I sat under the pavilion with my head lying on the table top. I angrily formed a fist and slammed it on the table top. I continued to slam my fist against the marble table top as I cussed about Crown Prince Yan.

“Idiot! Heartless man! Stupid! Why did I even save you?”  I exhaled wearily and glared at my bruised fist. A’Li approached and sat in front of me. She reached over for my injured hand and started to apply a cream on it. I stared at her as she didn’t look up to me; had her focus on my wound.

“Crown Princess must be careful. Your old wound hasn’t healed and purposely hurting yourself like this isn’t good for you either,” she spoke in a soft manner. I pouted and buried my face with my other arm.

“Crown Princess, I heard the marriage isn’t proceeding anymore. Crown Prince got angry about the raid, so he wanted the Zhu Emperor to punish the merchants,” she continued to speak.

“Why?” I muttered, still not looking up.

“I believe it’s to delay the marriage on purpose, but I’m not so sure on why.” She answered and I quickly sat up.

“Do you think it’s because-”

“No,” A’Li immediately interrupted me, “I think Crown Prince has another plan up his sleeves. I find it suspicious that we’ve not even seen this princess of theirs nor have she welcomed us. I think the Zhu Emperor is hiding something and Crown Prince knows this, so he’s using the raid as an excuse to figure the emperor’s motive.”

“You sure had a lot of time to think about this,” I slipped my hand away from A’Li, “No matter what, I’m still angry at him.”

“Crown Princess” A’Li’s eyes softened.

“No. You’re not allowed to speak on his behalf.” I pointed at her to shut up.

“What did he do that made you so angry this time?” A’Li tucked away the white bottle.

“He told me he couldn’t love me.” I gloomily glanced down.

“Couldn’t love and wouldn’t love?”

“What do you mean?”

“Couldn’t love is more like,” A’Li tilted her head and stopped halfway to figure out what she wanted to say, “he loves, but something is holding him back. Wouldn’t love is because he decided to not love you. I think Crown Prince does love you, but he’s unable to face it.”

“Unable to face it?” My eyebrows rose up.

“As for that part, I’m just speculating.” I nodded to her statement and tried to comprehend his side of the story. His troubles to be exact, he does not seem like he’s concerned about anything. Indeed, he only cares about his Consort Xue back at home. And, Imperial Mother has been pestering us (me) to have a child for him; that can’t possibly be his problem. Of course not! He has Consort Xue to give him an heir. She’s been serving him more than me and why should I give him a child when he clearly doesn’t love me. I pouted again and sulked in my seat as A’Li shook her head and sighed.

           During the investigation about the raid, the case was led to a dead end. There wasn’t any evidence that the raid had anything to do with politics and the life of Shen Qing. As a result, the case was announced as a misunderstanding between the kingdoms. Two days after the announcement, the wedding happened. Everything was going smoothly and the Zhu Emperor was extremely delighted because he didn’t allow politics ruin his mood when his officials reported to him about the border issues. On the other hand, I was more excited to see how the princess looked like. Will she be the perfect wife for Ke Qiang?

           I sat closer to the front and next to Shen Qing, who has been ignoring me for a while. My anger towards him has been hindered, but I am still uneasy about his words. It’s as if his words are played on repeat for me to not forget. Yet, I don’t understand why he has to ignore me after telling me that he does not love me; can’t he just pretend like our marriage hasn’t changed. The Zhu Emperor gave a toast and Shen Qing turned to hand me a cup of wine. I glimpsed up to meet his eyes, but he immediately diverted his focus and grabbed my hand to set the cup on my palm. He shifted to face the Zhu Emperor and I stared at the wobbling cup in my palm.

           “Congrats to the two uniting kingdoms!” Zhu Emperor shouted and took a sip of his cup. I forced a smile and drank the wine. Shortly, the princess entered the room dressed in her wedding gown as Ke Qiang held her hands. Both of them walked towards the Zhu Emperor to paid their respects and received their blessings. I tilted my head when I spotted a lady peeking into the main hall, where we were.

           “Jue Hai, are you nervous?” Zhu Emperor asked and she shook her head. “Of course, she wouldn’t admit to being nervous. Ke Qiang, you’re dismissed to be with her for the night because you’re not needed here,” he joked and everyone laughed because they knew he was implying that they should hurry up and have a kid.

           “You’re being too generous; how can I leave Your Majesty unattended?” Ke Qiang responded.

           “Oh don’t worry, I am happier to see you two have kids as soon as possible than serving me,” He answered. Ke Qiang chuckled and felt Jue Hai’s heart skipped a beat. Then, he asked for permission to leave and once they’d turned, a gush of harsh wind blew against them. On that exact moment, the red veil that covered Jue Hai’s face fell to the ground and everyone who knew how Jue Hai looked like gasped.

           “What is this? This isn’t Princess Jue Hai!” one of the subjects shouted making the Zhu Emperor nervous. Ke Qiang looked at her with confusion and back to us.

           “What’s going on?” I whispered to A’Li, but she shook her head.

           “Your Majesty, this isn’t Princess Jue Hai! This is her maid,” another subject commented.

           “How dare you take Princess Jue Hai’s place? Where is my daughter!?” He pretended like he didn’t know why there was a switch in people. The imposter quickly kowtowed for forgiveness and explained that it was her idea to take Princess Jue Hai’s place.

           “Men! Send her to receive her death penalty!”

           “No!” a female voice shouted and strolled in from the side of the room. I glanced over at the same lady, who was peeking earlier, and cocked my head in confusion.

           “You-” Ke Qiang said a bit surprised to meet her again, but she ignored him.

           “Imperial Father, I beg your pardon for my maid. It was my idea to have her take my place because of my inability to walk. I didn’t want to embarrass Cai Kingdom for marrying a disabled lady nor did I want to embarrass you, father,” Jue Hai explained.

           “Hold on, so who’s the real Princess?” Ke Qiang asked and looked around; noticed Shen Qing’s signal that it’s time to launch the attack.

           “The real Princess Jue Hai is sitting next to you; in the wheelchair,” one of the subjects answered. Ke Qiang and Jue Hai both turned their heads so that they can make eye contact with each other. There was a spark of surprise in their eyes and Ke Qiang appeared breathless.

           “Ke Qiang.” Shen Qing tried to get his attention, but Ke Qiang ignored. I leaned closer to A’Li and whispered.

           “What’s going on? Will the marriage still continue?” I asked her, but she shook her head not sure how Ke Qiang will respond.

           “Ke Qiang.” Shen Qing stood up and glared at Ke Qiang, who finally turned to look at him.

          “Prince Ke Qiang, how would you like me to handle this issue?” Zhu Emperor asked, but Ke Qiang hesitated. Glancing over to Jue Hai, he gazed at her as if he’s completely captivated by her alluring charms. By admiring her, he seemed to have found his answer.

           “Your Majesty,” Ke Qiang gathered his courage, “I would like to have Princess Jue Hai as my wife.”

           “What about the imposter? Should she be punished?” Zhu Emperor asked.

           “No, it’s unnecessary.” Ke Qiang answered. A smile emerged on Jue Hai’s face and she gestured her servants to take the imposter away.

           “Ke Qiang,” Shen Qing tried to get his attention again, “it’s time.” Ke Qiang nodded and reached for his sword. At the same moment, Shen Qing did the same and went for his sword. Yet,  at the last second Ke Qiang grabbed something else and proposed it to the Zhu Emperor.

           “I know this marriage was a political marriage, with no attachments and love, but I want to give Your Majesty an option to pick from.” Ke Qiang walked towards the edge of the stairway and Shen Qing moved his hand from the sword.  

           “What do you mean?”

           “I’m proposing you two options; one, when our marriage is consummated, you have to promise me to not attack my kingdom. Yet if two years pass and Princess Jue Hai can’t bear me a son and if profits are not coming into Zhu Kingdom, I’ll give you permission to seize Cai Kingdom. Option two, I can crush your kingdom right now and have everyone in this room killed.”

           “Ke Qiang!” Shen Qing interrupted, “What do you think you’re doing!?”

           “Quiet!” Zhu Emperor demanded and gestured the eunuch to fetch the proposal letter. He took another look at the conditions and laughed.

           “You’re proposing me something foolish!”

           “Foolish?” Ke Qiang scoffed, “If this is foolish to you, then what about the countless lives on the southern borders? What about the plagued villages? You can’t even supply your people, your loyalties, the necessities they need to survive! And if you want to threaten Cai Kingdom with whatever weapons you created, then go ahead! We are ready to defeat you because your people wouldn’t stand a chance because of their circumstances. Instead, they would blame you for their fall and you’ll see your men run away from the hand that fed them!” Zhu Emperor fell pale and whispered something to the eunuch. After, he turned to look at Ke Qiang and nodded.

           “Okay. You got yourself the deal, but if my kingdom isn’t succeeding, then be ready to have Cai Kingdom turned over to me.” Ke Qiang sighed in relief and glimpsed at Jue Hai.