Drystan looked at the people walking beside the carriage and didn't understand why he was dragged to Tanngolia with Chinua and the others. He would rather stay at the military camp and spend his days drinking wine. He sighed and dropped the window drape down. The only thing he could see outside the carriage was miles of endless sand, and Chinua and her two personal bodyguards.
Drystan turned to look at Hye, who was immersed in the book in his hand. "Hey, you've been reading since we left Lao-Da Pass. What on earth are you reading?"
Hye didn't looked up at Drystan instead, he said, "I am studying the rivers and roads of Haishi City."
Drystan asked, "What is the purpose?"
Hye said, "Escape route."
Drystan looked at Hye who spoke so calmly, "Escape route? Will that Magoli take us into the fire pit?"
Hye said, "More or less."
Drystan exhaled angrily, raised the curtains and shouted, "Hey! Magoli!"
Hearing Drystan shouting to get Chinua's attention, Hye knew that sooner or later the people around him would no longer accept Drystan's uneducated attitude. He looked up at Drystan and said, "You know everyone here is Magoli. Keep shouting, and when the captain can't stand your troubles, he will probably cut out your tongue."
Drystan looked at Hye and asked, "What do you mean?"
Hye said, "Have you never seen a person's tongue cut off?"
Drystan smirked and said, "Like you have." He turned to look out the window, only to find that Chinua, Khunbish and Khenbish were getting further and further away from the carriage.
Hye said, "This process is quite cruel. The Magoli soldiers have a way to torture people slowly and let people go through the most painful process before slowly dying. One of the ways to punish those who talk too much is to pull out the tongue with a burnt iron pliers and then cut off the tongue with a dagger. Then, they seal the wound in the mouth with a burnt iron blade to stop the bleeding. When the burn becomes inflamed and blisters form inside and outside the mouth, it can be very painful. It could take ten agonizing nights and days before you finally succumb to starvation or infection."
Drystan looked at Hye strangely, he had never heard anyone talk about such a horrific scene, and yet the speaker still remained so calm, with a blank expression on his face, as if everything he had just shared had no impact on him.
"You sure know how to scare children," Drystan said with a chuckled. "But too bad, I am not a child who get scared easily."
Hye stared at Drystan expressionlessly and said, "This is not to scare children, but to instill fear in disobedient people. If I remember correctly, my uncle only lived for two days and died of his injuries."
Drystan swallowed and turned to look out the window, trying to get the image of a person being tortured in this way out of his mind.
Bair, who was at the front of the group with his soldiers, saw the rest area approaching and stopped his horse. He turned to Chinua and said, "Princess Chinua, my men and I will be waiting for the package there."
Chinua said, "Major, just call me Chinua. Don't include the princess next time. I don't like to cause trouble or misunderstanding to other soldiers."
Bair was speechless. "But... Chinua is a princess," Bair said.
Chinua said, "We are not in the palace where title and rank are important in the ears of those who crave for fame."
Bair nodded and said, "I understand." He looked at the ten people. "Lieutenant Lut and his nine men will be your first stop to deliver the package."
Chinua said, "Once my men secured the package, they will leave the package in Lut's care."
Bair nodded, and the thirty soldiers rode their horses to the left and broke away from the main group of people who will continue into Tanggolia.
The curtains on Ankhetseg's carriage lifted opened, and Ankhtsetseg looked at Chinua outside the window. When she saw Chinua's dirty clothes and face, she sighed angrily. She lowered the curtain and looked at the two maids sitting on the floor of the carriage.
"Yagaan, choose an outfit for Chinua. When we reach Tanggolia, make sure Chinua changes clothes," Ankhtsetseg said. "Our image of sending two princesses to Tanggolia is bad enough, I don't want Chinua's androgynous image to affect the good name of our kingdom."
Yagaan bowed and said, "Princess Ankhtsetseg, when I learned that Princess Chinua was going to Tanggolia with us, I had already prepared clothes for her. As your Highness saw, Chinua was too big and will not fit Your Highness's spare outfits."
Ankhtsetseg looked down at Yagaan and said, "Thank you for your preparation. I didn't think of this until I saw how dirty her clothes were."
When a loud horn sounded in the distance, Chinua looked up and saw many white and green flags coming toward them. Chinua noticed that the person approaching them based on the color of their flags was the southern kingdom, Ofleisia.
Chinua turned to look at Khunbish and said, "Why did the Osians travel overland? Since they share the same sea with the Tanggolians, wouldn't it be better for them to travel by sea?"
Khunbish said, "Sea travel may not reveal their grand entrance."
Chinua turned to Khunbish and smiled at him. "We should bring more people with us, so we don't look inferior to them," Chinua joked.
Khenbish said, "If we go all out like they do, we're basically bringing war home."
Chinua turned to look at the many people who were beginning to merge with them. "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak," she said with a smile. "I like this phrase the most."
At this moment, the people in front suddenly stopped, so Chinua, Khunbish and Khenbish rode towards Misheel's carriage, only to see another larger carriage trying to merge into the same road. Standing on the path, Timicin and others had an argument with the driver of another carriage.
"What happened?" Chinua asked.
Timicin said, "They want us to get out of the way and let them pass first."
Och said, "Yeah, since we arrived first, why do we do this?"
"What's going on? Why haven't you moved yet!" A man's shout came from the carriage.
One driver said, "Your Highness, the road is block by the Magoli of Hmagol Kingdom."
The young man in blue clothes walked out of the carriage, looked at Chinua and the others, and chuckled. "I've heard that Hmagol was a city of warriors. I thought you would bring more gifts," Koa said with a smile.
Chinua stared at the fair-skinned, handsome prince. Seeing that delicate face smiling at herself, Chinua held back her laughter. She thought to herself that although this was a celebration of Emperor Xin's birthday, the purpose behind it was obviously to marry and consolidate the Kingdom of Tanggolia, so she didn't understand why any prince would participate in the celebration.
Chinua looked down at Timicin and said, "I'm hungry. Let's take a break and eat."
Timicin looked at Chinua and was not satisfied with Chinua's decision. "Chinua! Why?" he asked.
Chinua said, "You can clearly see that we are outnumbered, and their golden carriage is twice as big as our small wooden carriage. Just let them pass."
Misheel said, "Timicin, let them pass. I need to stretch, too. Everyone...move our horses to the side of the road and let them pass."
Chinua rode towards the carriage where Hye and Drystan were. "We need to rest and let others go first," Chinua said.
Drystan frowned, "Let them go first? Why? We got here first, and besides, we got the right of way."
Hye asked, "Who are the others?"
Chinua said, "Osian of Ofleisia Kingdom."
Hye looked out the window and looked at Chinua, he smiled and said, "Beautiful entrance. Chinua, this is the royal entrance you and your people need to bring, to show other kingdoms that your kingdom is no less than theirs."
Chinua said, "We are a poor nation. So, we bring what we could."
Hye chuckled, grabbed the bag of baked bread, and handed it to Chinua.
The Magoli finished their lunch and were about to take off when another group of people came in. Looking at the color of the flag, Chinua immediately knew that this group of people are the Jikee of Skouji Kingdom. Chinua decided to let them pass and after an hour of waiting, the Jikee finally passed the Magoli. Then smaller kingdoms with smaller group travelled people; no more than one hundred less than two hundred people merged into the same road and traveled together with the fifty Magoli.
Standing at the gate of Haishi City, Geming and Zhiming, together with their two cousins, Ziyan and Zhiyuan, stood outside waiting for the royal guests.
After the arrival of the Osian and Jikee, smaller kingdoms still continued to pour into Haishi City at the request of Emperor Xin.
Zhiming said, "These are just useless little kingdoms. We don't have to go to welcome them personally. Brother, let the steward go to welcome them."
Zhiyuan knew that Zhiming was not a patient person, so he added, "Prince Zhiming is right." He turned to Geming. "Should the two princes entertain the guests who have already arrived in the palace?"
Xiyan said, "You three can go back. I will stay until the last guest arrives."
The purpose of Xiyan's stay was just to see what kind of soldiers or guards Hmagol brought with them. He fought against the southern armies of Hmagol for so many years but could not go beyond the Scorched Grave Desert. He wanted to stay and see which of the four princes Hmagol would send. His hands were itchy, and he very much hoped that the prince who walked into Tanggolia was Mönkhbat.
Wang Yong said, "It's better to go back. His Majesty will be here tomorrow."
Geming looked at Xiyan and said, "Thank you for staying."
Geming and Wang Yong got on their horses and rode slowly toward the gate.
"The princess of Hmagol Kingdom have arrived," a voice announced.
Geming stopped his horse and turned around to wait for the Prince and Princess of Hmagol.
Knowing that the Kingdom of Hmagol did not send a prince, Xiyan's heart boiled with anger. "Princesses..." He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. "What a joke."
Geming dismounted and walked towards the two carriages to greet the two princesses. Geming bowed slightly and said, "I, Prince Geming welcomes Your Highness to Tanggolia."
Ankhtsetseg slightly bowed and said softly, "Princess Ankhtsetseg, thank you for His Highness's hospitality."
Zhiming stared at Ankhtsetseg and said with a smile, "You are such a beauty." He looked across the two carriages. "Where's the other one? Is she as beautiful as you?"
Geming cleared his throat and said, "I apologize on behalf of my brother."
Zhiming said, "Brother, I have never seen a Magoli woman before. I am very excited. Look at these maids, they are so beautiful. Haha..." He raised his head again. "Where is the second princess?"
The commotion and giggles coming from behind the carriage made everyone turn their heads.
"I don't know how to walk in these shoes. Oops!" Chinua's voice sounded from behind. "Hey... hold my hand... That's it. Give me back the clothes. I won't wear this anymore."
Ankhetsege's face burned red with embarrassment when Chinua's voice approaching. She knew that as soon as Chinua walked out, people around her would start laughing, and she was mentally prepared for it, but now with the way Chinua dressed and complained, Chinua had attracted the attention of everyone standing in front of her.
"Your Highness, these clothes cannot be worn out," Yagaan said, chasing after Chinua with a lavish pink dress in her hands.
"I'm not wearing that dress. I don't feel comfortable," Chinua said, moving to the front of the carriage fixing her belt around her waist.
Ankhtsetseg looked at Chinua angrily. "You..."
"Sorry...I'm not wearing that dress, it looks weird and uncomfortable," Chinua said apologetically.
Zhiming looked at Chinua and found that Chinua's body structure looked more like a man than a woman. Chinua was taller than the average woman, and because Chinua was taller than some of the men standing there, he thought Chinua was nothing more than a laughingstock. He thought Chinua's dark skin made Chinua ugly, so he pointed at Chinua and started laughing. "She is a princess... Hahaha... Look at her dark skin... I have never seen such an ugly princess." He quickly covered his mouth.
"Hey, if you laugh enough, tell us where the food is," Chinua said, crossing her hands over her chest. "We're hungry."
"Since it's Chinua, I think I'd better change some food choices," Geming said as he walked towards Chinua.
"It's you," Chinua said with a smile. She was a little embarrassed because she had forgotten this person's name. "Uh...I'm sorry...what's your name?"
Geming smiled and said, "It seems that I am the only one who remembers name."
Geming looked at Chinua, and his heart was filled with happiness. At first, he thought that he would never see Chinua again and that he would have to marry someone he didn't like, but now, everything has changed. Chinua is the princess of a kingdom in Emperess Yan's plan. Now, Geming is more determined than ever to make Chinua his bride and his future Empress.