LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

Is something wrong with me?

She went back to sleep when Shengli"s voice brought her to consciousness and she felt a chilling hand touching her forehead and her whole body shuddered.

"Xing... Wake up"

"Xing... Please... "

"Xing"

Xing could hear his cries that reeked of despair but could not open her eyes and she could hear the angry bellow of Shengli,

"Is this how you treat your Empress?... Are you.... "

Is he shouting at the maids?

He was shouting some more but Xing couldn"t hear it all and she went back to sleep.

When Xing came to after some time, she was in her bed with Shengli, with dark hair and in the Eunuch uniform, having a basin of water with a towel, sitting beside her on a stool watching her concerned.

" Xing! ", he stood up as soon as he realised she had woken up and helped her sit up leaning on the bed and immediately handed her a bowl of medicine that stank and made Xing frown.

"What happened?", she asked and her voice was coarce as she hadn"t talked for a long time and she cleared her throat as Shengli handed her some warm water first.

"You have fever..! You were burning up. Silly girl! Weren"t you aware?" ,he spoke in a slightly accusing tone but it was overwhelmed by the care and worry he had for her.

"Oh!", Xing nodded. So this is how it feels to have fever.

"Now drink this medicine. I don"t know why these things happen to you... One day I leave you alone... Here you are fainting of high fever... Can"t you take care of yourself properly? You are an adult even... But you are worse than a child... Do you have any idea how worried I was..? Do you have any consideration towards me? Do you realise what it would do to me if something happens to you? How could you... "

Shengli carried on with his lecture and he was stuffing the medicine bowl in Xings mouth and refused to let her hold the bowl herself. He knew she"ll play some tricks to spill the medicine "accidentally" and will escape from drinking the medicine using her alluring face.

Xing, having no other way drank that medicine and she could not help but retch by that strong stench of the medicine.

"Throw up and you"ll have to drink two more cups of this medicine. There is more where they come from"

Shengli"s threat worked well as Xing took deep breaths and kept everything in. But she could not help but chide Shengli in her heart for threatening her.

"Bad Prince! "

Shengli on the other hand who had seen her "sleep" one too many times was worried to see her unconscious again. If possible he won"t see her unconscious ever again. Everytime he sees her limp in his arms, he feels like his heart is getting ripped away from him. What if something happens to her?

Xing saw the sky still bright as it was still evening and before thinking a lot, went to sleep again because of the effects of the medicine and also the sweet caress of Shengli that made her relax.

When she woke up, it was dark and she could see the maids in her room were acting all weird . She looked around to know that the Emperor there along with Shengli. Apparently it was customary for the Emperor to stay with the Empress on the day of coronation and that"s why he was here according to Bai Li who was by her side.

After having dinner with the Emperor with Shengli by his side, she felt a bit better from the evening as she had gotten back to her usual self as the fever had broke.

She changed her clothes and did her hair before meeting the Emperor and Shengli was by his side too.

"Xing, why did you get sick?", Shengli asked sitting by her side. She had sent all the maids except Bai Li away and they were the only ones left in the room.

Shengli was wondering why she"s been getting sick and getting hurt a lot in the past few days a lot. He had never known for her to have fever and here she is...

Xing wondered that too. It was probably because with the spells preventing the G.o.ds from entering the palace, she is not getting the protection of the G.o.ds like she used to.

Of course Shengli thought about it too, "Xing, why not bring the barrier down?", he asked. He was someone who had put her safety above everything else after all. Of putting down the barrier would enable the G.o.ds to protect her, why not do it?

"No way!", Xing replied. If she brings the barrier down, it would lead to various other consequences like the G.o.ds controlling the court and others. Also, the G.o.ds weren"t honest about who put the barrier and why. So unless she gets a clear idea about who put the barrier and why, she had decided not to put down the barrier. And it"s not like she knows how to put down the barrier either!

Shengli took a deep breath and shook his head. She"s always like this. When she is pushed to a corner and every odds are against her, she becomes more fierce and stronger and will emerge victorious of that situation.

If the G.o.ds are pus.h.i.+ng her inside the confines of the inner palace without her wish, she won"t be cowering in fear but would actually fight back and she would eventually find a way to win.

Just then Lin Mubai came there and informed Shengli thwt they had found s.h.i.+hong was leaving soon from the place he was staying at and if he wanted to meet s.h.i.+hong he"d have to leave tonight to catch up with him.

Shengli who had been trying to track s.h.i.+hong for years was surprised to see them actually finding the location of s.h.i.+hong this time. It was as if someone or something was guiding him towards s.h.i.+hong. So do the G.o.ds really want me to be with s.h.i.+hong? He thought. Even though they had found the location of s.h.i.+hong, attacking s.h.i.+hong in a village of innocent people would be dangerous as s.h.i.+hong won"t hesitate to use the lives of the civilians to escape and it would only put innocent bystanders in danger.

Xing heard what Lin Mubai say and she felt her heart clench knowing Shengli would leave her soon. Even though she knew she should let him go, she could not bear to say goodbye suddenly. Shengli saw the devastated look in Xing and sent Lin Mubai away and decided to stay with her a little while longer before leaving.

The Emperor understood the situation and left and only Xing and Shengli were the only ones left in their room.

"Should I not leave?", Shengli asked. He had a wavering of heart too as she didn"t seem like her usual self these past days since she had went through many serious events both physically and mentally and he felt like she had changed somehow but couldn"t put a finger exactly how.

Xing who was sitting in the swing, looked at him with many complicated emotions. His question is not simple, right?

Does she want him to leave? No she does not want to.

Should he leave? Yes, he must.

Xing, don"t let your heart waver! Be strong! What needs to be done must be done for a better future! Only if you suffer a little now, you"ll have a chance of utter bliss in the future.

"We are going through a "Love Trial " apparently", she said and she could see Shengli"s face lit up with surprise.

" Love Trial? Is that a thing?". He had heard about it. But is it not something used to write plots for love stories and complete fantasy?

Xing knew he"d react like that and explained to him what she knew about it and about the other person who went through it previously because he fell in love with someone who is supposed to be dead.

"So did he win? Did he get to live with his love?", Shengli asked.

Xing looked down on the floor biting her lower lip, "No, he lost the last trial because he cheated his way out of the Netherworld. Actually he even made everyone believe he won but he was found out and got cursed by the Heavenly Emperor. In the end both of them were separated and ended up as seasons. That is the story of Autumn and Spring. The seasons who can never meet"

That"s not a good example to look up, right?

Shengli took a deep breath, "But didn"t you leave the Netherworld?"

"Yes, apparently we"ve succeeded one trial too. But we won"t know anything more and how hard these other trials would be. But I think it requires us to be separated for a while...", Xing closed her mouth and yawned.

"So we will be separated for a while whether we like it or not. It"s better we let fate take it"s course or else if we try to fight back, it would be only damaging to ourself", she spoke logically.

Shengli saw her getting sleepy and picked her up and placed her in the bed. He really had a lot of questions.