Over the next few days, their journey took them through roads bordered heavily by forest and into rural farmland. They mostly walked in silence, and it was really only when they set up camp for the night that Hino got a chance to talk to Wenyu. He patiently explained the social etiquette and unfamiliar customs of the country to her when she asked. The culture seemed engrained in hierarchy – at least within the palace, and rigidly courteous. Despite claiming how he hated being confined to the palace, he seemed uncannily enthusiastic when he launched into lengthy explanations on how it things worked there.

It seemed like he didn’t want to talk about himself much after that first night and Hino knew better than to pry. She listened to him gratefully, mentally noting down the cultural taboos that she wouldn’t have realized otherwise.

One day on the road, they finally encountered the first horse-drawn carriage heading in the direction of the capital.

Wenyu had pointed it out before Hino could even discern the faint clatter of hooves as the carriage approached from behind them.

“He is here,” Wenyu said quietly.

“He? Do you know the person in the carriage…?”

But Wenyu refused to explain further, so she waited until the carriage pulled up beside them and a young man stuck his head out.

“Prince Yue!” he said grandly. “What a pleasure! Are you finally getting married, my friend?”

Wenyu stopped in his tracks. Hino stopped too, glancing curiously at the newcomer’s face.

Long, ashy hair framed a pointed face with high cheekbones and shrewd yellow eyes. He wore the rest of his hair in a topknot like Wenyu’s, but pinned back with a fancy silver ornament. His clothes looked as if they were made of silk, luxurious and expensive. As she stared, the man snapped open a paper fan and covered his mouth delicately.

“To think there are beautiful girls like you from the jianghu,” he remarked. “I ought to pick up martial arts as well, if it means I can meet someone as lovely as you.”

Hino blanched, and Wenyu spun around to glare at him.

“That’s enough, Kai,” he said sternly. “You are being disrespectful, as usual.”

Kai, as Wenyu called him, raised his hands in surrender. “Whoa, whoa, sorry. Didn’t know this was your girl.”

Wenyu’s glare intensified and he shot an apologetic look in Hino’s direction.

“Oh, she’s not?” Kai asked, bemused. “Then I won’t stand on ceremony then.”

There was a blur of movement as Wenyu stepped past Hino with his hand outstretched – and suddenly he was leaning casually against the carriage, a shredded paper fan in his hands. Kai, still leaning precariously out the carriage window, had his hand raised slightly to his face. It had all been too fast, Hino could barely register what had just happened.

Kai was frozen momentarily, but quickly composed himself. “You jianghu folk are terrifying,” he whined, sounding completely unfazed. “Utterly unfair. And I was just about to offer you a ride back to the palace.”

Wenyu snorted. “Well, you don’t have a choice. You’re talking to the second prince here.”

He stepped back from the carriage and jabbed a finger rudely at Kai’s direction. “This degenerate,” he said coolly, “is Song Kai, my cousin. He is the grand princess’s son so he has a high rank in court, but he chooses to waste his life on alcohol and beautiful women.”

“That’s the only way to really live your life,” Kai said, nodding sagely. “Besides, you are the second prince and you’re running around the jianghu doing god knows what. You are a hypocrite.” He tilted his chin at Hino and winked. “And you’re even picking up beautiful ladies, and you think I’m beneath you?”

"How dare you -!"

Hino watched them argue and banter back and forth, dumbfounded. Just what was she getting herself into?