As I opened my eyes, I found myself in a dark room, as I tried to move, I was pulled back from iron chains bound to the walls. My hand and legs were tied with iron chains enhanced with inner Qi... I could hear footsteps above me and on my right accompanied by the clinking of metal.
I sighed...
Is this a prison? I thought to myself.
Right! Where's Xue!? I don't know if she's okay or not! Tch! Damn it! Why are these chains so hard?? Do they have special equipment to keep cultivators imprisoned too? No wonder... Damn it, what do I do... There will be big misunderstanding if I don't clear it up now... My Qi hasn't fully recovered as well... I stopped restricting my regeneration skill, and after a minute my hand regrew.
"Hello??" I shouted, hoping someone would respond.
"Is anyone there?! I need to talk to Xia Xue! I didn't do anything wrong! This is all a big misunderstanding!" There was no sound for a while, but I could hear footsteps nearing once more, I took the opportunity.
"Hello! Hey! I need to talk to Xia Xue!, this is a misunderstanding! I didn't do anything!"
I heard a familiar voice.
"Ace?"
As the door of the room creaked open, a shiver of light seeped into the room.
Xue? My heart started racing.
Did she know what happened there?
What will her response be?
I snapped out of it.
"Hey Xue! Shouldn't you be resting right now? Why are you here?! And how's your injuries??" I asked worry evident in my voice.
She sighed at me. "I'm okay now, I got the news that you were imprisoned because you've been-" she suddenly stopped.
Her voice only pointing to sadness.
"Xue! It's a misunderstanding! I swear! Let me explain!" I told her while panicking.
"I don't want to hear it Ace, I'm here to free you, just leave. I appreciate your help a lot. So I will clear everything up within the palace" she seemed so... Distant, she sounded like she hated me, I didn't understand why she was being like this, I did everything she wanted. Why can't she just listen to me? This is only a misunderstanding. My heart was shattering.
I could feel something like a breeze as she walked to my side to uncuff my hand and leg, I was speechless.
I looked at her, there was so many things I wanted to say, but words weren't coming out of my mouth, please. Say something.
I finally felt my hand and leg out of the tension, I rubbed my wrist as she stood back up. The silence was louder than the battlefield that I was on during the mission.
"The door is straight from here, when you go up the stairs and one right, you will see the door to leave from the front of the palace, goodbye Ace..." Xue said, so nonchalantly.
My heart was broken into pieces. I grabbed her wrist as she was about to leave. If I didn't, I would've regretted it for the rest of my life.
"Xue, please, give me a chance to explain" I said. My voice shaking.
She turned around to look at me, I could see the beads of teas forming in her eyes, her tears were glowing from the small shiver of light in the room filled with darkness.
I raised my hand to wipe off her tears, but she quickly backed off.
"Follow me" she said as she started leaving the room once more, she took a turn to the left, the imperial garden, where we passed from before going on the mission. It was still filled greenery and lavishness, the evening sky made it look brighter as the orange taint on the green leaves made the garden shine. Xue walked into the garden and sat down on a chair carved in the tree, she looked at me waiting for my response, what I would say, that things would go back to normal, or make things better...
"Xue, do you hate me?" I asked, my heart kept beating faster and faster...
I was expecting a response, but she sat there without saying anything.
"I promise you, whatever those imperial soldiers told you are lies. Please believe me. I was not taking advantage of you, I was giving you my inner energy to keep you alive. Trying to heal you, yes. I kissed you, but that was the only way for me to transfer my qi since I wasn't at a high enough level of cultivation to transfer it normally." I said, pouring all of the details out, hoping that she would believe me.
"Is that true?" She asked with a weak voice. Her voice shaking.
I nodded. I figured she had a hard time believing me as she stayed there quietly.
"Fine..." She said breaking the ice.
"I will believe you for this time..." She looked to her side, as she said, with her face painting a small red on her cheeks.
I nodded once more.. my eyes directed downward.
"Thank you". I said gratefully.