Xiao Tianyao would be out of the city for three days and the day when the Emperor had called her was the first night when Xiao Tianyao had just gone.
Luna bit down her lips, when the nineteenth lash tore the skin on her back. She stubbornly refused to cry as her memory threw back to years ago when her father trained her. It was no different from this, so she didn't have to shed a tear over this thing.
Suddenly the door flew opened as it revealed the mighty Emperor of Azura and… Modama.
Luna silently heaved a sigh of relief.
Modama rushed to her side and glared furiously at Xiao Zi. "If she died, I will kill you." He hissed under his breath and wrapped a blanket over her body.
Xiao Zi didn't give much reaction when Modama threatened him, he just watched him coldly when he brought Luna away.
Along the gloomy corridor, with every step that she took, she suffered great pain. The harsh blanket that scraped her open wounds felt like someone was slashing her back. Luna held her breath to suppress her whimper.
"Get in." Modama opened the door of her jail and ushered his daughter inside.
Luna glanced at her father, there was a disappointment flickered in her eyes. She thought he would bring her out from this place, but reality proved that was only her wishful thinking.
Modama gestured her to sit down on the cold stove- bed while Modama leaned his back on the jail bar.
"I know you feel this is not fair. I feel guilty because you have to experience all of this pain." Both of them stared at each other, but there were no emotions in it. That was another word of lie, he had never felt sorry for his daughter. "Endure it for now and we will finish this matter quickly. I will send Gong Xu over to tend your wound after all of this ended."
"There is no need for him to come. Xiao Tianyao will do it." Luna blurted out, she was surprised and didn't have any idea with what she had said.
Modama turned around and was about to leave the filthy place when he heard that words and stared at her impassively. "Let see if Xiao Tianyao will come for you or no."
Her father left her with open wound on her back, without giving her any medicine or comfort.
Luna clutched the blanket tightly and smiled bitterly at herself for foolishly thinking that her father would be care enough about her.
The day was long and the night went slower. With twenty consecutive lashes that she had suffered, Luna was having a fever. They really put her inside the prison without giving her another blanket to warm up her body through the night, but to her relief today was the third day and whether Xiao Tianyao was still under her influence or not, she would have known about it sooner.
The bed was cold as they didn't allow her to light up fire for the bed- stove.
When the third night had fallen, Luna was lying motionless and the only sign that indicated she was still alive was her heavy breath.
It was hard to keep herself awake as the wounds on her back have not been treated and the pain made her hard to keep her eyes open.
She kept telling herself it was nothing, the pain was nothing compared to the harsh training from her father, and everything eventually would be alright.
Luna kept drifting back and forth in her fever, her throat was burning as they rarely gave her water.
When the night came and the light in her small prison dimmed, someone was coming with bright torch on his hand.
"Luna."
The voice that she knew, which coming from the deepest of her hatred.
He called out her name again, but still there wasn't any reaction from her.
A clanking metal was heard when the door in her prison opened and that person dismissed the warden. He put the torch on the hook at the wall and then walked toward her.
"Luna, open your eyes."
Her eyelashes fluttered before her eyes snapped open. Despite her weak body, the eyes that looked at Xiao Zi were bright and unfazed.
"Your majesty." Luna acknowledged him.
The pain was unbearable when she pushed herself to sit under Xiao Zi scrutinized eyes, every wrinkled on her forehead and every furrowed on her brows amused him.
"It is a pity that you ended up like this." He glanced at her tattered dress stained with blood. "But, I have good news for you." He paused to assess her expression. "Xiao Tianyao is back."
Xiao Zi was deliberately telling her beforehand, to see how she would react with this news. However, the girl in front of his eyes didn't even twitch when she heard the news.
They stared at each other before Luna mocked him. "I wonder what the important news that makes your majesty to come into this lowly place." the corner of her lips slightly moved upwards. "It's really an honor for me."