~ Jiao Lin’s POV ~

“I knew it!” Xiu Min burst out and stepped in front of me, his back towards me as he shielded me from Chanyeol. “I knew that you would try and sneak into her room!” He said while glaring at the smiling giant, or at least he’s a giant compared to Xiu Min.
 

“I didn’t try anything. Why would I do that? It’s you who sneaks into her room…” Chanyeol said teasingly. “You shouldn’t do that.” He waved with his finger at Xiu Min and shook his head disapprovingly.
 

“I did NOT!” Xiu Min protested heatedly. “Tell him!” He faced me as he pointed angrily at Chanyeol.
 

“Well…” I started. “You did actually enter my room first...” I quietly said while narrowing my eyes. “Not that I understand why you would enter my room just like that. Why did you do that?” I finished. Xiu Min’s face reddened with a blush.
 

“See? He definitely did plan something inappropriate-“
 

“I did not!” Xiu Min interrupted Chanyeol heatedly. And the room got colder as frost covered the whole room, even the windows.
 

“Calm down already! I really don’t have time for this right now.” I said strictly and decided to leave the two guys to argue on their own. They both stared at me confusedly as I left.

It was unbearable to be close to Chanyeol and Xiu Min these days, as they would argue about me all the time. We’ve already stayed here three days now, and this was the beginning of the fourth. Yi Xing had been in some sort of trance lately, it was as if he was distracted because of something. Ever since the day when the king asked me, well forced me to do this favor for him, Yi Xing has been spacing out.
 

Zi Tao still followed me everywhere, not trusting anyone in the palace. Glaring at whoever dared to come near me. He doesn’t talk much though, but we don’t really get the chance to talk when we always get interrupted by the servants and maids that also follows me wherever I go. I don’t know what happened to Joon Myeon and Baekhyun though; Chanyeol only told me that they had to do something very important and would soon be back.

It was already Friday, and it was time for me to start the lessons with Li Yuan. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to help that unappreciative guy who only thinks about himself. How am I supposed to show him his good points when I don’t know about them?
 

Zi Tao had to stay outside the library, since the guards wouldn’t let him inside. Saying that I wouldn’t need a bodyguard while studying. No matter how much we insisted they wouldn’t change their minds. So I had to meet Li Yuan all on my own.
 

Hesitantly, I walked inside of Li Yuan’s personal library. It was huge! There were all kinds of books, both old and new as it seemed like. Li Yuan sat in an armchair at a wooden desk in the middle of the room. On the desk was a small jade box that caught my sight as I sat down on the chair that was opposite of the prince. I stared at it and noticed a small golden emblem on it, which resembled a… dragon?
 

Li Yuan noticed how I looked at the small jade box with interest and hurriedly took it away, hiding it in one of the drawers. I couldn’t help but feel a bit curious, but at the same time suspicious. Why would someone who hates dragons, keep a jade box with a dragon emblem on it?
 

“Let’s start, what should we do first?” He said and tilted his head to the side with a smirk. I just shook my head slightly and rolled my eyes.
 

“This.” I calmly said and put out the book that I had taken with me. He stared at it weirdly and then looked up at me. “Let’s start with foreign language. Which language do you want to learn?”
 

He stared at me with narrowed eyes, nodding slightly as he thought about it. “Well, a language my brother doesn’t know then.” He said with a snort and a disgusted expression on his face.
 

“Okay…” I let out and raised an eyebrow. “So, which languages does he know?” I curiously asked.
 

“Hmm…” He was definitely annoyed. “Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and English.”
 

“Oh, well…” I said a bit impressed. “But, there are quite a lot of other languages that you could learn.” I continued as I opened up the book and pointed at one of the pages. “Here’s a list of some languages that you can choose from. Personally, I’m more familiarized with French, German, Japanese, Italian and Korean. But since Korean is out of the question… Oh! Can’t forget English too, but that’s also out of the question right?”
 

He stared at me with wide eyes after hearing me rambling on about the languages I’ve studied. Not really a strange thing for me who really likes learning languages, well first place on my interest list is dragons though. Oh… and about dragons…
 

“Ehm… is it okay if I ask something?” I questioned even before he had the chance to decide which language to learn. He nodded suspiciously. “What was that box? I mean that jade box that was on the desk when I came.” I carefully asked, not wanting to make him angry for being curious.
 

“Nothing you should care about.” He simply answered and then concentrated on the list in front of him. “So… what about French? Or maybe Japanese is better…”
 

“I think you would have more use of Japanese because of the importance of the co-operation between China and Japan when it comes to import and financial help.” I told him my opinion, a bit annoyed over the fact that I didn’t get to know more about that box.
 

“Okay then, Japanese will do.” He announced and closed the book. “So, what do we begin with?”

I stared at him in disbelief; I didn’t expect him to just accept my advice like that. I rolled my eyes as I stood up and walked over to one of the bookshelves. I searched for the language section, going through each row until I finally found it. I took out a few books, the same kind of books I myself had been using when I learned Japanese a few years ago. I brought them over to the desk and put them down gently.
 

Li Yuan stared at the pile of books and then at me. I shook my head with a sigh and opened up one of the older books. I flipped through the pages to a certain chapter and then I pointed at it.
 

“This. You have to learn Hiragana first, and then Katakana. You’ll have to know both of them before we can continue.” I simply said and smiled teasingly at him when his eyes widened. “We have to go through the basics too. But start with Hiragana; you should memorize it until next Friday.”
 

“What?! All of this? Why do they even have that many different alphabets? To what use?” He almost sounded a bit frightened about learning the chosen language. I chuckled a bit.
 

“Well, I guess we’ll meet next Friday then. It’s even better if you can learn both of them by then.” I simply said and left the library with a smile.

Zi Tao waited patiently for me right outside the room, leaning lazily against the wall. When he saw me he hastily straightened and smiled brightly at me before happily linking our arms. I looked at him weirdly at first but seeing his cute expression made me laugh.
 

“How did it go?” Zi Tao asked curiously. “Was he mean to you?” He soon added with narrowed eyes. I shook my head.
 

“Don’t worry. He didn’t do anything. And it went quite well. He’ll have lots to do until next Friday though.” I contentedly answered. “But there was this strange thing…” I added thoughtfully.
 

“What strange… thing?” He questioned and made us both stop in the hallway.
 

“I saw this jade box on his desk, but he quickly hid it.” I started and narrowed my eyes. “It was really… odd.” I continued and nodded slightly.
 

“Jade box?” He soon asked with wide eyes.
 

“Mm… it was a jade box with a gold dragon ornament on it… Isn’t it weird that he has something like that? Maybe it’s something he got from someone though?” I explained to Zi Tao who suddenly looked like he was realizing something. “What?”
 

“I also have a jade box… but not with a dragon on it…” He said with raised eyebrows. “Mine looks different… maybe I’m just thinking too much about it… but it could really be…” He rambled on, not finishing his sentences which only made my curiosity grow.
 

“What do you mean?” I asked and looked up at him with big eyes.
 

“Well… there’s this story about-“
 

“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you two!” Zi Tao got interrupted by a cheerful Joon Myeon. We both stared at him surprised.
 

“What are you doing here? What about that errand you had to do?” Zi Tao asked, still shocked to see our friend stand in front of us.
 

“Eh? Oh! Yeah, we’re done with it already. We’ve just arrived actually. There’s something we want to show you! Follow me!” He hurriedly said and then dragged us with him outside.
 

Yi Xing and Xiu Min were both already outside and talking happily, discussing about their powers as it seemed like. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were also there, standing in front of a suspicious looking large bag. A really large bag…
 

 “Come on! Let us show you!” Baekhyun happily said when he saw us coming closer; he started jumping around the bag with Chanyeol mimicking his moves. Zi Tao and I shared glances and it was almost as if we could read each other’s minds. Something strange was definitely going on right now…

“Let me out!” A voice suddenly was heard from the bag, which made us both jump back. “Let me out already!” With wide eyes did I observe the now moving bag, both a bit scared and surprised.
 

“What… have… you… done?” Zi Tao hesitantly questioned while also looking scared. At least it wasn’t only me who thought this was extremely creepy.
 

Chanyeol was grinning widely, with really big eyes, which made him look somewhat creepy. Joon Myeon chuckled at our expressions, while Baekhyun poked the bag several times.
 

“Stop it! Let me out! I don’t want to be in here! Please! Let me out!” It was most definitely a guy inside the bag, he sounded irritated. “I’ll make you regret ever doing this to me! Let me out before I’ll make a storm!” He yelled out desperately.
 

Chanyeol’s grin faded by that last statement, and a horrified expression took over. I stared at him weirdly before looking at Baekhyun who suddenly looked like he was freaking out. Joon Myeon didn’t seem especially happy either as he slowly backed away. Suddenly the gentle breeze turned into a storm, quickly getting worse every second. Zi Tao hurriedly came closer and pulled me into an embrace to protect me from the cold winds.
 

“Ah! Fast! Let him out!” Xiu Min yelled as he and Yi Xing took shelter behind one of the pillars near the palace entrance. “Hey! Chanyeol! Baekhyun! Let the guy out already!”
 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun were hugging tightly, obviously afraid of what they had done. They let go of each other and hurriedly made their way closer to the bag, with a bit of a struggle because of the wind. They carelessly tried to untie the rope that held the bag closed, trying as quickly as they could to open it. Baekhyun finally untied the rope after a few minutes of struggles and Chanyeol rapidly opened the huge bag, revealing a very irritated guy crouching on the ground. The storm slowly faded away when the poor guy noticed that he was finally free from the suffering.
 

One thing was for sure, whoever that guy was; you should NOT anger him…