Seeing Jun Li try to brush off her gratitude, the Princess wasn’t sure how to respond. “Right… sending you that medicine was…”
The princess paused to find the words. “It wasn’t so difficult for me that I’d expect you to be in my debt. With my family supporting the local branch of the Alchemist’s Association, it was easy to call for some decent medicine. I'd say I owe you more than you owe me.”
Hearing the Princess insist on owing her, Jun Li’s face contorted into something between fear and concern. “Why are you treating me like this...?”
Seeing the Princess’s apparently innocent confusion, Jun Li continued. “This isn’t how you’re supposed to act- I mean… You know who I am… right?”
“I’m not from a merchant family either, I’m not even wealthy, I was raised in the shanty town outside the walls, so you…” Jun Li felt repulsed by the pitying eyes of the Princess.
“…so, you shouldn’t be treating me this way, there’s no point.” Seeing Jun Li curl inward, the Princess couldn’t restrain her frustration.
“So what if there’s no point?” The Princess crossed her arms and spoke in an almost stern tone. “Even here in this forest, must I contort myself to fit neatly into the standards set by my peers?” She scoffed. "Even here, I can't act like a normal human being."
It was the most upset Jun Li had seen the Princess, but even so, she remained troubled. “I’m just… not worth a favor from someone like you.” Jun Li couldn’t allow someone of such standing to be in her debt; it felt as if it were against her very nature.
Feeling defeated, the Princess’s shoulders dropped. “Very well then… I suppose I can’t force a favor on you.” With the mood turned dour, the Princess looked to the entrance of the den, where the Beast that had chased them now sat, gazing into the den and grumbling inaudibly.
Unwittingly, Jun Li had, by her own words and will, begun to dehumanize herself in the eyes of the Princess, though to minimal effect.
“I suppose Elder Yao isn’t going to come get us until after the Trial concludes…” The Princess let out a sigh. “It looks like we’re going to be here for a few hours.”
Seeing Jun Li was incapable of even looking her way, and was instead focused on her snake companion, the Princess spoke out against the silence. “If we’re going to be stuck here, we might as well talk for a while. You said you’re from a shanty town outside the capital, right?”
Looking to the Princess without meeting her gaze, Jun Li spoke. “Yeah… why is that?”
Seeing she had gained Jun Li’s attention, the Princess quickly responded. “Tell me about it. What was it like growing up there? I know far too little about that sort of thing.”
Jun Li went quiet for a moment. “…Okay… but in exchange, tell me about what it was like to grow up in the Royal Palace, I see it every time I go between the city and the Sect, so…”
Hearing Jun Li regain some capacity for conversation, the Princess smiled. “Alright, it’s a deal!”
As the two began to talk of childhood, the atmosphere inside the den finally began to ease, and they slowly reached a degree of comfort, despite the ravening Beast that peered in.
… … …
Drifting high above the Forest of Magical Beasts, a single lantern floated delicately on the breeze.
A thin string hung down from the floating lantern, at the end of which a pair of fingers pinched lightly to hang on.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Carried through the sky beneath the lantern, Elder Yao swept her eyes across the vermilion red leaves of the forest canopy.
Gazing through the near-impermeable canopy, Elder Yao observed the movements of the disciples below. ‘How soft this Sect is… if it can even be called such.’
She couldn’t help but grumble at the way things were run. ‘If we don’t let the weak ones face the true threat of death, then how will the strong be born?’
She had witnessed the Princess and Jun Li encounter the ape-like Beast, and stood by as they fled for their lives, unwilling to intervene until the last moment, seeing the pair back themselves into a cave, Elder Yao scoffed.
‘It's not such an uncommon scenario they've found themselves in… Perhaps when day breaks, they will have learned not to fall for such petty illusions as that Beast's roar. A lesson that might serve them well enough in the future.’
Realizing something was amiss in her own thoughts, Elder Yao groaned. ‘Ah, I had forgotten, these children aren’t being trained in service of the Sect's growth, nor to expand its presence in the Jianghu…'
'...They’re being trained because the Sect Patriarch is a sentimental fool attached to his birthplace, and wants their children to live as Cultivators and not mortals. How worthless...’ Elder Yao groaned at what she found to be an idiotic sentiment.
In her eyes, these Outer Sect Trials were pointless. What valuable lessons could be learned by those Cultivators who sought to live out their lives in a Mortal Kingdom in passivity and earthly luxury? What value would discipline and knowledge have for such a person?
‘Any trash that loiters around a Mortal Kingdom won’t become a true Cultivator. There's no future for those who Cultivate for the sake of petty things like wealth and prestige.’ As her mood soured further, Elder Yao spotted a disciple below being mauled.
Expelling her disgust with a breath, Elder Yao raised a hand to her brow. “Ahh, bear with it, Yao Lifen! Only a decade and a half left in this backwater before your contract is complete…”
Speaking her agonies aloud, Elder Yao let go of her lantern and plummeted towards the forest like an iron stake.
…
As the hours passed, and the two exchanged stories of their childhood, Jun Li slowly became more comfortable in the presence of the Princess as she learned of her opulent yet oppressive childhood in the Royal Palace, and how truly restrictive her youth was.
In contrast, the Princess became more uncomfortable as Jun Li continued to speak, realizing just how woefully little she knew of the conditions outside the walls of the capital.
“I see…” The Princess spoke quietly. “It seems life was harder than I imagined for you… but…” The Princess paused, hoping to phrase her next sentence carefully. “It also sounds… peaceful, and very free.”
Hearing the Princess’s assessment, Jun Li looked to the floor of the den. “Free, huh?”
Holding her gaze to the floor, Jun Li spoke. “I never considered myself free. Freedom is wealth and power, and I’m not sure we’ve ever had that.”
As Jun Li’s stare bore into the earth, her mood grew grim. “What freedom is there in poverty? In being unable to feed and clothe your loved ones?”
“What freedom is there in watching your siblings waste away, unable to do anything but watch?” As Jun Li spoke, she realized what she was doing and struggled to quell the infectious despair that began to spill from her mouth. “I know what you are trying to say, and perhaps it was a peaceful life, but...”
Jun Li looked directly at the Princess with a tempered expression. “I'd rather live a free life than a peaceful one.”
Hearing Jun Li’s words, the Princess maintained her silence.
As the silence between the two deepened, the Princess sank into regret. Despite her own struggles, she felt she should have known better than to envy Jun Li to her face.
‘Freedom…’ The Princess found it an odd concept, as though it wasn’t something she had ever considered. ‘I've had wealth, and some measure of power… but freedom?’
Thinking of the past Jun Li had spoken of, the Princess struggled to relate it to her own. ‘To not even be able to clothe your siblings… Surely, I had more freedom than she did, even suppressed as it was…’
Gazing out to the entrance of the den, the Princess knew the Beast that had kept them trapped would be waiting, though she could no longer see it, and Jun Li’s words echoed in her mind. ‘I'd rather live a free life than a peaceful one.’
Staring towards the ape-Beast's waiting place, the Princess made a decision and spoke. “I'm sorry. I said I couldn't force a favor on you, but I'll have to be a bit willful this time around.”
"It would just be too unfair if you lost your chances at the Outer Sect Trial because of me."
