Jin Mulan woke slowly to the soft stillness of morning. For several moments she did not know where she was.
The scent of clean linen filled the air. Sunlight streamed through carved wooden screens, laying warm bands of gold across the floor. Somewhere nearby, incense burned faintly. The mattress beneath her was soft far softer than the cold stone of the fighting pit.
Then memory returned in fragments.
The roar of the crowd. The crushing blow.
Blood in her eyes. Standing again.
Luo He's arms catching her as the world went dark.
Her hand moved instinctively toward her head. Bandages wrapped firmly around the wound. There was soreness, a pounding ache behind her eyes, but no deep damage. Most of the force had been taken by her helmet before it had flown free on impact.
"You're awake." Luo He's voice came from beside the bed. She turned her head. He stood near the window, dressed simply, arms folded, looking more relaxed than a man who had nearly leapt into an arena to kill half its guards the night before.
He walked over once he saw her eyes open. "Thanks," he said calmly. Jin Mulan frowned faintly. "For what?"
"For surviving." His tone was light, but the weight beneath it was clear.
He pulled a chair beside the bed and sat down, leaning forward with his forearms on his knees. Before she could answer, the door slid open. Bing entered quietly, carrying little Luo Lin in her arms.
The child saw her mother and immediately reached out with excited noises. Jin Mulan's tired face softened at once. "Come here," she whispered.
Bing carefully brought the girl closer. Luo Lin patted the bandaged side of her mother's head with tiny curious fingers, then proudly announced nonsense syllables as if giving medical advice.
Even Luo He laughed. "She has diagnosed you," he said. "Apparently your skull is weak." Jin Mulan gave him a tired glare, though the corner of her mouth lifted. "I'm alive," she said softly, more to herself than anyone else.
She had walked into the pit as a challenger. She had nearly died there.
And yet she had returned to this room, to her child and to the strange man now watching her more closely than he pretended.
Luo He leaned nearer and gently brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face. His fingers traced her cheek with surprising care. For a moment, his usual arrogance disappeared. Then naturally, it returned.
"I really got to see you insides yesterday. Then I knew you'd make it back alive."
She tried not to laugh, then winced when her head throbbed.
He noticed immediately. His expression sharpened. "Don't move too quickly." There it was again that hidden concern he always buried beneath jokes and insults.
Then he placed two fingers lightly against her wrist checking her pulse before resting a hand near her shoulder.
"So," he asked. Voice calmer now, "do you feel it?" "Feel what?" She asked back. "Your body changing." He said.
He leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing with interest. "Pain breaks weakness when survived correctly. Shock teaches the body what must be endured. Fear teaches the mind what matters." His gaze settled on hers.
"You crossed a threshold last night."
Jin Mulan was silent. Then slowly she did feel it. Her limbs were heavy, sore, damaged. Yet deeper beneath that was something else. A steadiness. A hardness.
The memory of standing when she should have stayed down. "I do," she admitted quietly. Luo He smiled faintly.
"Finaly." He rose from the chair. "Then once you can walk..." He said. Jin Mulan narrowed her eyes. "We train again."
She groaned and let her head fall back onto the pillow. Bing hid a smile. Little Luo Lin clapped happily. And Luo He completely satisfied with himself walked toward the door as if he had just delivered wonderful news.
He remembered how he felt without her. When Luo He returned to the mansion carrying the unconscious Jin Mulan in his arms, the lanterns at the entrance were still burning from the late hour.
Servants rushed forward in alarm the moment they saw the blood on her armor, but one sharp glance from Luo He froze them where they stood. "Move with purpose or move away," he said coldly.
At once, the doors were opened and a path cleared. Jin Mulan's red armor, once striking and elegant, was now dented, scraped, and stained dark where blood had run from beneath her helmet.
Her breathing was steady, but shallow. Luo He could feel every rise and fall against his chest, and though his face remained calm, there was a tension in his jaw that few had ever seen.
Just as he stepped through the entrance hall, another figure approached from the far corridor. The Third Princess. She had come to fight that same night and was still dressed in fitted blue robes trimmed with silver.
Her pale hair fell over one shoulder, and the cold dignity she carried made the servants instinctively lower their eyes.
The moment she saw Luo He, her gaze sharpened. "You."
Her voice was cool, edged with remembered anger. She had not forgotten the shameless words he had thrown at her before, nor the way he had slipped into her training grounds and toyed with her pride.
She had clearly come prepared to settle that score. Luo He saw the storm in her eyes and inwardly cursed the timing.
Then she noticed the woman in his arms.
Her expression changed instantly.
All irritation vanished, replaced by focus.
"What happened?" "Arena match," Luo He replied quickly. "She won. Didn't she?" The princess asked stepped closer, eyes scanning Jin Mulan with trained precision.
She saw the bandaged head wound, the limp posture, the bruising beginning to form beneath the armor. "This is the woman from last night," she said quietly. "Firecracker."
Luo He nodded once. "My second disciple," he said smoothly. Choosing the words without hesitation. The princess looked at him sharply. "Second?" she asked. "Yes," Luo He answered without blinking.
"Still a little rough around the edges." He said proudly. Even now, he could not resist boasting. Jin Mulan, barely conscious, might have hit him if awake.
The princess ignored him and turned to the attendants. "Send for a palace physician immediately." She said. "That won't be necessary," Luo He said at once.
She looked back at him. "Do you object to help?" She asked. "I object to slow help." He said. The two held each other's gaze for a long moment. Then the princess said, "Send him anyway."
The servants ran.
Luo He sighed. "Stubborn woman."
"Ice does not bend easily," she replied.
Despite himself, he almost smiled.
Jin Mulan remained unconscious for nearly a full day.
During that time, Luo He rarely left her room. He changed the cloth at her forehead, checked her pulse, examined her pupils, and monitored every breath with the precision of a physician and the intensity of a husband who refused to admit worry aloud.
Little Luo Lin was kept mostly outside by Bing, though the child often toddled to the doorway asking for her mother. The Third Princess visited once during the afternoon.
She entered quietly, without guards or ceremony. Luo He expected some sharp remark, perhaps a challenge, perhaps revenge for his earlier insolence.
Instead, she walked straight to the bedside.
"How is she?" "Alive," Luo He answered.
The princess ignored his tone and looked only at Jin Mulan. There was no jealousy, no mockery, no interest in palace games. Only concern for a fellow warrior.
Luo He noticed that. She even placed a small lacquered box on the table. "Medicinal paste for swelling. And the palace physician is outside." "He can come in if he wishes to learn something," Luo He said.
The princess gave him a flat stare. The physician, an older man with careful hands and an even more careful expression, entered and examined Jin Mulan respectfully. After some time, he bowed.
"She will live. The skull was protected by the helmet. Blood loss is moderate, not fatal. Rest is required." Luo He folded his arms. "Correct, though obvious."
The physician stiffened. The princess sighed softly. "Must you insult everyone?" "I insult only the inaccurate." He said. Then he added, almost casually, "I already know more than he does."
The physician frowned. "And what do you know?"
Luo He answered immediately. "Her blood type is B+." Silence filled the room. The physician blinked. "Her... what?"
Luo He waved a hand. "Irrelevant for now. Mine is AB– so I cannot donate blood to her even if needed to." No one what he had said. Can blood even be transferred.
The princess narrowed her eyes. "You speak nonsense with too much confidence."
"It only sounds like nonsense because I'm early." He glanced at Jin Mulan.
"In any case, she doesn't require transfusion. Her blood loss remains within manageable limits."
The physician, after rechecking her color and pulse, reluctantly realized the arrogant young man was correct. That annoyed him more than if Luo He had been wrong. When the others left, the room quieted again.
Luo He sat beside the bed and looked at Jin Mulan's sleeping face. Bruised. Bandaged. Stubborn even unconscious.
He exhaled slowly. "You reckless woman you worried me." He murmured. "Well done."