A sharp, desperate gasp for air announced Li Ban's arrival into the Immortal Realm. The Crown Princess coughed and spluttered as she emerged from the icy water, her fingers digging into the mud of the river bank as she clawed her way out and onto shore.

  Her stomach heaved and more water escaped, her nose burning as she almost collapsed. Her long, dark chestnut hair stuck to the sides of her face, her hair pins and combs having been dragged down by gravity. The chilly wind cut through her, her whole body felt like it was about to freeze in place and all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball, but the faint sound of soldiers voices in the distance was all it took for her to find what little strength she had left, get to her feet and run.

  It wasn't easy, her silk robes were heavy, even heavier when they were soaked with water, but she told herself that the more she ran the warmer she would become and the further she would be able to go.

  It was already approaching winter, the forest where Purifying Lake was located was nothing but bare trees - it wouldn't take more than five minutes for the Moon River clan soldiers to find her if she stopped - and so she kept going, somehow finding the will after what felt like a lifetime of not moving.

  The taste of blood slowly became stronger the further she went, her throat was beginning to get raw, but she pushed on. Li Ban didn't have the first clue what direction she was running in, but it didn't matter. The forest was big, it was inhabited by wolves and wild cats, but the prospect of being hunted down by any of those beasts was far more favourable than her fate if she was to be caught by her own people.

  She didn't want to be married off. She didn't want to become part of the Heavenly Mountain clan - they despised her people and she knew she wouldn't last five minutes in their palace married to some useless fourth prince who would never become king.

  Li Ban had ambitions, she fully supported her clan's mission of taking the Heavenly Mountain clan down a peg and sharing the responsibility of governing the Immortal Realm between all clans. She wanted to travel and garner support from smaller clans, many of whom had no choice but to submit to whatever those assholes in power wanted. They always painted themselves the noble hero, and for the life of her she couldn't understand why the other major clans bought into it and looked up to them with such sincere admiration.

  Someone from the Heavenly Mountain clan couldn't possibly do something immoral - they stood for peace, justice and equality for all. But someone from the Moon River clan who questioned the true intentions behind those in power? Well, they were troublemakers, everyone knew you couldn't trust a member of that clan - the clan who only wanted to destroy the nobles who had the Divine Right and defy The Universe itself.

  As she approached a hill, a shadow suddenly appeared from overhead and upon looking up, she whirled around on her heel, darting away from the soldiers in grey, golden chrysanthemum flowers embroidered across their chests marking them as Royal Guards from the Moon River clan.

  She only made it to the other side of what she belatedly discovered was a large, circular shallow pit where the exit was also the entrance, and it was already blocked off by more men in grey with large swords at their hips. Li Ban was surrounded, and a dreadful sinking hopelessness buried its way deep inside her chest.

  "I'm not going!" she yelled, her voice much stronger and clearer than she imagined it would be. "So you can all go home!"

  "The Royal Guard must protect the princess!" chorused the soldiers, dropping to one knee.

  Li Ban's body hunched over as the wind chilled her to the bone, her limbs shivering uncontrollably as she remained in place. They weren't going to hurt her, but they weren't going to let her leave, either. She wasn't going to get ahead of herself, there was no way she was getting out of there by force, but perhaps they could be bargained with? The Royal Guard had to defer to the Royal Family, after all.

  "Are you really going to defy the orders of a member of the Royal Family?" she managed to yell, her voice hoarse. "Are you really willing to die just to bring me back?"

  "Yes, Crown Princess!"

  "Fine, then. How many of you have families? Wives, parents and children who rely on you? Are you still willing to defy me?"

  "Yes, Crown Princess!"

  "If you bring me back, I won't have you killed." Li Ban rasped, shaking her head of wet hair with bitterness imbued into her expression. "No... you can watch your loved ones die instead. Are you still willing to defy me?"

  Silence.

  The sound of the wind was deafening against her ears, dried leaves scattering and scraping against the forest floor as they all pondered in the quiet.

  "The Crown Princess is not so cruel."

  Li Ban's head snapped in the direction she heard the rouge voice daring to speak out come from, and a familiar warmth washed over her as she realised it was her elder cousin, standing above her in his grand robes. His chestnut hair flowed down his back in straight tresses, a simple platinum headband on his head. He had well defined cheekbones with warm brown, doe-like eyes and lips that were always resting in a slight smile.

  Relief?

  Resignation?

  She wasn't sure which it was.

  "I do not believe the Crown Princess is so cruel." he reiterated.

  Li Ban's expression softened slightly. She could fool everyone else, but not him, not Tai. They had grown up together, he being four years her elder, and knew everything there was to know about her. He was someone she respected and trusted above all else.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  And he was right.

  So she looked away, her body shivering more violently as a cool wind blew through the trees.

  "What are you all doing?! Get a blanket for the Crown Princess immediately!" Tai ordered.

  "We pulled her out of the water."

  "...No..."

  "...but we presume he didn't make it."

  "He's... look her over..."

  "He said he doesn't want... the Marble Harp."

  Li Ban's ears caught wind of the flowing conversation on the other side of the screen, rousing her from her sleep. Marble Harp? The water? Someone didn't make it? Who?

  Wait.

  Li Ban sat bolt upright, panic overtaking her as she scrambled to get to her feet, her knees giving way and sending her crashing to the floor, a cold sweat and shiver engulfing her body as she got to her feet, flinging back the screen as she did so and alarming the two men on the other side, her father's aide - a middle aged bald man with thick framed glasses and well-groomed eyebrows, and her cousin Tai.

  "What's going on, Tai?"

  Her elder cousin placed his hands on his knees and gave her a warm smile as an attendant rushed to her side with an extra-thick shawl to drape over her shoulders.

  "Aide Fang dropped by to ask about everything that transpired these past few days." he began. "I told him about how we rescued you from the water when you fell into Purifying Lake, our search efforts took several hours but we found you. Unfortunately we haven't been able to yet locate His Lordship, but at this point we... may have to presume that he either fled the scene not long after you fell in or... perhaps we may have to regrettably assume he did not make it if he entered the water, too."

  Li Ban paused, taking in the information her cousin was sharing with her and then slowly nodded, looking to her father's aide who simply gave her a sympathetic smile.

  Ah

  It was all damage control from here on out.

  "Lu will also be visiting soon, to check you over and make sure you're all right."

  "Lu?" she repeated, the name sounding familiar for some reason. "Okay."

  "I shall take my leave then." Aide Fang announced. "You two ought to have lunch, as should I."

  "Why don't you join us?" Tai suggested, standing up as the aide did.

  "That's kind of you, but no - I must get back to the inner palace and relay the information to your uncle. Ah! Before I forget," he said, reaching inside the sleeve of his leine and producing two small wooden boxes wrapped in a linen cloth, "some garlic butter from the royal kitchen, and rose flummery for Her Highness."

  "Thank you kindly." Tai replied, receiving the food and sending off the aide before turning back to Li Ban. "You need to rest."

  "I can't." she shook her head. "I need to know what happened to His Lordship."

  "Must you be so formal when you talk about him?"

  "Tell me the truth, Tai, please." she said, taking a seat on the wicker sofa, one of three arranged in a U shape in the crannog on the lake where she was brought.

  "We couldn't find him." he said simply. "We found his shoes and seal by the shore so we're sure he went in after you, one or two soldiers swore on their families that they saw him, too."

  "Why did you lie about what happened?"

  "Because it's better to make it sound like an accident that you have to recover from than your silly attempt at an escape." Tai laughed, calling for a staff member to serve the flummery on proper dishes. "Don't you think? Your father would have kittens if he knew what you were really thinking."

  "He knows I don't want to marry that useless prince."

  "Nor does he want to marry you off, but for the sake of peace in this realm it's what must be done."

  "Why does the Heavenly Mountain Clan get the final say over everything anyway?" she argued. "Why does everyone else support them being the ones who have jurisdiction over all of us? What gives them the right?"

  "The Universe." Tai said. "The Universe gave them the right."

  "The Universe is wrong." she replied and Tai's eyes grew wide.

  "That is bold, Li Ban." he warned her. "None of us agree with how things are but we can't go against the Universe."

  "Who is going against the Universe?" a deep but soft voice asked, and Tai rose to his feet once more.

  "Lu!" he smiled and Li Ban rose, too, to greet him, but stopped short of doing so because couldn't take her eyes off him, making her cousin laugh.

  "It can't be your first time seeing such a handsome face." Tai teased, but it didn't seem like she heard anything he just said for she was still staring at the man in front of them.

  "Oh, that's not it." Lu smiled, taking a seat without being invited to do so and her cousin didn't seem to think it was at all rude or offensive.

  Is that why he doesn't have to defer to anyone?

  "He just likes playing around..." she murmured, her eyes meeting his which were sparkling with mischief.

  "I suppose I do, yes." Lu replied.

  "Please excuse me." Li Ban returned back behind the screen.

  "Lu needs to check you over!" Tai reminded her. "I can give you some privacy."

  "No need, it's just a simple check, but laying down does help."

  Li Ban sat on the edge of her bed gathering her thoughts and trying to organise them in some kind of manner. That man Lu, he was clearly from the Heavenly Mountain Clan and he was far too comfortable entering their residence with such bold behaviour. No proper greeting, no waiting for an invitation to sit down, not even addressing them by their proper titles.

  Something about him seemed so familiar, but she couldn't place him.

  She was unsure why he, of all healers, had to be called to check her over when she hadn't even married that prince yet. Perhaps it was just a show of good faith on the part of her family, an extension of friendliness and expression of trust prior to the wedding that would create a solid bond between the two clans.

  If word got out that she had thrown herself into Purifying Lake a week before the ceremony in an attempt to escape with her lover, there would no doubt be uproar from both sides; An embarrassment to her own clan and an affront to the Heavenly Mountain Clan.

  Tai had mentioned that only a few hours had passed, but it felt like she had been away for much, much longer than that. She couldn't recall anything about being in the water, but this man Lu - his name and his face - something about them seemed to awaken a glimmer deep in her memories - she just couldn't quite reach them yet. If she was able to unlock those memories, she would know for sure what happened to His Lordship, her lover - Caolan of the Glacial Sea Clan - their only true allies in the Immortal Realm.

  There was no way he had drowned, they had both taken medicine before making a break for the lake that ensured they would survive for days underwater. She didn't want to believe that he would've run - Tai had said his seal was found in his shoes and it wouldn't make sense for him to leave that behind if he ran on foot.

  That could only mean... that he was still in the realm that Purifying Lake sent them to. The Supernatural Realm, an earthly realm despite the name, a place that was separated from the Human Realm by mere portals, she had heard.

  If she were to go back into the water, would she end up back where she was just before she returned? She hadn't given it much thought before jumping in, but given how only a few hours had passed in the Immortal Realm, she guessed it was a complete failure - what a waste of time.

  There had to be another way.

  "Miss Li Ban?" Lu's voice floated over from the other side of the screen. "If you're decent, I'll begin."