Twenty minutes later a large young man and a head shorter youth came in the great hall while loudly laughing.
"Alright, then three months later – the decisive match." While still laughing, Nick said in somewhat upset tone.
"Sure, but the next time it'll go according to the Olympic rules." Tao bumped fists with him and suddenly they both got slapped on the backs of their heads.
"How are you behaving in the presence of the queen? Sit down and stop embarrassing yourselves!" Princess Min angrily berated after silencing them.
Both guilty parties mumbled some apologies and went to their respective spots at the table. This time Nick was allowed to sit beside YunYun.
"What happened?" Queen Hu asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"I'm sorry, mother. It's just that as soon as Tao woke up, he immediately challenged Nick again, but when Nick lost he wasn't satisfied, thus they agreed on a decisive match three months later." Min replied while still being angry.
The people in hall were shocked once again, but queen sighed turning to her youngest daughter, "You have a good eye, he's smarter than he looks."
YunYun grinned back, "You haven't seen even a small part of it."
But then she proceeded to tell her story. During the twenty minutes Nick was absent she only managed to get to the point of her arriving to the Paradise city and the most important parts only followed. The reactions of the people were exactly the same as when Clayton told his version in the ball hall, except YunYun told the truth about the real killer of the emperor, just avoided the part of her being poisoned and Nick saving her.
Inwardly she thanked her aunt for the advise, because her mother would have definitely killed Nick if she told the truth right now. Nick, of course, also was happy about it, although he once again reminded himself to be careful around women not only in this palace, but everywhere on the Eastern continent and, maybe, even in the world.
Five hours later when the sun was already setting, YunYun finished her story and the people in the room were still speechless. This time everyone, even the queen looked at Nick in a different light. Of course, they suspected YunYun was exaggerating many things, but there was some limit to it and the things they have gone through mostly had to be truth, especially since YunYun knew her mother could confirm her story with king Alexander Maxwell any time.
After a long period of silence, queen turned to Nick, "Show me your weapon!"
He hesitated a bit, "Your majesty, may I ask to satisfy your request when there are no other people present?"
"What?" Queen still couldn't get used to him not instantly complying like everyone else in the kingdom did.
"Mom, you see, we both discussed this a while back and realized that during the last year as soon as our weapons left the sheaths, someone died. It feels somewhat like a bad omen. The only exception is when we train our techniques." YunYun tried to explain to he best ability.
"Alright. Let's go, you will practice now. It's good to stretch after the meal." And then queen ended the feast just like that, "Alright, everyone dismissed! Today my daughter has returned and I want to spend some time with her alone."
Nick almost blurted out arguments that right after a meal one shouldn't move too much and needed twenty minutes to half an hour, maybe even an hour before the next physical activities. Fortunately he managed to bite his tongue at the last moment – there was no need to play with his life or health around here just because of a silly wish to win an argument.
Everyone left and only the queen, her husbands and Min with her husband were left.
"Tao, you go rest. Three months might not be enough to heal that." Queen quietly said. The people who were present understood what happened, at least in general.
"Thank you, your majesty. Nick gave me some medicine and ensured that I should be fit in twenty, maximum thirty days. And … I'm really interested in the weapon he uses." He had complicated expression on his face.
The young boy not only saved his and more importantly his wife's honor, but didn't hold back on something extremely expensive. Tao wasn't a random hillbilly and knew the price for such medicine.
This time group went to the queen's practice ground. Nick carefully took out his Wakizashi and, while most looked at the black dagger in confusion, queen loudly gasped.
"No wonder you could kill that bastard. Alright, put that thing away." She waved at him, "But YunYun, your sword can't be that dangerous as …"
But YunYun already unsheathed her Katana and in front of everyone infused it with Qi. Most of the present didn't think much of Nick's dagger because they didn't know exactly what it was and as a weapon at the first glance it didn't seem that dangerous. But YunYun's sword was a whole different story. Every single one of them froze when they saw it – not because of its beauty, but from the danger they felt in their hearts.
"I named it 'Katana' and it's the engagement gift Nick gave to me." YunYun said with a smile.
Everyone inadvertently glanced at her fiance. For a sword user this was a priceless gift! But what followed after shocked them even more.
"Sigh, I have to check it in our archives, but I'm pretty sure that's the sword of our founder, matriarch Li." Queen sighed. This sword was a legend and it has been lost for centuries, "Where did you get it?"
The question obviously was addressed towards Nick.
"Osman had it." Nick shrugged, "I thought it suits YunYun really well, despite being so deadly. She even says that they understand each other when they talk, but I have no idea what exactly you sword masters do so you can ask her."
"It 'talks' to you?" Queen's emotional ups and downs were to many for one day.
But the implications were really important – the 'real' sword masters tried to communicate with their weapons during their whole lives and that explained somewhat weird tendencies to carry their swords with them everywhere. Loosing their sword was also the same as loosing their loved one, maybe even worse. For example, queen Hua struggled for years until she stopped carrying her sword around the palace. But sometimes in the evenings she still held it on her lap and 'conversed'.
"Good, then you can keep it." Queen smiled and said when saw YunYun nod.
'Seriously? She was considering taking it away from her daughter? These people are way too weird – although it's a good sword, it's only a sword!.' Nick scratched his head and considered spending the night in a random inn.
While everyone was leaving, Tao whispered to Nick, "Good luck tomorrow, brother in law."
And before Nick could react, Min already pulled him away. Nick stood there in daze, not understanding what was going on. Didn't he already pass the hurdles? Or everyone was expecting some natural disaster?
The night was peaceful and they could finally rest. Of course, Nick stayed in a courtyard specifically meant for guests and didn't mind it. No one came to disturb him and even the servants left after his first request.
In the morning they had their regular practice with YunYun.
At some point Nick stopped, looked towards a flower bush nearby and said, "Don't you find it exhausting to watch that way? Just come out and behave like a person – we didn't intend to do anything improper anyway."
When there was no reaction, he continued, "Come on, I've dealt with Ling for years. Do you think I can't sense you?"
A moment later a middle aged man, a bit blushed, came out from bushes.
"How do you know Ling?" He asked while scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Sigh, at least you can talk. Every time I want to get a word from that fellow I feel like I have to pay in gold or something." Nick grinned.
This man was obviously similar type of bodyguard like Ling was and YunYun's mother stationed him to follow her daughter in secret. Of course, they were not small children anymore and immediately noticed him, therefore he was a bit abashed.
"You probably will be with us for some time, so what is your name?" Nick asked.
"Ling." The man answered and Nick froze. Then, seeing Nick's stupefied expression, Ling explained with a light smile, "The Ling you met is most likely my brother who followed princess Hua to the Mainland. 'Ling' is our family name and everyone calls us that when we're not together. How is he? I haven't seen him in many years."
"Couple of years back he went with Zia to the Sword sect, but I think he is doing fine. Of course, I would prescribe him a wife so he would at least smile from time to time, but it's not my place to say anything anyway."
"He has always been like that. Despite being an incredible Qi sword master, he decided to follow his secret love and serve her from the shadows." Ling sighed thinking of his brother, "Life really likes to play tricks on us."
They chatted few minutes more and then Nick and YunYun continued with their morning exercises.
After a light breakfast YunYun was excited to show him around the city. The distances here were further apart compared to Aurora, therefore they decided to use horses to not stand out on the streets, but, on their way out, Nick finally understood what Tao meant with 'good luck' the previous day.
Hundreds and hundreds of young men were crowding on the street in front of the palace gates and cheered as soon as they saw the youngest princess.
She was confused at first, but then started cursing. The plan of riding around the whole day together with Nick was completely ruined. Not only riding around, even getting out of the palace was under the question – her admirers filled the street and there were so many of them the horses couldn't get through.
"Let's go back and just do it our 'regular' way." Nick smiled at her.
The palace had a large territory and was located in the middle of the city. No one could predict where they will come out if they did it in secret.
"I like Aurora so much more." YunYun sighed while turning her horse back.
After riding for few more meters Nick suggested to take a walk around the place and they dismounted and took a leisure stroll. There were few things they wanted to do here therefore both considered directly leaving and then travel the continent.
The main purpose of this trip was to visit a location with a dense natural Qi and become Qi masters. YunYun already told Nick, that Li family had a small place they called 'the Sacred ground' where its members went to practice, secluding themselves from the rest of the world. She wasn't completely certain, but it should fulfill the requirements they had.
At first they wanted to travel a bit and then seriously cultivate, but judging from the situation on the streets, it was almost impossible to freely fool around. The best they could do was to sneak out for an evening or two, but it was still too annoying for them who were used to an absolute freedom.
"What about the sea?" Nick suddenly had an idea, "It wasn't the diving season when we left Aurora, but the climate in Xian is fantastic! Do you have some nice reefs around here?"
YunYun, of course, was looking forward to it for months and now, when Nick reminded, they immediately decided to 'run away' after dark. Neither had any problems to camp outside and with their speed they would be a hundred kilometers outside the capital in few hours.
At dusk YunYun let a small note to her mother and they, covered in 'stealth powder', sneaked out. After the first day that was full of stress and the second day of feeling almost like prisoners, they finally got their freedom and left the city along the coast.