19 Be More Careful

Tianshi Xue knew she had to savor the moment. She could not help the grin that made its way to her lips. She was out of the wall! Only a handful of people had been able to step foot beyond the empire and she was one of them.

She had to have these words on her grave. Tianshi Xue, actress, wall beyond-er.

At the thought of her tombstone, she suddenly felt the dragging feeling in her stomach. Her body was dead. There was no way that she could go back to it.

They were about to set forth in their journey when they heard someone was coming. Tianshi Xue immediately got behind the back of Prince Qui (3rd Prince), peering over his side to see. He didn't look alarmed.

"Oh, goodness!" sighed a ragged breath. "Thank heavens, you're still here." Behind the rider, a man had slid off the horse, carrying a huge bag on his back.

"Doctor Jung," said Prince Qui.

The middle-aged man already had white hair on his head and beard. He was the head of the hospital inside the palace. "Your Highness, His Imperial Majesty sent me to come along with you."

"Good to know you're coming with us, Doctor. Let's go." Prince Qui took Tianshi Xue's arm, his palms warm and she hated that she noticed it.

They were only on the road for a few minutes before the prince lead them up to the trees. Tianshi Xue didn't want to ask, but the throng of dark trees did not exactly look friendly. "Are you sure?"

Prince Qui let his men move first as Tianshi Xue did not want to move from the road. "There's a small shack in the middle of the woods around three hours away from here."

"How do you even know we're going in the right direction?!"

Prince Qui's patience was also wearing thin. "I've been there way too many times. I could go there with my eyes closed. We've got a long night ahead. Up and up."

Tianshi Xue only made a face at the dirt. She was wearing white for goodness' sake. She wasn't even wearing the right shoes. But it seemed like the prince was not going to move unless she does.

"You have to use your hands. It's steep," he followed.

Tianshi Xue almost cried. She didn't want to get dirty but here she was, grabbing the earth, pulling herself upwards a hill. "Please tell me that it's going to get better."

"It will," he answered and Tianshi Xue could hear that he was already climbing too. "Can you go a little faster?"

She would've glared at him but he was under her. "Stop looking at my butt."

"Your butt?" the Prince scoffed. "Why would I look at your butt? Put your hand on that root. There, go."

Tianshi Xue knew that she was already moving upwards. Certainly, Princess Yingyue did not do something like this before. A hand showed up in her view and she took it.

She smiled at the soldier when she was on a steadier ground. "Thank you."

"No worries, Your Highness," answered the soldier, his cheeks wrinkling as he smiled.

"Your name?" she asked.

"Bolin."

Tianshi Xue offered her hand but the soldier bowed down to her. "Oh!" she exclaimed and laughed, pulling her hand. Right, she was a princess. "It's nice to meet you, Bolin."

"That's Lt. Col. Bolin for you," said Prince Qui, wiping his hands clean. Only then that Tianshi Xue realized that the soldiers were still in their formal uniforms.

"You can call me what you want," whispered Bolin to her and her smile grew wider.

Tianshi Xue snuggled tighter in her jacket. She was just following everyone where they were going. Her eyes already adjusted in the dark and the forest did not look as scary as before. It helped that she could hear the soldiers' bickering as they walked on and on.

Over time, she noticed that her legs were aching and her feet were sore. Her slippers were so thin as it was made to be only worn indoors. This was worse than wearing five-inch heels overnight. She could literally feel the bottom of her feet touching the ground.

But she still could not understand why she had to be the one that had to be out of the palace. She decided to fall back until she was near enough Prince Qui.

"Say," she said slowly, trying to taste the air. "What made you think that it was my brother who wanted to come and get me?"

"I didn't say that it was your brother. I just said it might be someone that you know."

She fell in step next to him, pushing the other soldier to the side. "But why?"

Prince Qui looked down at her with an expression that she couldn't read. "Why are you talking to me?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Then who am I supposed to talk to about with the matters of how I am away from the walls which had kept me safe all these years?"

"Believe me, Princess," said the soldier next to her. "You are far safer outside the walls for now."

Tianshi Xue turned to him. "Your name?"

The man bowed his head slightly. "Colonel Aiguo."

The other one was a lieutenant colonel… such young men. "What do you know, Colonel?"

The colonel took a peek at the prince but he did not offer a word. He turned his eyes back to Tianshi Xue. "Just that, Your Highness."

Tianshi Xue was about to ask another thing when she heard a distant water stream. "Are we going to cross water?"

They reached the end of land and the water was white under the moonlight.

"I don't think that's the safest idea," she said, the gush of the river almost drowning her words. She guessed that the hour of the day had something to do with the strength of the current.

"We still have to cross," Prince Qui said. He barked orders at his men. Colonel Aiguo wrapped a thick rope on his torso and stepped on the water, wetting half of his body.

It's freezing! her mind alarmed her, refusing to let her go in water but Prince Qui nudged her forward. The soldiers and the doctor were already ahead of her, holding on the rope. "Your turn," he said.

Tianshi Xue swallowed and grabbed on the rope. She stepped on the chilling water. As Princess Yingyue's body was short, the water reached her ribs. I WOULD DROWN! her mind screamed, AGAIN.

"Be careful," Prince Qui reminded her, "the stones are—"

Tianshi Xue was walking on top of the stones until she wasn't. She felt her foot slip against something smooth so she closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting for the water to come for her face.

But it did not come.

"Slippery," Prince Qui finished.

Tianshi Xue was suddenly aware of his arm holding her up. It was wrapped around her waist and she grew consciously aware of his face. His dark eyebrows, his deep tear ducts, his strong nose, and the line of his jaw. But more importantly, his dark red lips.

A sudden chill ran up her spine and braced her chest. The water reached her neck and looking up at the prince in the dark, a different idea fired up in her body. Tianshi Xue coughed as she felt like she was drowning.

No, I was disgusted, she told her mind although her stomach was once again filled with butterflies.

Prince Qui gave a hard tug and she was standing again. "Try to be more careful."

Before she moved on again, she thought she saw a ghost of a smirk on his lips.