Hua Cheng could feel every single eye staring at him the moment he'd stepped forward, but since he was a king himself, and therefore used to having undivided attention on himself, it did nothing to intimidate him. Though, he could tell most of the glances were of course less than favourable.
"You? Shouldn't you know by now that you're too weak to win against even this guy?!", the overseer yelled angrily while pointing to some person Hua Cheng had never interacted with.
"Did I stutter?", Hua Cheng asked, voice dripping with a strange mix of authority and sarcasm that he hadn't quite managed to suppress.
In order to underline his point, Hua Cheng shifted his eyes back into their original colour, which was a glowing red. Since the slit in the mask was rather thin, it usually wouldn't do much to draw attention. However, Hua Cheng figured that a red glow seeping through the slit was more than enough to get his point across.
And indeed, the overseer had been about to yell something else, when he stopped, and looked at him almost frightened.
"... I'll relay the message to His Majesty. Everyone else: go to your positions and do your work", the overseer shouted, and stalked off towards the palace.
After a few minutes, Hua Cheng was the only one still standing in the plaza, apart from the two overseers of the two other blocks of guards. Both of them were staring at him, though Hua Cheng couldn't quite read the expression on their faces. It looked a bit like pity, if he wasn't completely wrong.
It took quite a long time before his overseer came back, a grim look on his face.
"His Majesty says he wishes to eat lunch first, and that he will come outside to duel you when he feels like it."
Hearing this, Hua Cheng couldn't help but laugh. He had expected something of the sort. After all, Jun Wu always wanted things done on his own terms, and no matter how small the advantage was, he always found a way to take it.
"Well, since this is going to be an honourable duel, I expect somebody to wake me up before he attacks", Hua Cheng replied, and sat himself down next to a pillar at the edge of the plaza. He settled in against it, and closed his eyes. If he had to wait until the old bastard managed to get his wrinkly ass up from his throne, he could spend the time sleeping just as well.
Of course Hua Cheng wasn't stupid enough to fall asleep completely, but he was indeed dozing until late afternoon, when he heard movement in the plaza. This one was different from the previous ones, where the overseers had built and inflamed the two pyres that were mandatory to be set up for the duel. So this time, he opened his eyes again, fully expecting the sight he was indeed seeing. Though, not before shifting them back into the black colour he usually had them in.
Jun Wu was in the process of walking down the steps, looking disgustingly serene as always. Hua Cheng didn't bother moving yet, knowing the man would only walk even slower if he knew he had someone's attention on him.
When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs, his overseer did indeed come over to Hua Cheng, and woke him up rather harshly, by screaming into his ear about being disrespectful. Hua Cheng simply shrugged him off, and sauntered towards the centre of the plaza as well, though of course he made sure to do so as slowly as he possibly could, just to annoy the asshole.
Jun Wu didn't let it show too much, but Hua Cheng could tell that the man was already annoyed with him. Good. Hua Cheng was annoyed that the former king of WuYong was still alive, too.
"If you dare to challenge the emperor to a duel, there's no need to conceal your face anymore", Hua Cheng's overseer said, and held a hand out to take the mask.
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The King's Mate - Part 2: Yaoshi
Fanfiction--- Arc 2/3 --- Hua Cheng had just left Guishi behind and was on the journey back home to his palace in Banyue. He'd already been excited to finally see his gege and their two children again, after having been separated for a few weeks because of hi...
