Unbelievable. Just impossible. What are the chances, that he would meet her again, in the most inconvenient place and time.
But that image, no doubt belonged to her. The cascaded long hair black as raven; the slender and petit figure; the eyes full of defiance and sorrow. There she was, standing in front of the gate he was about to walk in, arguing with the guard in a frantic voice. Prince Yang stared at the scene, not sure what to react. It's only a matter of time before they would notice his presences, or general Lin's. One word, one glance, and everything falls.
"Go away, you are wasting my time." The guard said in an impatient tone. " If you don't disappear, I will have soldiers drag you away by your hair!" Yang half expected that the girl-what was her name, right, Xue- would back away. But somehow, after their previous short encounter, he knew that she wouldn't back down. "Please, if you would just let me, or tell me where General Lin......." That's far enough, Yang decided. He should probably get the situation under control before everything went sideway.
He had no time to formulate a flawless plan, so he just went with his instincts. Offence was the best defence, so here went nothing, he thought as he calmly walked toward the guard. no one was near this side of the gate except for the guard and the girl. Yang was dimly aware that Lin was following him silently and confused. So he turned his head around and gave Lin a look that says"just be silent and go with it", and Lin immediately understood and nodded.
As Yang approached the gate, the guard suddenly realized his existence. At first, he was quite confused, then, realization frown on his face. As his jaw suddenly opened to a shocked position which awkwardly hung in the mid air not sure whether open or close. " What, your......" Before the guard could finish his sentence, Yang waved his hand and stared at him with his shut-up-and-be-quiet-or-you-are-going-to-regretted look. The guard immediately shut his jaws. He might be a prisoner in this palace that he so called home, but he was still a Prince, he was still the royal heir.
"I will take it from here, you may leave now. " Yang said solemnly to the shocked guard. After a pause, the guard regained his composure and gave a deep bow before silently slipped back into the army house. The girl was keeping her head low for the whole time. As the guard exited, she fiddled with her fingers and slowly turned around. A strand of her hair wavered in front of her face, hid part of her feature as she looked up with her eyes.
"What do you want, didn't I tell you to not to wonder the palace!" As soon as the guard exited, Prince Yang changed to a low and whispered voice. The girl looked scared for one second, which kind of made Yang felt bad at being so harsh on her. But it's just for a second, then her face was serious.
"Please, I don't know who to turn who. You won't see me ever again. But this is important, it's life and death!" Even if she was keeping her voice low, Prince Yang could hear that she was trying to suppress screaming.
" Please, General Lin, just take this, and you will understand." The girl quickly reached into her sleeves and pulled out a slip of bamboo stick. She handed it in front of Yang, he could tell that there were some characters carved onto the bamboo stick, but it was too small to tell. Yang was wondering if this was a trick, but from the pleading eyes which the girl looked at him, he tool the stick and slid it into his pockets.
The girl let out a small breath, then she bowed her head to both him and General Lin before turning around and walking quietly and quickly down the alley, soon disappearing from his view.
Prince Yang turned toward General Lin, who raised an eyebrow at him. "What was that about?" He asked with amusement and confusion. Yang sighed, well, he had it coming. Before he tried to answer, he felt the sensation of the stick in his pocket.
Quietly, Prince Yang took out the bamboo stick from his pocket, and laid his eyes on the carved characters. There were only three words- Prince, assassination, midnight. There were no other information, but he knew exactly what it meant. Suddenly, Yang felt a cold sensation in his stomach, it wasn't fear, but more of frustration and disgust. There was still a part of him that doubt the girls credibility, but in the end, he decided that it's too important and disturbing to just ignore it.
He quickly put the stick back to his pocket, and looked up at General Lin with a serious and steely glance. The sky suddenly darkened and turned a sorrowful grey. Light rain dropped out of the sky, soaking and darkening the cobblestone on the road. "I know you have a lot of questions, and I will explain them. But right now, we have some preparations to do."
[Line Break]
Xue felt so relieved when she ran off down alley way. As the army house became further and further away, light rain drizzled on her.
This was it. All her life, she lived by the rule set by others. Whether it was Madam, or her new master. She followed and more often feared the rules. She knew that if she even thought about breaking the rules, she will die.
When the famine struck the country, she struggled to survive. She still remembered the sensation of hunger in her stomach. The time when she cringed under a piece of wood board, with Mei and Jian. They dig and scraped for garbage they called food, clinging for their life everyday.
One day, she saw the older children from her village whispering, planning to steal the food from the rich lord. Xue wanted to know more, she thought that if she could get something, anything, it would support them for a few days. But she was too weak and exhausted to follow them.
That night, Xue dimly aware that those older children snuck out to the rich barricaded section. They looked so hopeful when they set out, forgot about the guards and their merciless weapons. But as the dawn broke out, they did not return. Later, when Xue and Jian went searching for food, they found their bodies in the gutter. They were mutilated and covered in blood. sword wounds was all over their bodies. One was them was still clinging to a piece of bread in his hand.
She didn't scream or break down, but it did numbed her body. She finally accepted that her life wasn't her own choice, and her fate couldn't be changed no matter how hard she tried. She didn't disobey Madam once in the dance house, and she planned to continue that.
Until now. She leaked the secret information, and disobeyed her master. If she was ever discovered, she will be dead so fast that she won't even realized it. Why, why would she do it against her better judgement, when she knew that what she was playing with fire. She didn't even know this Prince, and her encounter with nobles left her with disgust and contempt. But one thing she believed more than her locked fate was her moral.
"We might be poor, but we have conscience. It's the one thing that made is human and apart from savage animals." Her mother used to said that to her when she was stroking Xue's hair at night. She didn't understand much at that time, but as time past, she saw the worst of human beings. Moral was as good as dead when people are fighting for their own gains. Stealing, lying, killing, that's the world she lived in. She could be a absolute fool for holding on to her moral, a fool that would die early. Yet she couldn't let go of it, like a child who was clinging to the past.
Was it worth it. She was not a saint, she walked on the moral tight rope. Like the time she stole the map and lied to people. She learned to use her talent and beauty to conceive people, she didn't want to, but it was the only thing she could do to survive. But she never played with a person's life. Holding on to the conscience was the most naive thing a person could do in the time of the war, and Xue couldn't promise that she won't cross the that line of morality. To the powerful people, death was only a common scene, killing was only a mean to an end, and pawns, like her, were the best sacrificial tool to do that.
"Well, at least for now, I listened to your words, mother. If I were to see you soon, I won't feel guilty of letting you down."
[Line break] ~ the next day
The ground was still wet from the chilly rain the night before. Little drops of rain water lingered on the leaves, not wanting to submerge in the ground and lost forever. Xue knelt by the curtain in the practice hall, waiting for Lian to join her. She stared at the willow blossom as they fall off on the soil, there were so many petals scattered and blew off by the wind, separated with others and forever alone. When she was out yesterday, she asked Lian to cover for her. Lian didn't ask her why, she just silently promised. Xue wondered what did she do to deserve her friend, and more ever, would she be able to preserve their friendship as well as their lives, or would they scatter like the petals.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Xue, the chores sure are busy." Xue came out of daze and turned around to Lian, who ran over to sit beside her. Her expression was joyful as usual, but Xue could see that she was slightly worried. Xue hated not not telling her the truth, but what good will that do, other than bringing her a load of trouble.
"It's was sure a tough night, we must be careful now." Xue suddenly had a bad feeling, if her warning didn't work, then all her risk were for nothing. "Why, what happened?" Xue asked Lian, trying to keep her voice calm.
"I guess you haven't heard. When I was doing chores, I heard others saying that there was an assassin appeared in the palace, apparently trying to assassinate the Prince. But he was caught and killed." Lian explained, oblivious to the sense of urgency in Xue's voice. Thank the gods. Xue thought, so her warning did work. She felt genuinely relaxed and pleased for the first time after she stepped into this cursed palace. But she somehow felt an ominous feeling that seemed to be pressing hard against her heart.
"What is it, Xue, is something wrong?" Lian asked, Xue suddenly realized that she did not hid her distracted expression from Lian. "Did Madam say something to you, you know you can tell me." Xue sighed at Lian's comment, she didn't know what to say, but before she could say anything, Yu came in and stopped in front of them.
"Madam want the five of us from the House of Flying Fairies to come to her office." She said in a serious and scared tone, and from that, Xue could tell that Something made Madam unhappy, and she desperately hoped that it wasn't her. She and Lian stood up as Yu walked out toward the office.
As Xue started to move her feet, Lian touched her shoulder. "I trust you, but I hope you can let me bear your burden as well. I admire you from the beginning, and I care for you as a friend. I am not as intelligent as you, but wish to help you, if you would just let me." Lian said genuinely as she walked past a stunned Xue. Lian turned around with a smile before she continue to walked out of the practice hall.
A tear drop slowly appeared at the tip of Xue's right eye, but she wasn't sobbing. Instead, the tear was from happiness. She could rely on Lian, and she would never betray her. That's why she wouldn't tell her about her dangerous act as the traitor to their master, especially not now when the Madam was suspecting her of wrong doing. She would protect Lian with her life if she could, and she would preserve her innocence and purity. It was all she could do with the trust and hope Lian gave her, and she won't waste it.
With that thought bear in mind, Xue wiped off the tear by the corner of her eye, and walked confidently toward Madam's office. Awaiting what ever came next.
Author's note
This was a rather boring chapter in my opinion, I promise it will get better next. I've been laying out foundations for the last two chapter, and i have some important things planned next, some character to introduce. Lots of new and thrilling stuff, blah, blah, blah.
Anyway, thanks for reading my story, I hope you liked it, please vote and comment if you like it.
Thanks to Miss_Hetalia1234, the first one to told me my story is good, it totally made my day, heck, made my week.
Have a nice day, everyone!