Love and betrayal

chapter one

An Chu Xia's Pov:

The violent rustling of leaves under my feet and  the sweet,musky scent of rain and wood told me how deep inside the forest I had ventured but there was no way that I would stop my quick strides considering the loud thudding of horses galloping followed by shouts of ruthless soldiers on my pursuit. Tiredness was beginning to take over as I no longer felt my legs . Not only my knees but also my body felt numb to the point that it was only a string of hope and the strength of my promise that gave me enough courage to move  forward. This would have been an easy task for me if not for those injuries on my strained body. My vision was just a blurred green and brown as I could feel some of my own red coloured blood fall down my back and my knees.I heaved a sigh of relief ,at least in my mind I did it, as I was panting when the last thing that I caught before I blacked out was the wooden building that I had been searching for...

Taiyu's Pov:

I heard some loud disturbing sounds that perturbed the quiet silence of  my loneliness and I instantly went on alert mode. I rushed to the spot in time to find something that left me completely dumbfounded. He was down on the humid forest floor,covered in blood as the neighing of horses neared and my heart sank at the state he was in.My blood boiled with fury and anger as I lifted him up and leaned him against a tree. I quickly climbed on a tree and waited in ambush with my bow and arrow that I had taken with me while I went fishing.As I waited for the horses and the riders,numerous questions were flooding in my head. What was he doing here? My mind was in a frenzy as I planned how I would cold bloodedly kill the one responsible for his condition.

All around reigned a terrible silence as the people descended from their horses and removed their swords. I easily recognised the royal mark of theYixing empire.Why was that grinning bastard's assassins doing here and how dared they cause harm to such an angelic creature?
Hell broke loose as I jumped in front of those supposedly trained assassin and enjoyed every moment as I slashed their body with my katana. No one touches him in such a harmful way. By the time I had finished cutting open the last person,my clothes were soaked in blood.

I usually do not kill in this way.

I always keep my cool.

Why am I acting so violently then?

Why do I feel like my small world just crumbled down?

How can this slender figure wreck my sheltered world so easily?

I'm going to go crazy at this rate!

I turned towards his unconscious figure and stripped out of my bloody clothes. There was no way that I'll let that disgusting blood touch him.I quickly made my way inside and removed his robe as I checked his injury. My heart nearly stopped beating as I saw the nasty injury he had. The black and greenish liquid coming out of his open wound made me rush through my things to find a remedy for the vicious poison. I recognise the lethal poison as a traditional poison used by the Shen Yi dynasty,his family. Why would someone from his own family try to kill him?I heated up the silvery dagger with a hot fire as I put some medecinal herbs to boil in some river water. I glanced back at his liveless body and wondered from where he had gotten such power in such a state to run through the whole forest till here.

He truly was someone worthy of admiration for being so strong.

I wrapped a cloth around my forehead to prevent the long bangs from coming on my face as I delicately worked his injury. I slowly removed the poison with the sharp blade. He broke into a cold sweat as I continued my work to save him. I secretly thanked my parents for having sent me to the Shen Yi palace when I was young to learn a bit about their medicinal secrets and also the fact that the young children in the royal family were a bit imune against poisons of all sorts. The process was pure torment but it helped. I let out the breath I was unconsciously holding as I finally cleared the wound and poured some medicine on it before bandaging it with some white cloth ,but not before putting medicinal leaves on the wound to prevent more bleeding. After that I took a small bowl with an almost flat surface to make him drink the potion I had made to help ease the pain and also to prevent the fever I was sure he would have.