"Ive been stuck in this room for days now" Mai thought to herself. "It feels like eternity and all I can picture is that single tear on his cheek."Mai had been wondering what exactly was going to happen to her if they continued to lock her away. She was already skin and bones. However, that was not from there mistreatment. Her servants truly had tried hard to feed her. Remaking every recipe that she had showed them and more with similar techniques. It had all been so tasteless so meaningless that she could barely keep any of it down.
Zhi Ruo seemed the most concerned and would come check on her almost hourly now to make sure that she was alright. At the beginning she still had hope with what Zheng Li had said before he left. But that hope had slowly left her the longer she remained stuck in this room with no word from Han Bing. It was difficult, surely she wasn"t this weak creature that she had become and yet she couldn"t do anything else.
Mai huddled into herself forming a ball on her bed. What concerned her even more was that she got no news if he was okay. She had wanted to on so many occasions run to him, yet even if she did get out of the room where was he? She had never been to his rooms before.
—
When the door opened, Mai was expecting it to be Zhi Ruo but it was not. Zheng Li stood there strong as a mountain looking down at her.
"Mai" he calls out.
He sees the little ball on the bed slowly lift their head in acknowledgement.
"Han Bing just broke his fever. I wanted to let you know." Zheng Li says.
He expected a response of some kind but there is nothing from the woman in front of him. Almost as if leaving her in this room caused more pain than what happened to Han Bing.
"Do you want to leave?" Zheng Li asks trying to get some type of response from her.
Mai tilted her head to one side "Why would I want to leave?" Mai asks herself "I just want to see him."
Zheng Li sighs, realizing that this will get him know where.
"He wants to send you to your father so that you will be safe" Zheng Li says to Mai. He watches as her body starts to shake and tears fall from her eyes.
"Shhhhh" Zheng Li says as he slowly approaches Mai. "Everything will be okay, I know that it was just a misunderstanding and so does he… He"s just worried about you."
Zheng Li watches in concern as the shaking slowly stops from the woman in front of him. She was thin before but now she looks closer to skin and bones than he is comfortable admitting. Everything that Zheng Lin had been saying a few days ago was true. There was almost nothing that resembled Mai in the woman in front of him. Growing nervous from the discomfort that he had from the mistreatment he reached down.
Zheng Li rubbed her on the head and offered small words of encouragement to try getting a smile or any sort of reaction from her. However, everything that he said was completely ignored. Growing more nervous with every second that past he finally asked the one question that he thought would get some sort of reply.
"Do you want to see him?" Zheng Li asks.
Mai"s eyes lock onto his as if she was searching through his soul to see if he was lying. After moments pa.s.s, she gives a small nod in agreement to him.
Zheng Li lets out a soft breath. It seemed that even if she had fallen into herself that she was still highly concerned about Han Bing.
"Why don"t you change, and than I will take you to him oaky?" Zheng Li asked softly.
Walking out of the room to give her some privacy to change Zheng Li leaned against the door. Cursing his own behavior in letting her become like this.
—
"He wasn"t lying right?" Mai asked herself as she slowly took out a new robe to change into. The current one had been worn since Han Bing had left her room.
"I can do this right? I am a strong woman despite what it appears" Mai thought to herself. Hugging her knees tight as she thought about if Han Bing would reject her and give her to her so called father. She wish that he had never shown up. It"s not like she remembered anything from him anyways.
Walking to the door on trembling legs, Mai opened the door and stood in the sun for the first time in over a week. Squinting her eyes from the glaring overhead sun she looked for Zheng Li
They both slowly walked towards Han Bing"s room. Mai memorized the route that they were taking so that she could visit him in the future. Zheng Li had led them on the most direct route to Han Bings bedroom afraid that Mai would not be able to spend to much energy if they had taken the secret route. At this point though it didn"t matter to much, the Emperor already knew that Mai was in the manor. There was nothing they could do to hide that fact.
They arrived outside of Han Bings bedroom door. Mai took small deep breath to calm her nerves and than reached out for the door.
Zheng Li"s hand stopped hers before she could fully open the door. "Be gentle" he whispered to her.
With a nod, Mai pushed the door open to find that Han Bing was facing away from the door. She stood there frozen as she watched him apply ointment to the burns that covered his body. Earlier, she had not seen the state of his body. Tears streaked down her face as she wondered who could possibly do that to another human.
Mai"s voice caught in her throat as she called out "Han Bing." Still the gentle sound was enough to alert the man to there presence. He did not turn to look at them and instead said "You should not be here, leave."
The harsh implications of what he meant hit Mai hard as she slid to the floor.