327 THE TRUE SCHEMER! edited

She was about to push the old lady away from her with her free hand before Xiao Tianyao caught her right hand and stopped her.

"Stay still." He said flatly.

"But it hurts!" Senja retorted and peeked at her hand again. As she saw blood dripping from it, Senja screamed again.

"It's bleeding!!!"

She tried to wriggle free her hand from Xiao Tianyao's grip to no avail.

"Young Miss Senja, please endure it a little more." The old lady pleaded.

"My child, it will be fine." Elder Dam consoled her.

"But this hurts and my hand is still bleeding." Senja protested.

"The pain will decrease after this…" Elder Dam persuaded her.

"Don't move your hand or it will hurt more." Xiao Tianyao added while still holding her hand to prevent her from shoving the old lady.

"What is this!?" Senja demanded an answer in distress.

"Grandfather will explain it later." Elder Dam said in coaxing tone.

The process lasted for five minutes, but Senja felt like eternity.

The old lady kept pricking her palm with that strange silver cube. While the pain made Senja want to scream in anguish, the blood didn't cease oozing.

Eventually, the bleeding stopped. The silver cube had needles on it and once it was stamped on to her palm caused the bleeding. But it wasn't too deep, so after some time it stopped bleeding.

Senja had gritted her teeth and grabbed Xiao Tianyao's hand tightly to prevent her from throwing a fit during the process. Even though Xiao Tianyao was going through the same thing, he could still manage to stay calm and soothe her pain by holding and kissing her hand.

Watching the way Xiao Tianyao was kissing Senja's hand without a care about the people around them made Elder Dam beam in delight and satisfaction.

When the process was done, the old lady poured a powder on top of her wound and wrapped her hand in clean bandages. Senja yelped again and complained again.

"Now, tell me what it is?" Senja demanded, feeling her anger welling up.

"Xiao Tianyao will explain it to you." Elder Dam said in a hurry and signaled for the two of them to leave the room right away while he escorted them to the door.

"Young Miss Senja and Prince Xiao Tianyao, please open the bandage after five minutes." The old lady who took care of Xiao Tianyao spoke before they left the room.

Senja sullenly eyed Xiao Tianyao beside her while the man was leaning his back against the couch with closed eyes.

"Now, can you tell me what this is?" Senja asked while resting her head on Xiao Tianyao's shoulder.

"Don't you know what this is?" He asked her back.

Senja rolled her eyes as she replied, "I have amnesia, remember?"

At her words Xiao Tianyao's body shook with laughter.

"Please, don't give that excuse again. That sounds very funny now."

Senja also chuckled, "Tell me."

"The Black Sword Clan has traditionally always been fond of tattoos, like the tattoo on your shoulder. Every member of the family has it." Xiao Tianyao explained, "They have tattoos for all occasions too."

"So, what about this one?" Senja raised her bandaged hand, "What is the meaning of this?"

"This one…" Xiao Tianyao trailed off, "….this one is given when you get engaged. If I am not wrong this is the 'one red leaf' tattoo"

"One red leaf? What does that mean?" Senja raised her head from Xiao Tianyao's shoulder.

"Engaged." He said flatly.

Xiao Tianyao hadn't anticipated for Elder Dam to stoop to this level of shamelessness. He had objected because the process was really painful. He didn't want Senja to go through the pain, moreover it was all too sudden.

Senja's big dark brown eyes dilated in surprise.

"Engaged?"She repeated and received a nod from him.

"This feels like his style after all…" Senja mumbled while staring at her bandaged hand.

"Hmm." Xiao Tianyao kissed the tip of Senja's head. "Well it was bound to happen sooner or later."

"But I am not his real granddaughter." Senja felt guilty when she remembered that she had fooled Elder Dam.

"He thinks you are."

"What if the real granddaughter appears?" That was one of her main concern for now.

"In your vision, you didn't see her in this Mansion, right? I am quite sure that she will not come back, even if she does, we will cross the bridge when we come to it." Xiao Tianyao stroked her head to calm her.

Senja was very pleased with Xiao Tianyao's gesture and his words. She felt it was the best decision that she had ever made since she had arrived in this era, to tell Xiao Tianyao the truth. If she had done otherwise, Senja was beyond a doubt that she would be pulling her own hair by now out of stress at the current turn of events.

However now, she had Xiao Tianyao to rely on and to share her tension.

"Thank you." Senja kissed his chin before Xiao Tianyao mischievously lowered his head and caught her lips. Both of them giggled at their act.

"It's been five minutes." Xiao Tianyao tapped Senja's head to tell her to sit straight, so they could open the bandage.

Xiao Tianyao unwrapped Senja's bandage first. He did it very slowly and carefully, as though afraid to hurt her. When the last fold of the bandage opened, Senja could see her palm had two small red leaves, still fresh.

**Wait…**

"Why are there two leaves?" Senja frowned when she looked at her palm. "You said it was supposed to be only one…" She raised her head with questioning look.

"No way!" Xiao Tianyao turned stiff.

Abruptly he yanked open his own bandage and looked his own palm with two red leaves on it.

"What is the meaning of two red leaves?"

Even though she had asked, she felt the answer was something that she didn't want to hear.

"Marriage." Xiao Tianyao said softly.

Senja leaned back on the couch behind her as she stared at her own tattoo absentmindedly.

"Grandfather schemed against us…"

"Hmm."