Capítulo 2: Chapter 2
"Your highness is wise," said an official as he bowed his head towards me. Looking at the rows of officials before me, I wondered how many of them are actually true to me. How many are just here for the fame rather than actually contributing to the nation? How many are just putting up an act to get my favor?
Since youth I have heard many of the same things. "Prince Yi, you a very talented," the officials would often tell me. "Truly one capable to lead our nation."
"Yi'er, remember that this world belongs to us" Imperial Mother reminded.
Everyone, old or young, has said I was special because I was the son birthed by the Empress. Everywhere I looked there was always someone spouting nonsense about how virtuous or clever I was. I may have been a child, but I was not oblivious to those words of lies. Since I was young I saw how people manipulated each other to climb up the ranks. I would hated to play this silly game too.
There was only one person that did not say those repeat those words to me. Her treatment to me in general was very much not like the others. Perhaps that was the reason why I was drawn to her. I can still remember my first encounter with her. It was rather a humorous memory that I have come to recurrently think about.
I was still a young boy, only seven years old at the time. I was tired of the eunuchs, tutors, and even mother. All of them were trying to groom me into someone that I did not understand. I was never out of their sight and my every action was controlled.
On one particular day, I managed to escape while the eunuchs were busy preparing my breakfast. I had heard that one of the generals had returned from a battle that morning and was going back home. I have never seen the world beyond the palace walls. Imperial Mother often told me that the world was ugly and not worth to lay eyes on. But I wanted to see it for myself and so I jumped inside one of the carriages as it was leaving the palace gates.
Unbeknownst to me, the carriage's destination was actually to the military camp. This had actually excited me because Imperial Mother recently hired a martial artist to train me. Perhaps around here I could test out some of my skills. I immediately got out once the carriage stopped by one of the tents. The soldiers seem to become busy upon seeing that their general had returned. This gave me a great advantage. I cautiously ran around and touched all the things that I can, swords, arrows, daggers, spears, and much more. After a while I notice that their training ground extended into the forest. Out of curiosity, I followed the trail in to see how it was like.
A few minutes then turned into a few hours, I was lost. I ran around trying to find a way back to the camp, but failed. My heart started to pound and my breathing increased, I was scared. "Hey, watch out!" someone suddenly called out. My body was then pushed down by something heavy and I heard a loud commotion. "You idiot! Why did you come out here? Don't you know that there are traps everywhere?" the same voice yelled.
I pushed the body off me and my eyes immediately saw something that was not there before. A wooden trap filled with spikes stood in midair, hanging onto strings of strong ropes. "Are you okay?" the voice called out. I looked around and finally saw a small boy wearing armor beside me.
"Who did you call an idiot?" I yelled. No one has ever dared to call me that before. Offending me would be the last thing anyone would want to do. "You're the idiot!" I then come to regret my loud voice when I noticed a few figures coming our way. The boy immediately pulled me up and hid me behind a bush with him.
We watched as soldiers came around and wondered who may have set off the trap. The boy's hand suddenly grabbed mine and started to pull me away silently. Once we were far enough, the boy calmed down. He introduced himself as Yu Zhen, son of the previous General Meng. When he asked what my name was I remained silent. "Are you angry because I called you an idiot?" he suddenly asked. I was stunned and slowly my anger started to emerge again.
"I'm sorry that I said that, but it was really dumb for you to come here alone. You can easily die here if you are not careful. So if you want to come next time you can come find me and I'll show you around."
"I'm not angry," I pouted as I slowly realize why she called me an idiot, even though I refused to fully admit it to myself. "My name…is a secret."
He instantly turned around and looked at me confused. Then a sudden smile appeared on his face making me a little uneasy. "If I tell you a secret, will you tell me your secret?" he asked. I don't know why, but I unconsciously nodded my head. "I'm actually a girl." My eyes widen and I didn't know what to say. "But you can't tell anyone, especially not my Grandfather, okay?" Again, I nodded my head.
Finally I told her my identity, but that didn't seem to create fear in her like other people. Instead she said, "Prince Shou Yi, please don't do something this stupid again." She pulled me all the way out of the forest and back onto the camp site.
Obviously, the only way to get back home was to tell the soldiers who I was. Due to my attire, they believed me right away. Since that day I have come to enjoy Yu Zhen's company. As a child she lets her opinions be known and that characteristic followed her to adulthood. Anytime I need to talk to someone it was always Yu Zhen, because she's the only one who would tell me the truth. To this day I have not spoken of her real gender to anyone and I don't want to, at least not yet.
I tap the armrest of my dragon throne pretending the listen to reports of these officials. But my mind is stuck on her return from this battle. "Zhen'er, come back soon…" I thought to myself.
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