For the next few days, RaiYa guided me back to the Yun family's villa. He would carry me up steep cliffs with a small blast of his elemental power and pull me along with the rope.
For the first time I had encountered some form of kindness from RaiYa. He didn't ignore me or try to kill me, but his tone towards me was still full of contempt and hatred. I was reminded of the day when he mistook me for a lady and carried me all the way to town. His kind voice as we chatted along the way that day filled me with warmth. Before I knew it, I was constantly thinking of RaiYa.
What is this feeling? Every time he talks to me I could feel the heat rush to my face and my heart would pound. The slightest touch would make me jump and I would smile behind him when he guided me.
I remember the servants talking about who they liked and what they felt. They were saying something about floating in the clouds and hearts racing endlessly. It was the beginning of love. I didn't understand them at the time, but now I do. I was falling in love with RaiYa and it pained me knowing that he'll never return it. I wished for this feeling to go away, but the more I thought of him and the more he showed me a little bit of kindness it gave me a reason to hope for more.
By nightfall we reach the villa and everyone else was already there. Meiyi cried thinking she had lost her older brother while NaiWei and HuLang laughed and teased her. The air around them was bright and filled with so much warmth. I didn't belong there in that happiness. It made my heart ached for that warmth as well. I asked for a servant to guide me to the room I was staying in and a voice behind me said,
"Take him to bathe and treat his wounds after." RaiYa ordered the servant.
"Hmph! Why don't you just ignore him brother?!" Meiyi complained.
I too wished that he ignored me, but I couldn't help feeling a bitter happiness. Just as the servants did as they was told, I was taken to bathe. I took off my bandages and clothing and handed them over to one of the servants. I washed and soaked myself in the bath for a long time before coming out, but the servants weren't anywhere to be found. Instead, a wet layer of my dirty robe was hung up in front of the door. The servants were probably playing pranks on me again, but wearing only one layer was like walking naked because of its see through material. Not only that but it was wet as well.
I didn't really have a choice. Since it was already wet, I might as well wash it clean. Slipping on my single robe, I walked out and saw layers of my robe on the ground. I closed my eyes pretending to be blind again and began to struggle picking up layers one by one. Just as I was about to pick one up, someone steps on it.
"How unsightly. What happened to the servants?" RaiYa asked.
"..." I couldn't respond as I dropped my head to the side to avoid his eyes.
"They dare defy my orders." RaiYa said coldly.
He pulled me up and dragged me to his room. He grabbed my dirty robes and tossed them somewhere then proceeded to strip me. I was shocked, but then he put a blanket over me and was going through his closet or cabinets. Suddenly the blanket was pulled off me and he started dressing me in his clothes.
RaiYa's build was much bigger than mine and he was a lot taller than me, so his robes were oversized. The sleeves were long and when they were pulled up the robe would fall over one of my shoulders. When I took a step, I would trip and fall.
"You'll have to deal with this for now. I'll have the servants walk to town to buy you clothes later." said RaiYa.
"Thank you."
"Sit on the bed."
"Huh?"
RaiYa pulls me by the arm and places me on the bed as he bent down and lifted my right foot. He began pulling out splinters and cutting away the dead skin. RaiYa truly was a kind man, but I didn't understand why he showed me so much kindness. Doesn't he hate me? Just as he finished spreading ointment and began to wrap my foot with bandages, I asked,
"Why are you being kind to me?"
"... Don't get me wrong, I'd rather do the impossible than have anything to do with you. If it weren't for fathers orders to keep you in one piece alive, I would have abandoned you a long time ago in the woods."
I could feel my heart shatter from his response. He wasn't being kind to me, he was just following orders. Somehow, I was guided to my room and as I stood there I noticed blood dripping from my feet. I couldn't feel pain, but I knew it wasn't bleeding like this before. That's when it hit me that RaiYa had done something to me without me knowing. I didn't want to look after all, he even wrapped it himself, but I could feel something in me break down a little as I wept myself to sleep.