We stayed there, just looking into each others eyes. The breezes of wind blew the leaves of the tree away, I wanted to talk to her more. But I was scared, what if another misunderstanding happened? , I stood there.
She felt the tension between us, the awkward silence was more louder than ever.
"You don't have to thank me Ace... I shouldn't have believed them in the first place. I knew you were not that kind of person.. yet... I..."
"Stop Xue, I don't mind... As long as you're by my side, that's all that matters to me." I smiled, as everything was over now. I had many things to check, but most importantly, my clothes were torn from the battle, I sighed.
"Something wrong, Ace?" Xue asked.
"It's nothing, I should really change my outfit, shouldn't I?... I'll get going now." I said as I looked around, trying to find the way out of the garden to leave the palace.
"Geez, have you forgotten where we are right now? We're in the imperial palace, I can give you anything you want. Let's go" she stood up and walked towards me, I suddenly realised she was wearing a gown. She grabbed my hand as she pulled me towards the exit of the garden. "Come on" she said with a smile, the awkwardness between us was finally lifted.
"Are you sure? I don't know.. if someone else sees me? Don't they think I'm a criminal?" I asked worried about her.
"So what? It was a misunderstanding, I'll clear it up as soon as I find you a new outfit, okay?" She said, reassuringly.
I nodded and obediently followed her as she took me to her room.
"Xue, did you came out to free me just as soon as you were finished getting treated for your injuries?" I asked with a worried voice.
Xue nodded and said, "Yeah, but don't worry, I'm fine now..."
"Are you sure?" I asked, still worried about her health.
"Mhm. Don't worry, Ace." She said, as we finally entered her room, it had a luxurious design, but she only had small things for someone who should be a princess, the room was bigger than I thought, but there wasn't anything to fill it up, just a bed, a cultivation place, a small place to change and a small bath with it in the corner and a cabinet right next to the bed. She had a her sword put on a stand, the cabinet was filled with Hanfus. They looked beautiful, I couldn't help but imagine Xue wearing them.
"Do you like my room Ace?" She asked as she looked joyful showing me her room.
"Yeah, it's really nice..." I said sincerely.
"Stay here, I should probably change from this gown into a something proper, and I'll go clear everything up about the misunderstanding, I'll also send a servant to bring you a nice outfit, do you have any preferences?" .
I digested everything she said before responding, I thought about it for a bit, but I didn't really know any styles.
Hmm... Well, blue is too generic... Well you can't go with black right? Will Xue like black? My previous outfit was black too...
"Is it okay if I get something in colour black?"
Xue nodded with a smile, "mhm, sure you can. And if you want to take a bath, you can use mine, it's right next to the changing place, the servants changes the water everyday, so don't worry about cleaning it up for me!"
I nodded. "Alright.. thank you." I smiled as she left, I was alone in her room.
A bath would be nice... I haven't washed myself in a while.. so...
I went towards the bath, to check if everything was good for me to wash up, the towels were there and the water seemed to be warm. I checked under the wooden tub, there were charcoal keeping it warm.
I see.. clever, using charcoal instead of fire so the floor doesn't catch on fire, the charcoal is also surrounded by rocks...
I took off everything and slowly got into the bath, relaxing my body.
Mmm... So nice... While I'm free, I should check where my cultivation realm has risen to...
I circulated energy while in the bath tub, my core was overflowing with energy.
Hm... I've broken though to the core formation realm. Nice!
I clenched my fist from joy, suddenly my forearm started covering in dragon scales.
"Jackpot!!" I yelled without realising,
Whoops... Jackpot! An defense skill, it could even be used as a offence skill, like a gautlent! But why can I use it as a active skill? I thought those dragonkins had it passively activated... Interesting...
I placed my hand over my dantian.
It seems this thing I call endless void, doesn't really absorb skills and buff me... It's more like using everything I could have in my surroundings to my best use. But, how did I get something so precious like this?
I sighed.
Well, it's a thought for another time, as long as it's helping me, I won't question it...
I smiled, as I slowly got off the bath, wrapping myself with a small towel, slowly drying myself, my wavy hair becoming wet made it fall forward, but when I felt my skin, I felt something different, my body has changed.
Does getting to a higher plane of cultivation refine your body as well? That's something good... I don't really have to train my strength much.
I got out of the corner the bathroom was placed. As I was walking forward, I noticed a shadow, I looked up to see Xue standing there, she had changed her clothes, to rather something very luxurious, she looked the same, but my heart was telling me that there was something different, her scent and her aura wasn't the same.
"Xue?" I said, as she turned around holding her sword while caressing it.
"Who are you?" She said, in a complete normal tone.