Chen’s flush feels like it starts at the base of her feet and the warmth rises unstoppable all the way through up until it leaps out the tips of her ears. She imagines her whole face must be on fire and tries to bury her head in one of this tall, strong huntress’s many arms. 

It is worth understanding that this is not the first time that Chen has been kidnapped. It’s a regular happening among princesses. Being bested in a close match and taken prisoner for an exchange is considered the honorable outcome, far more so than a cowardly retreat. That it offers the victor an opportunity for some well-earned teasing and boasts isn’t so much a perk as the whole point. Chen has, in her last few years, been both kidnapper and kidnapped, though she tends to be on the gentle end of kidnappers among the princesses. Her mothers taught her to bear this sort of thing with dignity and poise. It’s only shameful if a princess allows herself to be bested by a clearly inferior opponent (being taken by a lowly palace guard might make you a laughingstock for [i]months[/i]). 

However, princesses [i]never[/i] ask in these situations. Being captured is just part of the custom. The huntress was a superior opponent and Chen had committed to a decisive strike understanding that she couldn’t win the match but could give a good accounting of herself and earn better treatment as a result. B-but the huntress was asking Chen to submit to this. To...to...not only submit but say that she [i]wanted[/i] to be teased. She ought to be outraged! She ought to just walk off, or at least to take the middle option and bide her time while learning The Way until she could make a quick escape once they found Yue. Under no circumstances should she intentionally [i]choose[/i] humiliation. If this got out, the other princesses would gossip about it forever, she’d probably get some kind of humiliating nickname, and both her mothers would be furious! S-so why was she blushing head to toe and speaking something muffled into the huntress’s body?

She tries to collect herself, fails, realizes that she can hardly give an answer shouting into a strong, sculpted arm, and lifts her head, which she promptly turns sideways and tries to bury into her own shoulder (not having any free arms to cover her face) so she doesn’t have to make any eye contact. 

“I’m a P-princess and...and you’ll...you’ll never get away with...*deep breath* with subjecting me to this in-indignity.” She says with great difficulty. 

Oh suns, she was in for it now. Except...her heart wasn’t sinking, it felt more like it was soaring. 

[Chen is accepting the XP and declaring herself Smitten with Rose from the River (whose name she still doesn’t know). As to why they can’t be together, this just can’t last. Chen has a destiny and it starts with getting Yue and going back to getting her edge over Qiu. She wants this, but she knows, just knows, that it’s going to be temporary and then she and Rose will have to go their separate ways. Rose likely implicitly knows this if she’s familiar with Chen’s world, and it matches with The Way as well.]