After changing into dry clothing, Nastasia was waiting for Li Yu Rong, deep in thought. As it had been some time since she walked in on his bath, her heart had calmed considerably and the blush left her cheeks. Now that she was calm and thought back to earlier, she felt a bit depressed.
Before she had been at a disadvantage because of her inability to speak to and understand the people around her. Now that she was no longer restricted by this, she was still played around with so badly. That she froze like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to react properly, was extremely embarrassing. Especially since she was older.
Although that demonic beauty Li Yu Rong was a natural playboy and liked to tease her as he did in the bath, he was very good to her. Despite not knowing anything about her and the fact that, at their first meeting, they couldn't even speak the same language, he went out of his way many times for her.
Though he was very touchy and liked to pull her to him whenever he got the chance, she knew it was his way to communicate with her. It was kind of like sign language for the deaf. He liked to keep her close as if he were protecting an infant. When she did well he would pat her head and offer a brilliant smile. Whenever she was feeling down or frightened, he would pat her head and touch her cheek to make her feel better.
It was like he was saying: "Don't worry, even though we don't really know each other, I'm looking out for you and won't let anything bad happen." It was strange, but she always felt herself fall at ease almost immediately because of it.
At first, she had been bothered and made uncomfortable by his actions. Though she was accustomed to always being in close contact with family, Li Yu Rong was a stranger. Over time she began to feel herself grow to depend on these little actions of his. They had only known each other for two months, but due to her inability to care for herself or communicate properly with others in this world and his constant presence by her side, it seemed like the time between them was much longer.
The bed sank in slightly beside her. "What are you thinking so deeply about?"
Turning to look at Li Yu Rong, Nastasia thought over his words a bit. The way he phrased the sentence was a bit difficult for her, but she was pretty sure she understood the gist of it. "How to say what I need to."
'Good,' she thought to herself. She had managed not to become awkward in his presence, stuttering and blushing mad like an innocent school girl. Though with her experience, she probably wasn't that far off, she was older and shouldn't let herself succumb to such things.
Nodding Li Yu Rong then asked. "What is it you're wanting to talk about?"
He had noticed, these past couple days, that she had wanted to speak to him about something. However, before she could get it out, the confidence on her face shattered and she would stop and go back to practicing her words.
"You know how I being chased by the soldiers when we met." This conversation, since coming back from the palace, Nastasia had been working on what she would say. Paoxiao, through pictures and gestures and pointing to hard-fought explanations, had helped her learn the needed words. Though they weren't exactly the words she wished to say, they were close enough to get her point across.
Li Yu Rong inclined his head once, giving her his undivided attention
"I got hurt by someone I thought a friend and fell from a mountain into the river. I brought here somehow from the river. I'm from a different realm." Nastasia wasn't entirely sure if "realm" was the proper word to use. It was the word Paoxiao taught her after much effort trying to explain to him what she was looking for. "The man I saw at the palace spoke the same as me. He know how I go back home."
Though she was still rough in speech it was understandable. Ordinarily, he would have corrected her sentences but did not want to interrupt her story. He thought back to the day he met her and the strange wound on her shoulder that healed faster than Lu Se Ying's predicted time. Coupled with the color of her hair and eyes despite being human, he wasn't surprised to hear that she came from another realm.
There was a Spirit Realm and a Mortal Realm, why couldn't there exist another unknown realm that held humans of different colors?
Asking for help was a difficult thing, especially when the one you wanted to ask for it from had already done more than necessary for your sake. Not only that, but she had already asked after this the day she drew out that man's portrait. It had been a month ago and she was worried that he had forgotten about it as it was never mentioned again. She didn't want to sound pushy.
It was because of these that Nastasia opened and closed her mouth several times, before finally getting out. "Help me find this man he know how I get home, maybe. Please help me get home." She cringed.
To say this part she practiced quite a bit, but due to the difficulty in asking for aid when she felt that asking for more was quite shameless stumbled her tongue. The sentence was rougher than she would have liked, as she knew she could say it better. Nastasia felt it made her sound like a small child.
Although he was prepared for this the words were still a knife to his heart. When he met her it was at first fascination with her differences from other humans and then moving his soul with the way she looked at his eye, that he wanted her.
It may have been those things then, but after being around her these past two months, he had come to seriously care for her. She had become an inexorable piece of his heart, even if he tried his hardest to remove that piece, it wouldn't budge.
None-the-less, Asya had asked for his help. She desperately seeking her home. He would not deny her. However, that didn't mean he would watch her go without doing anything to stop it. He would search, but he would not be fast about it. There might even be times that he would resort to sabotage, to gain more time for himself.
Li Yu Rong was confident, however, that he would be able to get her to change her mind before the day such a way home was found for her. That's why he said, with smiling eyes and a slightly upturned lip, "Hn, I've said I'll look for him and I will. If he was at the palace, perhaps one of the servants would recognize his face and know his name. I've already sent someone to discreetly ask around."
Although there were a few words she did not know, she could grasp the main points of what had been said. Nastasia, beaming a heartfelt smile at him, said. "Thank you."
Now that this was out of the way and his help was assured, it was time to gather information about this world. She needed a better understanding of it if she was going to be here for a while.