Personal

"How can it be that the almighty Anya of the cobra force couldn't even complete a simple task?" Mei mocks. She was secretly jealous of Anya's accomplishments and always posed challenges to her at every turn. Other than their competitions, they were sworn sisters. Mei, who was considered one of the best female assassins in their camp, wasn't as good as Anya, hence Anya got chosen for most of their dangerous operations because she was swift, stealthy and unpredictable. Killing the general was supposed to be easy, everything was carefully planned out by their leader. Getting into the general's mansion was easy, thanks to the help of the domestic staff, their leader managed to buy off. All Anya had to do was swoop in and get the job done. But things weren't quite as simple. By the time she got into his bed chamber, she perceived the strong scent of burning incense which was all over the room, and although she was wearing a mask, she wasn't entirely immune to the potent scent. Knowing how dangerous it would get if she inhaled the scent for too long, she chose to risk it. They only had this one chance, she needed to make the most of it. She thought she had some time to swiftly get the job done and be gone. But then, the general suddenly grabbed her from behind and all effort to get out of his strong hold proved abortive. She realized with dismay that she wasn't as sleek as she thought she was. In their weak state, they both did things to each other, things that should never have happened.

The leader of her gang, commander Chen Xu, knew instantly that something was amiss when Anya failed to show up in camp at the appointed time. Since she didn't exit the general's mansion when she was supposed to, it was naturally assumed that things had gone awry and if they were not careful, they would all get exposed. There was no doubt that she had failed the mission. Xu believed that she had been captured, tortured and possibly executed. He told the rest of the gang to brace up. They all waited for news from the mansion, but nothing came, no news about an attempt on the general's life, and there wasn't any news about anyone getting caught for breaking into the mansion either. It was quiet as though nothing happened. He knew how long it took to get this chance, but he wasn't entirely surprised that the mission failed. Now that things are this way, it would be even more difficult to take down Iroh.

The only chance they had had just gone down the drain, completely wasted. Being a cautious man, when he saw Anya the next day, he didn't believe her story, even though he had no reasons to doubt her. He started to suspect that Anya might have been compromised and this disappointed him greatly. He didn't think she would fail so easily. That was why he sent her. She was his best weapon yet. After her steamy ordeal with the general, Anya managed to knock him out and snuck away. Too embarrassed to face anyone just yet, she went straight home. Sneaking back into her courtyard. She quickly changed out of her black undercover clothes and instructed the maid to draw her a hot bath, citing insomnia as an excuse. She needed to scrub everywhere the general had touched clean. She had just lost her virginity in the most cruel way possible and to the person she aimed to kill. What was worse, every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was his naked toned body, as if he was permanently etched at the back of her eyelids. She couldn't erase the memory of how he fiddled with her breasts before taking them in his mouth one after the other or how he touched her everywhere else and, although it felt good at the time, she was repulsed by the mere thought of it now. She spent the entire night scrubbing and hating every fiber of her being for responding to him the way they did and wishing there was a way to scrap everything off. Every part of her body hurts now. That man was such a beast, taking her in the most brutal way possible, just because he hadn't been with a woman before doesn't mean he couldn't be a little bit gentle.

Anya had a restless night, as series of questions ran through her mind. She wondered if she had walked right into a certain trap. Her sadness ran deep, that she was unaware of the tears flowing from her delicate eyes. Who could have done such a despicable thing and why? Why was she sent to his bed chamber on the same night that he was drugged? Was there another group that wanted to kill the general as well? Are they trying to force themselves into his life? Or did the general have a secret fetish where he do that to himself? What was she supposed to report to the commander? It wouldn't be wise to report everything as it happened, better to leave out the crucial reason why she failed. This way, she could still save a little face. As she bathed, she thought about the things to say and tried to get her story straight. She would say that she was ambushed. That wasn't a complete lie, given that the general had indeed captured her. She just wouldn't admit that she was humpted, that would be too embarrassing.

It was the first time she would fail a mission, and she was not happy about it. Her hatred for the general just soared to a higher level, and she swore to get her revenge no matter what it took. Killing him just became a personal task. She would see to it that nobody killed him before she did.

"Well, you know what they say, you can't be a hundred percent perfect," she tried to brush it off, but deep within, she was seething with rage at being reminded of her failure. She did a smart thing by convincing the commander. She hoped he would give her another chance soon. Although she had doubts that he believed her story, she was willing to trust him. To redeem herself, she would take on even more dangerous missions while she secretly planned her revenge on the general. He had to die at her hands. That was the thing that would appease her bruised ego. Who knows when the general would begin to boast about how he bedded the assassin that was sent to kill him? By then, she would have no place to hide.

"Huh, if I was sent instead, that man would already be dead by now. I always do a better job than you, just that the leader thinks highly of you because you are the Minister's daughter." Mei scoffed, in scrutiny. Although they were sworn sisters, they never agreed on the same thing.

"You are absolutely correct, and you could also have ended up dead, you know?" Anya said, shrugging her shoulders in surrender. She had no strength left to argue with Mei further, she likes to argue too much and could go on arguing blindly. Anya needed to get back home because her parents had informed her they would be having guests over.

At home, Anya was the perfect daughter, an ordinary, sweet and innocent daughter of the Finance Minister. She was well-bred, educated and acted accordingly. She had no reason to own a sword, let alone wield one. There also was never a reason for her to get into physical fight because her father already provided her with two bodyguards who protected her from the shadows. How does she then manage to get past all these layers of security and make it to the rebel camp? How come no one in her house ever suspected that she was leading a double life? Easy, she was sly and absolutely cunning, she could do anything once she sets her mind to it. Her sense of justice led her to Xu's camp. She believed that they were doing the right thing by riding the country of corrupt officials and chose to train with them, she joined their cause three years ago. At first, nobody trusted her, but she proved them all wrong and with time, they all realized she was an asset.

The purpose of their camp was to get justice for the people and give them new hope. A thing that the government officials had failed to do. The people idolized them. They had forced a number of corrupt government officials into retirement, killed dozens of those who tried to play smart. All of these accomplishments convinced Anya that she was on the right track. She also took an oath to never reveal her secret to anyone and, so far, she was doing great. There was a list to execute people in power and at the top of that list was Iroh's name. All the things he did wrong were far too many to be overlooked. He was believed to be the most corrupt official and would do anything to get what he wanted, hence the need to take him out before he forcefully took over the country from the king. With their failed attempt, it was only a matter of time before he started picking them up one after another.

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