11 Not The Princess

When Yang Qui (3rd Prince) exited the throne room, he made his way to the palace's private hospital. It was in a separate building, close to the castle—in case the Emperor might need immediate help. The hospital was bustling, mainly because all the soldiers that he took with him were all here. They were tending to the wounded, probably amputating some limbs, and operating on people.

He made his way to the back, where he knew she would be. He pushed open the door and a smile appeared on his lips. She had a mountain of folders in front of her desk and had a serious look on her face. Yang Qui leaned against the doorway. "I got men dying outside and you are here doing what?"

The woman lifted her head, a face of serenity. Her dark hair flowed like a curtain behind her. "I'm waiting for you, of course." She stood up from her seat. "And none of your men are actually dying. They're safe now." She rounded the table, unable to control her smile. "Are you ready to receive your care, General? Or should I say Your Highness?"

Yang Qui winced. "You know I never liked that title, Jinghua."

"Aw," she cooed and made a face at him. "What are you going to do about it? Are you gonna cry?"

If it were a normal person, Yang Qui would have sliced their throats. But Jinghua was not anybody. She was his best friend since they were younger. His lips smiled wider as he detached himself from the door and hopped on the hospital bed that was waiting for him.

Jinghua pulled a cart next to her and sat on the seat. "What happened to you this time?" she sighed. Ever since she received her license two years ago, she was the one who had been attending to Yang Qui every time he came home from the outside the walls.

Yang Qui pulled off his shirt and made himself comfortable on the bed. "I got a new cut on my shoulder," he said, like he was almost proud. "The shooter was aiming for my face."

Jinghua checked the suture. "Bolin's getting better at this."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Getting faster too."

Jinghua cleaned and changed the dressing. "Anything else I have to see?"

Yang Qui turned to his side to show her his back and he heard his friend whimpered a little. "It's fine," he said, remembering the pain when he got sliced in close combat. "It happened a few weeks ago."

"I can see that," she said like she was having trouble talking. On Yang Qui's back, there was a huge gash. She could only imagine how much it bled. It was already healing nicely. She started cleaning it. It was about half a foot long. "Is this everything?"

Yang Qui could not also believe it. This was one of the longest trips he had taken beyond the wall and he got away with two slices. "You should really tend to the other people outside."

"I'll get right on with them once I'm done with you. I thought you would be in a worse state." Yang Qui had come home looking like he was dead a year ago. "You already saw The Emperor?"

"And everyone else." He stared at the plain wall and closed his eyes. He was so tired. He was already imagining the soft bed and the cool wind on his face as he slept but then he suddenly remembered. "You're coming to the party, right?"

Jinghua laughed. "What made you think that I'm coming? I hate those things."

"You're going to come with me," said Yang Qui. "You won't let me suffer there myself, would you?"

"I might…"

Yang Qui smiled. "As your prince, I'm commanding you to come to the party with me."

Jinghua placed the new cover on the wound. "Okay, Your Highness. You're all set."

Yang Qui got up and pulled on his shirt. "You're coming tonight."

"Yes, Your Highness," Jinghua threw him a smile over her shoulder just as she was about to exit the room. "I heard you the first time."

"Okay," he answered. "I'll see you."

Yang Qui turned to the clock. One more visit before he could get some rest.

**

Tianshi Xue was in awe of the palace. There were only a few places in the whole of Heping wherein they would be able to see the towers of the castle. She never thought it would be this glorious from the inside. She felt like she was a small being with the way that the ceiling reached the heavens. By the time that they were almost done rounding all the important areas, her feet were already sore and it was already lunchtime.

Prince Xioadan steered her to the dining area. Her stomach was getting all knotted up again at the prospect of meeting the royals. "You're unusually quiet," he noticed. "I should really bring you to the hospital."

"Really, I'm fine," said Tianshi Xue. "I…" she did not know what excuse to say. "I'm just tired from walking around." She tried changing the subject. "Is Prince Qui going to be joining us for lunch?"

"He never joins us for lunch," said the prince. "Not the first one after he comes back. He always shared that with his mother."

Realization dawned on her. Right, Prince Yang Qui was not a son of either the Empress and Imperial Noble Consort. He was the son of a concubine. Technically, the Empress adopted him as one of her sons (as it was her duty).

Tianshi Xue shivered. Polygamy had once been eradicated from this world. But when The Wars happened and the population thinned with all the lives that had been lost, it had been a mission to bear as much children as possible to populate the world again.

"After lunch, what are we supposed to do?" she asked him, trying to find out if she was going to get away so she could make her plan of jumping off the roof possible.

"Hm," the prince said. "We're going to check some of the details about our wedding and then you're going to get fitted in your dress and then you'll get into your gown for tonight."

Her eyebrows rose up, feeling a little excitement inside her. She knew it was not her wedding. But it didn't mean that she could not be happy with being involved with the planning of it.

She suddenly felt sad when she realized she was leaving the princess' body tonight. Being in this palace… it made her feel like she was in a fairytale.

It was as if she was not ready to go back to reality--to the world where people hate her.

Spots on her back grew hot. It was in shape of the hand of the person who pushed her off to the water. She needed to find out who tried to kill her. She had to leave this world.

Leave the engagement with the prince.

Leave the majestic palace.

Leave the perfect life.

She had to go back to the world wherein she was not the princess. But the villainess.