-The first thing I will tell you is that apart from me, you should never be so direct and trusting-the man said-Doing so could very well mean you end up dead without even knowing who killed you.
Lovely, it seemed she had landed on a world that was anything but peaceful.
-I am named Aredil and Shen is our family name, but from today onwards you will always call just my name-With how direct she was, he was sure that while name calling was an extremely intimate thing in his society, it was not the same for her-
-Our family name?
She did not miss the connection. In fact, she was quite sure that waking up in his quarters could not be something irrelevant. She was many things, but not stupid and also, there was the whole rings and soulmates deal.
He remained outwardly calm but she could feel some kind of pressure in the air.
-Our family name-the pressure lessened- In front of everyone else we shall say each other´s names and never our titles-
Oh, she could feel the headache coming at the word title. Damn politics, she had dodged the bullet long enough but it seemed her carefree days were over.
-Fine, Aredil-
-Now, I am Lord Shen, the third son and prince of the Kirrian nation-
Oh hell no...
-Marshall of the Imperial Army of the Kirrian nation. All the soldiers and generals in this nation answer to me and above me, there is only their Majesties of the Imperial Family, which in turn are now your family too-
Mei would have laughed if the situation allowed it. But she really doubted that Aredil would appreciate her wicked sense of humor. Here she was, getting herself a real life, full blooded and smoking hot Prince but she was far from thinking about it as winning the lotery, more like having a hot potato in her hands.
-I am 26 years old this year and have been in the battlefields since I became 14. I started my cultivation at 3 years old-he detected she was more impressed about his achievements and experience and not on his titles which said a lot about her-And the body you are now inhabiting, used to be Lady Lan Mei, my fiancee who was going to become 20 this year and that I was about to release from the engagement tonight.
He reigned his expression when he said that. But Mei had not been in many battles and interrogations for nothing.
-There is regret in your voice. Did you love her?-
-No-
-Did she love you?-
His eyes seemed hard when she mentioned love. It seemed this was a man not easily moved by feelings.
-She said she did not. That she wanted to honor the engagement and become my wife in name only and she even offered to set me free in regards of who I wanted to take as a concubine, she offered her loyalty and she proved it-
The headache was real. Concubines and harems were messy affairs. But she would tackle that later on in the game.
-Why did you want to end the engagement then? It seems to me she would have taken those words seriously?-
-She was not able to cultivate, she could not defend herself and by being near me it would have been to put her life in danger, what happened tonight proved it-
His words were to the point but Mei felt he had given the issue much thought over the years and done what he thought was better for Lady Mei and her safety. He did not love her, but he did not want to see her getting hurt.
-How did she die?
To his credit, he did not falter although his voice became a tiny bit softer.
-We were attacked by shadow guards and while I tried to defend us both and our servants, one of the attackers disguised himself as one of my guards and managed to get near enough to make a qi blast that would have hurt me badly. She covered my back but the wound was too much for her weak body. My soldiers and I dispatched the hitmen and I tried to heal her but it did not work-
Mei decided to not push that matter more for now. She was certain her biggest concern now was how to impersonate this Lady Mei on a good enough way that she would not end up burnt at the stake or something unpleasant like that.
-The technique I tried to save her is called Soul Bonding and since it was performed in front of many witnesses, it now means to the public and to many spiritual leaders that we decided to honor the engagement-
-You mean we are married?-
-You have no talent at subtelty...
-Nope-she giggled-Sorry?
The corner of his lips twitched the tiniest bit. It was going to be hard dealing with this new Mei, that was sure.
-Do you have a problem with our marriage?-
-No-she smiled openly- Do you have a problem with it?-
Silence. She observed his every move but after a few moments, she realized that was pushing him a lot right now.
-You will have to learn some subtlety, at least to deal with other people. Specially those in your family and mine that were dead set against us marrying. Lady Mei was known as unable to cultivate or practice martial arts, but she was also a polished and highly virtuous woman of renowned talent in the arts-
Mei wanted to roll in bed and laugh at herself. She, who could not paint or play music to save her life landed on the body of a famous artist.
-I can learn some protocol, that much I can promise-she said- I do enjoy art and can appreciate it but unless this body kept the memory, I do not think I can replicate that-
-I expected as much-
Silence again. But before it turned akward, Mei tried to glean more information on other issue.
-When we were with The Being-
-A Celestial-
-Good, let´s call it a Celestial from now on-that designation seemed good enough, she did not subscribe to any particular religion but she sure believed in some kind of God, what had just transpired left her even more convinced- When we were with the Celestial, a certain soul restriction was mentioned. Does that have anything to do with cultivation?-
Aredil narrowed his eyes.
-I will test that right now if you allow it-he said.
-Just so you know where I stand, I was a soldier and would like to remain one to whatever capacity I can. I can see you admired Lady Mei and valued her talents but I can never be her nor play the virtuous wife-she sighed-And, I do not want to be blasphemous or anything but, about us being soulmates and married, I wish to go slowly about that. I am sorry but I am not the kind to fall in love at first sight or trust my entire life to another person blindly. You are cute, but I dont know you yet?
His eye was definitely twitching now. Mei knew she might come as annoying but she meant every single word of what she said.
-Let´s first test if your soul is able to cultivate-he kept his cool and extended his hands to her-Come here and hold my hands-
Mei´s heart did a thumb thumb thing when he said that. It was normal, the man was handsome, total eye candy and she had been celibate by force her whole life. Given other circumstances, she would have shamelesly offered to train their bodies on another way. She certainly was a novice on the practical side of sexy activities but novels, movies and porn where quite informative about the theoretical part. Gazing into his eyes, she realized her perverted thoughts might be too much for Aredil now so she stopped and moved to close the distance between them.
The moment she put her hands over his, she felt a good and comfortable sensation, like the one from before when he was healing her. His hands were a little roughened, he certainly did practice with the sword and who knew what other weapons.
-Close your eyes and try to breathe slowly-he said-
As soon as she did, his eyes closed too. She felt a current of some kind entering her body through their joined hands. It felt weird, to say the least, like suddenly you were able to feel the whole sensation of the blood running through your veins. Outside her body, she felt as if the air itself was vibrating.
-I am circulating a part of my energy through your body and when that energy reaches certain parts on it, our conciousness will enter the pocket space that our rings share.
-Ok...-she did thank all the martial arts novel she had read throughout her life as she managed to understand a bit of all the things he said. Still, she felt ignorant about the whole affair.
-Do not fight what comes now, let yourself go and keep holding my hands-
No sooner had he said that and Mei felt a part of herself dettach from the body that was sitting and holding hands with Aredil. Her eyes wide as saucers as she saw that she was floating while still holding hands with him. In the next moment, reality seemed to waver and she found they were inside some kind of garden clearing with a gigantic crystal pillar in the middle of the place surrounded by huge stones that reminded Mei of the monoliths she once saw in some ruins in the middle of the egiptian desert.
He seemed to be completely on command of the situation. Like he had been to many places like this before. And while she had toured the world and even gone to space, she felt kind of like a country bumpkin when faced with this development.
-The more you live, the more you learn, sure...
-Next, we will measure your soul potential and see if there was a soul restriction really holding you back-
-Wait, could I have come to this place without being able to cultivate?, and what is it you cultivate anyway-he kept his silence-I´m sorry, I know I am annoying you but I am ignorant of the whole thing, remember my world had no access to this...whatever energy...
-Qi. And yes, you could come into this place with my help. It was made easier because of our rings and the Soul bonding.
-Ok, qi, thanks. I promise I will learn and master it, just bear with me for now-
If what he had seen so far held true, she would become addicted to cultivation, all army people did, sometimes more than even martial practitioners..