The Dimension Traveller's Daughter

Chapter 9

Hearing the c**k crow, I rub my eyes, opening them slowly. The shape of a man’s figure in brown, towering tall before me, manifests before my eyes.

“Han? What are you doing here?” I struggle to sit up before peering under the sheets. It is a chilly night, so I am still in my undergarments, although I have opted for my short underpants rather than the long ones that reach down to my ankle.

“It’s dawn,” he says coldly, scanning the room as if he is trying to find evidence of my infidelity. “Your sister would have finished the first step of her marriage preparation.”

In Tuyi, our marriage traditions are slightly different from the rest of the world, so I believe he means the part of the marriage that involves the mother of the bride cutting a strand of her hair. The bride later has her hair put up in a bun to signify she is married. During the marriage, she has a red veil over her face.

If only the bride were me, I thought, but then I brush away my feelings. As my mother told me before, I am only eighteen and not old enough to get married in my parents’ eyes. But Han is just a little older than me, and he has to marry the older Autumn over the stupid customs that were probably lies by my mother.

He watches over me like a hawk. We stare at each other silently. I know no matter what, he will still marry my sister. My failure to find my mother’s gold stash resulted in me putting my plans for elopement on hold, but I told myself I would never give up as long as I am alive.

“Han, do you like my sister?” I find myself asking, tears spilling from the corner of my eyes. It is the first time he just cups my cheeks gently and kisses me slowly, allowing me to feel the tenderness of his kisses. Perhaps, he has something he cannot tell me. He continues the kisses in my bed, running his long fingers on my abdomen, over my thin undergarments. I moan softly, but he doesn’t take me as he usually does. It is the first time I have felt his care.

My tips erect at his touching, but he makes no move to remove my clothing. Instead, he breaks the kiss and whispers in my ears, “I’ve got to go now, my dear Winter. Tonight, I have something to tell you. Meet me in the bridal chamber.”

I am dumbfounded as he leaves through the window. Bridal chamber? What was that supposed to mean? Are we revealing the truth of our relationship to my sister? Will she be able to take it?

Then I hear a knock on the door and pull on my cloak to shield my body before opening the door. To my surprise, it is my father, Yang Shaojun.

“Father, what are you doing up so early in the morning?” I ask, craning my neck to face him at his supreme height.

“There’s something I need to tell you about,” he begins before taking a seat on one of the wooden chairs in my room.

He begins by telling me the story of Lu Jing, Han’s father and how my mother had a crush on him for years before she time-travelled and met my father. My mother had always looked up to Lu Han’s father as a senior, but he had never reciprocated her love. But, then, a visit to the grand teachers one day allowed them to realise what had happened to Jing.

“We had to kill him because there was no choice. He begged for a quick death. He didn’t want to become a monster.”

I reclined on the other wooden chair as I listened to my father’s story. “Father, and your point of telling me the story is?”

“Winter, I know that you have always loved Han. But we have high hopes in you becoming the next demon-slayer. Although your brother has become a demon-slayer, he is not what we call a full-fledged demon-slayer. He only has half the abilities of a demon-slayer, and the other half of him is the guardian powers inherited from me. But the Old Shaman has predicted that you will be the next demon-slayer.”

“But I don’t have powers like you or Mother,” I disagreed. “My magic is always faltering.”

“It’s not the time yet, dearest,” he patted my head gently. “My dear girl, you must have always thought we don’t love you, but we just owe Autumn too much. She is a pure Guardian and will never become a demon-slayer. She cannot wield a sword nor read the mantra of a demon-slayer.”

“And I can?” I ask nervously.

“Your grandteacher’s brother, during a visit, had identified that about you when you were a child. But you should realise, that each Demon-slayer has a destined one. And that destined one will be the only person you should ever have bodily contact. One day, you will meet him and spend your life with him.”

His words just instil sadness within me. Did this translate to the fact that Han and I were never meant to be? I look upon my father miserably.

“We arranged for your sister to marry Han not because of tradition. One reason was, according to the Old Shaman, she needs to marry before twenty-two to change her fate to have a normal lifespan, but the other reason is that we want you to give up your ill-fated love for Han. We love you both, and we love Han as well. But we don’t know if Han will ever find out the truth that we killed his father.”

“So you offered Sister Autumn as a peace offering to Han to create a union between both families, hoping he doesn’t seek revenge,” I deduce, crossing my arms in front of my chest. But are your actions fair for either of us? I question aloud, my eyes red and teary.

“You are right, my daughter,” he responds remorsefully to my question. “Autumn is a guardian. But, of course, we so she has yet to meet the person she will call her true love. From what we know, it isn’t Han. We know because she doesn’t have that special reaction with him that a guardian has for his true love. But she doesn’t have a long time left. So she needs to have a union with Han to prolong her life.”

I swallow as I comprehend the meaning behind my father’s words. He surely meant a bodily union by union, which I already had with Han: a s****l bond.

“A union…”

“Yes. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but I believe you are stronger than your sister and can accept this fact. Since Han is not her One True Love, he is not the person who will be with her for the rest of her life. He is only here temporarily to help save her life. With their union, their Yin and Yang elements will merge, giving her a chance at life. Maybe after that, she will meet her true love, and then, as agreed, she will be freed of her marriage to Han.”

“You made Han agree to all this,” I utter, trembling. My father places his hand on mine to reassure me.

“Yes, he has signed an agreement with his blood.”

So, his part is only to deflower Autumn, who is insane about him. My heart breaks for him. Then why didn’t he tell me? As my father leaves the room, I burst into tears, strengthening my decision to elope with him.