While Paul was figuring out how to heal Madam Yang and reaching the third stage of cultivation, Fei Fei was locked up in confinement inside her clan.
Her meager cultivation was sealed away, to make it impossible for her to even attempt an escape.
Everything she had on her was taken away, even her clothes and underwear, which revealed her mark, making the matriarch even more furious with her if it was even possible.
However, what the matriarch didn't know was that this mark was the proof that Paul was alive.
When her mother told her that Paul was dead, she was devastated, but the moment her clothes were stripped and she saw the mark, she knew that he had survived.
And since that was the case, she knew that he would come for her sooner or later, and that gave her strength to hold on.
What's more, she heard that Paul managed to rip off the hunter's inter-spatial device, so there was a chance that he had her scale, in addition to items from the upper realms, which might help him in the future.
In addition to all her things, she had left him and her little sisters, which should make it a lot easier for him to navigate the realms.
Right now, she was lying in her bed, which was the only furniture left in her old room.
She could barely move after the beating she got from her clansmen.
Even her siblings slapped her, holding back only enough not to kill her.
After they were done with her, she was tossed into her old room and locked up with guards standing at the door at all times.
It took her a lot of time to drag her body to the bed and climb into it, to have some rest.
Unfortunately, this was not the end of her suffering, as all her family members came one after the other to mock and humiliate her.
She didn't even try to argue with them, because no matter what she said, they would not listen.
Now she was wondering if Paul had already reached the third stage and how her sisters were doing without her.
She was certain that they were all devastated after losing her, and she hoped that her letters helped them get over it.
The sound of the opening door brought her back from her thoughts.
With a lot of effort, she moved her head to see who it was this time.
It was her sister, the same one who had given her the crystal to contact her.
Fei Fei sighed inwardly, seeing her enter.
-You also came to mock me?
She asked quietly, since her face was still swollen and hurt like hell even days after the beating.
-No, I don't want to mock you.
Her sister answered.
-I'm worried, the guards told me that you haven't eaten anything since you were locked up in here.
She said, with genuine worry in her voice.
-It's hard to eat when you can barely open your mouth, and even harder when they drop your food to the floor and stomp on it before leaving.
Not to mention that I can barely move my body, so there is no way for me to even get the food.
Fei Fei said, without a shred of emotion in her voice.
She was sure that nobody really cared if she starved or not; they knew that she would not die of hunger any time soon, and she refused to be humiliated like this. If hunger was the price for maintaining even a shred of her dignity, then so be it.
-I'll deal with it, just promise me that you will eat the food you are sent. I know that it most likely won't be tasty, but starving yourself won't help anyone.
The younger dragon said.
-Don't bother, even if you say something, they will just do it behind your back, and I would not be surprised if it was another idea the matriarch came up with to humiliate and punish me even more.
-Why are you so stubborn? You can't win, you can't escape, and the clans will not exile you again.
There is no way for you to leave this room other than swear an oath, and you know it.
Her sister said, with a hint of desperation in her voice.
-Why do you care?
I thought you would be happy to see the disgrace punished and suffering.
Moreover, this is not the only way out for me.
Fei Fei answered, not caring enough to even look at her sister.
She was almost certain that this was another tactic to force her to swear an oath.
-So, what are you going to kill yourself?
Because this is the only other way out for you, unless you have a way to get your cultivation back.
-No, I won't kill myself.
Fei Fei smiled slightly.
-He will come for me, and I'll wait until he does.
-Have you gone insane?
You heard what the Hunter said.
He didn't hold back with the last attack. That man of yours is dead, and even if he somehow survived, he fell into the river, so he either drowned or was eaten by some creature.
There is no way that he could have survived.
Her sister said, in irritation.
-I'll believe that he is dead when I see his body.
Till then, there is no way I'll believe that, no matter what the hunter says he did or did not do.
-Fei Fei, can you be reasonable for once?
What body?
By now, even his bones are gone; there is no corpse to show you.
-So what, I'm just supposed to fall in line, take the oath, and marry some old fart I don't even know?
Fei Fei asked, looking at her sister for the first time since she entered, and it was not a kind look.
-What else can you do?
The only other options are to waste your life away in here or to kill yourself, if you can even do that.
-If that's the case, then I'll stay here; it's the better option if you ask me, and if the matriarch is thinking about forcing me to take the oath, then I'll find a way to kill myself before it happens.
Fei Fei said with determination that scared her sister.
Hearing her words, she was certain that Fei Fei was not bluffing.
-Did he mean so much to you?
Her sister asked, unable to understand Fei Fei's stubbornness.
-Yes, he did.
He was the first one to accept me as I was, not caring that I was not a virgin or if I was a dragon who was cursed and exiled by her clan.
Such things never mattered to him.
Fei Fei said while Paul's smiling face blinked in her memories, making her expression softer.
-Unfortunately, you all had to get involved and destroy the little bit of happiness I managed to find, and for what?
So that you can force me to marry some old fart dragon, because he has something you want?
-Sister, it's not like that.
The younger dragon tried to defend the family.
-Then what is it, because over the crystal, the matriarch said that the clans wanted to imprison me, hearing about what I was doing in the mortal realm.
But as soon as I was brought back, all I heard was an oath and a marriage to some bastard I don't even know.
Fei Fei's words made the younger sister speechless.
There was nothing she could have said when the truth was in the open.
She took a deep breath and sighed in defeat.
No matter what she said, she could not convince her sister to change her mind.
-I hope you will change your mind.
She finally said.
-Mother won't be patient forever, and if she has no use for you, she might decide to just kill you.
She tried to threaten her, but didn't expect it to work.
-Then let her kill me, and then explain it to Paul once he comes here.
I'll wish her luck from the afterlife.
This was not the answer Fei Fei's younger sister expected to hear.
-Do as you wish.
She said, turning to the door.
-Oh, and there was indeed a Draconia temple in the mortal realm, which turned to selling elves into slavery.
It was destroyed, and our people informed all the elves that there are no more temples and congregations left, and to not be deceived again.
She said before she left, and the door was closed behind her.
-At least you can do something right.
Fei Fei muttered before closing her eyes and returning to her thoughts.