The Last War

7. The Bad Husband

There was a tense atmosphere in the room. Everybody was afraid of Shen's annoyed temperament. But the lord had called back his calm and walked with slow, firm steps to a chair and sat down. Po didn't dare to ask and sat down on the floor.
Soothsayer and her grandnephew Ling stayed near to Shen, and nobody wanted to know why.
Xia looked at her father, but he only gave her a cold look.
"Could you start now?" he asked icily.
He was impatient and angry together. Xia didn't answer back and began with lowered face.
"I can only say what she told me," she said quietly. "It wasn't easy for her to confess what had happened."
It sounded like an apology, but Shen didn't answer.
She sighed. "Many, many years ago, before my birth, my mother had been the princess of Jingang."
"Jingang?" Po looked at her in surprise. "That's one of the richest parts in whole China. She is really a princess?"
Xia looked at Shen, who had stood up.
"You must be kidding!" he growled. "She never told me!"
"Shen, please," the old goat said. "Calm down."
The white lord sat down again. The soothsayer nodded at her and Xia tried another start.
"Well, she was a princess, but I will explain it. Her parents were very severe with her. She had to be their beautiful daughter. Always being polite and quiet. That was her life. When she was old enough, she heard, that she had to marry a man, who she didn't love."
She stopped a brief moment.
"One day, she ran away. She wanted to flee far away. On her run, she became lost in a snow storm, until she met you."
Shen made a skeptically look, as if he wanted to say: Do you want me to believe that?
Xia rubbed her wings together nervously. "Well, after you and mother met..."
"We don't need more details," Shen cut her word. "I know the rest. I don't need strange interpretations."
Xia sighed, but she kept her courage of speaking.
"Well, she said, after you and she made a walk outside, she saw the soldiers of her parent's palace in the distance. She was afraid they could find her with you together. She didn't want to bring you in trouble."
"That sounds like a bad joke," Shen said disdainfully. "I can take care of myself very well."
"Maybe she couldn't stand it that they could kill you."
"And what happened after that?" Po asked quickly before Shen would say a next hard argument.
"Well, she saw no other chance than to show them up. The palace soldiers caught her and took her back home. In palace, she tried to find a way out, but their parents decided to dispose of her in marriage with a peacock from the other end of china immediately. His name was Xiang. Shortly after her homecoming, she was transported to the town. She always said, she never wanted to marry him. But they forced her to enter into matrimony."
"A forced wedding?" Po was shocked. "That's awful."
"That's impossible!" Shen screamed.
Po raised his paws in disgust. "What's impossible again?"
"Don't call me a fool!" The lord walked ahead and looked daggers at Xia with his eyes. "How should she have borne you? An illegitimate child is always a disgrace and carries always the death penalty. I know the law of the royals. By the way, how should I know and who gives me a guarantee that you aren't the daughter of him?"
The girl started to tremble. Po took her aside and looked at Shen reproachfully.
"Let her finish, alright?"
Shen snorted. "Don't go too far!"
The old goat cleaned her throat and both men kept silent for a moment.
"She was pregnant. Indeed," Xia admitted. "But she managed that she could lie to Xiang that we would be his own children. And we grew up as his own children."
"Nice!" Shen hurled his long robe over the floor. "In this case everything is okay for her." It was a very, very sarcastic tone. "A county, a palace, children by whomever, what more does she need?"
"But she never loved him!" Xia said quickly.
"Don't tell me a lie!" Shen became angry again.
"That's true!" Xia ran over to him and touched his wing, but Shen pushed her away.
"He oppresses her every day."
Shen shrugged his shoulders with indifference. "Her loss."
"But I'm sure, she has still feelings for you."
"That doesn't explain that she told me a LIE!"
Po winced and stumbled backwards. Shen was distracted by the panda's ineptitude and became calmer a little bit. His voice changed to a light whisper. "Everything was and is a lie."
With that, he turned around and crossed his wings.
Not a sound was to be heard, until Xia walked one step ahead.
"Believe it or not, she's unhappy with him. He always says, that he can do with her what he wants. She would be his own. I never saw her smile. She is always by his side to make him look better."
Shen didn't reply and stared through the window. It seemed he didn't want to say something more.
Po swallowed heavily. "Uhm, uhm."
His eyes were focused on the lord, just to be sure, that it was allowed that he said a word. But Shen didn't forbid his try of communication and Po continued.
"Uhm, since when do you know, that Shen is, uhm, maybe, your possible father?"
"A half year or so ago," Xia answered. "It was a few days after the big battle in Gongmen City. People talked about a warrior who defeated a white peacock who wanted to conquer China. I also heard about it. But after that, my mother broke down. I remember she retired into the loneliest part of the palace and cried."