3 The Princess in another castle

Recovering at such a rapid and instantaneous speed caused Kiran to leap up off the bed as if it was hot enough to fry an egg on. He couldn't help, but narrow his eyes as he gazed at the floating screen that would always follow him wherever he looked. Whether he wanted to believe it or not, this recovery was proof the cheat screen before him truly worked!

He glanced around the room once or twice like a nervous burglar to ensure that he was truly alone, before he leaned back and started to laugh out loud like a maniac.

"HA HA! I'm rich! This time I've really struck gold!" he cackled to himself with tears nearly coming out of his eyes from his sheer joy. Think about it. If you suddenly found yourself with a cheat system in real life, just like in video games, who wouldn't be overjoyed once they confirmed that it genuinely worked?

After wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, he looked down at his sorry appearance and decided that he needed to get out of his attire of plaid pajamas before he could go out to play in this big, bold and brave new world. He found a walk in closet further inside the bedroom. It was neatly divided in two sections, one with male clothes and the other with female clothes and accessories. Obviously the female section took up more space, but after finding these female clothes, Kiran sobered up and came crashing back down from cloud nine.

"That's right, I'm married here." He groaned whilst massaging his forehead. In truth, Kiran wasn't confident in being in a relationship as his wounds from getting dumped were still all too fresh to him. How would he handle a wife or even bluff her enough to convince her that he was her husband? The previous Kiran Bei who had married her hadn't even been able to see her face through the wedding veil or even been able to make her his woman that fateful night. So, they were practically strangers.

"Should I annul the marriage? After all we were both coerced into marrying each other..." Kiran dejectedly sighed under his breath. He shook his head to clear out the negativity and proceeded to lay out a blue suit to change into, before he headed for the shower adjacent to this walk in closet.

Whilst staring at his own reflection for the first time, he was again surprised. He looked uncannily like a Sasquatch. His previously short hair now fell down to his shoulders and he had a short beard covering his chin. Hadn't he only been knocked out last night? When he remembered the hospital like equipment around the bed room, he suspected that he'd just woken up from a coma and that he'd been resident here for a long time.

Kiran looked around the bathroom for a long time and he finally found a pink women's razor and quietly asked for his wife's forgiveness, before he went to work at the mane on his face. After a quick shower and getting dressed in the navy blue suit and a salmon t-shirt, he was the definition of neat and dapper. Since he'd already shamelessly ruined one of his old lady's razors, he decided to go through her stuff once more to find a hair tie and put his hair in a ponytail.

"Ai...it's kind of a good thing to have a wife at times like this?" he couldn't help, but to exclaim.

---

In a spacious and warmly lit lobby of the Hong Enterprises hotel, two stunningly beautiful women were approaching the elevators. Having such attractive and ethereal appearances, those in society that had a little more knowledge were aware that these two most likely were cultivators. Walking up to try and pick up these two lovely ladies would be akin to seeking one's own death. The stronger one's cultivation, the more youthful and charming the practitioner would become and they would gain additional years to their lifespan. The strongest stage at full completion was rumoured to be able to live for a full two thousand years. Whilst it might not be true immortality, but living for just slightly over two thousand years was incredibly desirable, as all living creatures had an innate fear and reluctance towards death.

The cultivations levels, including their additions to one's life, were:

1) Nurturing stage +25yrs additional lifespan

2) Seeking Insight stage +25yrs additional lifespan

3) Initial Insight stage +50yrs additional lifespan

4) Comprehension stage +50yrs additional lifespan

5) Enlightenment stage +50 yrs additional lifespan

6) First breath stage +100 yrs additional lifespan

7) True Sight Stage +100yrs additional lifespan

8) Leaping Step stage +100yrs additional lifespan

9) Wisdom Stage +500yrs additional lifespan

10) Sage stage +1000yrs additional lifespan

One of the women was walking slightly behind the first and she was lean and slender, dressed in an all white buttoned up women's pant suit. Her chest was visible through the low cut triangle without a shirt anywhere in sight. Even though her chest was not that impressive and there was an absence of cleavage, the lustre of her skin was even more tempting than if there had been an obvious gully. Standing at 5 ft 5", her name was Liu Yan Yan and she possessed an innate charm, in spite of her outwardly cold and terse expression. She was the assistant and bodyguard of the lady who now walked before her.

Dressed in a long, tight and form fitting lace up black dress that reached her ankles, Hong Ga Eun was a complimentary contrast to Yan Yan. She had an hourglass figure and rounded and full curves. What needed to be filled out, was brimming, if not bursting and she stood at 5ft 6.7" tall, with legs that went on for days. These two women entered an empty elevator, before typing in a password to ascend to a private penthouse suite.

Hong Ga Eun was frowning whilst occasionally glancing at an invitation in the hands of her secretary. She'd been invited to celebrate the 3rd Centennial anniversary of the founding of the Empire. This was natural and a matter of course, given the sacrifices and services that her In-laws had contributed to the establishment of this nation and the defence of its borders. And technically, she was royalty, a bona fide Queen.

However, for the past two years since she had gotten married and an accident befell her husband, everyone had abandoned and ignored this husband and wife pair. Her husband's relatives all but kicked them out merely weeks since her Royal Husband had been found unconscious. And her own family urged her to annul the marriage, since it had yet to be consummated. She refused, in part due to her anger at being used and also due to the fact she had been coerced into getting engaged to a philanderer first, only for the other side to switch out the groom abruptly and her family not raising any objections to this.

Had it not been for her grandmother, who had left her this hotel in her will 8 years prior, she would not have had any way out of her predicament back then. She packed up, took her husband and moved into the penthouse suite where she currently lived, worked and looked after her comatose spouse. Now 32 years old and only at the middle level of the Seeking Insight stage, she vexed about what the future had in store for both herself and Kiran Bei.

Suddenly receiving an invitation to a celebratory banquet just a day before the gala filled her with worry. Given her title, empty as it was, she couldn't refuse to show her face. With her husband still in a coma and everyone expecting him to never wake and die sooner or later, how could she not find this invite to be fishy? What plots or schemes were underlying this sudden interest in the King and Queen of the Northern Frontier?