Marin laughs happily.
"I am fine, thank you."
She sits quietly on the tree stump for a while.
"Why don't you come join me?" Feng Huan gestures to the table with his hand. She looks around. "It's getting late, and you're probably exhausted."
He offers his hand again. Marin blushes, with a slight fidget to her hair.
Feng Huan is relieved, and he takes the princess' hand gently. They walk back to the hall together.
"What are you studying?" Marin asks as they walk together.
"Stephanie, the librarian from next door is forcing me to memorise all of these current events and economics everyday!" Feng Huan says in a huff, his cheeks growing warmer.
"How fascinating!" Marin exclaims, turning around and smiling widely at him.
"Indeed, she's not very good at it either." he sighs.
"What does that mean? Don't you want her to teach you?"
Feng Huan stops suddenly, letting go of Marin's hand.
"Do you know what Stephanie is?"
"Yes..." Marin pauses. Her eyes widen when she realises the meaning behind Feng Huan's words. "No…" She shakes her head, "But she knows about you. That must be why she is forcing you to learn about her subjects."
"That's right…"
"She's using it as a sort of punishment."
"Wait... say that again." Feng Huan asks, sweat coating his forehead.
"She knows about you?"
'This means Marin knows about me too.' Feng Huan looks back at her, resting his head on his hands as he sits.
"We both knew you wouldn't be able to resist her," Marin giggles. "If we had known, we would have told her to stop."
Marin laughs heartily. "Don't worry, I won't tell her anything!"
"We?"
"My mother and I."
Feng Huan's brow twitches. Of course they wouldn't let this information slip without being sure.
Marin laughs, her bright violet eyes sparkle in the darkness. Her hand reaches up to touch his chin, gently, her skin soft and warm in contrast to his rough face.
Feng Huan feels his cheeks heat up, "What are you doing?"
"I wish to feel your stubble," she whispers, her eyes never leaving him. She traces her finger along his jawline until her fingers come to a halt, and her thumb slowly moves across his bottom lip. She doesn't break eye contact.
His breathing quickens, but he forces himself to remain calm.
"That's a weird way to phrase it." he mumbles.
"If I remember correctly we haven't done any pair activities." she says.
"You're still not telling me what you meant by that."
"Hm, I wonder how long it would take for me to be allowed to remove this dress and climb onto your lap?"
"Tempting…"
She chuckles. "Come along, Prince! We're going dancing!"
Feng Huan raises his eyebrows but he goes with her anyway, letting her pull his arm. She leads him back to where all the dancers were dancing. The Duchess, however, wasn't. She sits alone at one end of the hall.
They approach, making sure that their footsteps are loud enough for the Duchess to hear. She looks towards them as the sound of their steps grows louder and louder. Feng Huan's grip on her shoulder tightens slightly, trying to convey as much warning to her as possible through the force of his grip.
She watches the duo for a moment, a hint of curiosity visible in her eyes.
A smile forms on her lips.
They finally reach the Duchess. Marin bows politely to her. Feng Huan follows suit.
"Your highness," he mutters.
The Duchess rises. "Lady Marin..." her voice holds an emotionless tone. Marin looks at her with a questioning gaze, not understanding what she might mean.
Feng Huan clears his throat.
"Is there anything the Duchess wants?"
"Oh, yes actually." The Duchess walks up to them, placing one hand against her hip as she looks down at them with her eyes narrowed into slits. "You're both excused."
"Excused?" Marin asks in shock. "Wha-"
"I don't see the point in wasting time on two such useless young fools." She states with her nose lifted.
Feng Huan puts a hand on Marin's shoulder. His breathing is calm and he is looking serious. His thin brows look intently at the Duchess.
"What gives you that opinion, Lady Korrapati?" Feng Huan says, his face scrunched to a smirk.
The Duchess first looks surprised, then her lips turn up in amusement. She gives him a light chuckle before leaning down. A hand slips to grab the back of Feng Huan's neck and the other to cup his cheek.
Her eyes hold an amused glint that sends shivers up his spine. He can smell alcohol, faintly, and the faint whiff of perfume coming from under her waistcoat.
"You look like a smart boy are you not?" she says, the words playing on her lips. Her voice sounds husky and low.
Feng Huan remains composed even though his heart is beating rapidly in his chest. She leans forward a fraction of an inch, bringing her lips close to his ear,
"I appreciate the compliment,-."
"... You have a big mouth don't you?" She continues, interrupting Feng Huan.
"Now, why is it that I seem to know you so well?" she asks, her smile unwavering on her face.
The Duchess' voice is melodious as she walks over to the refreshments table and places her empty long glass on its surface.
"Do I look like a familiar sweetheart you've last seen in one of your villages?" She asks him, the smell of alcohol hovering to his nose.
"Because you don't." the Duchess says in a quiet voice only he could hear. She then points to a glass pitcher just to her left. Feng Huan looks where she's pointing.
The Duchess lets his sight hover over it for a moment before it shatters into a thousand pieces, shocking the guests around it.
"What the-"
"That'll be your head." the Dutchess smiles.
"Your majesty-."
"That'll be all, regent." She waves him off. "You may return to wherever you were originally going."
Marin tugs on Feng Huan's sleeve, Marin tugs on Feng Huan's sleeve, her eyes pleading for him to leave, "Please.."
"Sorry Marin... but someone has to keep you company."
She rolls her eyes and groans in frustration.
"Just get lost already."
Feng Huan staggers backwards in shock, he grabs Marin's wrist gently. "Marin, wait!"
"What now?" she snaps.
Marin turns back to him with an unreadable look on her face.
By this time the Dutchess has already walked away somewhere, and it is as if they are the only ones in the room as the servants clean up broken glass and the other officials are talking elsewhere.
After a short silence Marin only utters one word.
"Disappointment." She turns around and walks past the crowd.
…
It's a little after six in the morning. He's lying on the floor of a spare room in the stone castle.
Feng Huan hasn't gotten much sleep, and neither has Rong, who's insisted on following him here. After the Princess kicked him out of the room he has woken up in, he's been staying in this unfurnished generic room, with only a bed and a bedside table.
It was also dark, but he's used to sleeping in strange places so he didn't mind. There are a lot of rooms inside of the palace, all of which are empty, with only a bed and a small table and chair.
He doesn't bother looking through these rooms because there isn't much to look through, nor do the doors lead anywhere except back into the hallway. It's very bare, he can hardly find anything interesting inside any room.
Rong looks like she's about to doze off in any second now. He rubs a hand over her hair as a silent attempt to lull her to sleep, but her eyes open wide as soon as he touches her.
"Hnnn!" she moans.
"Rong? Are you alright?"
"Mmm... hnnng.." she mumbles, pulling herself closer to Feng Huan.
"I thought you'd fall asleep soon?"
Rong clings to him and gets even closer, curled up. He could picture her lowering eyelashes. if she had slits for eyes.
This time, the moan was guttural and sounded like she was gurgling.
A black liquid that like tar suddenly shoots out of her lip slit and lands on his garments, dousing them in the inky liquid. She quickly climbed into his arms and began shoving globs of the tar stuff off of him and back into the crescent smile of her mouth slit before he realized what was occurring.
He cannot believe it. In fact, this girl, this thing is attempting to ingest the murky substance that has been discharged from who knows where.
She shivers and groans as he pushes her away from him her flying hands pushed with force to her sides. He shouts, "Ew, stop!"
She shoots another stream of tar at him while giving him a blank stare.
The desperate screams of the puppet girl are covered by her hands as she cries out in pain.
"Stop!" he yells.
Her eyes widened once more. "Nnn!"
"At this point, you should just spit out what you're drinking and lay down rather than attempting to communicate." Feng Huan says.
She gives her head a strong shake. Her breathing becomes irregular, and her dilated pupils almost appear comical.
Once more, she creeps near him.
He pushes her back and yells, "No! Stop!" before crawling away himself.
Though she tries to stand up, the weight of her legs prevents her from doing so. She is pushed up against the wall, where he pins her body. Stay," he orders.
There is a brief pause in the shuffle...
She then begins to wriggle. While she fights, he firmly presses her back into position and grabs a handful of her long blonde hair to hold her still. She's already caused enough difficulty, and he doesn't want her to make things worse.
She finally gives up after feeling the amount of pressure he put on her head.
He carries her up by pulling her up with both of his hands on her armpits. His shoulder is where her chin is resting, and her legs are wrapped around his waist. She still has her arms around his neck, her hands on the back of his head.
The black ooze globs between their chests provide an unsettling element to him carrying her out the door. He moves down the corridors in the direction of the entrance hall.
When he sets Rong next to the enormous wooden table and sits down on a chair, he is worn out and confused. He puts his palm over his head.
Rong is lying on the ground next to him and is observing him. As usual, her expression is impossible to discern. He shouts, banging his hands against the wooden table, "Why is it that nothing ever becomes easy! Didn't I suffer enough!
Silence.
He sighs while closing his eyes.
Why won't you respond?
Every time it happens the same way, he puts in a lifetime of effort to rise to the top just to pass away at the conclusion. His only goal in life was to safeguard those he cares about, yet he was powerless to defend himself. For those closest to him, his own strength was nothing more than an illusion.
He had to constantly avoid danger, even while he was up against an enemy who had no regard for life. He is degraded even in death.
"You aren't,"
He raises his head when he hears a quiet voice. Rong is facing him while upright on the table and giving him an inscrutable look.
They constantly asking me how I'm doing, so how are you saying that?
She says it again, "You're not."
"You're not,"
He lifts his head when he hears a soothing voice. Rong is facing him while sitting erect on the table and casting an indistinct glance in his direction.
"How are you saying that? Everyone keeps asking me how I'm doing,"
She replies, her voice low and bubbling, like someone speaking underwater, "You're not."
"Wait... You can talk!" Feng Huan says with surprise.
Rong looks at him, her expression unreadable under the mask fused into her face. Feng Huan doesn't even know how she could eat, much less talk.
"How?!" Feng Huan asks, raising his tone in amazement.
"Hmnhn." Rong moans.
"How long have you been able to speak?"
"Hmmh. Hnh..."
"I mean why now of all times?"
"You... you.... not, you're not." Rong say's the same three words over and over again like a broken phonograph.
…
Cleaning up the mess last night was a hassle, but now that it's the next morning, there are three things Feng Huan has learned. Stay out of trouble, stay in your lane, and do not wipe tar like substances with cloth, you'll just spread it.
"So, you've never spoken before?" Feng Huan questions again.
"Not not." She answers, shaking her head, staring at Feng Huan. Now what the hell does this even mean.
Feng Huan sighs and closes his eyes, his head is throbbing from the lack of sleep lately, his arms are sore from hauling buckets of water and carrying Rong to the baths. It seems like he's taking care of a… a pet.
Rong is tailing Feng Huan like a stubborn housecat as he puts on his clothes. Everyday is like this, wearing this complicated assortment of clothes… For some reason Feng Huan feels as if he's not seeing something he should.
He walks out of the castle through the long stairway as always and he walks out to town. He goes to the usual stop and he eats his breakfast that consists mainly of yams. He walks through the usual route to the library across the unusually bustling town.
But before he can get to the library, he is stopped by two familiar figures.
"Hey! Waldo." the man calls out.
Feng Huan distinctly remembers them from the tavern he visited some days before…
He is interrupted from his thoughts as the woman in red next to the man hoops her arm around his. "Hello?" she says while knocking on his chest.
"Ah." Feng Huan clears his throat.
The woman stops what she's doing as she looks at her companion. Feng Huan looks to the man as he also clears his throat, the awkward atmosphere is permeating in between them as the both of them stare as if nothing is happening.
"I don't really know what's going on," the man begins.
"The Dutchess requests your presence."
"Yes of course." Feng Huan replies with a nervous chuckle, running one hand through his messy bangs.
The woman stops abruptly and twists her head slightly to face him as they start to go past him. She laughs, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! How's the baby?"
"Baby?"
"Yeah! the one Danica mentioned! "
"Wha-."
Later, we'll talk about that, but right now, we have to leave.
"The man says as he drags the woman behind him.
Feng Huan is stuck in place, not knowing what to think or do. He stands there long enough until they're in the distance before he gets back to his senses and runs after them.