"Come and try! Our hot buns with sesame just for two coppers!"
"A jade trinket! Perfect for your perfume! Only 5 coppers!"
"Frost blade made from pure, gray, pearl stone! 15 coppers!"
Xuma walked through the marketplace in a daze. Two weeks in this strange empire, and she still found the hustle and bustle overwhelming. The rowdy laughter of lamb butchers and silky chuckle of cunning female merchants filled the air and made her ears throb from where she stood.
Too crowded. Too loud. Too overwhelming.
Everything was too much.
"If you're tired, we can go back to the inn." Ghazeyh's voice came from her side. He handed her a clay of water and a sweet pastry, the concern clear in his eyes.
For the past two weeks, he had been taking care of her. From the tribe in the wasteland to the inn in Stone City…Xuma felt guilty for being a burden, but she knew no one here.
As such, he was the only one she could trust. The only one she could rely on as he saved her life.
"Thank you." She whispered and took a sip of the water, before munching on the sweet. "You said…Blossom Valley no longer exists. Was it…was it destroyed by the Stone Warriors?"
Her homeland. Her people. Was it set ablaze? Were they enslaved?
She didn't know much about the Stone Empire. But from the merchants of the neighboring nations, she heard they were cruel and savage, killing without mercy and raping without guilt.
Just the thought of it gripped her heart with pain and dread. She wanted to see her father, her sister and mother. Joan must be struggling too.
As second cousins who grew up together, their elders had been discussing getting them engaged. But now…
Lost in thought, she missed the flash of unease in the gaze of the man beside her.
Ghazeyh shifted his body, turning his head to the side as he uncomfortably leaned against the stall behind. From young, he had been told stories of great warriors that conquered lands and protected the citizens of the Frost-Flame Empire.
Warriors who fought against the cruelty of fate and carved an empire of stone. In a land of summer and winter, where growing crops and raising livestock was nearly impossible, those warriors survived and left behind an inspiring legacy for their descendants.
Once, he had been proud to be a descendant of such warriors.
But after the incident with Blossom Valley…
Ghazeyh couldn't even bring himself to admit his true identity. "I heard Blossom Valley was a target of the Sha-jins," he said, for a lack of better excuse.
"Sha-jins? You mean, those creatures from the Sha-ri-jin Forest?"
"Hm." Ghazeyh swept a cursory glance through the market. Now that he was in Stone City, he had to act with discretion. He still hadn't told Xuma his real identity. He didn't want her to find out by mistake and reach the conclusion that he was deceiving her.
"Impossible! The Sha-jins are sealed in the Dark Forest. How could they attack Blossom Valley?" Xuma's face twisted into a mask of rage. "The Frost-Flame Emperor needed an excuse, and he used the Sha-jins as one to carry out his conquest and fulfill his greed!"
The venom in her eyes caused his breath to catch in his throat. Ghazeyh furrowed his brows and scrutinized the girl from the corner of his eye. His heart was aching again, and two weeks had been enough for him to figure out the abnormality was related to her.
Whenever she cursed and condemned anyone related to the Frost-Flame Empire, dread weighed down his heart and made him feel as if he was carrying an enormous mountain on his back. This same dread prevented him from coming clean with his identity.
For a slave he'd only encountered by chance, this girl welded too much influence over him.
"I know this is hard to believe. But it's the truth. The Sha-jins…they found a way around the seal." As soon as the words left his mouth, Ghazeyh regretted it.
What the hell was wrong with him?
The matter of the Sha-jins breaking the seal was an Imperial Secret. Aside from him, the Prime Minister, and his father, the Frost-Flame Emperor, no one else, not even the Empress, knew about it. To prevent chaos and panic from sweeping the empire and engulfing the surrounding nations, they took a vow to take this secret to their graves.
But now…he actually broke his vow, that too, so easily…for a slave girl.
"It's getting cold. We need to go." Setting the clay cup on the stall, Ghazeyh pulled up his hood, and strode towards the inn.
He no longer trusted himself to be alone with her.
Xuma watched his receding back with a strange expression in her eyes.
In her past life, she had never understood this man. Among the thousands of females in the back harem, he chose her as his concubine.
She didn't have an enchanting figure, nor was she bewitchingly beautiful. To top it off, she was a slave whose existence couldn't even compare to the servants of the palace. The first time they met, she performed the Dance of Blossoms.
At that time, she thought it was because of her dance that he took fancy to her. After all, even after five years of living with him with the identity of his concubine, he had never forced himself on her.
For something like that to happen, attraction was necessary, right? So when she refused him the first night, and he never sought her out again, she believed she wasn't attractive enough to him for him to use force.
However now, she wasn't so sure.
"Ghazeyh Asael, who are you?"
She spent over five years beside him, but only now did she begin to question…whether she even knew him.
'Heh. What does it matter? Now that I'm by his side, I'll have all the time I need to learn about him…and the Stone Empire.'
Stuffing the remaining pastry in her mouth, Xuma wiped her hand on her cloak, one bestowed to her by him, and chased after his figure.
In the past, she mastered dance to become his concubine and get her revenge.
This time, she would act the part of an amnestic patient to acquire knowledge, accumulate power, and change her fate, and the destiny of the thousands enslaved by this empire.
As she turned into the corner leading to the inn, another figure raced out from the other side and brushed past her.
"Joan! Slow down!" A female called out to the man, bringing his steps to a halt.
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, the man turned around and sighed. "Ainaz, can you pick up your pace? We can't miss this chance to earn our freedom." Joan hissed with clenched fists, his eyes shining with determination.