The road to the border was long and harsh.  The soldiers who took them were not nice either.  There was a total of 50 women and 30 soldiers on their journey. Out of those 30 men, 10 of them were scum.  When night fell, each took a woman to the woods and had their way with them.

Raine debated with herself if she should step in and slay the 10 soldier scum to death, but she knew that if she did that, she would not make it to the border where she could save not only the country, but her family as well.  The only thing that she could do to help those women, were to unleash some of her powers to help the women not feel pain, but instead find pleasure in the deed.

With time, her white muslin got dirty and she mixed in well with the others.  Because she was so quiet and didn’t bring attention to herself, her presence was hardly noticed.  

During their journey, some women found some good aspects to having a soldier’s affection, such as more food, more water, and better treatment.  So they went willingly with the soldiers to the woods when nighttime came.

Those that were on their way with her to the border were from the first, third, and fourth family.  Four of the women were the concubine daughters from different households, while the rest of the women were servants of the Li Clan.  Those concubine daughters still had their personal maid with them, so they had their maids do everything for them.

One of the concubine daughter from the third house, Li Jing, had found herself a soldier to rely on, as long as she gave herself to him every night.  Because she found herself living a better life than the rest, she began to bully others and run her mouth as if she was head of the household.

The soldiers turned their eyes away from her actions because they didn’t think her actions were important enough to reprimand her.  But as the days passed, her actions became more and more outrageous.

That night they stopped close to a river bank and there was two camps already set out and the firepit was lit with stew cooking over it.  Raine was on cooking duty on one of them when the commotion drew her attention away.

“You dare bump into me, you slut!”  Li Jing screamed as she pushed the girl down.  

The girl and Li Jing seemed to be around the same age at Li Na.

“You slut!  Don’t think I don’t see you looking at my man every minute of the day!  Now you want to destroy my face by pretending to bump into me with that stick in your hand!”  Li Jing screamed as she began to stomp on the girl. “Die, you slut!”

Once she was tired from stomping on the girl, she took a step back and glared at everyone.  

“You want me to forgive you, you better crawl between my legs and beg for forgiveness or else I’ll kill you right now.”

The whole time, the girl did not cry out or call out for help.  She endured every kick with her mouth closed and her arms covering her head.  She rocked back and forth to get on her knees to begin crawling, when Raine stepped in.  She had enough of the foolishness. Couldn’t they just go to the border as slaves in peace?  Why does there always have to be someone who has to act up?

“Stop.”  Li Na called out as she stepped forward.  “You don’t have to do what she says.”

Everyone looked over to Li Na and everyone knew who she was the moment they saw her.  She had kept to herself most of the time, so she was quickly overlooked. But now they saw Li Na, the first daughter born from the legal wife of the second house.  Out of the 50 women there, she had the highest status, because of who her parents are.

“Li Na!”  Li Jing shouted with hate.  Ever since she was young, she was always compared to Li Na.  Li Na who was sweet and gentle. Smart and talented. Her life was a blessing to her household and she was constantly praised and spoiled.  However as the concubine born daughter, Li Jing always got the short end of the stick. Always fighting for scraps. “You don't have the authority to make me stop!   

“Even if our Li Clan has been broken and scattered, never would our Li Clan would be so impudent such as yourself to act this way towards our own.”  Li Na said as she helped the girl stand up. “Our Li Clan has always taught us better than to act like wild, mannerless, market women wherever we go.  And yet, only a few weeks since our Li Clan has been destroyed, all of your teachings as a noble woman has been forgotten. The money your family spent to hire a teacher for you was for nothing.”  

“Li Na!  Just because you were born from the second house’s legal wife, you always thought you were better than me!  Now that we’re here, look at how much better I am than you are!” Li Jing shouted.

“You fool!  It doesn’t matter if I am born from my family’s legal wife, or you from your third house’s concubine.  In the end, we all are slaves.” Li Na told her. “It’s just that now, between you and me, you’re the slut here.”  

“Li Na!  You!” Li Jing was so furious, she didn’t know what to say.      

“But I don’t care what you decide to do with your body.  What you decide to do, to live in this harsh life, is your business.  However, to treat your own people like this, this is something I cannot look away from.”  Li Na told her. “Keep your filthy hands, body and mouth to yourself. Life is already hard enough as it is.  We don’t need you to add on to it.”

“Just you wait!  I’ll make you pay!”  Li Jing shouted as she stomped her feet before walking away.  

Li Na turns to the girl by her side and brings her close to the campfire.  She sits down and other women comes around to help the girl.

“Thank you, Second Young Miss.”  The girl said as she finally let her tears fall.  

“I’m no longer the Second Young Miss.”  Li Na told them. “Just a slave, like everyone here.”  

“Lass…”  An older servant sighed out heavily.  

“Get back to work before the soldiers get angry.”  Li Na told them.

Everyone else went back to what their assigned task and left Li Na cooking by the campfire with another woman named, Ruolan, who use to work for the first household.  

“You’ve changed so much.”  Roulan said as she helped Li Na stir the pot of stew.  “Who would have thought you know how to do so much work.  From what I’ve heard, you were usually kept to your courtyard and had servants serving you at all times.  How do you know how to cook? Chop vegetables and meat? Never once have you complained like the other young ladies.”  

“What you hear and what you see are two different things.  What do you believe?” Li Na said as she kept on stirring the food.  

Roulan smiled bitterly and nodded her head.  

“At least some things we heard about you are correct.”  Roulan told her as she went back to work.