Bride of the Blood Emperor

Chapter 15- How It Came To Be

     The surroundings were mostly of the grey, winter has already settled. Piles of snow were already weighing down on the tree’s branches forcing some to break, but not on Lanfen’s yard as the barrier protected them from the snow and cold. Inside the kitchen, with a knife on her right hand, Lanfen can be seen slowly slicing a head of fresh cabbage. Her now light blue colored eyes stared blankly on the wall not far from where she stands. Inside her head, she imagined the happenings that occurred last night. The man saw her. The man saw her! Just her luck! He saw her in her fox form.

     " Aiya. I knew he was trouble. I shouldn’t have saved him. Wuwuwu! Tsk. What if he wakes up and murders me. I’m not powerful enough to save myself! Wuwuwu!” she cried while slowly murdering the cabbage, each of her slow slices getting harder and harder against the wooden counter. She didn’t even notice the overflowing boiling water just beside her.

     “But, he’s handsome. He shouldn’t be a bad person right?” she thought.

     Aiya this Lanfen! Being handsome doesn’t mean he cannot be bad! And really just her luck, Guoliang on the other room, started to flutter his eyes open. He stared on the ceiling for a while and his eyes widened as he remembered last night’s events.

     “Fox!” his mind screamed.

     He immediately scrambled up and walked towards the presence of someone until he reached the kitchen. He suppressed his presence and aura to hide himself. He tiptoed towards the woman facing the other direction and immediate grabbed her and her hand which was holding a knife and forced it towards her neck.

      Lanfen was shocked. He was holding her against his body so she cannot move. The knife was also on her neck which already made a small bleeding cut. Tears pooled out on her eyes and started to wail loudly as if somebody died.

     Guoliang was shocked as well, but it was towards her wailing. He hasn’t done anything yet. He has heard many cried before, he was a warrior; his heart was hard as a steel. Yet, this woman’s cries even without saying anything seemed to render him guilty? Guilty of what?
“Woman! You should shut up or else I will slit your throat without any mercy!” he hissed.
Lanfen’s body began to tremble and wail as loud as ever. The birds that lived on her house flapped their way into the kitchen and were horrified when they saw the scene.

     “Wuwuwu! Mister, I have not done anything wrong! I heard your moans when you were in the cave where I keep my stocks for winter and decided to bring you home! I nursed you back to health and even closed my eyes when changing your clothes. I didn’t violate you in any way…” she slowed down as she remembered that, aiya!, she did violate him last night as she needed to kiss him to pass the fox essence from her to his body!
“Please spare this woman’s life. I only got here. I cannot die! Wuwuwu!” she begged.
Guoliang’s brows furrowed as he reluctantly released Lanfen. Upon release, the birds flew to her and melodiously chirped around her as if trying to comfort her.

     “ Wuwuwu! Jiju! Momo! I didn’t do anything wrong!” she continued wailing.

     “ Can you even shut up for a bit woman!” Guoliang irritatedly said.

     Finally Lanfen started to tone down a bit.
Guoliang noticed that the color of her eyes changed but still, she’s as alluring as she can be. Her tear- stricken eyes were big and innocent but with a bit of mischievousness in them, her cheeks were naturally pinkish and her thick lips were red as blood. She was his definition of beauty. But…

     “ I saw what you are. You are a fox. What are you doing here?” he asked putting the knife away and then leaning his back against the counter, watching Lanfen dry her tears with the sleeves of her Hanfu but still done with grace. She stared at Guoliang, her face still holds that expression as if she was greatly wronged.

     “ Yes, I am a fox. As to why I am here…” before she could complete her sentence the birds stated to attack Guoliang, their chirping sound to be angry. He just stood there unaffected by their attacks.

     “They are saying something right?” he asked as he closed his eyes.

     “ Ahm, yes.” Lanfen awkwardly answered.

     “What are they saying?” he asked once more as his dark eyes opened and stared at her. Lanfen blushed, even though this man assaulted her, she cannot deny the fact that he’s good-looking and she like him. The fact that he’s trying to converse with her, he must not really be a bad person. Right?

     She walked towards him making Guoliang try to step back was not able to due to the counter. Lanfen noticed this and-

     “ Please relax, I will not do anything bad.” She continued walking until she was close enough to holding his ear. After a while, she stepped back.

     Guoliang started to hear two high-pitched nasally voices. And guess what, it was coming out from the birds that were still attacking him.

     “ You ungrateful man! Ungrateful man! Lanfen saved you! Yet you hurt her!” the red bird chirped angrily as it attacked Guoliang.

“ She used her fox essence to dig you out of the grave yet you hurt her! She even likes you! Like y-auhm!” Lanfen grabbed the bird.
Fox essence? Guoliang’s brow furrowed further as he heard this. What fox essence are they talking about? He needs to get to know of it more.

“S-shut up Jiju!” she hurriedly shut him down. She was turning red as a tomato as embarrassment crept up to her face.
Momo the bluish feathered bird stopped attacking and flew to Lanfen.

“ Why stop us Lanfen? We are trying to serve you justice!” he chirped angrily. This moment, Lanfen released Jiju.

“ Can you please stop it? You are embarrassing me! Please go back to sleep, I’ll call you when breakfast is ready.” she said, her voice almost a whisper. She tried to steal a glance of Guoliang whom she discovered was watching their little farce.

Aiya! Lanfen! This is embarrassing ya! She internally screamed. She continued cooking. She threw the cabbages inside the boiling pot and threw in some onion leaves and pepper and salt. As she moved, she pretended as if no one was watching her though she could feel the coldness from someone on her back.
Guoliang noticed this as he still continues to follow her with his icy stares.

“ You still haven’t answered my question.” He said.

“Ahm, It’s really a long story.” She simply answered trying to conceal the sadness in her voice. Her eyes also expressed a hint of sadness in it. She bit her lower lip for a while but then reverted back to her old happy self. She smiled and then started to push Guoliang back to her room with all her strength.

“ Now, mister I didn’t know that you were really interested in me too. Don’t worry, as you heard from my companions Momo and Jiju, I like you too, so there’s no need to stare at my every move okay?” she said in a half- joking manner.

Guoliang’s face flushed red. This woman ya! Shameless! How could she interpret my stare and questions this way! In addition, he has never had a woman confess feelings towards him. Due to his bloody reputation, even woman were scared to approach him, to even look at him to be precise. He felt, honored? Happy? He cannot understand. Something inside him began to stir up. He let himself be pushed by Lanfen until they have reached the room.

“ Rest first!” Lanfen hurriedly said as she banged the door close.

Guoliang stared at the door. Should he torture her to get some answers? No. This woman saved him and was even able to capture his interest. Perhaps, he was too violent on today’s matter and try a more calmer approach. But how? He has never dealt with situation like this before. If his brother Guozi was here, maybe he could ask for help.  Aside from that, he needs to know more of that fox essence that the little bird mentioned earlier as it seems to be the root cause of his miraculous healing and recuperation. He needs to get his hands on that thing on whatever cost!

His eyes turned dark as he walked to towards the window, staring at the grey and white surroundings soon to turn red.

A/N: I'm very sorry for the very late updates. There's more to come so stay tuned! Happy reading!