Purple eyes.

Mysterious and enchanting to see. 

Every time she opened those eyelids of hers, she could not help but feel curious about her surroundings.

She was the only one who had them. Different colored eyes. Making her stand out, making her unordinary, making her…special. 

Yet, they never envied her for that pair of amethyst.

Not once.

Because those eyes were only accessories.

—

How many years had it been? Since the massacre of the household.

How many nights did she spend haunted by those nightmares?

She was the most powerful yet she couldn’t protect those she loved.

The pain, the guilt, the regret.

Brought her tears every time she closed her eyes.

Out of all those that left her that night. The one person that taught her everything. The one person that forfeited his life in exchange for hers. Yet she couldn’t even say goodbye, she couldn’t even find his body.

That hateful, mischievous shifu of hers. She owed it to him.

“Shifu…”

Her eyelashes trembled as her tears. In her dream, there was the mischievous smile that she missed so much. 

The tears fell on her cheeks, then were wiped by a pale hand. On its wrist, there was the dragon patterned mark, which only belonged to the imperial family. The same pattern with the man who murdered her family.

“Here we go again…” He sighed.

He always wondered what kind of person was he. He made her dream of him every night even though years had passed already.

As the girl called her shifu again, he could not help but feel bitter.

After all, she was his wife.

Though in name only.

He put his palm on his temple, feeling dizzy.

He put her head on his chest. She usually calmed down and stop having nightmares if he did this.

When she could feel her heartbeat, she stopped calling out the name.

But then, she said, “You promised…”

“Huh?” 

“You promised that you would take me around the continent. We will go to the bamboo fortress, go to see the panda, and also go to see the desert!” She trembled. “You promised me…” 

The man couldn’t help but frown. 

Was this the reason why she chose the dangerous bamboo fortress as the honeymoon destination?

Oh how this promise brought him disaster.

He looked up and scanned the mess they made. The bamboo trees fell, leaving the mess all over. The ground had marks of struggles. Ashes and blood became one. 

And the state he was in…odious.

What kind of man promised to go to the three forbidden places?

“It’s a promise…” 

Glancing at the woman’s sorry figure, the man sighed. “Ok.”

The woman who was unconscious seemed to hear.

“I will fulfill that promise your Shifu couldn’t fulfill,” he said.

They spent the night under the shadows until the sun goes up…

And his body returned to being small again.