A’Li and I arrived at my residence at the same time I spotted Consort Xue entering Crown Prince Yan’s bedroom. She seemed to be behaving oddly since she didn’t have her maids accompanying her. I stopped at the doorstep and observed her shadow moving about inside his room. A’Li glances to what I was staring at and commented on Consort Xue’s behavior, but I didn’t hear her it clearly. I continued to watch and another silhouette emerged. I angled my head towards A’Li and ask,

“Is Crown Prince Yan in his bedroom?”

“Yes” A’Li answers.

“Then why is Consort Xue secretly meeting him?”

“If Crown Princess is concerned, I can-”

“No need. I shouldn’t think too much about this. Imperial Mother probably summoned Consort Xue to meet him secretly to avoid conflict with me”

“What do you mean, Crown Princess?”

“Imperial Mother is desperate to maintain her status as Huang Hou* and keep her son from other threats”

“She wants Consort Xue to bear him a child? Doesn’t that mean if she has a child, you will be immediately demoted?”

“What difference does it make? Consort Xue is his beloved one, I can’t stop him” I exhaled wearily.

           Suddenly, Crown Prince Yan’s bedroom doors opened and Consort Xue noticed me. With distressed eyes, she glance to the side as if she had to glance at Crown Prince Yan one last time before she steps outside his room. Shortly, Crown Prince Yan appears at the entrance with an upright posture while his arms crossed in front of his chest. I caught his eyes with mine and quickly looked away.

“Xiang Yun” he finally spoke.

“Greetings, Crown Prince Yan” I couldn’t ignore his presence and bowed with courtesy. A’Li did the same.

“Come on over” he orders. I nod and stepped down the stairs as A’Li followed.

“A’Li can be dismissed” he said as I glance to A’Li. She nods at me and left the place. As for me, I had no choice but to continue approaching him.

           I stepped inside his bedroom and spotted a sack of cloth bags sitting on his bed. Turning to face him, he sits down on the wooden stool and I did the same. I reached over for the teapot and poured some into a cup. After it was filled halfway, I set it in front of him to drink as I grabbed another cup for me. He interrupts by grabbing my hand causing me to spill on the table and on myself.

“What are you doing?” I ask, burned a little on my fingers.

“Let me” he suggests, took the teapot from me and finished pouring as I kissed my fingers from the pain.

“Why am I here?”

“I need to tell you something” he answers and sets the cup in front of me.

“Okay” I respond, waiting for him to continue.

“Tomorrow morning, I’m leaving the city with Ke Qiang”

“Okay” I nod and extend my hand to the cup so I can take a quick sip of it, “why are you telling me this?” I ask.

“Because if something goes wrong, you can marry someone new without feeling guilty”

“What are you saying?” I slammed the cup on the table, “What do you mean if something goes wrong?”

“I can’t tell you”

“Can’t tell me or won’t tell me?” my eyes flared.

“Both”

“Is it about the marriage with Zhu Kingdom?” I guess.

He looks away and didn’t speak. I angrily poured myself another cup of tea and chugged it down rapidly.

“Are you marrying her” I continued to glare at him, but he wasn’t focusing on me,  “or is it Ke Qiang?”

“It’s not important who is marrying who, but the plan of it”

“Plan?”

“Forget it. Go back to your room” he got up.

“No. I won’t leave until you explain” I refused.

“Fine. I’ll leave then” he left the room.

“Yan Shen Qing!” I said, annoyed. “How do you expect me marry someone new?” I mumbled.

Next Day

           Since Crown Prince Yan wouldn’t tell me what their plan is, my only decision was to follow them in hope that I can help out. I didn’t A’Li that I was leaving because I know if I had told her, she would have forbid me to go. She thinks this marriage is a fake like there’s more to the story that I don’t know about. What I think is that Crown Prince Yan will marry the girl on the behalf to keep peace. At the same time, I find it suspicious on how Ke Qiang is related to the issue. He isn’t marry, so he’s the best candidate. However, it seems like Crown Prince Yan is the one marrying her. I’m so confused. Who exactly is marrying who? Coincidently, Consort Xue caught me sneaking out this morning. She told me that Crown Prince Yan will be in danger so I must follow him to the Zhu Kingdom no matter what. It seems like whatever Crown Prince Yan wants to hide from me; he couldn’t hide it from Consort Xue. They are perfect lovers, so I guess it’s not strange that Consort Xue would know some issues that I don’t know of. She knew, yet why isn’t the one following him?

I’ve been following Crown Prince Yan and his men for hours now and yet they haven’t took a rest. Even I was starting to get tired of walking behind and trying to keep quiet, I heave the moment Ke Qiang signals the men behind him to stop and take a break. I smile brightly and plant my on the ground to catch my breath. I wiped away dew of sweat on my forehead and shuffled through my cloth bag for the steam buns I’ve packed.

“How much longer until we reach Zhu Kingdom?” Shen Qing approaches Ke Qiang who is standing next to his horse.

“About two more days, but if we don’t stop it’ll be a day and a half” Ke Qiang answers as he opened the bottle to drink some water. After a gulp he asks, “Why? Are you in a rush to reach Zhu Kingdom?” he wipes his mouth.

“No” Shen Qing snatches the bottle from him to drink.

“Don’t worry; we’ll arrive in time for the wedding” Ke Qiang said and walks off towards his men.

~~~~

           It’s been a two day and we’re finally reaching the borders into Zhu Kingdom. So far, Shen Qing or Ke Qiang hasn’t noticed me following which I’m quite impressed with myself. I’m not an expert at being quiet when sneaking on my targets, so this is something I have to praise myself for. Suddenly, they stopped. I stood behind a large tree and stretch my head out to see who’s blocking them. A bunch of merchants surrounds them with their carriage of goods.  

“Come. Come” they waved towards Shen Qing and Ke Qiang, “Look at the riches we’ve collected. I believe that you’ll be satisfied with them” they call said.

Ke Qiang glances over to Shen Qing, “We can’t be delayed”

Shen Qing nods and climbed off his horse to talk with the merchants. Walking towards them the merchants happily lifted the cover sheet to the carriage. At the same time, one of the merchants unsheathes his sword and lunge at Shen Qing with a strike. Surprised, Shen Qing didn’t dodge the sword in time and received a small cut on his upper left arm. Ke Qiang and his men quickly drew their sword and attacked.

“What’s going on?” I mumbled, trying to locate Shen Qing.

“Crown Prince” Ruo Xie fends off one of the merchant and continued to block him from getting attacked. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine, it’s just a scratch” Shen Qing said holding his wound, “Aren’t you supposed to be back in the palace with Ah Yun?”

“Crown Princess went missing the same day you and Ke Qiang departed”

“What?” Shen Qing’s eyebrows creased.

“A’Li and I suspected that Crown Princess had followed you out, so we’ve been secretly following in hope that we’ll see Crown Princess”

“Have you seen her then?”

Ruo Xie shook his head as more of the merchants appeared from nowhere.

“Shen Qing, quit standing there and fight” Ke Qiang shouts and threw him a sword. Shen Qing caught it and glares at Ruo Xie. “If you see Ah Yun, make sure she’s alright and her back even if she refuses. That’s an order” Shen Qing spoke as he looked at Ruo Xie. He nods at Shen Qing’s words and continued forward with the fight.

“Is Crown Prince alright?” A’Li asks Ruo Xie once she’d joined the fight.

“He’s fine. He’s more concerned with Crown Princess’s missing whereabouts”

A’Li sighs and fought alongside with Ruo Xie.

From afar, the fight was gradually increasing. Obviously Ke Qiang and his troop are outnumbered, but they are elite warriors, so they can’t fall back. After a brief search, I finally spotted Shen Qing and approached the battle. Shen Qing was focus in one direction of the fight and when a merchant slowly crept behind him he didn’t notice. My eyes widen at the sight of the man’s approach and my body automatically ran towards Shen Qing without hesitation. Within a second, the sword pierces into my upper shoulder blade and through the front of my chest. I grunt. I clench my hands into a fist. And I took a small step forward. All was to maintain my stance. During this moment, Shen Qing notices me and the penetrated sword coming out of my chest. Once he processed what just happened, his eyes lit with shock. He then aggressively fought his way to me. I smiled and extended my hand towards him, finally seeing how he looked at me.  

“Crown Princess!” A’Li shouts, trying to reach me too.

As soon as Shen Qing reached me, the merchant yanked a part of me with the sword. Then, he struck him. Shen Qing chucks his sword at the merchant’s head and caught me from falling to the ground. He held me against him and tried to support my feeble body with his. Before A’Li and the others can reach us, the merchants intersected our group making Shen Qing have no choice but to escape first. Since Shen Qing and I were nowhere close to a horse, we ran for it. Using all the strength I have left, I tried to keep up with Shen Qing’s pace.

“I can’t” I held on his arm when we’ve arrived at a steep hill.

“You must” he insisted.

“I really can’t” I groaned.

Shen Qing glances behind us and back to me, “Wait here for me. Don’t sleep, okay? You must wait for me. I’ll be back for you” Shen Qing held my cheeks and pressed his lips on my forehead. He has decided to hide me so that he can distract the merchants to a different direction. It’s a dangerous risk, but he was willing to do it for the sake that I’ll hopefully be saved by someone nearby. After carefully hiding me, Shen Qing ran the other route as I heard heavy footsteps followed. I stared at the sky blue, imagining how beautiful my life with Shen Qing would have been if we weren’t from the royal bloodline. My thoughts drifted as I gradually closed my eyes.  

* Huang Hou  = Empress