In the next day, Ai Lie woke up in the morning preparing for her main schedule that will be held in a full week start from today. This is new to her, and she feels very excited. She finally wore her new jogger pants that she borrowed to Xin Suan yesterday, because she feels it's more comfortable to wear trousers for physical training instead of skirt. She didn't skip her duty, after her breakfast she helped Jiu Lan and the other maids to clean the whole manor. Now, she is ready for her practice.
"Are you ready?", Yin Ling asks her in a cold voice.
"Yes, sir!", But she replied him in full of excitement.
"Huft... Follow me. We go to the Yang Pavilion first. I'll ask Mr. Liu to help you choosing your sword."
"Oh, okay!", she had no idea who that is.
They both entered the weaponry room. There's an old man that his eyes is covered with bandages. His grey long hair that half tied is a bit messy. He is cleaning the glass display with duster.
"Mr. Liu, this human is the new Sword Maiden. Can you get her a sword that is similar to the sword that used for the performance?"
"...", That old man didn't reply anything. He grabs some thin silver swords, checking each of them carefully. It seems he is measuring the weight of each swords. Then, after he found one, he handed over to Yin Ling without saying a word.
"Thank you, Mr. Liu. C'mon, Ai Lie, let's go."
"A-ah, thank you, sir!", Ai Lie bowed to the old man. But the old man didn't reply anything, he only waved his hand.
"Who is he, General?", Ai Lie whispers to Yin Ling.
"Ah, he is good at weapons. He is in charge of taking care of them."
"Ah I see... Then why didn't he say a word?"
"He's mute. He can't speak."
"WHAT!?"
"His tongue was cut. I guess he did a serious mistake when he was a human that made him punished that way. In result, he was reborn without his tongue."
"No way!! That's so scary!! Why would they punish him brutally like that? Locking him in a jail is enough already... How can they show no mercy towards their own kind?"
Suddenly, the terrifying moment where Xin Suan brutally killed the fire ghost until he became a meat slurry pops in Yin Ling's mind. Xin Suan's cruelty gives him chill. All of that because of the little child walking behind him. He tried his best to change his focus inside his mind.
"Where will we go, General?"
"I dunno, I'll search an empty lot in the wood. By the way, it feels so weird if you call me 'General'. Just call me by my name, you aren't my underling anyway."
"Oh okay, I'll call you Ge Ge instead, it's more polite."
"... Whatever."
They went out from the front gate. Ai Lie saw some ghosts wearing demon shape masks that were walking the around the manor. They were greeting Yin Ling, it seems they are some guards. They went down the stairs, to the rocky road at the end of the stair. They walked along that road, and after that, Yin Ling took a mouse path leading towards the forest near the manor. This manor is in a mountain, their path gets more an more uphill. Ai Lie begin to feel exhausted. She took a short pause before continuing her way.
"What's wrong? Feeling tired already?"
"Hosh.. Hosh... Sorry, my legs feel a bit hurt. I'll be fine soon."
"Want some ride?", Yin Ling offers his back.
"Eh!?", She feels hesitate to accept his offering.
"Don't worry, there is no His Majesty here. Come, we still have to searching around. I don't want you to be tired before our practice begin."
"O-okay... Excuse me..", she curled her hands on Yin Ling's neck. Yin Ling lifts her small and light body on his back. He can feels how sweaty Ai Lie is.
"This is still the beginning, Ai Lie. You need to train your stamina more."
"O-okay! I'm sorry... And thank you, Ge Ge..."
"Hmph.", Yin Ling feels a bit flustered.
After wandering around inside the forest, Yin Ling finally find an empty spot that fits for their training. He still carried Ai Lie's on his back.
"I guess this place will do."
"Oh okay! I'll walk by myself from here, thank you Ge Ge."
Yin Ling puts her down slowly, "Are you okay now? Still feeling tired?"
"I'm fine. Thank you for your attention, Ge Ge.", She smiles widely.
"Ugh... Stop saying thank you.. I didn't do anything worthy. Now, are you ready? We will begin soon as you are ready."
"I'm ready! Hehehe."
"You sure?"
"Yeah!"
"Fine. Take this.", He summons and hands over the sword that Mr. Liu chose for her.
"Excuse me..."
"First. I need to teach you how to properly hold a sword. Look at me.", He pulls his sword from his waist, "Here, like this. Your turn."
"Hmm... Like this?", She tried to follow his hand.
"No... Your grip is too weak. We are not going to cut fruits here. It should be like this.", He corrects Ai Lie grip's posture.
"Like this. Give your hand more power.", He holds Ai Lie's grip tightly.
'It hurts!!', Ai Lie's screaming in silent. His grip is too strong for her small hand.
"Huft... Whatever. Next, is the movement. When you swing your sword, you should swing it like you want to cut a rock. Like this.", He swings his sword powerfully with one hand a few times, "Give more power to your arm. Your turn."
'Badump!', her heart beating faster. It's her first time to swing a sword. She fears if she makes a mistake, Yin Ling will scolds her with his mental-breaking words.
"Hyah!", she swings it in some random moves.
"No! That's not it! Your movements are too messy, and your power is too weak!"
He holds her hand once more, "It should be like this.", He moves both of their hands powerfully.
"Ow! My arm, it hurts!", Yin Ling movement's power is too great for her frail arm.
"Haa... You are hopeless... Now I understand why His Majesty prohibited you to be the Sword Maiden..."
"I'm sorry... I'll try harder!"
Yin Ling teached every basic movement that is similar to the ones that are used in the sword dance. But Yin Ling is too powerful and fast, Ai Lie's hands and arms begin to aching. Instead of reducing his pace of teaching, he 'motivated' Ai Lie with his 'motivating' words.
'Clang!', Ai Lie lost her grip from the sword. She and her new weapon, they both fell to the ground, "Ow!!".
"Oh my... You are so hopeless! Get up!"
"P-please be easy on me, Ge Ge... I'm not good at physical activities..."
"You... Ah... You are so weak. Are you sure you are going to be the Sword Maiden? You better give up now..."
"N-no, please, let me try once more!"
"Fine. Be better!"
Ai Lie tried her best to move her small arms forcefully. She puts a lot of effort at every of the swing, but in Yin Ling's eyes, she still doing it with full of mistakes and no power at all. Yin Ling begin to lose his patience.
"Ah!", She fell to the ground once more. Her body is aching.
"Yup. That's it. I quit. I have never trained someone as suck as you before."
"I-I'm so sorry...", Her voice is trembling. She feels sad, her heart keeps breaking everytime Yin Ling opens his mouth. She tried her best not to cry.
Feeling guilty, Yin Ling finally stops his sharp tongue, "Alright... Take it easy, let's get some rest.", He sits beside her.
"...", Ai Lie can't reply a word. She stares at the grass on the ground. Her body feels tired, there are some scratches on her left elbow. Yin Ling is staring at her wound.
"Is this hurt?", He grabs Ai Lie's arm.
"It's fine... Don't worry."
"Hmm. Let me try to heal this."
"... Ge Ge can heal wounds?"
"I've ever learn the spell with Lord Water back then. I dunno if I still can do it or not."
He raised one of his hand above her wound and started to cast a spell. A blue light emits from his palm, she feels something cold breezing her skin. In an instant, her scratches gone, like it never been wounded in the first place.
"Wow... That's so cool... This spell is so effective for weaklings like me... I wish I could learn a thing or two.", She has no energy to show her excitement.
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry for calling you weak and hopeless. My bad mouth keeps saying anything it wants.", He strokes her head powerfully. Ai Lie doesn't feel comfortable.
"You were right though. Even I can agree with your words...", She is still upset towards Yin Ling's words.
"I'm sorry for ruining your mood. We can continue this tomorrow. Go on take a rest. Come.", He offers his back once again.
"No, thanks... I'll walk by myself.", She tried to stand up but her body is aching so she fell once again to the ground.
"Don't be stubborn! If anything ever happened to you, His Majesty will definitely chop my head. Come!"
"... Excuse me, then." , She curled her arms on Yin Ling's neck.
"Hup! Let's go.", He lifts her small body on his back.
Because the heat of the sun is burning her skin, and she has lost so many energy, tired both mentally and physically, she fell asleep on his back. Her body is hurting a lot, she fell for so many times, she swung the sword forcefully in random directions, and her belly starts to cramps because of her 'injury'. She hasn't even learn the dance yet, but she's already totally exhausted.
"Ai Lie, tomorrow we will walk there by our feet again. I know we can use teleport but I want you to train your stamina too. So be prepare."
"..."
"Hey, Ai Lie! Are you listening to-", He turns his head and finds Ai Lie is sleeping on his back.
"This brat... He is spoiling her to much!"
Yin Ling's on his way back to the manor, he travels on foot. He keeps carrying Ai Lie on his back as he scans their surrounding, he had a feeling that there will be enemies lurking in the middle of the wood waiting to attack them.
'Whoosh!', Something moves in high speed trying to reach Yin Ling's back head. He immediately summons a barrier. It was an arrow, blocked by his invisible barrier. His fear became true, someone tried to attack them.
"Who's there!?", His purple eyes are glowing.
'Clap clap clap!', Sounds of applause coming out from nowhere.
"Nice move.", It was Xin Suan.
"Grrr!!! I thought it was an enemy!!! What did you do here!?", His barrier vanished away.
"How is it going?", Xin Suan grins mischievously, as if he already know what was happened.
"Look!!", He shows his back, "This girl hasn't even learn anything yet and she's already just like this!! It's hopeless!"
"Now you know why I actually rejected her right?"
"Yeah, you can keep blaming me, but you finally agreed to her!! Now what should we do!? Lord Water will only train her the dance, but until right now she's still not used to swords. We only have one week and we already spent the first day without result!"
"I dunno. Keep going, you can do it.", Xin Suan teased him.
"GRRRR!!! YOU ASSHOLE!! YOU PUT A HEAVY DUTY ON ME!!", Yin Ling shouts loudly.
"Hmm..?", Ai Lie's almost regain her consciousness back because of him.
"Shhh! Lower your voice! Let her sleep.", Xin Suan raised his hand and put a sleep spell on her, and of course, Ai Lie's back on her sleep.
"Alright, alright. I was just joking. Let me try to teach her. You're suck as a teacher."
"WHAT!? I ALREADY PUT ALL OF MY BEST EFFORT TO TEACH THIS BRAT AND YOU SAID I'M SUCK!?"
"Shhh!!! I said keep it quiet! Now look at you, you are very rude. Of course, without her mood, she will start to feel tired faster."
"Then, if you are willing to teach her... Why the HELL were you asking for my help??"
"I was just testing you. Hahahahaha!", He smirks evily.
"....You piece of trash. Really, if only you weren't the king...", His face darkened.
"You will cut me to pieces, right? Okay, let's have a duel someday. Now, give her to me."
"Here! Take back your little princess with you!!", He shows his back, as Xin Suan taking away her little body.
"I quit, and here, take this sword with you. It's hers. And don't forget tomorrow you should train her very weak stamina. Goodbye, YOUR MAJESTY.", He emphasized the end of his sentence as he vanished within air.
"Ha... Look at him. His temper is really fragile. Now, what should I do with you?", Ai Lie's still sleeping on his arms.
Xin Suan staring at her sleeping face. She is sweaty and her hair is messy. Her cheek is red, not because she is blushing, because her body is burning by the heat of the sun. Her white T-Shirt that she usually worn everyday and her new jogger pants are now dirty.
"Hmm... You? Become the Sword Maiden? I wonder what will happen..."
"Hmm..?", She starts to open her eyes.
"Oh, you are awake already? That's quick."
"Who is that...?", Her eyes can't see clearly because the sun shines too bright, "Ohhh! Your Majesty!!", She immediately gain her consciousness back.
"U-uh, you can put me down, Your Majesty! I'm really fine right now."
"I want to carry you first. Tell me, how is your first day?"
"Ahahahaha... Of course, as we expected, a total failure. I made Ge Ge Yin Ling angry...", She chuckles.
"Ge Ge? Why are you calling him Ge Ge? First Hei She, and now Yin Ling..."
"Ah.. they don't seem to be comfortable if I called their names with formalities... so to make it more friendly, I called them Ge Ge instead."
"What about me? Why are you still calling me 'Your Majesty'?", He lowers his face closer to Ai Lie's.
"N-no!! I can't do that!! It's improper...", Her cheek is now blushing red because of embarrasment.
"Me too, I don't feel comfortable if you keep calling me 'Your Majesty'! Call me Ge Ge!"
"What is that?? Are you jealous of them, Your Majesty? Hahahaha", She laughs hearing his childish words.
He landed his lips to hers, "Call me Ge Ge too."
"W-W-WHA-", She is surprised.
He landed his lips once again, "Call me Ge Ge."
"Y-YOUR MAJEST-"
He kept repeating his actions, "I said Ge Ge."
"A-alright alrightt!!", She shuts her eyes tightly.
"Phew...", She exhales a long breath, "G-G-G-Ge....", Xin Suan is patiently waiting for her to finished her words with a full smile.
"G-G-G... Your Majesty...", She can't do that. She doesn't know why she feels so awkward to call him Ge Ge. And now his smile fading away in a second.
"What the hell is that?"
"I can't!! You have the highest rank here... Of course it's improper for me... Please, Your Maje-", She starts to open her eyes.
He lands his lips to hers a few times, "I will keep doing this unless you call me Ge Ge."
"No-", He attacks her lips.
"Sto-", He keeps attacking her lips.
'Seriously!? This man is crazy and childish!!!', She shouts in silent.
"You-", He keeps doing the same action.
Finally, Ai Lie puts her palms towards his lips to stop his attack, "Fine, fine!!!"
She shuts her eyes and scream, "Ge Ge!! Ge Ge Xin Suan!! Here, are you happy now!?", She puts her palms to cover her face.
"Hahahahahaha! You really are cute!!", He laughs so hard.
"P-put me down!!!", She kicks his arms downward. She wished she could die by embarrasment.
Xin Suan finally puts her feet to the ground. Ai Lie still covers her face with her hands. It's obvious that her face is burning red.
"Let me take a look of you.", He pulls both of her arms away.
"Noo!! Stop!!", she still wants to hide her face away. She feels like she is being exposed, so she shuts her eyes.
"Your face is really red like a tomato.", he pinches her cheek softly.
"Stop teasing me...", She pulls a long face and finally open her eyes.
"Okay, okay, sorry. I got carried away... It's always fun to tease you though. Hahaha.", He hugs her and strokes her head. She immediately curled her hand to his waist and pressed her face towards his lower chest to hide her tomato face away.
"You are unbelievable...", she throws a soft punch on his firm stomach. A part of her feels happy because of those kisses, but the other part feels upset.
"Tomorrow, I'm the one who will teach you."
"Eh? Why? Is he really that angry to me?", she raised her head.
"Nope. It's should be me who teach you anyway. He is suck as a tutor. Better for him to quit this job."
"Ah... I see. But, Your Majesty, I'm also suck as a pupil.. Are you sure you can handle me?"
"Of course I can. And also...", He throws a soft kiss on her lips, "I told you not to call me Your Majesty anymore, right? I will keep doing it if you continue to call me that way."
"Y-your Majesty!? You really mean it?? I thought you were jok-"
He landed another attack, "Yeah, I really mean it. If you want to end this, just call me Ge Ge."
"...", she is blushing red. Deep in her heart ask for something more intense. But she is too shy to admit her true feeling. She took a short pause with a long face.
"What's wrong?", Xin Suan noticed something wrong, "A-are you angry to me?", It seems he really scared of making her mood ruined.
"No, Your Majesty... I'm not angry."
"Phew, thank goodness."
"Wait, I thought you said you were going to continue your improper actions if I called you 'Your Majesty'."
"Ah, right. Why would you remind me anyway?", He throws another kiss.
Of course, she reminded him because she actually wants it. Her heart beats faster everytime he presses his lips to hers. But she isn't satisfy with the way he kiss her. She wants something more.
"Y-Your Majesty..."
When he landed his cold lips to hers, she opened her mouth a bit wider. She coded him to do something more. He noticed that.
"Hmm? What is this...?" , He smirks michievously, "You want more, huh?"
"...", She didn't dare to open her eyes. She is actually really wants to die by embarrasment right now, but so what? She has her own ego, some part of her wants to fulfill her selfishness.
"Hehehehe how cute... Fine, I will gladly grant your wish."
He lowers his head and here comes another intense battle of tongues. He pressed her body tightly to his own, until he can felt her soft buns are printed on his lower chest. The more he concentrated with those soft buns, the more his another unsual reaction being triggered. He tried so hard, resisting the temptation of touching anywhere he is prohibited to. But he just pressed her back more everytime he tried to resist his secret desire.
"Your Majesty... I guess something is poking me.", Ai Lie took a short break because she feels disturbed.
"... Just ignore it.", His ears are red. He couldn't tell her the truth or else he will get a hard slap on his cheek and she will title him the pervert.
"But-"
He landed his lips before she could ever continue her words. Ai Lie is just a pure naive girl that never been close to boys, so she thought it was a part of his belt that poking her. She just let the wave flows, and surrender to Xin Suan's lead. The two continued their brawl for a long time until the sun is almost set, and finally they deciced to end the battle of kiss.
"Oops... We are overtime. Hehehe.", She feels happy, her ego is finally satisfied. She is still curling her arms to Xin Suan's waist.
"So what? It's worth it."
"Your Majesty... How many women have you ever treated this way?", She bluntly ask the question that has been haunting her mind in this past few days.
"What the hell? Of course it's only you.", He flinched his eyebrows a bit.
"What!? Really!?", She widened her eyes, couldn't believe what he said.
"Of course! Isn't that obvious? Why would I share my lips with other women that I don't like?"
"H-HUH!?", Ai Lie is flustered. She couldn't believe Xin Suan was admitting that he likes her, and only her.
"Why are you staring at me like that? I'm not a womanizer, you know! And not a pervert too!"
"E-eh... Of course, you are not...", A part of her heart couldn't believe his words. She knows he has an ex-lover that her robe was being displayed at the weaponry room. But she didn't dare to ask him a question about his past.
"Wanna go back? It's time for you to take a rest. You have to sleep earlier.", He released his embrace.
"Hmm. Okay!", She nodded a few times.
"Okay, let's go. Take my hand.", He offers his cold hand. The two teleported back to the manor in a second.