Author note; Took a while to decide if I wanted to go this route and put a lot of thought into it. More about the story in the afterword; hope you enjoy.

~~

As Xu Rong used her white gloves to claw through the defenseless bandits Sun Jiao watched on with apparent indifference. Internally though watching those people get slaughtered was causing him to feel a bit guilty.

They weren't fighting back at all like he thought a group of murderous thieves would. He wasn't aware that even if the group were hardened murderous criminals they wouldn't have fought back as he expected. He already broken them with his first attack on Ye Zhong.

While Xu Rong was killing she would check on Sun Jiao every once in awhile and noticed something in his eyes that she couldn't figure out. As she finished clearing the room she saw a small frown on Sun Jiao's face; only it wasn't directed at her but the bodies littered around her. The prince she had heard about should have been smiling as he loved the sight of blood, but the one she was with now seemed almost reluctant to be there.

Unable to shake the thought from her mind she headed deeper into the cave to find any stragglers. Most of the bandit had come to the cave entrance to see their leader win and almost none had the will to fleeing after he lost, but there were some that hadn't heard what was happening.

The time it takes to drink a cup of tea passed before Sun Jiao noticed Ye Zhong was still alive. Sun Jiao turned to Ye Zhong and thinking he was alone spoke up.

Coincidently it was about this time that Xu Rong finished clearing the cave and was heading back, but paused when she heard Sun Jiao's voice.

"Wait you didn't die?"

Ye Zhong's eyes were hazy and he was coughing up blood but he still managed to turn his head slightly.

"That...uh looks a bit painful huh."

Crouching down close to his head he forced himself to look Ye Zhong in the eyes.

"Sorry, but it's something I must do. I realize that, but it doesn't make this any easier."

Ye Zhong was close to death but he managed to choke out a few words. "kil..l *cough* me"

"Right. That's what I must do."

With a sigh he pulled out a knife and went to cut his throat. As his hand slid the knife across Ye Zhong's neck a figure that had been hiding behind some stolen goods left at the front of the entrance bolted past Sun Jiao to the exit.

The speed of the figure wasn't quick though and Sun Jiao at the Second Layer quickly jumped in front of him before he could get away.

Xu Rong who had overheard the conversation also heard the sound of quick movement moved to see what was happening. When she peeked around the corner she saw Sun Jiao holding a knife covered in blood standing in front of a young boy who looked no older than ten. Sun Jiao was blocking the child's escape with a sinister look on his face.

The child was shaking in fear which briefly reminded her of a slave child she had fought beside during her first coliseum fight who also was shaking. They had both been young and were forced to fight together against a weakened magical wolf beast. During the struggle they became friends and after a desperate struggle prevailed over the beast. When the battle was over they were told by the announcer that only one of them could leave alive. She had hesitated, but still ended up killing that boy which to this day was something she avoided thinking about. Even now just seeing the child before her caused her eyes to glisten.

Sun Jiao, still unaware Xu Rong had returned, was facing the terrified boy unsure what to do with him. He knew that he should kill the child like Xiaobo said as the child had seen his face as well as knew he would be staying in the cave. However the child wasn't even ten; how could Sun Jiao bring himself to kill a child? Realizing he couldn't kill the boy Sun Jiao then started to consider keeping him here or letting him go.

A few breaths had past and the child still hadn't moved or said anything. Xu Rong continued to watch in silence. As each second past her eyes grew wider and wider with surprise. She could tell Sun Jiao was hesitating and started to feel that his sinister look was filled with confliction not malice.

When Sun Jiao stepped aside the child ran through the cave entrance that was shaped like Xu Rong's mouth which had opened in surprise. Xu Rong felt as though lightning struck her. Never would she have imagined the prince would let him go. She couldn't help letting out a shocked ah!

Sun Jiao had decided to leave the child to his fate rather than keep him here and explain it to Xu Rong. It would be unlikely the child would survive a night in the forest so it was the closest he could bring himself to killing him.

When Xu Rong made a noise of surprise though he felt a wave of panic. She'd clearly seen him let the child go.

"Xu.. Rong... You've..uh returned" He couldn't prevent the panic from affecting his voice.

Realizing she'd been found out Xu Rong walked towards Sun Jiao, not with reluctance, but instead as though she was holding herself back. When she arrived in front of Sun Jiao she hadn't said a single word.

She looked up at him with her wet eyes and hands held in front of her as if in prayer; still holding herself back. As if a dam broke she burst into tears and threw her arms around him in a hug. Only her legs hadn't responded so she fell on her knees and embraced his waist.

She knew that being a prince meant having enemies and letting the child go could cause problems for Sun Jiao the future, but he had still let him go. Didn't that mean he was kinder than her who had been in the same situation but chose to kill?

She'd also heard the words he'd said to the man on the floor; that he had meant to kill him. As she was walking close she had thought back and realized he'd never done anything unkind to her.

She wasn't one of those dumb girls in the stories that couldn't tell when the bad guy was pretending to be sweet; how could she not tell when this sweet guy was trying to be bad?

When he'd felt her up it she realized it was to distract his sister. When the maid was killed he'd convinced his sister not to do it again even though he had to use cruel words of disdain. Even his speech about being the best had been to cheer her up. She even began to think he'd only meant to injure the bandit leader, but failed to hold back his strength as he had just reached the second layer.

'Perhaps all his life he's been misunderstood?' she thought to herself.

The tears that flowed were full of various emotions. Sadness, both for her master's situation and the boy she had killed. Happiness for the boy that got away. Relief that her master wasn't as vile as the rumors, but most of all joy that someone would care for a slave like herself.

Through the tears she tried to explain her feelings, but they came out as incoherent sobs.

Sun Jiao's panic was replaced by confusion as he looked down on the crying Xu Rong. The only time he'd been faced with a women crying had been when he broke up with his girlfriend back on earth. She was strong willed though and hadn't been this emotional. He'd also been unable to comfort her as they had broken up and, though it shamed him, chose to just walk away.

This time though he decided he wouldn't walk away though he knew Xiaobo would have told him to. He wasn't as cold as Xiaobo though and thought that since he'd already made a mistake what was one more? In for a penny; in for a pound after all.

Kneeling down he pulled Xu Rong into an embrace and whispered words of comfort while rubbing her back.

"Shhhh. It's alright."

Surprising no one the words only seemed to cause her to cry more. How could a women be so simple to handle?

Time passed without words and Xu Rong eventually calmed down. As the emotions poured out it had felt as if an enormous weight was lifted off her and now she felt incredibly free. She had been so caught up in her emotions she hadn't noticed anything else around her. When she realized Sun Jiao held her she began to blush and shyly hid her face closer to his chest.

"Feel better now?"

The clear voice and vibrations in Sun Jiao's chest caused Xu Rong's heart to flutter. Unable to speak she simply nodded her head.

"Good. I'm sure you have questions, but I need to leave for a moment. I'll...I'll try to answer what I can when I return. For now we'll be staying here so I need you to clean up. Can you stand?"

As he spoke he removed his hand from her back and pulled her from him. As the distance increased so did Xu Rong's desire for it not. She'd never felt so safe and comfortable before that she could remember.

Rubbing the tears away she struggled to look Sun Jiao in the eyes. They still looked like they belonged to a villain, but now she noticed worry in them as they looked at her which brought a smile to her face.

"En!" She said with a nod.

Sun Jiao helped her stand and after a thought grabbed a spare storage ring from his own ring. Having picked a ring at random he was a bit surprised when it turned out to be a jewel encrusted ring.

Too late to change it out for another, lest he seem stingy, he handed it over while hoping this world didn't have the same connection to rings and weddings as earth did.

"Use this to help clean up. Afterwards you can keep it. Do you know how to use them?"

Bringing the ring close to her heart she replied with a soft "En."

"Good. I'll only be gone for a while."

With that Sun Jiao turned and left.

Xu Rong stood there for a while holding the ring. She had calmed down emotionally, but her head was still a jumble.

A short time after Sun Jiao left she placed the finger on the ring finger of her left hand. She held it out for a moment to see how it looked. With a sigh she took it off, placed it on her other hand and then set about cleaning up the mess she had made.

~In the forest a distance away from the cave.~

A middled aged man dressed in beast furs was grumbling as his partner cut through the thick forest ahead of him.

"Ugh. This is a waste of time. Are you sure we're not lost?"

The grizzled man ahead of him gave a grunt in reply.

"Why the hell did we even follow them? I know she pays for information but there is no way information about that trash is worth much."

The man in front stopped cutting and thought about what his partner had said.

"Hmph. Maybe you're right.Turn back?"

"Or stay out here the rest of the night? No thanks. 'Specially when he aint worth shit."

"Fuck it. Let’s go back then. What a waste of fucking time."

Just as they turned around the heard a rustling sound behind them.

Pulling out their swords they prepared for an attack. They both had reached the First layer and weren't worried. If they traveled a full day away they could run into some problems but this close to the city it was rare to encounter anything that could kill the men.

As the grass parted a young boy with a terrified look on his face ran out and smashed right into the first man. The boy had been running for some time at full speed and couldn't stop in time. Crashing into one of the men he bounced off and landed on his butt painfully. The boy looked up at the men scared he had offended them.

The man wasn't upset however. Instead he looked down at the boy with a wide silver toothed smile.

Had a bit of trouble deciding if I wanted to do this. I feel like I could have dragged the "clueless maid/dense mc" out a bit more, but it might get old and stale. Much better to have actual progress instead of just same situation over and over imo. Debating if this is what I wanted to do took way to long. I had planned to write this chapter wed, but didn't finish until now because I was thinking so much. No side story, BK still figuring out how to escape. And that means BK not me! I know how he'll escape. Yup. Definitely.