The Bed

Tianshi Xue shouldn't have gotten into that water. She should've ordered one of those soldiers to carry her through the river. Now it was as if her teeth were cursed to chatter endlessly.

"We're close," Prince Qui (3rd Prince) announced, also half-wet, but it was unfair on how the cold did not bother him. He only gave a passing glance to the princess and went on walking.

Doctor Jung was kind enough to hand her a blanket. "We should get you out of these clothes soon or you're going to catch a cold."

Tianshi Xue only casted a glare towards the prince's direction but it was not like he saw her. She continued walking although the wind grew about ten times colder now, freezing her skin and toes.

She was shivering… shuddering… all the other words that represent herself shaking against the cold.

"I think I'm going to die," she whispered to the Doctor who was now her walking companion, it did not help that the earth was now stuck to her feet. No matter how much she shook if off, it was attached to her skin. Every step she was taking made her feel like she was stepping on dog poo.

Tianshi Xue saw the building before they were even near it. She was praying that it was just some random house and that they were going to pass through it, but boy she was wrong.

Prince Qui walked towards the house and her mind started screaming "no no no no no no!". The protesting voice in her head started to get louder when the prince opened the door.

He was not kidding. What she thought would be a safe house—full of high technology items and security, a comfort in the wilderness, was nothing but a rickety cottage. She looked for lines and found none. There would be no electricity in this place.

"In you go, Princess," Prince Qui said, inclining his head.

"H-here?"

"If you would rather sleep outside, then be my guest."

Tianshi Xue never walked faster. Prince Qui handed her bag when she passed the door. She had forgotten that he had been carrying it for her. She snatched it from his hands and closed the door on his face.

She looked around the dark room, wondering. "Are there snakes here?"

"You'd be lucky if you find one," the prince answered. Still, Tianshi Xue kicked the wooden bedframe and waited for something to bite her.

There was nothing.

There was nothing else in the room either. Which meant, THERE WERE NO BATHROOMS!! How was she supposed to take a bath? Wash her face? Brush her teeth? About a thousand question marks floated above her head. But most importantly, where was she supposed to crap and pee?

Still shaking to her core, Tianshi Xue stripped off her wet clothes and into some dry ones. She wanted to check what else was inside the bag but she decided to reserve it when daylight would come.

It was so quiet in this place that the knocks on the door made her jump. "Are you hungry, Princess?" asked one of the soldiers.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you. I just want to sleep." Then she took a look at the bed and wanted to take back her decision. One look at it and she knew that the mattress was only an inch thick. "How am I supposed to sleep here? There are no pillows."

This must be some kind of a sick joke. Surely, there was better place for her to stay in other than this shabby place! Prince Qui called this safe? How was this safe? She was pretty sure that the mattress was filled with insects and bugs!

She walked to the door and pushed it out a fraction. She saw that they already put up tents and there was an old metal lamp in the middle of them. Everyone was clutching their own blankets around their shoulders.

"Yes?" Prince Qui asked.

No one answered.

"I'm talking to you, Princess. What do you want?"

How creepy! How did he even know that she was taking a look at them?! Embarrassed, she opened the door. "I was just wondering if you have something else that I could sleep on?"

Prince Qui looked at her with empty eyes. "Do you want my sleeping bag? I'd trade the mattress for it."

Tianshi Xue swallowed. "Never mind."

"Have a good rest," he said, clearly dismissing her already. "And shut the door. You wouldn't want the insects to come and bite you."

Tianshi Xue did not need insects. She felt itchy just being in this place. She wanted to scratch at her skin for no reason. Even with the windows and doors closed, she could feel the cold.

She grabbed her bag to use as a pillow. She didn't have a choice but to sleep on the mattress. Tianshi Xue could hear them talking outside, distinct words did not reach her ears but she could hear them having a conversation like a light buzz of bees.

Now that her legs were resting, the pain started to register within her. It was as if she didn't want to walk until next week. Tianshi Xue twisted and turned all night, trying to find a decent position she could sleep in. The mattress smelled old and musty, forcing her to wake up every time she thought she was about to fall asleep.

Without anything to tell her the time, she could not imagine that it was already morning.

**

Everything was well in Prince Qui's mind. The princess was out of the palace. Whoever it was at their walls—be it Princess Yingyue's brother or another relative—they would back down as soon they knew that she was not in there.

All is well, he repeated in his mind as he lay awake cocooned in his sleeping bag, looking up at the sky with a hand on his forehead, trying to make himself fall asleep.

He suddenly saw a flash of the princess' face—that moment when she fell in the water and thought that she would hit her head on the rocks. Her face was crumpled like ball of paper.

He was just about to smile when he remembered that she also tried to jump off the balcony tonight.

Why did she want to kill herself?

He shook his head. Those were problems for tomorrow.

He shouldn't be even thinking about her. He was not even worrying about the princess and about how she was not able to sleep in the old shack. As long as she was safe, that was more than good enough.

Little did he know that the princess' sleepless nights would cause him trouble as soon as the next day.