Xia-Shibai was born as the fifth princess of the Qing Empire, the eighth child of the Emperor.
At a young age, she contracted a type of non-contagious pneumonia, a fungal infection which apothecaries linked to something in her diet as an infant.
Unlike her siblings, she was born of a slave whom the emperor had forced himself upon, and thus she was a common target during his meltdowns. This isolation shaped her childhood—until three of her siblings reached through the silence.
The first was the eldest princess, Rin. She was apparently executed by the emperor for attempting to run away with a man she had fallen in love with. This happened when Xia was too young to remember, but her retainers always told her about how Rin had nursed her when she was just a baby.
The second was the first prince, Lao. Xia remembered a particularly violent beating from her father, where she ended up having her eye dashed out. After the emperor left, Lao immediately ran to her side in order to disinfect the wound. He spent the remainder of that night restlessly sewing her an eyepatch with leather from his own sword sheath.
This, however, led to his death years later, as the altered shape of the sheath made it harder to withdraw his sword in time before he was ambushed. Xia had carried this burden and regret ever since.
The last one was the third prince, Tao-da, or as she called him, Tao. He would always be the one to play with her when she was sad or comfort her when she struggled to breathe.
While in mourning for Lao's untimely death, she caught wind of Tao's plan to leave Qing and lead a crusade over in Europe and the Middle East. She had heard him being mocked by the second prince for it in the courtyard.
This notion set her into a state of dread.
The only other two people she loved had left her, and she was about to lose the last. She knew that if he left without her, no one would have the fortitude of mind to protect her from the emperor's abuse—and recently, from the second prince forcing himself on her, though no one else knew that.
Under this immense situation, a plan formulated in her mind: she'd attempt to join his crusade.
She knew that she'd probably be killed, but she argued that it would be better than receiving abuse from her kin. Besides, she knew she might not live much longer anyway.
It was with a heavy heart that she snuck out of the window as the sun finished setting that fateful night.
After escaping the palace, she ran into the streets of Beijing in a desperate search for her elder brother.
To her surprise, he wasn't difficult to find at all.
He was attempting to cull some of the people into joining his army, though no one obliged, which was a serious hit to his self-esteem.
In fact, the only person to join from the streets of Qing was her. She had muddied herself and thrown on a rag to conceal her identity just barely enough to be accepted until she had a helmet to fully hide her face.
As she silently sat under the deck of the ship, she felt a warm sensation in her chest. She felt that she was finally within reach of making a real friend.
At that very moment, that same friend burst through the door and quickly stumbled down the stairs.
Her mind went blank for a second.
"Oh, hello again, Lumiere?"
Lumiere panted heavily.
"No time to explain."
He grabbed her by the wrist and brought her into the wine cellar before closing the door behind him.
The accumulated dust filled the air as he did.
Xia's mind was still blank, but she was beginning to understand that something serious had happened. Deep in her mind, though, her heart clenched. Was she being taken back? Had they found her out?
"What are you doing?" she asked, with the same sheepish smile as her brother.
Lumiere sighed to himself for a second before responding.
"So, you're a princess of the Qing?" he said in a dramatic tone.
"Well… yes," she said, a face of genuine fear.
Lumiere chuckled frantically.
"Yeah, well, your brother thinks you're dead. And… he's spiraling. He's talking about killing another monarch, and I think you can guess who that monarch is."
Xia fell to her knees in disappointment—not for the situation, but for herself.
"I knew I should've been open about it. I was just scared that he'd leave me behind."
A slight tear began to form in the corner of her eye.
Lumiere went down on one knee and held out his hand.
"Here's the plan. We'll put your helmet back on, and I'll walk you out of here. Then you'll go up to him yourself—it's probably best to take him under the deck first and then reveal your identity. Maybe if you take the initiative to tell him, then he won't kill you."
Xia began to sniffle slightly.
"He… he wouldn't kill me," she began to sob loudly.
"No, no, no, I was just exaggerating. I just meant he'll be less upset at you."
She wiped her teary eyes but continued sniffling.
"Okay…" she said as she took his hand.
As they walked out, he thought about how both her and her brother acted like children sometimes.
They stepped out to the scene of Tao-da giving an incredibly fueled speech about killing the emperor of Qing after Jerusalem. He rambled as if he were drunk.
Xia hesitated before stepping outside. She had never seen her brother in such a state before; his rage was somewhat reminiscent of their father's from an outside point of view.
Tao-da finally noticed Lumiere and suddenly forced an innocent smile onto his face.
"Where've you been, man?"
Silence.
"So, umm… after the crusade, how would you feel about taking a little detour to Qing?"
Lumiere stuttered, "I'd love to… but I think this soldier has something to add."
Xia shot to life.
"Yeah, uh, sir, please come with me below deck. I have vital information for the crusade."
Tao-da slowly put his palm to his face and let out a quiet sigh in order to calm himself down.
"Okay, let's not take too long, though."
As the two of them disappeared under the deck, Moses approached Lumiere and clasped his hand.
"Hey, brother, I guess this journey's gonna be longer than we thought, huh?"
Lumiere muttered to himself,
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Moses' eyes lit up in confusion. He had suspected that Lumiere was hiding something but didn't know what.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked bluntly.
He was about to explain, but almost on cue, an ear-piercing, devastating scream could be heard below deck.
The crew was silent, stunned at what had just happened.
Moments later, Julian ran up the stairs.
"Hey, could I get some help down here?"
Lumiere, Moses, and Wilhelm ran to the door, while Kolya and Idris, as well as the other soldiers, followed suit. The only one who remained was Christoff, who had drunk himself to sleep.
The scene below deck was chaotic, to say the least. Tao-da lay there on the ground, clearly unconscious. Xia kneeled next to him, sobbing into her hands.
"Who the hell is that?" questioned Idris.
"Maybe a stowaway?" Kolya replied.
Idris' eyes lit up in anger.
"What did you do to him?" he shouted down to her.
Wilhelm interrupted him.
"Calm down, Idris, we don't know the situation yet, so don't make any rash decisions."
Idris scoffed.
"I know!" Julian added, clearly very proud of himself.
"Them two came down here, and she took off her helmet, then he started freaking out and accidentally hit his head off the wall, which knocked him out."
Moses started cackling loudly at this outlandish situation. He had clearly drunk more somewhere along the line, though he tried his best to maintain his calm composure.
"I'll deal with this," proclaimed Lumiere, though he was stopped temporarily by a hand on his shoulder—it was Wilhelm.
"What do you know?" he asked bluntly.
Lumiere turned away from him and continued walking down.
"I'll explain it to you later."
He couldn't help but think that Wilhelm and Moses had completely switched personalities—almost as if they were in each other's bodies.
He kneeled before Xia.
"How'd it go?" he asked as softly as possible.
Xia's eyes lit up as she saw Lumiere's face, though she quickly retreated back to crying.
"It's all my fault. I killed him!"
She threw herself into Lumiere's arms, sobbing louder than before.
"Why do I always do this? Why's it always me?" she trailed on.
Lumiere sat in shock at the mental fragility of the woman before him—or rather, on top of him.
"He's fine Xia, just sleeping."
She cradled herself in his arms for a couple more moments, babbling some sort of nonsense under her breath.
She sniffled exaggeratedly.
"You promise?"
Lumiere sighed.
"Yes."
At that very moment, Tao-da began to stir.
"Why do you call her Xia but you call me Tao-da? I wanna abbreviate my name!"
At his awakening, the rest of the group cluttered downstairs.
Lumiere smiled, knowing that his friend was actually alive.
"Alright, I'll call you Tao if that's what you really want."
Tao raised his chin in pride. From that point on, they all started referring to him as Tao.
He and Xia went into Julian's office to continue discussions in private. Julian went with them as mediator, though he was possibly the worst person for that duty.
The rest of the group sat around Lumiere closely. Moses smirked at him, and Wilhelm, in an attempt to appear like his usual self, did the same.
"Didn't realise you were so good with ladies, Lumiere," Moses blurted out.
"Looks like someone's popular," Wilhelm added.
Both of them muttered and giggled between themselves.
Lumiere, in his embarrassment, threw an empty wine bottle between their heads. It shattered as it slammed against the old wooden wall.
"Why's everyone on this crusade so goddamn childish?"
Wilhelm froze where he stood, demeanor shattered, while Moses continued laughing as he stood and slowly stumbled towards him.
"Oh, we're just having a laugh! Besides, you should feel proud of yourself for finally speaking to a woman."
Lumiere's face lit up even more.
"Just let me explain, okay?"
After a few minutes of him explaining the situation—and subsequently getting teased—the three of them finally left the office to the scene of Lumiere attempting to suplex Moses. Kolya and Wilhelm were trying to pull him off, while Idris and the rest of the soldiers cackled in the background.
Tao spoke up.
"The presence of my sister here changes nothing. We will proceed as we have prior."
He sounded more confident than before.
As most of the men began to stand back up, he stopped Lumiere where he stood.
"Listen, Lumiere, you protect her no matter what!"
The rest of the ship burst out in howls of giggling. Lumiere, on the other hand, fell to his knees, face completely red and blood slightly dribbling from his nose.
At this moment, however, Christoff burst into the underdeck.
He was sweating profusely and in a panic. The only word he managed to form was—
"Pirates!"