22 An Animal

As Tianshi Xue was still not done with her tantrum from this morning because of the bathroom, she was stuck inside her room. She didn't want to go out, swallow her pride, and ask for food.

"To hell with the prince," she muttered under her breath. What did she expect from him anyway? He was The Conqueror. He burned down cities and took its people as slaves.

She twisted and turned on her bed again, wanting to ignore the pain on her neck. The bag was too high and hard to be used as a pillow, not to mention, it had about a dozen of buckles that bumped with her head. When she took the clothes out, it was too low.

Besides, she could not sleep with just one pillow! She needed at least two. She needed something to hug and put her feet on, and then the one beneath her head. The mattress did not help either. She might as well just lay down the floor.

Can I survive a week without sleep? she asked herself. I think I could.

There was this one time that her taping days were cut because of a series of terrible storms that left Heping flooded and wet for a good portion of the month. They ran out of things to show on the television and to make up for it, they spent a whole week shooting.

She didn't die then.

If she died now, then she would know the answer to her question, if her soul would transfer in the moment of her demise.

If it wouldn't...

Man, she would hate to die a second time and for real.

There was a knock on the door and she heard Bolin's voice. "Princess, it's lunch hour."

"I know," she answered even though she didn't. She wanted to be able to tell the time by the position of the sun but that was a skill she had yet to acquire. "I'm not hungry."

"Alright, Princess. But in case you are, here are some food. I'll leave it by the door, okay?"

"Whatever," she muttered. She was on her stomach and she heard it grumble at the sound that it was about to be fed. She barely ate anything last night and she didn't have anything for breakfast.

Once she saw the bathroom, she knew that she shouldn't eat much. It would be like she was punishing herself if she would get in there and stay for more than a minute.

But her stomach grumbled more and she knew she had to eat.

**

"What did she say?" asked Feng as they huddled in a small circle to eat.

"I think she answered me with 'whatever'," answered Bolin. "I have heard every nice thing about the princess. I wonder if that was all a lie."

It was Aiguo who smacked the back of Bolin's head. "You can't speak ill of the royalties. Do you want to die?"

"I'm sorry," Bolin said to the prince, bowing his head a little. They knew that Prince Qui considered them as his friends, but there were certain lines to not be crossed still. After all, he was still a general and the son of the emperor.

"No need to apologize," Prince Qui said, eating the food with his hands. "I don't really mind my family. But you're right, something is definitely going on with Yingyue."

First, the staring at the party. Second, trying to kill herself. Third, she was talking to him—they haven't spoken a word willingly to each other since they were young! Fourth, her throwing a tantrum. He didn't know her that much but he knew her enough to know that she was not going to act like that. She would have swallowed her pride and got into that makeshift bathroom without another word.

Right, his mind said. She fell down the stairs. He had heard about tumors growing in brains that made people's personality change.

Poor Xiaodan, Prince Qui shook his head. His wife might die young.

"Forgive me, Your Highness," said Doctor Jung, "but you should make sure that the princess eats something. She's on a new environment, it would be easy for her to get illnesses or disease and that is the last thing that we need."

Prince Qui recognized the fear in the doctor's voice. No doubt, the emperor must've said the same words to him. "You die before the princess does".

He said, "I will talk to her after I finish eating."

Prince Qui got up after he finished with his plate. He hated that he really did have to make the princess safe. It was too much hassle because she was acting like a spoiled brat.

He sighed as he got up and walked towards the shack. He was about to bend over to get the plate and his body almost jumped when he saw the door opened a few inches and a white hand came out of it.

He thought that it was some animal at first and it later registered that it was the princess' hand. She grabbed a piece of the chicken and the door closed again.

Prince Qui almost laughed out loud. He could not believe that this was happening. Was her pride holding her back that much that she was trying to eat discreetly?

Prince Qui backed away—he didn't want to embarrass her further. If she stopped eating all together, that would be on him.

Later, when Feng retrieved the plate, the food was almost all gone. "Princess, did you enjoy the meal?"

"I didn't eat anything!" the princess shouted.

Feng scratched on his head. "Where did the food go?"

"I don't know! Maybe some animal took it!"

Prince Qui could no longer help but chuckle to himself.