Chapter 2 (2/2)

After who kno long, I’ht inpain shoots through my bones

The sun hovers steadily in the sky and bakes the land with its heat Soon after water vapour rises fros with every breath I can al earth and hear the drops of blood slowly sliding down Maybe I’ust of wind sweeps burning rocks and sand right into skin me alive

Murong Yu, you fucking ass! I’d rather you aim that sword of yours at my neck; the scar will only be about the size of a plate I fucking hate this slowly-torture-to-death bullshi+t! Murong Yu, I didn’t know you had this sort of fetish－but then again they say people who enjoy torturing others are ly prestigious prince has actually been scarred pretty badly

“Wa…ter”

I can’t help but moan My body feels as if it’s been on fire

“Oh, so loyal subjects need water, too?” he teases, showing up out from nowhere

So, the royal fa sarcastic I roll my eyes at him, pissed

I thought all humans needed water to live How does he not know that? Ha, perhaps his ee-

“You fancy a drink?”

In front of ht dances off of the rippling surface

Wow I thought it would at least be pee or sohness doesn’t have expertise on the fine details of torture

I continue telling him off in my head but my damn hands reach out towards the bowl as if they have a mind of their own I prop myself up and crawl over with all my efforts Just a bit more…and it’s still out of reach

I find a s across that da with the bowl!) steadily retreats further away

da played with instead of being eaten?

I lurch forward but he swerves to one side with that bowl of water safely out of reach I, on the other hand, drop face first onto the ground and get a mouthful of dirt

He perks his lips, stops, comes in close and sniffs, “What a pity, oh what a pity What a pity for this bowl of perfectly thirst-quenching water We retrieved it all the way from the desert oasis”

He slowly tilts the bowl as he speaks I watch as a strearaceful arc through the air and instantly getting sucked in hungrily by the sand right in front of my very eyes

I slowly look up and lock on to his spiteful eyes

I knew it! I kneouldn’t be that kind-hearted He gavesure I witnessed all of it

So, the royal fa at both the eical side of it

For ahi a tear to the Yan Emperor!

I tell myself to calm down:

Do not listen to your iars can’t be choosers Han Xin, you must endure! You’ve done so for twenty years! What’s a couple more days?

I turn my head away and shut him out with my eyelids

After all, Murong Yu is just the same as any other bully, just like all those cousins of ive theet bored and leave you alone

A shadow blocks out the sunlight and he lifts ain with the silver e me to look up at those ink black eyes

fuck, I hate this Itteased

From the looks of his fluid movements I bet that he’s a playboy, the rich kind that spends all his time in brothels and in the embraces of hostesses

“Deputy General Han,” he sht that men of Rui were unworthy But you, able to survive our harsh whipping and the cruel desert, are so else indeed”

I glance, no, roll my eyes at him

“But even so, even if you are courageous you cannot survive without water A young, handso sun, now you would not call that a pretty sight, would you?” he asks

He sihtly arched and a gentle smile on his face None of the eeriness from deep inside his eyes could be detected “Master Han, if a beautiful host, you would have to be one malicious spirit”

Seeing his peaceful smile makes my skin crawl

A dried corpse on a desert, all black and burnt…ugh, gross How could anyone let a handso, free spirit like ly, dry, burnt corpse on a desert?

“I e and it is our tradition to respect our ene-”

“Hey,” I interrupt, “if you’re a ht now ‘Cause I’ to doubt that you are one”

He shrugs and pushes harder on my chin

“Fine, there are te deal with prisoners who do not crack The first kind: dismemberment by five horses,” he pauses drait drag you through the vast desert… How long do you think you would last, Deputy General? With your delicate coht than a dried corpse”

Exhausted, I give a light scoff “I didn’t know I had a choice, your highness If I did though, I would choose neither One doesn’t leave a whole corpse and the other doesn’t leave your skin intact, it completely ruins the visuals”

Sensing a falter, I rab onto his collar I look up and snarl, “Murong Yu, I’et it over with right here, right now”

His body stiffens and his chest rises and drops rapidly His expression is alarainst my chin trembles a little

I keepto lose

He studies me silently under the sun His air of authority seems to push down on me as we meet in a deadlock It’s not until quite a while has passed that he says, “I do not understand why you are holding back, Han Xin What could you possibly gain? You have been captured for how rand nephew of the eer herself－you are royalty－but no one has come to rescue you or to pay a ranso loyal?”

My heart grows cold and his collar slips a bit froers

The eood or bad towards h; she wouldn’t look at me a moment more than she had to Now, uncle was much more obvious I mean, even the lowest servants in the household wasn’t afraid to raise their voices to me

I prefer fooling around outside co in that inhospitable Minister of Personnel ers givetrouble in general while co myself alone at the end of each day, and soon, everyone in the capital knew ood-doer

Hoasted my twenty years of life must seem

Being ignored and overlooked by everyone has , andas you’re alive, you will live on to see another day But now

He holds lobes and I almost see pity

“Murong Yu! Cut the bullshi+t and just end it!” I bellow, not willing to accept pity

That pair of ht

“For s that are of worth Just tell us everything that you know and I promise we, Great Yan, will provide you with treasures your country has yet to behold”

“Money, beautiful wohtly

He nods I shake aze

“Well, I want none of that I only wish to live a norh the mountains and waters of this land, to set my eyes upon the desert sunset of the far north, to experience the rainy season of the south, to embrace this world freely, to wed and raise a child I don’t wish for wealth, merely for peace”

He falls silent andshould be saying”

I heave a sigh

Murong Yu, when did I say I’lorious side, clad in the finest silk, but really I have nothing but tattered bits of cloth that can barely be considered clothing People like you who really are of royal upbringing can be so danorant

I let go of his collar and look to hi that we’re both arht now? I’ll be sure to pass on a few good words to Lucifer on your behalf when I get down there”

Then, in a flash of an eye, like a loose spring, I pull the sword out frolides across the sharp blade as I raise it to my neck