Chapter 185 — The Princess and the Champion

CHAPTER 185

The Princess and the Champion

“We'll be fellow disciples,” Sima Lan said.

Shi Feng looked up from the travel medicines spread across his inn table. The princess stood outside the open doorway, holding her new outer-court token.

“Yes,” Shi Feng replied.

“After you defeated my brother,” Sima Lan added.

“That happened too,” Shi Feng said.

She studied his face. There was no apology in it, and she hadn't expected one. Sima Yu's violation was entered publicly. His own forbidden pill and the backlash ruined his foundation. He'd tried to yield a breath too late; the rules kept him alive.

None of that made his earlier killing orders disappear.

“The court is asking who signed Guo Zhen's storehouse pass,” Sima Lan said.

Shi Feng looked at her more carefully.

“They can ask whoever kept the gate record,” Shi Feng replied.

“They are,” Sima Lan said. “Not every name on that paper belongs to someone who wants my brother speaking freely.”

She left the hint there instead of pretending she had come to offer loyalty.

“I didn't come to ask you to forgive him,” Sima Lan said.

“Good,” Shi Feng replied.

She smiled faintly and stepped inside after he moved the spare stool toward the table.

The room was plain. The champion's reward didn't turn the bed into precious jade or the window into a sect pavilion.

His broken sword rested in clean wrapping beside the new token.

Sima Lan looked at it, then at the sorted medicine.

“You pack your own things,” Sima Lan said.

“They're mine,” Shi Feng replied.

“Some people would find that beneath their new position,” Sima Lan said.

“Then they can lose their own jars,” Shi Feng answered.

She laughed softly. He didn't sound as though he was performing humility for a princess. He simply knew what each jar contained and wanted it where he could find it.

Sima Lan placed her token beside the edge of the table.

“Outer court,” Sima Lan said.

“You read it before signing,” Shi Feng replied.

“I did,” Sima Lan said. “I'm not complaining.”

“Then why tell me?” Shi Feng asked.

“Because people will assume I expect something from yours,” Sima Lan replied.

She looked at the champion's inner token without reaching for it.

“I'd rather hear the answer clearly before someone starts speaking on my behalf,” Sima Lan said.

Shi Feng closed one medicine box and turned toward her properly.

“If you want something, ask,” Shi Feng said. “I won't promise it because you came from the same kingdom. I won't refuse it just because Sima Yu is your brother.”

Her expression became serious.

“That's fair,” Sima Lan said.

“It depends what you ask,” Shi Feng replied.

She nodded. The distinction mattered. Fair treatment wasn't a promise to provide anything she named.

At the royal residence, people often agreed before the request was finished and complained behind the nearest closed door. She preferred knowing where the refusal would come from.

It left her something real to work with.

Outside the window, Kang Liu was trying to persuade a new guest that the room below the champion's was nearly as fortunate.

Sima Lan glanced toward the sound.

“He'll keep your name after you leave,” Sima Lan said.

“He can keep the room clean too,” Shi Feng replied.

She smiled and picked up her token again.

“My brother will hear where I chose,” Sima Lan said.

“Yes,” Shi Feng replied.

“He won't approve,” Sima Lan said.

“Did you sign for his approval?” Shi Feng asked.

“No,” Sima Lan replied.

“Then there's your answer,” Shi Feng said.

She looked down at the outer-court mark. The answer was simple. Living with the consequences would take longer.

Her late Foundation Establishment cultivation didn't give her authority over the whole royal household. Leaving Moon Lake Sect's familiar robes for Artificer Hall wouldn't make all its claims vanish either.

She understood that.

She still intended to go.

“You're very calm about other people's anger,” Sima Lan said.

“Not all of it deserves my time,” Shi Feng replied.

“And the anger that does?” Sima Lan asked.

He looked at her quietly.

She remembered the broken prince being carried from the platform and decided that question already had an answer.

A small glass bottle rolled when Shi Feng moved the cloth beneath it. Sima Lan caught it before it reached the floor and set it beside the correct box.

“External wash,” Sima Lan said, reading the label.

“Yes,” Shi Feng replied.

“Not a recovery pill,” Sima Lan added.

“The label helps,” Shi Feng said.

She gave him an annoyed look. He smiled and finished tying the box shut.

She didn't ask for a free bottle or assume that visiting entitled her to medicine. Her injured shoulder already had proper treatment from the tournament physicians.

That made the conversation easier.

“Your alchemy will earn more at the sect,” Sima Lan said.

“It'll also cost more to practise,” Shi Feng replied.

“Then you'll need people who can count properly,” Sima Lan said.

“I can count,” Shi Feng answered.

“I noticed,” Sima Lan replied.

Her smile turned a little sharper. She wasn't offering to become a servant or trying to turn tenth place into an obligation to obey the champion. She simply noticed how much work sat outside the refining itself.

Perhaps it would matter later.

For now, she stood and put the token away.

“I'll be at the landing on time,” Sima Lan said.

“Good,” Shi Feng replied.

“And if He Zhen's boat looks ready to fall apart?” Sima Lan asked.

“Ask whether the repairs are useful,” Shi Feng said. “Not whether they're pretty.”

She glanced at the broken sword once more and laughed.

“That's advice from experience,” Sima Lan said.

“An expensive piece of it,” Shi Feng replied.

Before leaving, she paused beside the stool.

“What do you think I should study first?” Sima Lan asked.

“What do you want to learn?” Shi Feng replied.

“Something I can't receive just by being a princess,” Sima Lan said.

“Then you'll have plenty of work,” Shi Feng answered.

She considered that and nodded. It wasn't a promise to teach her everything. It was a reminder that the choice was still hers to make.

She left through the open door without asking him to escort her or explain what fellow disciples ought to owe each other.

Shi Feng returned to the medicines.

A princess would be entering the outer court beside two inner recruits. The titles made that sound unusual. The sect's actual rules and the people applying them would decide what happened next.

He wasn't going to invent the whole future from three tokens.

He put the final box into the ring and reached for the clean wrapping around his sword.