~ Jiao Lin’s POV ~

After introducing Huang Zi Tao as my bodyguard to my parents, I excused myself so I could go find Yi Xing. I didn’t have to search for long, since I saw him glancing longingly into the kitchen through the small window. I walked over, not caring about sneaking or anything, and stood right behind him to look over his shoulder to see what he seemed so interested in. There were all kinds of pastries and food prepared, just standing there on the table waiting to be eaten.
 

“Ah… it looks so delicious…” I whispered, making Yi Xing jump a little by surprise. He turned his face towards me with widened eyes and breathed out, relieved seeing that it was only me.
 

“It’s only you… thank goodness…” He said quietly and let a small smile spread across his face. I couldn’t help but stare a bit at his beautiful eyes, they were shining brightly. I giggled a bit when his stomach growled loudly and then he made a grimace.
 

“I guess you’re hungry too?” He only nodded cutely at my question. “Me too…” I said and chuckled.

Then we both turned around and stared at the food once again. This time a huge cake was being made at the middle of the table. The chef was working hard with it, decorating it with different colored flower petals. After a short while of observing the food, I couldn’t help but think about the colors they used for all the pastries. They were all having the same colors actually. From white to purple. Isn’t it a bit weird now that I think about it? Why are they making all that food for? Is there going to be a party or something? Why haven’t they told me anything about it?
 

Suddenly it felt like someone was watching us. I turned around but didn’t see anyone. I only shook away the feeling and continued staring at all the delicacies. My mouth was watering and my stomach felt empty. Yi Xing stood there with his jaw dropped when even more pastries came into sight. Dreamily we both just stood there, not even noticing that someone indeed was watching us… closer than we would think…

“Ah… that cake is sure amazing!” Someone behind me suddenly burst out. Both me and Yi Xing jumped at the suddenness and turned around hastily. With shocked expressions we stared at the old man standing beside us.
 

“Dad! What are you doing here?!” I asked my dear father who was staring blindly at the cake. I face palmed myself and earned an innocent look from my father. Yi Xing was frozen in his place, not believing whatever he was seeing in front of us. He blinked quite a few times.
 

“Oh… I just wanted to see how the preparations are going. It seems like it will be a successful party, don’t you think?” My father said while beaming. I raised one of my eyebrows.
 

“What party?” Both me and Yi Xing asked in unison, making us look at each other. My father laughed at us before looking confused.
 

“Didn’t I tell you? There will be a party later this evening…” I just shook my head.
 

“You didn’t tell me anything about a party. What are we celebrating?” I asked curiously. What could there actually be to celebrate today?
 

“Ah… I must have forgotten about it then… well… your fiancé are coming over today actually. His father sent me a letter about it that they will be coming over to celebrate the engagement. And Wu Li Yuan is looking forward to meet you. They will probably arrive shortly so you better go and change clothes. The servants are already waiting for you.” He said and then turned to look at the cake once again. “Well… if you’re hungry you could possibly sneak into the kitchen first… ah… could you bring me one of those pink ones?” He asked while drooling.

I shared glances with Yi Xing who still was dumbfounded. I then looked into the kitchen and saw that no one was there right now. My father pushed me gently inside and I couldn’t help but giggle a bit about his childishness. Both me and Yi Xing walked with fast steps towards the pastries and took one each, plus one for my dad of course. We hurriedly walked out from the kitchen and I was just about to hand one of the pastries to my father when I noticed that Zi Tao was staring at us shocked. I stared back and soon noticed Zi Tao’s stomach making a loud growl. Embarrassed, he looked down at his shoes fidgeting a bit. I walked over to him with a smile and gave him my pastry.
 

He looked at me happily and bowed. I smiled even wider and then Yi Xing came with a new pastry for me. I saw my father smile happily towards us and then he walked away, munching happily.
 

“Yi Xing, this is my bodyguard, Huang Zi Tao. Zi Tao, this is Zhang Yi Xing. He’s a healer.” I introduced the two young guys and they shook hands. “I’m sorry about my weird father. He’s always like that… I guess I got my weirdness from him.” I smiled. Yi Xing laughed while Zi Tao smiled cutely. “Oh, I’m sorry for having to leave you already… I didn’t even know about the party so I have to get ready…” I said with a sad smile, bowing lightly before leaving them.
 

I’m not ready to meet him yet! I sighed deeply. I… I just want to stay here a bit longer… My eyes got teary as I thought about the fact that I probably will have to leave my home as soon as the party’s over… There’s so many things I want to do first, so many people I want to meet. I took a deep breath before opening the door to my room where the servants had assembled to help me get ready. With a sharp pain in my chest, I walked inside to get ready to meet my future husband.

 ~ Wu Li Yuan’s POV ~

“So… How does she look like?” I asked uninterestedly with my head rested on my hand. We were on our way to my ‘future wife’, sitting quite comfortably in the royal chariot. I’m not really interested in marriage, but if the princess is pretty enough then I could probably go through with it.
 

“I don’t know… your highness.” My servant said calmly. Not even making eye contact with me, which honestly made me a bit irritated. But this isn’t the best time to get angry so I just took a deep breath with my eyes closed, trying to keep myself calm.
 

“Well, what do you know then?” I asked with a crooked smile.
 

“Hmm… I’ve heard that she has green eyes. I guess that’s everything I know about her.” He answered with as much emotion as a cactus. I sighed deeply and peeked outside, seeing that we were getting real close to the palace. Well at least near the palace grounds, which was quite vast even though it wasn’t as large as ours. But I must say that it was quite a beautiful view though, maybe even more beautiful than at our palace…

Ah! How irritating! But… now that I think of it… this will become ours when I and the princess get married… hmm… that’s not bad… I smirked while thinking about all the possibilities that will come by this marriage, even though I’m not happy to be the one to get married. But it’s definitely better if I marry and not my younger brother…
 

“We are here now, your highness.” My servant interrupted my thoughts as the chariot stopped in front of the palace. I got out and stared at the palace that was decorated with gold and red ornaments. There were several guards standing outside, making the security tight.
 

I looked around and saw a man come running towards us and making a halt when he was close enough. He bowed deeply.
 

“Welcome, your highness Wu Li Yuan. The emperor and empress are waiting for you inside. But… where’s your father?” He asked, surprised to not see my father with us.
 

“Oh, he couldn’t come. He’s been feeling a bit bad today and decided to stay.” I simply said, looking at two young men talking near the gate. They were laughing as it seemed like. With disgust I just looked away and let my eyes fall on the man standing in front of me again. How can they laugh in the same space as me?
 

“I see… Then if you don’t mind, follow me inside.” He continued.” You’ll soon be able to meet the princess. She’s getting ready for the party.”
 

Getting ready? Why didn’t she do it earlier?! Why waste my precious time? She better look good then… My irritation only grew every minute.
 

“This way, please.” The man soon said and showed me the way.

Entering the main hall, I couldn’t help but notice the rich decorated staircase; the golden details were amazing. We walked further inside, going up the first staircase and then turning left into a corridor. At the end of the long corridor we came to a really large door which we went through, finding a really large dining room. But we wouldn’t stop there; we continued to the right and came to an even bigger room. But this room was filled with people, all dressed in their finest clothes just for this occasion. They bowed one after one as soon as they saw me walk inside. I just ignored them and sighed when some of the young women swooned over me in a corner, giggling like crazy because of my amazingly good looks. I grinned amusedly when the same guys that had been talking at the gate stood beside the king and the queen, nervously talking with them.
 

“Ah there you are! Wu Li Yuan! Welcome to our home. How was the trip? It must have been tiring since there’s quite a far distance between our two cities right?” The king said it happily, reaching out to shake my hand. I reached my hand out to him, and he took it happily in his. With a fake smile I bowed slightly.
 

“Ah, no. It was quite okay. I’m really not tired at all right now. I’m sorry that my father couldn’t be here, but he hasn’t felt that good ever since this morning.” I said calmly.
 

“Oh, is that so? I guess we can’t do anything about it then. I wanted him to see my daughter today but I guess that will have to wait till another day then.” The king said a bit disappointed. “Ah! There she is! Jiao Lin! Come and meet your future husband.” He soon added, looking happy again.
 

I turned around to see a young woman with long dark hair making her way towards us. She looked up at me with her big green eyes. I was a bit shocked when it actually was true that she had green eyes. She wore a long red and white dress, with golden embroidery on it which looked like dragons. I shrugged. I don’t like dragons, even though I was born in the year of the dragon…

“Hi. I’m Xia Jiao Lin.” She said shyly, making a small bow. She didn’t even smile. Shouldn’t she be all over me already? This is the first time someone is this shy… I guess that will soon go away. No one can resist me anyway. I smiled amused.
 

“I’m Wu Li Yuan. But I guess you already knew that.” I said nonchalantly, grinning when they didn’t see. Jiao Lin only raised an eyebrow and stared at me like she was disgusted or something and I couldn’t help but feel irritated once again. How dare she look at me like that?!
 

“I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t be able to recognize you as the crown prince. Since this is the first time I’ve ever seen you.” She said sarcastically, which really made me even more annoyed. I smirked and slowly walked closer to her, leaning forward to whisper in her ear.
 

“That can change. I’ll make you remember me even with your eyes closed. I’m too handsome to be forgotten.” I whispered while smirking, hoping that she would get goose bumps. But she didn’t react to it at all!
 

“Oh, really? What if I don’t want to remember you then? I don’t like narcissists.” She said smiling at me and then walked away, leaving me there alone. What did she mean by that?!

Annoyed, I turned around to see her talking with one of the guys that had been talking to the king just minutes ago. He had black hair, black clothes too and intense looking eyes… His eyes looked a bit scary if I can say so myself. I shivered. He was quite tall too, not as tall as me though and especially not as tall as my damn little brother… How dare he be taller than me anyway?! Not enough with having good brains and being athletic without even trying, he dares to be taller than his own older brother! Even if it’s only by a centimeter, he’s not supposed to be taller than me who am older…
 

Suddenly the black haired guy stared at me with dislike, making me shiver again. I could sense that I wasn’t welcome near them. Was he the princess’ bodyguard?
 

The king and the queen had walked to a group of people a few meters away and were talking happily. I looked around and saw the food that were prettily laid out on the table in the dining room and decided to go there and take something to eat. The party was quite loud since everyone were talking and eating happily.
 

What should I do to make the princess fall for me as fast as possible? She doesn’t seem like the other girls, which will make it more interesting. After we’ve married I’ll get all her possessions and more land, and soon I will be more powerful than my brother…
 

 Just you wait… Wu Yi Fan…