"You are so pretty," words came out of my mouth without me noticing.
"Hm?" Long Dao was surprised by that and got embarrassed a bit.
"Oh, don't feel weird about it. It was just that you wearing girly clothes caught me by surprise," I quickly realized what I just said and tried to cover it. But I am not gonna lie, I could never imagine Long Dao would mix well wearing a dress. She looked so feminine with her hair letting loose.
"Well," Long Dao now back to normal again, "Let's go," she finished and went outside.
I followed right behind her. When I got to the front door, a horse carriage was already waiting there. Long Dao got up first and then me. She told the driver to start going, and we were now on our way to the chancellor's house.
The ride was quiet without a single word spoken between us. I was sure that Long Dao also felt the awkwardness in the atmosphere, so I started a conversation, "Why do you not use a palanquin like the chancellor?"
"I don't like being carried by people," her eyes were looking outside.
"Why not?" I asked again.
"Those things are heavy. If you look at the carrier's face, you will see how hard it is for them to walk in sync in a group," long Dao replied.
"..." I didn't have anything more to say, so I just sat quietly. After a while, I got used to the silence and closed my eyes a bit. I looked back to when I first came here until now like watching a film. Then, I noticed something weird in my memories.
"Hey general," I opened my eyes and called.
"Hm?" she didn't even bother to say 'what'.
"Why didn't we use spells in the battle back then?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" she asked back.
"If this world has magic, how come I didn't see anyone use a single spell in the battle we fought?" I explained.
Long Dao finally turned to look at me. Then, she glanced at the driver in the front. It seemed like he didn't hear what I just said, so Long Dao talked quietly. "Not everyone can use magic. It is only for those who are naturally born with. That is why most commoners don't know it exists. The government doesn't want people to find out."
"So how come you know about it?" Now, this is something new for me to know.
"Because I am born into a powerful family. But to the civilians, the government always tries to hide the existence of magic from them," she explained.
"But didn't you say that only those who are naturally born with magic? What will happen if a civilian possesses that kind of power?"
Long Dao, when hearing my words, turned away. She didn't want me to see it, but her face showed expressions of guilt and disgust.
"Those people will be executed secretly when high officials know about their existence. Their death then will be covered up as punishment for witchcraft or joining a cult," Long Dao tried to keep calm, but I sensed a bit of anger in her tone of voice.
The cart suddenly fell silent again, we both looked outside, away from each other. I didn't know what Long Dao was thinking after saying those secrets to me, but she looked more troubled now.
"That must be the sinister feeling I had when entering the capital," I thought. But something came to my mind.
"What will happen to me then? Am I not a civilian," I spoke with a mix of fear and anxiety.
Long Dao didn't respond immediately. It took her a while to come up with an answer, "I won't tell anyone."
I took her words and had some thoughts to dissect what she meant by that. "So she is saying that I better hide my ability or else I will be dead if I was to fond out," suddenly, the number of spells I am having are not as fun as I thought they would be.
"If you have already told me those secrets, is there anything else I should know?" I asked with a lower tone.
Long Dao took her time so long that I thought she didn't want to say anything. I was about to close my eyes but when she was about to speak,
"Dear guests, we have arrived at your destination," the carriage driver told us, interrupted my question.
"Thank you," Long Dao replied politely to the driver. "Let's go," she told me and got off.
"Thank you," I copied her and got off as well.
In front of us was the chancellor's house. Well, using the word 'house' would be wrong to call this place, this is a mansion.
The servant quickly opened the gate and we both entered. There was a small garden with flowers and a small pond of fish on the two sides of the path walking into the mansion. When I and Long Dao reached the second gate, the guards there stopped me while letting Long Dao go in with ease.
"Wait, general!" I stopped her from walking. "Hey! Why do you stop me?" I asked the guards.
"We just need to check if you have any weapons," they replied.
"Oh… of course, go ahead," I smiled to hide my embarrassment. Weapon check should be something I should know when coming to places like these.
The guard quickly searched my body while I raised both of my arms horizontally. "You are good," he said shortly and stepped aside to let me in.
"Thanks," I told them and quickly went to Long Dao.
"Don't tell anyone you are in my troop," Long Dao shook her head, looking embarrassed as well.
Hearing that, I just scratched my head and smiled.
I and Long Dao stopped in front of a room where there was a girl standing there waiting for us.
"Greetings to you, my lady. The chancellor is waiting for you inside," the girl bowed to Long Dao.
"Nice to see you after a while," Long Dao smiled. It looks like she is at least comfortable with this person. "How have you been?"
"I am doing well. Thank you for thinking about me," the girl smiled back. "Now then, please come in," she said.
Long Dao took a big breath, gathering all her courage. She then opened the door and walked in. I also followed her but was stopped by the girl. "Please wait here," she said.
"But I …"
"Din, wait there for me," Long Dao cut me off with her back facing me while the door was closing behind her.