The Unsurpassed Maiden

"Took you long enough to notice." Lady Ning Gwang whispers while sipping her jasmine tea.

"I didn't know our student is a slow one." The other teacher teases while also sipping from his own teacup.

Mi Young looked at the both of them with wide eyes. Her mouth was still hanging open and she's still trying to process another vital information she just learned.

Then she looks at the calm and relaxed teacher Zhong who looks like he didn't just drop a bomb that big in front of Mi Young.

"You have a twin dragon…" Mi Young whispers.

"Not really a twin dragon because he also has a human form." The tall black haired teacher says. He looks at Ning Gwang before saying, "Come to think of it, it's been thousands of years since I last saw Zhong Liu, I wonder what that kid is up to this time."

"You tell me, you're the twin brother not me." Lady Ning Gwang says. She smells her tea before she starts drinking it once again, and with a contented sigh she continues, "Ah, I have always loved the smell of jasmine."

"I knew you would like it."

"Can you two please stop flirting in front of me?" Mi Young announces while staring at them with disbelief.

Lady Ning Gwang didn't bat a single lashes on her as she continued to enjoy her tea. However, teacher Zhong had a different reaction than the white haired woman.

Mi Young sees the other teacher clearing his throat while trying to hide his reddened ears.

"W-We were not flirting." Teacher Zhong tries to say.

Mi Young and Lady Ning Gwang just gave him a look that says "stop-trying-to-deny-it-you-were-obviously-flirting" to which the male teacher just ignored.

The black haired girl sighs before she turns towards her new teacher, "If your brother can change into a dragon, then can you as well…"

"Fortunately, no." Teacher Zhong answers as he puts down his now empty cup of tea. He proceeds to look at his student before continuing his explanation. "We're twins, that's true. However, even though we have the same blood and face, only one of us was gifted with our bloodline's hidden ability."

"Ability? It's a bloodline ability?"

"Uhn." The teacher says with a nod. "Once in every ten thousand years, a descendant of the direct Zhong bloodline will be gifted with the ability to change his or her form into a dragon. The blessing was only given to one person so that is why even if we are both twins, only one of us inherited the ability."

"You're not jealous of your brother then?" Mi Young asks. Mostly, if one of the siblings were given something a lot more awesome than the other, the brother or sister will eventually grow jealous of their own sibling's possession, which is why the black haired girl assumed her teacher Zhong Yu to be jealous of his twin brother.

However, Zhong Yu's reaction definitely caught the young student off guard. "Why would I be jealous of his ability? For me, it's somewhat a curse actually. At first I was a bit jealous, yes. That's because I was so young and thought that having that kind of ability is really awesome. However, as I grew up together with Zhong Liu, I realized how burdensome it is."

"In what way does it become burdensome?" Mi Young questions. Then, she realized she was asking a very personal question. "Oh no! I'm sorry teacher! I didn't mean to pry! I was just curious and I immediately thought—"

"Hey, calm down, Mi Young." Teacher Zhong says as he looks at Mi Young with gentleness. It's not the same with how he looked at Mi Young's other teacher but his look is still gentle and very friendly which made the young girl relaxed. "It's fine, don't worry. Plus, you are my student and a person close to Ning Gwang's heart, so I think it's okay to let you know more about me."

"T-Thank you, teacher! It is truly an honor." Mi Young says as she bows her head towards the other person respectfully.

Teacher Zhong just offered her a small smile before he started to explain where he left off. "Anyway, as I grew up with my brother who was gifted with our family's blessing, I realized that having an ability like him is a lot of work. During our training when we were younger, the teacher was a lot stricter towards him. He also had an additional lesson with an instructor that never showed his face to anyone except him. Our parents and our other relatives put pressure on him by telling him that he should always abide by the rules and law of our family. That he should not put any shame to our family's name. Looking at him, what I felt was not jealous at all but pity."

Mi Young nodded her head as her teacher's words sank in. She could never imagine how much pressure teacher Zhong's brother went through. Just by hearing her teacher's words, she can already feel the huge responsibility of her teacher's twin.

They were silent for a few minutes before Mi Young raised another question, "Where is he now?"

Teacher Zhong replied, "I don't know. After his rebellion years ago, we never saw him for thousands of years."

"Rebellion?" The young student asks after getting intrigued with her teacher's choice of words.

"Uhn. My brother grew tired of all the weight on his shoulder so he rebelled against our own parents and left our house without telling anyone where he'd go. Not even his own twin." Teacher Zhong says with a chuckle.

"I remember Zhong Yu taking up all the responsibility his twin brother left." Lady Ning Gwang says, casually joining the conversation with a smile. "It was hectic but it's definitely fun."

"What do you mean, teacher?"

"What Ning Gwang meant was when my twin left for god knows where, my family made me act as Zhong Liu for years. I took all the responsibility that he should have done by acting as him. And to tell you the truth, it was really burdensome. I have to receive the same lessons as him, from training down to knowing all the steps of managing our business and everything an heir should have done." Teacher Zhong says. Mi Young noticed that although he was talking about a bitter memory, there was a small smile playing on her teacher's lips. His eyes also looked dazed, as if he's remembering a fun memory.

"You're not mad at him for leaving you behind?" Mi Young asks, tone gentle as not to disturb the solemn look on her teacher's face.

Teacher Zhong shook his head while still smiling. "No. If not, I want to thank him actually. Because of him, I was able to realize how tiring it is to be an heir and how amazing being free was like."

"Did your parents try looking for him?"

"Uhn. Thousands of times. But sadly, Zhong Liu was a really smart one. He's also really good at hiding to be honest."

"How are you sure that he's not, you know, dead?" Mi Young questions, trying to be careful with her words to not anger or trigger her teacher. Fortunately, teacher Zhong didn't take her question too seriously.

"I can feel it here." The teacher says while placing his palm on his chest, the part where his heart lies. "We have this special connection between us where we can also feel the other's presence even if we're miles apart. That's also why even though we were just teenagers the last time I saw him, I never really bothered looking out for him."

"Why?"

Teacher Zhong smiles at her, "Because I can tell that wherever he is, he's happy and content. Although sometimes I can feel him getting pissed off or annoyed but all in all, he's much happier there compared to when he was in our hometown."

"I see, thank you teacher for telling me all of those." Mi Young says with deep gratitude, she once again starts to bow to her teacher.

"It's a pleasure." Teacher Zhong says before he starts to ask Lady Ning Gwang something.

Mi Young didn't bother to listen to their conversation to let her own teachers talk. She just proceeded to look at the painting once more so she could keep the dragon's face in mind.

Somehow, looking at it now, reminded Mi Young of something. It's as if she knows that she saw the dragon somewhere before but she couldn't quite tell where and when.

The black haired girl decided to stand up and move closer towards the painting once again so she can see clearly, maybe it will help her remember where she saw the dragon.

As Mi Young studied the dragon's face more and more, the nagging feeling inside her kept on growing.

"Where did I see you…" The black haired girl whispers to herself. She squints her eyes at the dragon to find something. Something that can trigger her memory so she can remember where she saw the dragon.

At some point, Lady Ning Gwang jokes out that Mi Young can kiss the painting if she wants considering how close her face already was towards the canvas.

And then, while looking at the mark just right on the dragon's right eye, a memory flashed inside Mi Young's nimble mind.

"Oh my god! I saw him before!" The black haired girl yells while pointing at the painting of her teacher Zhong Yu's twin brother.

"What? Where?" Zhong Yu asks, suddenly interested.

Mi Young looks at him for a few seconds, as if she's thinking whether she should continue her next sentence or not. She looks at her teacher who has already said so much about himself even though it's their first time talking to each other. She decided that teacher Hwang and teacher Zhong are both people who she can trust.

And so with a sigh the black haired girl says, "I saw him with the Great Sage."