Chapter 233: A New Perspective
Yukiko then talked about her life in the village and that seemed to have elevated her mood reminiscing the happy past. She told how they were the wild kids in the village no one could control. Apparently people called her a ’shrewd’ that no man in their right mind would marry.
She also told her how she got lost in the mountains one day after trying to find herbs and forgetting the time and her way back. It started to snow heavily that night and she was scared and despaired and with the sounds of the wild animals intensifying, she thought she’d die there and everyone would forget her as she hugged herself to help herself warm up in that cold snowy night that made her shudder and almost lose consciousness.
That mountains was the other side of the mountains from the village Xing grew up in and she knew none of the locals would venture inside the mountains at night for anything as these mountains are considered sacred or cursed under various interpretations as demons and gods wander in those mountains.
But Yukiko continued that, to her surprise, Katsu found her somehow and carried her in his back to find shelter. " Dumb woman! What will you do without me?", he said and found a cave to rest, made fire to warm her and made sure she survived by making sure she didn’t lose her body heat.
"I felt safe that night with him hugging me close to his body. I thought I could die like that when he wiped my tears off and said," why are you scared when I’m with you, dummy ? "... That dangerous place didn’t scare me anymore after his words... ", Yukiko wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and the smile in her lips made her look so beautiful from the little light from the lantern beside the bed and soon the smile got replaced with a frown.
"But now I am in the most comfortable and secure place in the kingdom. He is with me... But... I don’t feel safe...I am not safe... ", she closed her tired eyes that carried a deep sorrow and took a deep breath and she resumed her usual gentle demeanour.
"Let’s not talk about sad things", she smiled and wiped her face and told her about her childhood days.
Apparently Ryuga’s Father is the feif Lord of their village and Ryuga would usually spend time with them. She told her that Ryuga’s family had only boys and he had only one sister who’s a lot older than him and she was the apple of the eye of the Ying family. When she got married, she wanted a daughter but she got a son and he was only a year younger than Ryuga. She’d dress both of them as girls prettily and Ryuga would wander around in those clothes with no qualms as his sister had made him believe that young boys and girls of the Noble families wear the same outfits and Yukiko and others thought he was a girl, more likely a tomboy for long until he got older and realised boys aren’t supposed to dress like that.
This story made Xing laugh hard. Surely there are many cross dressers around her!
"Those really were fun days!", Yukiko chuckled, "How I wish for those days to be back!"