"I suppose I couldn't die without first hearing one last scolding and complaint about men from Mrs. Wang, right?" Xiaotian laughed from behind the curtains, speaking loudly so she could hear him.
Mrs. Wang tensed and turned abruptly to one side, drawing her sword with terrifying agility. She even prepared to wake up the entire mansion, but... she stopped.
"Little Xiaotian?" she asked, incredulous at seeing him emerge from behind the curtains.
"I don't think it's been that long since the last time, right? We saw each other five days ago. Why the surprise?" Xiaotian played dumb.
"You..." She pointed her sword at him. "Weren't you dead? Your whole family said you were dead, even old Hao!"
"Don't you know my position in the Zhang Clan, Mrs. Wang? It's not very high."
She frowned. "What does that mean?"
"They tried to kill me, but miraculously I escaped from them," he said, bringing his hand to his chin. "Apparently, a ruin appeared at just the right moment, allowing me to flee," he said, clearly not planning to tell anyone about that ruin for now.
She blinked more than five times in a row before understanding what had happened...
"So... they wanted to kill you, and you escaped, but they thought you died, so..."
He smiled. "As expected of Mrs. Wang, you are as intelligent as I remember."
She didn't accept his flattery. "But that puts the Zhangs in grave danger. If the Sect finds out..."
"No one will believe me right now, Mrs. Wang. My death was planned by the elders of the Sect. I don't have enough status to blame them." He reminded her, and she nodded.
It made sense.
Any attempt to assassinate a disciple recognized by the Sect outside of it would have serious repercussions. Now, if it was orchestrated by elders... no matter how much evidence you have, if you don't have enough value to the sect, no one will pay attention to you.
This world is ruled by the law of the strong, and although there are rules, the power of the strong allows them to break them at will; rules are only for the weak.
"Honestly, that's beside the point, Mrs. Wang. I came here because I wanted to talk to Ruxue."
Finally, Mrs. Wang remembered where she was and what was happening, so she immediately opened her arms and pulled a curtain toward her.
"Turn around! What are you doing, looking at our young lady in her most vulnerable state?!"
Her scream even woke Ruxue, who let out a sound from her mouth.
"Hnn... What's that noise?" Her voice was clearer now, indicating that the medicinal herbs were taking effect. "Auntie? Oh..."
She looked around the room, slowly waking up.
'My room...' she thought.
Suddenly, her gaze fell on a special place in the room, next to her princess mirror. There was a sword hanging there that flooded her face with tears in a matter of seconds, and a feeling of oppression hit her chest.
That sword... Xiaotian had given it to her. It was long and decorated with flowers. It wasn't expensive at all, but Xiaotian had bought it specifically for her.
Although he promised to give her a better and more beautiful one, now... he would no longer be able to keep that promise.
She couldn't help but be overcome with emotion and curled up inside the bathtub. She didn't understand why she was in one, but she didn't care. The feelings she had now drastically overwhelmed her surroundings.
Even Aunt Wang's words didn't reach her.
Her tears quickly mingled with the water around her, creating a strange sensation that she was bathing in her own tears.
Xiaotian sighed when he saw her like this.
She was his fiancée, after all. And they weren't just any kind of fiancés. According to his memories of little Xiaotian, they had always been very close and were supposed to get married when they turned 21.
Seeing her like this hurt him a little. Little Xiaotian's feelings kept hitting him, softening his heart.
At least she wasn't a traitor.
He saw that even Mrs. Wang didn't know how to handle this, so he had to step in.
With gentle steps, he approached the bathtub. She was an extremely beautiful woman, known as one of the Sword Princesses of the Sect; her body was spectacular, as if sculpted by the gods themselves. But he was able to ignore all that and did not let himself be carried away by impure thoughts.
"I don't remember our little sword princess being such a crybaby. Is this a new habit you've acquired?" He joked a little and stopped in front of her.
She was crying inconsolably; at this moment, she didn't want anyone to bother her. She wanted to hear as little as possible of the voices from outside, and even Mrs. Wang couldn't pull her out of that state.
But she shuddered when she heard these words, and her head rose very slowly, as if she were a robot moving at a slow pace because she was low on oil.
It took her a few seconds to finally look up at the youthful, but astonishingly beautiful face she had seen thousands of times during her short life.
Right now, he didn't look like the young master she remembered; his clothes didn't seem to match his status, although that in itself was typical of him. He wore worn clothes and a black hood that was now around his neck.
He carried a sword at his waist, strapped into a makeshift leather sheath.
His face was gaunt, perhaps from dirt, but he was still recognizable.
Most importantly... he looked alive.
She shuddered and got up without caring about anything else. She immediately walked through the water, almost falling in the process, and reached him. The water fell to the ground, but she didn't care.
She was afraid to touch him for a moment, thinking he would disappear, but she couldn't resist the urge to do so...
The touch of her wet hands on Xiaotian's slightly dirty face covered him with a little mud, but...
He felt alive.
She touched him in various parts of his body and wondered if she had gone mad.
"Should I take off my clothes?" he joked. "We could get married today, if you want," he whispered to her.