Chapter 9 - A Natural Instinct to Stay Alive.

Ben's farmhouse, the King's room.

While herself was sitting in a wheelchair, Rei helped the King to do some simple cleaning on his upper body as well as changing the dressing for the wound on the King's back. Despite she had been doing that a few times when the King was still unconscious, Rei's heart ached every time she saw that hideous old scar which covered almost half of the King's upper body.

"It must hurt quite a lot when it happened, right?" said Rei with caring eyes that mixed with a dash of distress as she gently wiped his left chest with the towel in her hand.

"Well... To be honest, I can't really tell if it hurts or not. The situation at that time was a situation where you will omit all of the physical pain of your body in order to prevent a greater tragedy... Mmm... That kind of situation..." said the King as he frowned, recalling that awful betrayal is not anything pleasant after all.

"Ah... I am sorry for asking such an inappropriate question..." Rei apologised as soon as she noticed the frown on the King's face.

"It's alright, you have no reason to apologize. I am actually kind of happy that you finally have the courage to ask this question." said the King who immediately retracted the frown on his face and smiled.

"Heh? You do? But why?" Rei asked, rather curious instead of confused.

"Well... At least it means that you are now more open up to me." said the King with a happy smile.

"Ah..."

Seeing that charming and warm smile from the King who is now half-naked, Rei blushed with no doubt.

"And if possible, I would want to see your real and unrestricted side more. It is kind of sad to see that you have to stay cautious and alert all the time, wear a fake mask to hide your real thoughts, and more. Don't you even feel tired of it? Particularly about acting stupid and innocent all the time? Even when it might put you in some other danger?" The King asked as he suddenly switched to a serious tone.

But even with the serious tone, his warmness and charms don't decrease for a bit... At least for Rei.

"Your Majesty..."

Hearing that long confession from the King, Rei was once again stunned and unable to answer his questions, he once again hit the bullseyes. He was right on point on how Rei always pretend to be stupid and innocent even in a situation that might be dangerous for her.

"I believe after all this time you spent with me, you should have known that I can easily see through a person's thought, so it is rather pointless for you to do so... Well... Unless it's some sort of weird quirks you have that I don't know... But... Yeah... You don't really have to hide your real self from me." said the King, who kind of realised that he might have crossed the borderline, thus leading to the pauses towards the end.

"Actually... Instead of a quirk or anything like that, it is more like an instinct... A natural instinct to stay alive."

"I see... If you don't mind, I would like to know more about it in detail." said the King who decided it was time to dig deeper into Rei's traumatic past.

And after a short hesitation and dilemma, Rei nodded and started telling the King more about her past...

***

It all started with Rei being chosen by the Shangguan's clan leader. She was one of the two girls chosen by the Shangguan's clan leader as the candidates for his adopted daughter to enter the Imperial Palace for the state of his biological daughter.

Rei and the other girl were brought to meet the clan leader in a secret room, before seeing the clan leader, they were given a meal, a meal that was suspiciously luxurious. Due to weeks of hunger as an army slave in the army camp, the young Rei gobbled the food in front of her without caring too much, while the other girl who was from a commoner family, was very cautious and refused to eat the food, fearing that it might be poisonous. And yes, the other girl was right, the food was indeed poisoned, shortly after Rei gobbled a whole plate of rice and meat, she fainted as blood dripped out from her mouth and nostrils.

However, Rei didn't get killed by the poison, she was immediately given the antidote and treated by Shangguan's clan physician while the girl who refused to eat the food was strangled to death. The moment Rei regained consciousness, she was in a cosy room, wearing clean clothes, greeted by her adopted mother's fake smile.

"Good day, young lady, your name is Rei, right?" She asked.

The young Rei clumsily nodded her head.

"Ah... What a beautiful young lady... Starting today, you are officially the adopted daughter of Shangguan's clan, and for your information, you will be entering the palace as a palace maid in the stead of your elder sister, after all, she should at least be the Emperor's consort instead of just a lowly maid, don't you agree?" She asked again.

And once again, Rei nodded.

"And, I am assuming that you have no problems at all to be a palace maid in the Imperial Palace, right? After all, it is at least ten times better than your previous life as an army slave, right?" She asked, in a rather sarcastic tone.

Rei sheepishly nodded.

"Good! That's the daughter I need. Now, there is another important matter that you need to know. So listen carefully." said Rei's adopted mother.

Rei nodded in obedience.

"For the Shangguan clan, we don't need a cautious and capable girl to be sent into the Imperial Palace and cause some unnecessary troubles and misunderstandings for us, what we need is a stupid but breathtakingly beautiful girl just like you, just good enough to catch the attention of the Emperor but at the same time, unable to seduce the Emperor. Do you get it?" She asked as she suddenly switched her fake smile to a cold and stern look.

Slightly stunned by her, Rei carefully nodded.

And that's the first thing Rei learns as the adopted daughter of Shangguan's clan...