LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

He had recurring nightmares about that day of the attempted a.s.sa.s.sination and that day it was severe and he was slas.h.i.+ng in his dreams and woke up when he heard her scream. He opened his eyes and saw blood on her chest. His heart stopped when he saw the b.l.o.o.d.y sword in his hand, her mother"s concerned face and the girl trying to act like it"s not hurting and he ran away in panic.

Surely I"m better off dead! I hurt the only person who cared for me and now her mother hates me! They"ll look at me like my mother did! I"m not going back!

Then he wandered off in the mountains. Days pa.s.sed. He wondered if the girl was okay and if she had already despised him or worse forgot him. But, he felt guilty as that wound would definitely scar. He ruined her life he thought. He felt abandoned and miserable and guilty. There is really no one for me.

Somehow he found that pond that day and unexpectedly, that girl found him there. He became so happy someone came looking for him and his eyes were clouded with tears. So he ran away trying to hide his tears and his guilt . But Xing who followed him, fell in the pond.

No! I can"t lose you!

He jumped in the pond. That"s when he realised he"s not a good swimmer. But he found her sinking. He extended his hand to get her and held her closely. He tried to swim back but he couldn"t as he had to drag her too. He saw her becoming unconscious.

No way! I want to live with you! If I cannot, I will die with you!

He gave his last breath to her mouth to mouth, but to no avail. Please breathe, he said while water entered his lungs and both of them were sinking deep slowly.

He almost lost his consciousness and that"s when that happened, her eyes opened and it glowed like amber and her hair glowed turned golden too. His eyes widened and he realised he could breath. He looked in the faint glow, they were surrounded by an air bubble. The bubble then raised out of the water and they were dropped in the sh.o.r.e. He looked at her and her eyes were closed again and her hair was black. He could not understand what happened back there.

Did someone else save them or was it her? Doesn"t matter.

He pressed her chest and she started coughing and she woke up. He was relieved. He immediately hugged her out of joy. This girl scared him to death. Only after she woke up did he feel relieved. He scolded her and she asked him to come home. "Home", an unfamiliar word for him. He grew up in the inner Palace and there were various courtyards and pavilions. His relatives lived in Manors. He had his courtyard, what"s home? "Home?", he muttered. She said if he"s sad he lost his mother, she"ll share her mother. "Mother", another word he didn"t understand well. "But I hurt you". "It"s fine", she said. Her eyes were clear and it had no hate or worry. He wants this girl so he said he"ll belong to her and she to him. He decided that day he would do everything in his power to protect and love her. He knows she has others to love her but he only has her.

They left for home and her mother accepted him in surprisingly. He still remembers how warm her hand that was holding his hand was and how secure he felt. Her mother never brought up that incident and treated them both the same. Finally he understood what home and mother meant. He was happy. He decided to repay it all tenfold.

She was always happy and she always saw the good in others. He was happy just looking at her. The darkness in his heart went to a corner and her brightness filled him. They met Haru, another abused boy which reminded him of Junjie and himself as he had the same darkness and hate towards his family. He didn"t want to have a rival, so he picked a fight with him to intimidate him. But she interfered and ordered them to compromise. Haru was smart and he said he won"t interfere with him courting her. Only then he allowed him in their group. It was fun.

Months pa.s.sed peacefully as those three spent time together. He taught them many things and in turn they were making him happy. But as his thirteenth birthday was just months away, he started having weird dreams and some changes in his body and his voice started to become hoa.r.s.e too. When he was living in the palace, his brothers sneaked a picture book in his study materials and he accidentally saw the "lewd pictures" of men and women together in them. Of course he wanted to throw that book away immediately but he did see some of those pictures out of curiosity . Now these days, he was getting dreams where Xing was close to his age and acting like one of the woman in the lewd pictures. He felt ashamed when he saw her the next day and could not face her properly. Bad boy!

Soon he started going to the village to gather news about the palace to avoid Xing and also to find news about his brother. He wondered how his brother was doing. But he fell in the eyes of some bad people. He met a guy named s.h.i.+hong and he seemed nice at first. Chenglie, as a careful person never trusted others completely after what happened to him in the palace. His only exception is his little moon. This guy would casually chat about the happenings in the capital city. One day he came and said he knows that he is the third prince and he needs his help.

Chenglie thought he might expose his ident.i.ty, but he was more interested in another person. Someone with the mark of w.a.n.g on their body, who was born on a new year day six years ago. Supposedly he was chosen by the G.o.ds as divine ruler.

He was shocked, why he was searching for that person. Xing"s mom had talked about her birth to him once accidentally and he had seen the mark on her back as she always took baths with him. He had also seen her hair colour change before at that pond and that is not an ordinary thing.

So he pretended to be interested in their gang and joined them sometimes to gain their trust. He knew Xing was worried about him but he cannot leave a dangerous group searching for her alone. So he decided to infiltrate that group to gain more access. Also if he stays with Xing any more that group may learn about her and hurt her. So he decided to leave her for some time. His heart hurt even thinking of temporarily leaving her, but he had to protect her.

So he decided to propose to her before leaving and gave her his hairpin. She accepted and probably didn"t realise she"s engaged to him, but he can"t leave her with no promises. He even conducted a wedding ceremony only with both of them. Even though it was no more than a doll wedding and legally invalid too, it gave him peace of mind. He spoke from his heart every single word he uttered that day. So with heavy heart he decided to leave her for some time for her own protection. He then said his thanks to her mother, the one who showed him motherly love and said his goodbye.

Chenglie, leaving Xing"s family he joined the gang full time. They were a gang who would do anything for money, from threatening, beating or murder. s.h.i.+hong was skilled with a lance. His master was the leader of the gang and he was a foreigner from the fire kingdom. Because their gang had well trained members, they were even hired by the n.o.bles during the struggle for throne.

Chenglie who was good at sword was trained especially by their master to kill with a single strike. He was a fast learner and with a single embroidery needle he"d kill a person. They did raids on mansions killing everyone in their way. Chenglie preferred to wear white and because he didn"t want his clothes to get dirty, all his strikes were precise and fatal and he would come and go as a gust of wind.

As he became a trusted one, the leader told him about the story of a G.o.d trapped in a halberd. Apparently the Crimson Tiger was the one who sealed the G.o.d in that halberd and kept it hidden in the imperial Palace.

But someone stole the halberd as it was said to contain greater powers enough to become the ruler. So there were many who wanted it and it was told that the one with the regal mark will be the true holder of the halberd. Chenglie believed that to be rubbish. Surely they are deluded. Xing has the mark and she"s definitely different than others, but she"s a little girl. There can"t be a female emperor or divine ruler . Also she"s kind and loving. No matter what he cannot allow her to be harmed for stupid reasons. He had to protect her.

Chenglie was good at spying and a.s.sault at nights. He always worked alone, so his gang called him "the lone wolf". He was with the gang for a couple of years. He would a.s.sa.s.sinate entire families in a single night and brought back the treasures of the family. So he became a higher rank member of the gang pretty soon. He and s.h.i.+hong were the best in their gang. Everyone trusted him except s.h.i.+hong. Chenglie at this time had given into his darkness and had no sense of guilt. He murdered anyone against him and the families that refused to help him when he was in need of it, be it a child or a old woman, a servant or a dog, if they are not needed for him they were eliminated. What started as a means to gain information had turned him into a ruthless insatiable beast hungry for blood.

s.h.i.+hong was mysterious. He was twenty two that time and had unusual knowledge about poisons. He never talked about himself and always had a smile on his face and followed him around which Chenglie hated. Chenglie knew he had higher ambitions but never understood s.h.i.+hong"s interest in him. s.h.i.+hong found the secret that Chenglie is acting against the empress"s supporters and ruthlessly eliminating them as if he was on a mission. He was actually acting against the gang for his own interests and was found out.