The pillow felt different than those he'd used before, it was warm and the surface was b.u.mpy but smooth. Rubbing his face against it he suddenly heard a cough from above him.

"Mmm... I couldn't find anything for your head to rest on so I allowed it this time, but don't you think that doing that is going a little too far?" He didn't need to be able to see to know it was Kitsi's voice, and judging by the vibrations that travelled down as she spoke... this was her lap.

Trying to push himself up, he found he still had no strength in his body. "Don't try to move, I found that little poison you used on us in your carriage... consider it a little pay back for before."

"How long have I been out?" He asked.

"Since I found you falling off that wall, about 6 hours." She replied.

"And the serpent?" Zhao Wei's voice became urgent, if he'd been here too long, what if that thing had already exited and started wrecking everything.

"It hasn't destroyed the kingdom if that's what you're asking." Kitsi spoke.

"Oh that's good then." Zhao Wei sighed in relief.

"'Oh'? That's all you have to say for yourself?" Kitsi reprimanded, he was faced down and couldn't see her face in the dark, but he could feel her gaze burning a hole in the back of his head. 5 nails hovered above his wounded back, it wasn't hot but he started to sweat from his forehead. "You're wounded right now, but you owe me a gut punch after all this is over."

"Yes ma'am...sorry." The last part, his tone became sincere. It was nice to have friends like these.

"Hmph! Good that you know." She puffed her chest righteously.

"Kitsi..."

"Hmm?"

"I need to tell you something by you have to promise not to get angry." Zhao Wei nervously spoke, he would really love to s.h.i.+ft himself to face her if it weren't for the fact that he really couldn't move right now. Like it or not, having a serious conversation while having your face buried in a lap pillow by the other person was really hard to do.

"That depends on what you're going to say..." Kitsi didn't give in to his trap.

"We need to move soon..." Zhao Wei said, his voice faltering around the end.

"So you still haven't learnt your lesson?" Kitsi's voice sounded cheerfully annoyed, he could almost sense her checking if her nails were sharp enough. "Do you even think that you're in any condition to put up a fight. I've put some of our healing ointment on your back but that's just stopping you from bleeding out, it won't regenerate the flesh you lost, by the end of this you'll need to get st.i.tched up and I doubt they'll be able to salvage enough muscle for you to even stretch anymore."

"Well, I don't need to fight per se... I just need to get to a place." Zhao Wei said.

In the dark Kitsi curiously tilted her head.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Back at the princess's mansion, Jyaha lied on the floor perfectly still. He wasn't dead yet, but that didn't mean he could do anything either. His vitality as a gold cla.s.s barely kept him alive, but doing anything beyond that was already out of the question.

He could feel the vibrations going through the city. It was taking longer than he thought it would but that was fine, it would end up the same way in the end. Beyond feeling the physical pain from his injuries and a little sad for his lifetime home, he was completely calm, at least if all of it came down, he was to be buried with it.

A shadow loomed over him, he couldn't see the face as the sun s.h.i.+ned right above it. "So you get what you want?"

Jyaha was surprised, he knew that voice, just not sure from where.

"If anything, I'm guessing at the end of the day it's because of that incident with the commoner girl?" The voice asked, but according to the tone whoever it was already knew the answer.

Even if he wanted to answer, Jyaha couldn't with the his mouth mangled to the condition it was in right now As his eyes got used to the light, he began to be able to make out some features of the face.

He felt like he knew the person from somewhere, but couldn't quite make it out. The more time pa.s.sed the more desperate he was to find out who this person was. The features came one by one as his eyes adjusted but far too long to satisfy his urging curiosity.

When he could make out the whole thing, his eyes strained to open wide enough to contain his shock.

Why was it him!?