Feng Xi left with Ru'er and her little tail Prince Jin to her courtyard. There was no lift leading to the courtyard area, just a long winding trail and a trail it was. It was not kept up as if it was a road. There were many jagged rocks protruding out of the ground and the incline was very steep. This was done on purpose because there was no physical education in the Academy. Every day the students would have to climb down and climb up this slope multiple times. There were of course tall guard rails on the side that faced the edge of the cliff so it was impossible to fall off.
But the trail itself was very rugged. There was even a section that required you to climb a few feet up to a ledge in order to continue on. For this reason, Feng Xi had Ru'er pack a good set of climbing shoes, a pair of gloves, and climbing equipment. Because besides the trail there was one other way to reach the courtyards and that was to scale the cliff itself. Feng Xi had already decided that she would not climb the trail normally since she wanted to get her body in shape. She knew that climbing as a very good work out.
She also knew that no one would try anything to harm her in this area due to the abundance of security cameras and guards here. They were all here for just this reason. To not allow any 'Accidents' to happen. When Prince Jin saw Feng Xi motioning to her servant to bring out a bunch of things he was surprised to see all the climbing equipment.
"Xi'er are you going to scale the wall?" Prince Jin asked out of curiosity.
"No, I am just getting a bunch of hooks and climbing rope out near a cliff to look at them in awe. Of course, I am! " Feng Xi rolled her eyes at Prince Jin. She finished tying her shoes and then launched herself up the wall grabbing a ledge with one hand while clipping herself to the piton. She looked down at Prince Jin and smiled as she said: "Jin'er take care of Ru'er for me. She is young and the trail is hard to climb for a girl her age."
Prince Jin looked at the little girl next to him who seemed to be fidgeting away and chuckled. The master was crazy and the servant was meek. The two made for an odd pair. "Don't worry Xi'er I will help her make it up the trail."
Getting Prince Jin's assurance that Ru'er would be okay, Feng Xi continued her climb. It was when she reached the forth piton that Feng Xi found herself feeling very tired already. Her hands, arms, and legs already hurt making her frown. 'I need to start a daily routine… I forgot this body isn't like my body before my rebirth.' Before she died Feng Xi was in really good shape. Mainly because of all the physical activities she did every day. So now that she was climbing she realized how much she had to retrain.
Down below Prince Jin watched in surprise how quickly Feng Xi was climbing the wall. It was almost as if she was a professional climber. There were even a few other students that stopped to watch as well since the climbing route was normally only done by a few people and they were all male.
Feng Xi climbed step by step, resting at each piton allowing her arms and legs a little rest before continuing on. That was one of the good things about climbing. Once you fastened yourself in, you could easily lean back on your rope like a seat and take a break. Feng Xi really enjoyed the feeling of exercise, it made her feel like she had much more energy.
Down below Ru'er steadily made her way up the path with Prince Jin. Prince Jin even carried her up some of the steep slopes and ledges because she kept almost slipping and falling. By the time they made it to the top, Feng Xi had also just made it to the top herself. She stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down with a big smile on her face, feeling a bit proud of herself. She wiped the sweat from her brow and started to unhook her climbing gear. It had taken her longer than she had expected but she was able to climb the wall quickly for her first time in an unfit body.
Ru'er quickly ran over with a water bottle and handed it to Feng Xi, who gladly took it. "So Xi'er is able to climb cliffs so well, this is surprising I learned something new today."
"It's a useful skill to get away from bothersome princes." Feng Xi said as she stuck her tongue out at Prince Jin.
"Then maybe I should start putting my bed at the top of the cliff so you will climb into that as well!" Prince Jin said as he quickly stepped forward and scooped Feng Xi into his arms.
"Let go of me! You! You! Shameless rogue!" Feng Xi's rage was reaching its max. She hated how Prince Jin could always catch her off guard. She always wanted to push away but when she looked up into his handsome sincere face she couldn't help but blank out and take in his warmth. This made her curse at herself even more! Calming herself down she pushed hard on Prince Jin's chest escaping his embrace. She promised herself she would not fall in love with anyone in this life! And she meant to keep this promise to herself. She did realize how accepting she was of Prince Jin but she did not want to take it any further than simple flirting.
At the same time, she did feel bad. She could see Prince Jin did like her and was sincere, but she still couldn't come close to returning his feelings. Not after what had happened to her… The more she thought about her future she at least knew for now it had changed or was at least on the route of being changed. Even if she could not get out of the marriage with Prince Jin, Feng Xi felt that she would not need to worry about being mistreated. Only then would she break her promise to herself and try to return his feelings. Whether she could or not was up to her getting over her past. Otherwise, they would be stuck in a marriage without love.
Letting out a sigh Feng Xi took Ru'er's hand and turned to Prince Jin. "Let's go Jin'er you promised to tell me the things from before."
Prince Jin looked at the Feng Xi who was slowly walking away and smiled as he whispered softly to himself. "Xi'er no matter what happens in the future, I will get you to fall in love with me and I will always be by your side protecting you and cherishing you."
As he went to take a step forward a voice came at his back. "Your Highness Prince Jin!"
Prince Jin turned around to see Feng Lan standing there with a beautiful smile on her face. Just seeing this girl made Prince Jin sneer. He did not say a word and just coldly looked at Feng Lan. He wanted to know what this girl was up to now.
"Your Highness, Prince Jin, now that you are getting married to my dear elder sister that makes us almost family. I just hope in time you do not come to hate her because of her quirks. I know I shouldn't be the one to tell you this but I felt like you should know! She has a foot fungus that makes her feet stink really bad. So if you smell something weird that is why. Oh, also she is someone who likes to flirt with any boy she sees. So make sure you watch out for that. And..." Feng Lan was just trying to come up with this and that to make Feng Xi look bad. She was not paying attention to the dark expression on Prince Jin's face.
"Oh? Her feet stink? She likes to fool around, you say?"