LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

She slumped back in the bed when she felt the familiar warm hand holding her waist, "What"s the rush, JiaXing?"

"Ah! ", Xing held on to his waist, "It was not a dream", she mumbled and held on to the corners of his sleeves tightly like he"d disappear if she let go. He felt warm and his heartbeat was of the same rhythm she"s used to know- The rhythm that told her "I love you" with each beat.

"I"m not going anywhere, JiaXing", Chenglei saw her frail and clingy and his heart melted. He picked her up and placing her on his lap, hugged her with her head resting on his chest. This position seemed awfully comfortable to him and he felt like he had done it a hundred times before.

The thing he could never understand, she felt unacquaintant at times and other times she felt so intimate, like he"d known her all his life. One time she looks so adorable and other times he feels like ripping her off to shreds with words especially when she thinks of that other man yet act familiar with him. He feels like he was being played by her.

She loves her and he knew she loves another man and he hated that about her.

He is a man and he wanted his woman to only think of him! He only has her in his heart, it is not unfair if he expects that back, right?

But he always held back on his hate towards her because he knew he"d lose her forever if he acted on it. He felt so conflicted by what he felt towards her at times. But one thing he was sure of is that he wanted her as his wife and he loves her.

I will marry her!

Xing buried her head in his chest and with her eyes closed, his scent enveloped her. She didn"t want to say anything and just stay like this for a while. She felt his hold on her tighten and his lips gently kissing the top of her head and a smile formed in her lips.

The morning sun was peacefully rising in the sky and the little sparrows sang at the windowsills looking for food. The gentle breeze brought in the fragrance of the morning dew and the lovers whose hearts were beating in the same pace, as one, enjoyed their time together, peacefully with no one disturbing them.... Until...
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*Grrr*

Xing"s stomach grumbled that brought them out of their trance.

"Why didn"t you say you are hungry?", he spoke in a slightly rebuking tone and picked the bowl he had on the side table.

"It"s at the right temperature now", he said and scooped the porridge in the spoon and placed it near her mouth.

"I"m fine now. I can feed myself", Xing tried to get the bowl but Chenglei was staring at her unmovingly and his grip on the bowl didn"t loosen.

Well, whatever!

Xing let herself to be fed by him and he even made her Honeyed milk as he used to before.

"You want to rest more?", he asked after he felt like she was fully fed and he checked her temperature once again and only after he found it normal did the thin frown line between his brows disappear.

"No, I want to take a bath", she scrunched her face and he let out a chuckle, "Alright", he patted her head. This woman really liked to stay in the water a lot.

Xing looked at the one whose eyes glimmered in the sun like a deep pool of emerald and in the morning light the golden streaks in his eyes glistened like stars and the gentleness in those eyes made Xing"s heart pound.

My Prince! I love you! A lot! Till my heart hurt!

Chenglei observed the woman in front of him and her golden eyes were overflowing with affection and the soft curve in her lips was perfectly identical to the smile she has in her sleep when she thinks of the other one.

Is her heart being swayed by me? He felt happy.

JiaXing! Fall in love with me and think only about me!

Chenglei bent and kissed her in the forehead before leaving and a couple of maids came to help her in the bath and as usual Xing let them out and stayed in the bath alone.

Xing half expected Chenglei to barge in but he didn"t and she wondered what was that about. But for some reason, she felt like she was being loved by him like in the past.

Please.... Please... Let this continue!

She also noted the water getting cold after a while something that never happened in the past three years.

Did something happened with Mazu? Need to investigate this!

She did not feel Fei Lian around her lately too. Could there be a problem?

Even though she brought her own clothes, she wore the ones that were bought by Chenglei for her that were neatly arranged in a dresser and all those clothes seemed like the ones she preferred to wear in the colours she liked too. The embroidery felt familiar and Xing knew he must have bought it from Haru"s store.

How could he know this much about me this soon?

Xing was pleased and after getting dressed in a crimson attire, she got to the training hall where she was informed Chenglei was, she was surprised to see a heated match between Chenglei and Ryuga with everyone else cheering for their favourite person.

The moment she entered, Ayane brought her to the seat and Yukiko was there cheering for Ryuga and Ayane was cheering for Chenglei with the water Emperor and Yi Kwan were silently watching from the side with admiration clearly visible in their eyes.

Both Chenglei and Ryuga are the best swordsmen Xing knew and it was surely a sight to watch both of them fighting neck and neck.

Xing was admiring Chenglei with sweat dripping from his hair and with some hair sticking in his face, he looked so hot!

Mmmm... He looks so delicious, I want to devour him! Xing sank into her daydreaming of which details could be only written in erotica books.

"She will be mine!", Chenglei said gritting his teeth while thrusting his sword towards Ryuga"s chest and he blocked it perfectly.

"Dream on, elder! ", Ryuga sneered.

Xing"s daydream was broken by the shouts of those two men and her pleasant mood turned to a frown.

"What is going on?", she had to pinch Ayane"s thighs to get her to listen to her as she was cheering loudly for Chenglei.

"What do you think?", she winked, "Those two are fighting for you!", she stood up and clapped, "Huh! Wish I had two men fight for me too!", she sighed as Yi Kwan handed her a bowl of fruits and asked her to sit down.

Yi Kwan shook his head and left to sit with the Water Emperor, while Xing let out a chuckle. It felt so eerie that the two women by her side loudly cheering felt the surroundings turn icy cold and had their mouth shut tight.

Now what?

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Xing walked towards the two men sparring and hearing her clap, they paused their fight and looked at her surprised.

"JiaXing!"

"Táng Xing!"

Both of them walked towards her in larger paces and they seemed to be competing on who is going to reach her first too as they pushed each other aside with their shoulders.

"What are you doing?", she asked with a grin and the corners of her lips twitched.

"We are competing for you... The one who wins..."

Ryuga"s gentle voice was interjected by Xing"s cold tone,

"Which one of you OWNS me? Surely since you are competing for me, one of you already owns me, right? Like Lu Chenglei here owns this training hall.. So, enlighten me, Lu Chenglie ", she smirked and her golden eyes s.h.i.+mmered with indifference and her lips were tightly closed.

" I... We... ", Chenglei stuttered seeing the anger in her eyes.

It seems like she does not appreciate this! How did I forget she is a prideful woman? Of course she hates this.

" I"m sorry! ", he surrendered. It seemed to be like a better option from what he knew about her. Better than arguing with her and angering her further, surrendering is the best option.

"But Táng Xing, it"s been a tradition in our kingdoms where men can challenge their rivals to woo for the affection of the one they love. Wouldn"t the woman be happy that the strongest of the two is pursuing her? ", Ryuga explained.

"Oh, really?", Xing chuckled and Chenglei noticed the corners of her lips twitching and realised he won already and he could not help but smile.

Ryuga realised he said something wrong but before he could understand what it is, Xing continued,

"Stronger man, is that so?", she nodded. "But it cannot be determined when you two spar, right? Shouldn"t you two spar with me to find out which one of you is stronger?", she smiled haughtily and as they watched her, the divine sword appeared on her hand and she held it with both hands and took a deep breath and it became two.

" I"ll marry the one who could make my sword leave my hand!", she stood in the centre of the training hall and swung her swords around, warming up. She herself wasn"t sure how rusty her sword techniques are.

Defending against bandits will never be compared with fighting with the two best swordsmen. It would be hard for her to beat Chenglei alone in the past and Ryuga is equally skilled as Chenglei and only after she made the challenge out of anger did she feel a little fear in her heart.

But well! The challenge is made and it is sword. Let"s see how this goes.

Ayane and Yukiko were more excited to see this match and Yi Kwan had to almost tie Ayane in the chair to stop her from jumping. She forgot she was pregnant and acted like an excited child.

"You said she was sick. How could you accept this challenge?", Ryuga gritted his teeth at Chenglei.

"She made the challenge. It means she is fine, right? Don"t tell me? You"re scared?", he sneered, "Why not back off, you puny boy?"

"You are heartless to treat a lady like this... But I won"t let you win and make her suffer more... Ancient man!", Ryuga smirked.

"Heartless? I"m respecting her wishes. That"s what real men do... dumb boy!", Chenglei snapped at Ryuga. He found his age a big barrier these days ever since she called him forty years old and Ryuga mentioning it only made him more insecure.

Xing could not hold back her smile hearing Chenglei"s answers.

He"s my man, isn"t he? He always liked to watch me pus.h.i.+ng through my limits and s.h.i.+ne!

Yukiko whispered to Ayane," Look at her oogling at Lord Li... This match is rigged right from the start, isn"t it?"

"We all know... She"s going to let Lord Li win. Too bad Ying Ryuga couldn"t see it. Let"s see if he learns his lesson", Ayane giggled back.

With both men trying to get her and with their difference in strength, she felt it hard for sometime but once she got the handle of it, she could defend their blows pretty easily.

Swordmans.h.i.+p is like breathing for her after all!

But Xing always lacked in endurance and she started sweating and she felt her breath shortening. Her being sick the past night didn"t help either. But she still pushed through and she noticed Chenglei"s blows getting harder and Ryuga"s blows getting gentler.

She could understand what they must be thinking. Ryuga is feeling pitiful for her and wants not to hurt her and Chenglei knows she cannot hold on any longer and seeing her still pus.h.i.+ng through, wants to end it sooner by him winning.

She did say the match will end when the swords are taken away from her hands. And so he will take it away from her hands and end the match so that she may rest.

Hmm! My man is better! I love him! But he did anger me and make me all sweaty by needlessly engaging with Ryuga!

The entire hall was filled with the excited shouts of the two women and Xing in the middle felt calmer than before as the love for her man overwhelmed her.

Xing took a deep breath and with one strike Ryuga"s sword dropped on the ground and slid off till it reached the wall. Chenglei who momentarily lost his concentration mocking Ryuga for losing, found his sword flying mid-air and it stuck in the wall by her next hit.

Both Ryuga and Chenglei stood there motionless.

She won?

"Losers!", Xing sneered at the both of them and pressed the swords together and it became one sword in her hands s.h.i.+ning brightly. Ayane and Yukiko did not expect this result.

"Come on, Mingxia! You cannot do this," Ayane expressed her disappointment. She was sure Xing would let Chenglei win.

Just as Xing was about to answer them, Chenglie asked, " Is this the Divine Sword?", casually getting near her and before Xing who was about to answer Ayane could react, he got the sword from her hand, "Gotcha!!",

he shouted holding the sword above his head.

"What?", Xing looked back to see her divine sword in his hand and her entire face twitched seeing him taking advantage of her.

"See, I got your sword away from your hands! Isn"t that the challenge? ", Chenglei smiled, "Marry me!.... No, no.... Not like this.... I"ll propose properly! "

"No you did not!", Xing snapped her fingers and the sword disappeared from Chenglei"s hands.

"You cheated! Come on! You cannot go back in your words! ", he whined looking at his empty hands and tried to hold her hands.

"I"ll go and take a bath! I stink!", Xing walked without looking back and Ayane and Yukiko sitting by the door giggled seeing Xing"s face all red.

How cute! He sure is the man for her bringing out the girl in her! They thought.

d.a.m.n Chenglei! Cheater! How could he cheat me like this? How could he win like this? I really have no guard up against him!

Xing mumbled and walked towards her courtyard.

"You are going the wrong way!", Chenglei ran behind her. " Come on, I won! Agree to it, JiaXing!", he caught up to her and pleaded.

"No you did not!", she didn"t slow down and took a left turn in the pavement.

"Still going the wrong way!", he held her hand sighing, "You are worse than a two year old child.... Getting lost inside your home", he mumbled.

Your home? Did he really means this is my home? Xing got more redder.

"Walk slowly", he interlocked his fingers in hers, "JiaXing, walk with me", his tone got gentler looking at the woman all wet with perspiration and her hair sticking on her face and red as a tomato and a smile bloomed in his face.

She is just shy, right? She is not refusing me.

Walk with me together till death do us part, JiaXing! Fulfil my wis.h.!.+

Xing felt her heart pounding harder realising his gaze on her.

Why? Why can"t I be decent everytime he proposes? And by the way, is this the third time he is proposing? Or fourth? Gee! This is getting too out of hand! Who gets proposed this many times by the same person? What should I do?

But then a sharp pain pierced her heart.

Will it work out at least this time? Will I be really married to him?