The Other Side of the Mask

"Pfft...pfft… BWAHAHAHAHA!" I snicker and laugh with tears streaming out of my eyes, "That's a statue of you?!"

XiaoLong, instead of being embarrassed, stands tall, "Yeah, I know right, I'm so much more handsome in person!"

I facepalm myself, muffling my giggle. So basically what happened was we arrived, and at the grand entrance, and there's a statue of XiaoLong bending down and bestowing something or whatever to someone… and like there's these kids prancing around and decorating the 'holy' statue with flowers; bestowing flower crowns over his head and even putting flowers up it's nostrils!

After being literally sick to the stomach laughing, we head into town. We walk into the center plaza only to be greeted by the enormous statues of the royal family in the center of town.

I absolutely loved the fact that the entire town literally worships the royal family, pausing whenever they stand before it and even buying figurines and all. Amazingly, they're unaware of their 'god' standing right here… well I guess since we're disguised on this honeymoon… XiaoLong looks so smug and proud of himself while I stand here dumbstruck by how much they love the royal family. It almost seems like an obsession... I mean a literal town dedicated to worshiping some people. Then I realize, I'm also part of 'that' royal family now.

"... XiaoLong… they better not have made a statue of me…" I whisper to him, almost threatening.

He pokes my shoulder, and I turn in his direction. I see a big cloth covering a …

"Don't. Tell. Me." I demand.

Suddenly, a local comes up to us, "Ah, that statue… they'll be revealing that in a second."

And, yes, after that second, I see a stone replica of my face and myself, wearing a horrendously revealing dress, that should be worn by some goddess, not me, placed by XiaoLong's statue's side.

I drag the three towards the carriage.

"We. Are. Leaving. This. Place. Now."

I stare out the window of the carriage. It's amazing how hectic and abnormal the large towns in Yue Kingdom are. I guess I can't really judge, since I've actually only been to a couple. Seems like a lot, though.

The last town seemed just like a fun, obsessive town. Sure it's weird, but what really made me wary was the town in the north. For some reason, the obsidian struck me strangely. Obsidian jewelry is a thing alright, and it's quite common, but for everyone to wear it. Something about that scene seemed wrong. If there's nothing wrong with what I saw then… the smell? I recall what I felt at the scene.

The smell, a familiar smell that left an impression… the disgusting smell… of blood.