Yesterday when I left the building, I held onto my clue and put it in the left breast pocket of my windbreaker. I took my coat off from the hanger, fished out the folded strip of paper that my future depended on. Then I left it hanging in its spot.

"What does it say?" she asked.

"Give me a moment." I studied the piece of paper. It was a strip of standard A3 paper, moving on from the useless details. Then I bore my eyes through, as if I could make a hole in it. The sentence appeared to be some sort Asian language. I ruled out Korean first, because all Korean letters had squares. And this sentence had only a few letters contain squares. Then I ruled out Japanese, since I knew enough Japanese to tell it wasn't in a proper sentence structure. If it's wrong I could only mean a different language. Chinese, it had to be Chinese. Even though I am half Chinese, I knew very little of it. End the end I assumed it was Chinese, then I inserted those words into the translator bar through the Chinese- simplified, handwriting keyboard on my phone. And the English translation was:

"Placed higher than the greatest Emperor, but under his soldiers' feet."

"Do you know where the clue leads?" I asked showing her the translation.

"I didn't even know there would be a contest." She sounded disappointed and I could entirely understand. Not just understand but also be grateful that the reality of me accidently being dragged into this contest of noble scrubs was much better than forcefully being the prize of it. At that moment I hated the competition, not disliked, but literally hated. What was Mr. Acott even thinking? He was her father yet, he took away his daughter's freedom and made her the "prize" for what? For the last noble scrub standing? A shadow of reality swirled in my mind like a blizzard I could not see through. It was pushing me back, further back into the darkness, where my darkest thoughts are.

"Ling?" she sounded afraid. She seen my expression, I showed her too much. I quickly did my best to cover up and remain expressionless.

"I was think about the meaning of the clue, well emperor meant conquering the entire country, and since it was in Chinese, it means it's a Chinese emperor." I said, getting back to topic.

"And which emperor?" she asked.

"Greatest emperor... Emperor Qin. He conquered 7 countries and made them one county, even though it is smaller than modern day China. " I learned a bit of Chinese history, just to know a little more of my father's cultural background.

Thinking about my father, brought up memories. I instinctively touched my golden pocket watch, my father's watch. My mother gave it to me when I was in elementary school; she told me every time he looked at the watch he would say "it's not time yet". Then she told me the day he left, he looked at his watch and said: "it's time." His last will was to let me have it, my mother said. Afterwards she plead me not to look for him. I ignored her, but, by the time I was in middle school I had given up on thoughts of finding him. What kind of father would leave his wife and son for any reason? Perhaps he had an affair the possibilities were endless. All I knew was if I ever saw him, I would surely kill him without batting an eye.

"Is something wrong?" Charlotte asked again. She seemed worried about me. I cleared my throat and replied:

"Nothing really. Can you get me to Xi-an?"

"Where is that precisely?"

"Shan-shi province of China." She took out her phone and tapped something then she said;

"I want to book a flight to Xi-an, China as soon as possible."

"Then that will be tonight 9:00pm, my lady" Came a female voice from the other side.

"Thank you."

"Your wish is my command, my lady."

Charlotte turned off whatever device it was.

"Today, 9:00pm? How do you find those kind of tickets? And you are coming to?"

"It's my father private jet."

"Does your father know you are going with me?"

"Probably yes. But I convinced him to let me go with you," She grimaced, "it wasn't an easy task."

"But it might be dangerous."

"It will be either be both of us boarding the plane, or neither."

I hated letting a little girl being the one in control regardless how cute she was, but it seemed that I have no choice.

"Fine." I said and her eyes lit up and clasped her hand together.

"But promise me one thing. You do what I tell you to do."

She looked uncomfortable, but I wasn't quite finished:

"For your own safety."

"I know..."

"Then perhaps you don't have to come."

"That's not what I mean!" she argued back.

"I was just joking. Though I am 200% serious about your safety. If your dad finds out something happened to his cupcake..." if I put her life in danger, I would be considered lucky if I would only sued and asked to pay a bazillion dollar fine, if things were worse I would be assassinated, my body discarded into the ocean and will everything I done and my very existence will be wiped clean.

"Don't call me that!" her face turned a deep shade of crimson.

I smiled and in return she gave me a huge warm hearted smile, something I didn't expect. I feel my heart beating faster, a moment later it cooled down, I turned away so she wouldn't notice it.

"What's wrong again?"

"We should get packing."

"What's in that brief case?" I asked pointing toward her oversized suitcase that appeared to be lined with iron.

"It's my sun lotion, hair brush, Swiss chocolate, pillow for Mr. Cuddles, my tea set and...oh, I almost forgot my blue ribbon!" She continued going on and listing dozens of items she had brought with her. You might as well bring you house, I thought. I decided not to comment on what kind of junk she brings with her though, humans have the freedom to choose, even bad decision are done out of freewill.

"Who is Mr. Cuddles?" I asked.

"Braun could you help me lay down the brief case and open it?"

He set down the big black iron case as if it were weightless. Charlotte swiped her device at the case's sensor and it unlocked. Inside the case was large enough to fit 2 people... if it wasn't for the sea of junk that filled it completely. She dived into the sea and the upper half of her body was completely buried. She wiggled so vigorously I thought a shark got her. Then all of sudden she resurfaced like a whale. She turned around and face me, and in her harms she was holding, a teddy bear.

"That is Mr. Cuddles?"

"Uhm. Let me introduce you to Mr. Cuddles!" I turned away from her. Not because of her naivety; but because of her blinding smile. Looking at it for just a moment made something inside me crack and it felt awkward.

"Do you expect me to say hi?" I asked.

"Of course. Its basic courtesy!" I still could not imagine that a girl this naive, was going to be married in less than year. For a moment I was worried about her life after she married, but why should I worry about that? We might not even contact again after she married. To be honest, even if I won, I still portably wouldn't marry her. We were 2 odd jigsaw puzzle pieces that would never fit together. A daughter of a bazillionaire who lives in a castle and never has to worry about expenses doesn't go with some guy who can barely pay his rent, right now...or ever. We weren't thousands of miles apart, but my world and her world was quite literally dimensions apart. But twice now we were talking to each other and being our true selves, back in that room the words I implied to Charlotte was for Mr. Acott to hear on purpose. I wanted him to see reason, the reason that took away Charlotte's freedom in exchange for a false sense of security for her. He blindfolded himself and had chosen to ignore, because he was afraid to see it for himself. I tried to lift that blindfold and force him to stare at the true reason. Through my words I let him know that the person he treated most preciously didn't like her way of life. In the end, without hearing it from her nothing would have changed. I wasn't the key to her birdcage, she was the own key to her birdcage.

"Why aren't you replying Ling?"

"Sorry was I..."

"You were staring at the wall."

"Sorry. I didn't quite see you there." that was half a lie, I was looking in Charlotte's direction but not at her, just a little over her head. Honestly though that wasn't my fault, she was just short.

"Take that back! I am more mature than you think, even though I may appear to be small I am actually only a year younger than you!... And it's not polite to ask a lady's age!"

"You told me yourself, but I would have guessed it sooner or later. My guesses are very accurate."

"What if I didn't tell you my age, how old do you think I am?"

I was quiet for a moment and decided to have a little fun with her that would hopefully not provoke her bodyguard to gut me.

"Uh...10?"

"I hate you!" she sounded on the verge of tears as she started pounding her tiny fist against my abs, which felt like a kitty tapping you for attention, which I paid none. From the corner of my eye, her bodyguard gave me a dark look. To avoid certain death I turned my attention back to Charlotte and apologized:

"I was just joking." Suddenly I had the urge to pat her head, but in a split second I decided not to.

"Really?" she replied with a small voice. She looked up and I saw her eyes were watery. Somehow that made her cuter. Oh, what am I even thinking? Romantic love never applied to me and her. There is no bond between us. I had to remind myself again. Yet somehow I felt like trying harder now. Was it because I love her? No, no, no... she was likable, but that is far different from loving her. Or is it? In the end I decided that I only liked her.

"Really. Now let me get my stuff. And Breaker I know you are conscious the whole time, I am going to be leaving for a while. And tell professor I might not be coming to class for the rest of the year."

"Where are you going?" he said as he got onto his feet and dusted his pants a few times. He glanced at me for a moment, then turned his full attention towards Charlotte, and his eyes stuck on her like permanent glue.

"Around the globe. I will be back, or not."

"Oh. What's the Bishoujo's number?"

"Let's go Charlotte." I knew the drill. Sometimes the professor and I would go on trips that took weeks, so I always had my stuff pre-packed weeks ahead of schedule and it turned out that my one and only suitcase was packed and ready. Inside it contained nothing but my daily necessities, since I kept all my important stuff in my wind coat pockets. My suitcase was a black roller, old beyond years. But after all I been through with this case, it seemed more close to me than any living being. Which is almost no one...I quickly put out that thought like fire and turned my attention back to those before me.

"Oh Breaker one more thing, help me do some research and you won't have to pay the rent for the rest of the year."

"About what?" his attention finally focused on me.

"About a man named: Vixus Agalican Dormintz. If you find out anything about him, email me. Let's go Charlotte." I left and they seemed pretty eager to follow. I had to remind Breaker not to.