeanor of Xiu Xiang's. She wasn't the most beautiful woman he has seen but something about her confident appearance made her all the more alluring. He had seen that Xiu Xiang was the only to step forward when Yao Yao was in danger. That action alone had already caught his interest. Now that he was up close, he felt enamored.
During their small exchange, they hadn't noticed that the man who had been struck down had already fled to go get help.
"Where are you two ladies headed? Why don't I escort you both to avoid any troubles?" Chu Ling asked. Before he could get an answer, he felt a sharp sting on his back. He instantly turned his head to look behind him and found no one in particular that was staring at him. He couldn't understand where this dangerous feeling came from. He had felt the same thing the day before too. Was it the same person?
"That is alright. You can send her back to her group though," Xiu Xiang said pointing to Yao Yao. She didn't say anything else and headed right for the crowd.
"Wait!" Yao Yao cried. Her hand reached out toward where Xiu Xiang had disappeared to. She had lost the chance to understand her feelings.