23 I'm Having a Headache

Tianshi Xue was bored out of her wits inside the small shack. Is this what princesses do? she asked herself. Hang around and wait for Prince Charming to come?

She was going out of her mind. She needed to be able to do something other than looking at the four dirty walls of the room. Her lunch was hardly satisfying and it didn't seem like her stomach was in the mood to release some contents.

She knew that she had to get out of the small house no matter what. Tianshi Xue opened the door slightly and peeked. She almost screamed for joy when she found that the general was nowhere to be seen.

She almost wrenched the door wholly open as she strode out and sat down on one of the sleeping bags. "Hello," she greeted the soldiers. "Did you have a nice lunch?"

The soldiers looked at each other then bowed down to her. "Yes, Your Highness."

She nodded at what they were playing. "What card game is that?"

Bolin, the soldier nearest her showed her the cards. "This game is called Marks, the objective here is to collect as many face-cards."

"So you don't need strategy for this?"

"It's pure luck. You take the top card and flip it on the pile. If you get a face-card, then that pile is yours."

"Basically, I just have to be the richest person?"

"Something like that."

Tianshi Xue processed the mechanics of the game. "That doesn't sound very interesting. Is this what you guys do when you're bored?"

Feng, who was dropping a card on the pile in the middle, answered. "We have nothing else to do. We have to entertain ourselves somehow, Princess. Would you like to play a game?"

It was a boring game but she agreed to it nonetheless, anything to pass the time. She terribly missed the conditioned air in the palace but she found that it was not as hot here in the open. The trees swayed with the wind and blew her hair off her forehead. If it didn't smell so much like earth and there was better housing, Tianshi Xue would've willingly stayed there.

"Is the general back yet?" asked Doctor Jung who had been taking a nap under the shade of the shack.

"No," answered Aiguo, something weighing his words. "He's not yet back."

"Where is he anyway?" Tianshi Xue asked, irritated that she wanted to know where he was.

"He's out scouting the area. He wanted to see if someone had already followed us."

"Oh," was her only expression. She pushed Prince Qui out of her mind and continued on with the game. When she finally got her first face-card, a jolt of happiness struck her body. "I got it!" she exclaimed and threw her hands in the air. "I'm rich!" she said as she took the pile.

"Of course, you won," said a voice from behind her and her mood immediately turned sour. "You're the Princess."

Tianshi Xue looked at the other players. "You're not just letting me win, right?"

"O-of course not, Princess," said Bolin, his eyes wide. He was lying, her mind whispered. She was an actress. Lying was what she did for a living. "You're really doing great on this game."

Tianshi Xue looked over her shoulder just long enough to glare at the prince. He walked soundlessly that it seemed like he had appeared out of thin air. "I'm going back inside the house."

"You're welcome to stay," said the prince, walking to one of the tents. "I'm going to rest."

Tianshi Xue grumbled something under her breath as the deck was shuffled. No other sound and movement came from the tent and she suddenly felt envious of the prince. She wanted to sleep too but she couldn't. Not in a circumstance like this.

It was near sunset when Tianshi Xue felt the princess' body getting weaker. "I think I need to lie down," she announced and fluffed her long skirt to remove the dirt. "I think I'm having a headache."

**

It was another failed attempt into making herself fall asleep. With her eyes closed, she even thought about sleep hypnotisation. She heard it had worked wonders to some people in the past. Her body ached and it felt like something was dragging her down, or her soul felt too heavy to carry at least.

It was nighttime when she gave up and opened her eyes. She licked her lips and found that her mouth was dry. She got up the bed and found that the soldiers were already preparing dinner. "Can I have some water?" she croaked.

"Oh, you're up, Princess," said Feng with a huge smile, exposing more wrinkles on his face.

"You should have your skin stretched," she wanted to tell him. But he ran over to her and handed her a clean plastic glass of water. She drank it in three huge gulps. "What's for dinner?"

He looked embarrassed. "Still leftovers from the party, Princess."

She groaned silently. "Until when are we going to eat that?"

"Possibly until tomorrow."

She huffed a breath and walked to the small circle. She turned to the prince's tent.

"He's still resting," said Aiguo.

Tianshi Xue nodded at his cool demeanor. She did not understand. He looked friendly the first time that she met him yesterday, but now it was like he was trying to not talk to her. But she got enough problems as it was. She didn't want to add another one in her list.

After sluggishly eating dinner, she said good night and locked herself in the room.

**

"Did she eat tonight?" The Prince asked as he emerged from the flap of his tent.

"She did, but barely," answered Bolin. "You should really talk to her, General. She looked like she's not getting sleep. There were circles under her eyes."

He looked at the already closed door of the shack. "Let's see what else she has to say tomorrow."

Without him knowing it, the princess would be a bigger problem than he thought. Because tomorrow, the princess was already cranky, stressing them all out to find ways on how to make her sleep.