The Other Side of the Mask

"It's the crown prince!"

"Wow, so handsome."

"Why is he wearing a miniskirt?"

"And braided hair?"

"Is that some amazing trend now?"

"Wow, I should try that…"

I laugh at the amazing comments. XiaoLong blushes and covers his face shyly. I hug him from behind.

On my tiptoes, I whisper into his ear, "Hey, I won't be surprised if everyone in this town will now braid their hair and wear miniskirts!"

He puts his hand on mine and gives a weak chuckle. I sense something wrong, and my heart starts to pound faster and faster.

"What's wrong-"

Thud! XiaoLong leans back on me and we both fall. I cover him and turn to face his unconscious face. The pale face looks in so much pain and I start to panic.

Why didn't I notice this before! W-what happened?

"DOCTOR!" I scream panicking.

An elderly doctor comes up and checks XiaoLong's pulse.

His face turns pale, "Let's bring him inside first."

I burst into tears as I carried him in quickly.

The doctor undresses his cloak, and I gasp in horror as blood gushes through his old wounds.

"It's a miracle he could hold out for this long… These wounds hurt way more than the look, and there are so many. It was temporarily treated with high quality medicine, but that isn't enough."

I bury my head by his side, "D-don't l-leave me… I w-wouldn't be here if not for you…"

The doctor looks at me pitifully, but I could care less. I stayed by XiaoLong's side the entire night, following the doctor's instructions. I muster the strength to stay awake at four am.

"I-i can't f-fall…" my head starts to droop, and I hallucinate.

"No!" I slap my face awake.

"Don't fall asleep!"

However, my sleepiness gets to me. I am aware I will fall asleep any second now. I drag my laggard legs over to XiaoLong's head and give him a kiss. I grab his arm and hug it.

"You better not leave me alone," I threaten.

I finally fall asleep.

Thud! I open my drowsy eyes and look behind me. An awkward Commander Yang looks back embarrassed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you… your majesty…" he whispers.

I listen to the birds chirp, "Mmm… no it's fine."

I snap awake, "Why are you here?"

"Ah! ZhuWu contacted the royal palace, and we're here to escort you back to the Eclipse Palace. Here's a letter from your parents," he explains, handing me a letter.

I skim through. In short, they are quite worried and balling their eyes out for not taking care of us and what not… And they're really apologetic for ending our honeymoon short.

I turn over to the unconscious XiaoLong. I mean, we really can't continue in this state anyways…

I sullenly laugh, "You don't need to address me as your highness when it's only us… I'm still not quite used to it…"

He stares at me, "Don't try to buy time. Is it that bad?"

"Ahahaha…" I laugh nervously, maybe because of my evil deeds of chucking people down cliffs in barrels, but…, "... yes."

After a tense and awkward five minutes, I tell the entire story from start to finish.

Meanwhile, little did I know of the two barrels at the bottom of the cliff, chatting and complaining…

Commander Yang holds his hand in a tight fist, "Don't worry, we'll eradicate them."

He trudges off after receiving the map.

I turn my head back to XiaoLong with a distraught expression.

"Don't worry, we'll definitely exact retribution for their loathsome 'kindness'."

I give him one last look before walking out to take part in the revenge.

"Please wake up."

"Wait up, I'm coming along," my bloodshot eyes glare with hate.