The Dragon's Flower Vol 1-5

Vol 5 Chap 140

XH 140

A girl in her late teen was inside a badly kept prison cell, with only a thin white robe protecting her from the cold night. The guards were hardly sympathetic to the prisoner, much less one that tried to pin blame on their Empress for attempted murder.

Xin Ren does not know how long she had been in this cell, suffering torture in order to pry information out from her. She was proud to withstand it all to protect her true master's secrets and intended to bring it to her grave.

Her jaw was still dislocated and even if her prisoner suddenly grew a conscience and decided to heal it, it will still be deformed. They had taken away her only method to silent herself and now she had to suffer the long way to her death. Her torturers do not mind that she was unable to speak properly despite it will hinder their information gathering and from their filthy gazes; they enjoy inflicting pain on her.

Soon, the pain and hunger slowly broke her down and she hardly remembered much of what happened in between her moment of consciousness. But recently, her muddled mind was clearer and she noticed a guard would always force her to drink something every day. She could not remember how it tasted, but she knew it was the best thing she had ever tasted in her life.

When her mind was clearer, she realized that the water she drank every day was a tea given by the Empress. Not only that, the torture had stopped, allowing her body to slowly recover.

Doubts and questions circled around her mind at her currently favourable situation and luck must be shining on her for the answer came to her one night when she managed to eavesdrop on the guards' conversation.

"That girl is better already. Soon we will have one less person to torture," a guard lamented.

"Sshh! Don't speak of such matters!" Another guard hurriedly whispered in a cautious manner.

"Don't worry, who would come at this late hour other than rats? Our masters do not care if we torture the prisoners anyway. As long as they are alive, no one will bother."

The second guard sighed but did not refute his co-worker.

"I really want to have a taste of that tea," the third guard lamented wistfully.

"If I didn't see it, I won't believe it!" the first guard exclaimed excitedly. "Who would have thought the Third Prince would have such a miraculous tea!"

"But why would the Empress keep feeding that girl this precious tea?" The third guard was puzzled.

A loud smack followed by an 'ouch' entered Xin Ren's ears.

"Stop daydreaming or we won't save your ass again," the first guard scolded.

The second guard answered, "That girl will be sent to South Guilin Village tomorrow morning so she must not delay the journey."

"But we tortured her and she said nothing. There's no need to send her there, right?"

"Stupid! Our technique is way tamer than the techniques used in South Guilin! I have a friend there and he told me they always get to pry out information from even the most resilient prisoner. That girl will spill everything out soon."

Xin Ren's heart chilled and no longer paid any attention to their conversation. Her body trembled and for once not due to cold but fear. She had heard of South Guilin Village before and knew that place was built to guard the border between Guilin and Tang Guan Country. It would not be surprising that they would have seasoned interrogators at that place to deal with enemies.

She does not want to go there! She needs to escape!

...But how?

Xin Ren jumped when she heard a loud jingle of keys followed by heavy footsteps.