In the quiet dark room, a manly figure sits comfortable on the chair while sipping on the wine that made him drunk, allowing this short escape from the reality.

A continuous rambling of the same sentence again and again.

"Qi Yuan ... You will pay for this. Qi Yuan ... You will pay for this."

Qi Zheng continue his drunk behaviour with a mind filled with methods to bring down his little brother due to jealousy and envy. The chess player that he moved for the banquet made him become aware of his shortcomings.

He is too impatient and not so smart after all.

Standing up from the chair, staggering his feet towards the window and fell onto the ground. Flipping his body facing upwards, a single tear shed from the side of his eyes. If any, who sees this tear, without a doubt they would say it is a crocodile tear.

Only he himself knew how true this tear is.

"Lian' Er ... I am sorry ..."

Closing his eyes, travelling back into his memories that he shared with her and the crazy thoughts of using her against his little brother to reach his goal. Instead of having Qi Yuan, whom he thought would be destroyed by the ruin reputation and harsh punishment that he once anticipated, a cold dead body of his lover in his arms was the ending.

Qi Zheng admit that nothing in the world matters as much as to him ascending to the throne and ensure that no competitor can threaten his position. But, the death of a lady whom he once liked and shared a part of his life, still stirred some emotions within him.

'Ultimately, I am not that heartless after all ...' He thought.

'Qi Yuan, you better wait for me.'

*

*

*

"Why are you here with us?"

Yu-ji question Qing Feng with an annoyed tone as she is clearly unhappy with him tagging along to the streets of Ding City with her Missy.

"Because I need to ensure your safety ... and also Lady Jae-in." Qing Feng answered.

"We don't need you. My Missy is good enough to protect herself."

"Then what about Yu'Er?"

"I ... I am just a servant, who will attack someone like me?"

Qing Feng dislike the way Yu-ji degrade herself and in a serious tone, he grab her shoulder to face him.

"Yu-ji. I do not like to hear how you degrade yourself like that. Please do not ever do that again. You are important in my life and I cannot accept how you treat yourself so lowly and casually."

Stunned by the serious face of Qing Feng, even the way he addressed her changed, Yu-ji blankly nodded her face before Qing Feng let her go. Turning herself slowly away from him, Yu-ji run in small steps to catch up to Jae-in.

"Missy Jae! Oh no ... Master Jae, What are you looking for?"

Jae-in is currently holding onto a book at this roadside stall and flipping through the pages to view the content. The stall owner seems to be overly enthusiastic towards Jae-in as he is introducing many other books, hoping she will buy them.

"May I ask where can I get books regarding Arts of Medicine?"

Looking at this attractive young master with features that are not commonly seen, the stall owner give his direction towards the book store where Jae-in will find what she wants. As she bid him goodbye with a simple thanks, the stall owner shake his head and cannot help to feel envy of his extraordinary looks.

Stepping into the recommended store, Jae-in browses through the shelves filled with books and bamboo strips documents. Taking her own sweet time to look through the interesting titled books with Yu-ji by her side while Qing Feng stand guarding at the entrance. Engrossed in scanning through the contents of the books she pick casually but soon dropping them, as she soon found the one that she have been looking for, Yu-ji decided to voice out a question that has been lingering on her mind since they left the roadside stall.

"Mis... Master, why are you looking for Arts of Medicine?"

"Why? Of course to study medicine."

"But ... why suddenly you want to study medicine?"

"Hmm... So that I can at least guarantee my life in case anything happen during this Kai border trip."

"Ahh ... Oh right Master! During the days spend in Qi Yuan Manor, I overheard from the other maids that Qi Yuan Gong Zi knows the Arts of Medicine! Maybe you can ask a favour from him to teach you the basic of Medicine."

Yu-ji proudly boast her tip and suggestion to her Missy, looking forward to some kind of praises. Jae-in glances over to Yu-ji and her proud face as though she did a great job in helping her with this extra "information".

"Yes yes, my Yu-ji is so smart!"

Feeling pleased with her Missy's compliment, she smiled widely and her eyes formed a moon shape eye-smile. But before the two can continue on their conversation, a sudden appearance of an unwanted stranger interrupted them.

"Oh? What a coincidence Huo Gu Niang."

Turning behind towards that manly voice, Jae-in takes in the view of a man that she thought she will never meet again. Frowning her brows to show her displease, Jae-in wonder what in the world has she done to see him once again.

"En."

Not sparing a second look at him, Jae-in continue to read the book that she was holding and blatantly ignore his presence. Yu-ji eye this unknown stranger that she have never met yet felt strangely familiar. Looking at how he is staring at her Missy, her eye glared at him daringly while shaking her head.

"Huo Gu Niang?"

Taking a step closer towards her while ignoring that fact that Jae-in is purposely disregarding his presence, Yu-ji took a brave stance and block his path towards Jae-in as a human barricade with her hands and legs spread out in a shape of a star.

"This stranger, please stand further away from my master. Our master does not like unknown stranger who tries to be close to him."

"Master? Heh ... Since when did you become a guy? And I am no stranger to your master." Xuan Di playful asked.

"You! Whether my master is a male or female, it is not your business. Please take 3 steps back and have a proper distance." Yu-ji ordered Xuan Di.

"Ah ... I understand now, you are now an undercover, trying to hide your gender. No problem, I shall keep this a secret for you, Huo Gong Zi."

"But ... I am not sure if this secret can be kept once I leave this store ..."

Irritated by how Xuan Di is annoying her on purpose, she slams the book that she was reading and held onto her hand.

"What do you want?"

"Ah... You finally responded to me Huo Gong Zi."

As though he is trying to make fun of her concealment of gender, the way he addresses her at the end of the sentence filled with an unknown flirtatious tone.

"If there is nothing else to talk about, I shall excuse myself Wang Gong Zi."

"Oh my, you remember my name?" Xuan Di feign a surprised tone.

Despite knowing his attempts to stop her from leaving the place, his response still manage to stir a light fire within her that cause her to be annoyed. Facing him once again after taking 2 steps away from him earlier on, she bit her lips as a habit to show her annoyance.

"Wang Gong Zi, it is nice meeting you here. If there is no other matters, I shall take my leave. Good. Bye." Jae-in said.

"I heard you are going to Kai Border with the fourth prince?"

Looking at Xuan Di with a confused face as though she is asking him how did he know. Chuckling at her facial expression that is easily read like an open book, he took one step forward.

"Of course I have my sources. I am here because of this matter. I want to join your group to the Kai border."

"Why should I let you join?"

"Why shouldn't I be allowed to join?"

"Then what makes you think you will be able to join the group?"

"Hm... This is a good question, probably because adding one more person to the group makes it livelier?"

Speechless with the brazen sentence that Xuan Di said, Jae-in stare at this man with a disbelieved face. A part of her raised her walls up as a sign to be wary of him. She is unsure why she has been having this nagging feeling to be careful of this man and stay away from him.

"Wang Gong Zi, has anyone told you before that you are very shameless?"

"Huo Gong Zi, don't you think that I am very sincere in asking for your permission to join your group rather than using other under-hand methods?"

"Ha. Sincerity? I felt none."

Xuan Di turn behind with his hands behind his back and took a few steps away before turning back to look at Jae-in with the intention to educate her with something that she is unaware of.

"In normal circumstances, I could easily plan a situation where I purposely injure myself to save you from unknown attackers, gathering your sense of guilt and sympathy, then easily join you guys to the Kai border.

Ha ... But these kind of tricks I have seen it too many times that I am so sick of such stunts. So, this time I chose to be honest and upfront, wanting to ask for your permission instead of using such methods. I believe Huo Gong Zi will appreciate my honesty and sincerity."

"Oh then, thank you for your consideration. Well, the answer to your request is No."

"Huo Gong Zi, I am not joking around. I have serious matters to attend and I need to join you guys to the Kai border."

"Hmph, you are an ambassador representing the Xuan Kingdom. What matters do you have at the Kai border? Furthermore, a stranger that me and the fourth prince is not close to, how can we trust you? And the trip to Kai border is a very dangerous trip, we have our own mission to be carried out by Kai Emperor."

"Who says that I do not have matters to the Kai border? I too, have mission directed by Xuan Emperor to go to the Xuan border."

Jae-in froze with the mention of Xuan Di by Wang Xuan.

"Xuan Emperor?"

"Yup, I have some matters to carry out in Xuan border and this is to be done after attending the Kai banquet. However, only when I reach Ding City, I realized that the Kai border does not allow commoners to access. The only way to pass the border to Xuan is the token that the fourth prince is holding on his hand."

"How did you know?"

"I have my sources."

"Still, the same old words, I disagree to let you join our group. Glad that you know this information earlier and will not waste your trip, so now you can head back to Xuan Kingdom and go Xuan border through that route. I am not going to let you join our group to Kai border. Goodbye."

Grabbing the book that she was holding, Jae-in head to the counter to make payment. Once finish payment, Jae-in grab the book of 'Arts of Medicine' and head right out of the store with Yu-ji following behind.

Qing Feng, who was stand guarding by the door, join Jae-in once she left the store. Thinking that it is time to head back to the inn, a sudden smoke bomb attacked their vision. Temporarily block their view and choke their throat with an unwanted inhalation of smoke via their nose.

With arrows aiming directly at Jae-in, Qing Feng used his senses to reach to her and pull out his sword to hit off those arrows accurately. Such a scene is uncommon in Ding City and many people start to run for their lives and scream for help, then an unknown beggar charge towards Qing Feng and tackled him down onto the floor.

Jae-in is still struggling to breathe while holding Yu-ji behind her back to avoid any injuries, and the arrows aiming towards her never stop. Some missed their target while others narrowly missed her body, thanks to her skilful doging techniques.

One of the attackers who is hiding on the rooftop tiles of the opposite store, lost his patience and pull out 3 arrows, placing them steadily on the bow and release the strings that aim directly at Jae-in. As Yu-ji who was standing behind Jae-in was coughing badly from the smoke, in the moment of panic, she lost her footing and trip over the steps, releasing a short scream.

Distracted by her scream, Jae-in turn behind to ensure if Yu-ji is alright, momentarily leaving her back open to any attack. With just a split second of distraction, from the corner of her eyes, she knew that she is unable to doge from the direct hit. Pulling Yu-ji into her arms to protect her, Jae-in prepare herself for the arrow to penetrate her body.

However, she waited for 3 seconds and the pain have yet to come. Opening her eyes and turn her head to see what is going on, a massive figure crounch over her as a human shield, taking in the 3 arrows directed to her.

_________________________________

[A/N]

Hey peeps, I apologise for not updating last week as I was trying to gather inspiration for this story. Thank you for those who stay behind and wait patiently for this story, hopefully I will be able to deliver a good plot for you guys to enjoy.

Happy Saturday