The expression on Li Yu Rong's face, the way his dual-colored eyes looked into hers with such desperation to be believed, had Nastasia's heart softening.
General Bai had been adamant on taking her. Now that she could understand this language as well as her birth language, and although she didn't quite understand how she could recall everything so well, it was true that Li Yu Rong's claim and heavy-handed actions had kept her safe. While she didn't relish the appellation of "Li Yu Rong's Pet," and still felt quite sore over it, it had been a necessary evil.
Even if it had been necessary, she didn't want to just give in and say all was well and dandy. Giving a curt nod to accept his explanation, Nastasia threw out her nonnegotiable demand in order for this spat to have a peaceful conclusion.
"When we return, you will clear this all up. I am not a pet." She kept her voice level and firm; this wasn't something she would bend on.
Li Yu Rong nodded his agreement, in quite the hurry to appease her. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to say, "of course not, because from now on you will be known as 'Li Yu Rong's wife!'"
Why?
Because, once again a voice, that really needed to understand to mind itself, rose up to wreak out another tragedy.
Elder Liao Xing, peeking his head out from behind Paoxiao's reluctant protection, bravely called out. "If you were so unwilling, then why bind her with the Slave Binding Contract. Isn't it that she's really been made into your pet?"
"What?" Nastasia's eyes fell onto the elder hiding behind Paoxiao, silently demanding the youthful-looking old man to both repeat and expound on what he said.
Quite happy to do so, despite Li Yu Rong's rather threatening glare and fast approaching figure, he pulled down Paoxiao's collar. As he pulled down the collar, he pressed down on his student's pressure points, sealing the movement in his limbs so as to prevent himself from being stopped.
As he revealed the symbols rung around Paxiao's neck like a collar, Elder Liao Xing happily said, as if tattling, "you have something like this on you somewhere, I can feel it. Its the binding, sealing your will and putting it in that devil's hands."
Her wrist.
The symbols, she had long been wondering what they were and where they had come from. This reveal, it made her heart burn cold.
Bastard, her mind cursed as her eyes reddened in both rage and sorrow. Nastasia turned on a heel and raced off. She needed time to herself so that she could process this new information. This bit of news that was hard to swallow had her heart was rattling around so much that her skin felt numb.
Li Yu Rong froze as he turned and took in Asya's reaction. The hand that had been thrust out and failed at its attempt at shutting the elder up, froze before helplessly falling back to his side. His mouth opened and closed, once, twice, thrice before clenching at his inability to properly form any sort of defense to the elder's accusations.
As she ran, Paoxiao chased after her, leaving his Elder Liao Xing without protection. He had no time to worry about a trouble causing old man as Nastasia was getting further and further from the safe path into the dangerous dense woods. Watching this take place, Li Yu Rong had every intention of chasing after her as well.
Turning to both Lu Se Ying and An Ying, who had been silent during this whole exchange, he ordered, "Restrain and gag him," in a voice strained with frustration and anger. He didn't look back to see that his orders were followed, his eyes were firmly rooted in the dense trees and underbrush Asya and Paoxiao had disappeared through.
A deep breath was gasped for, preparing his heart for whatever may come, as he quickly followed after them.
Elder Liao Xing didn't fight as the two spirits approached to gag and restrain him as ordered. It wasn't that he was the weaker of the three, but rather that he didn't feel the need to. It certainly had nothing to do with the chilling promise he felt radiating off that red-eyed devil.
'Hmph,' the elder spitefully harrumphed in his mind, 'at least I got my revenge.' As he couldn't beat that great devil of a Gate Guardian head on, he chose another way to deal with him. After witnessing the guardian's careful care of the girl during his bout of stalking, he decided to strike at that particular weakness.
Being that he was rather handsome and quite sought after, his first inclination was to seduce the girl away once he saw her being left alone. However, that plan quickly went awry after Li Yu Rong suddenly reappeared. His generous use of spellcasting, which sapped the body of strength when done in this energy blocking forest, went to waste.
However, his gift of verbal understanding to the girl still had its uses. Even if it couldn't be used to seduce and dazzle her, it could still act as a way to drive a wedge in their relationship. This was something Elder Liao Xing realized after learning her complete lack of awareness towards her status as a pet.
Things were only okay between them as she thought herself to be a willing party. But, what would happen should she come to know that anything positive she felt or allowed to happen between them might have resulted from an altered will?
Of course, she would rebel against and detest him.
It was the perfect form of revenge for that dastardly devil that took his beloved student and collared him. So, even as he was gagged and restrained and tossed over a shoulder as the two spirits leisurely trailed their master, Liao Xing didn't fight.
He was quite satisfied, so what did he need to waste more energy protesting for?
After all, he had snatched the tender softness of tofu and succulent taste of meat from that devil's mouth. Who had ever managed to create a greater revenge than he? A smile bloomed as well as it could over his gagged mouth as he enjoyed his short break from having to lug around his own weight, while eagerly anticipating the drama they were soon to come upon.