~ Jiao Lin’s POV ~

The rain was pouring down, which made it hard for us to get anywhere. So we all decided to make a halt in the nearest village. We ran inside the small inn, feeling the heat of the fire warm us up slowly. Zi Tao suddenly grabbed my arm and dragged me towards one of the tables where Yi Xing and Xiu Min already had seated themselves. I sat down on the chair between Xiu Min and Zi Tao.
 

“That’s better…” Zi Tao whispered and then glared at the crown prince that stared at us, still not happy about my companions. When he saw Xiu Min he widened his eyes, not even knowing about him, who obviously also had come with us. He grunted and then sat at a table in the far corner instead, glancing over in our direction every now and then.
 

“What now?” Yi Xing asked while looking around the small inn. There weren’t that many other people here right now, only our group as it seemed like. And of course the waitress. 
 

“I don’t know…” Xiu Min answered unsurely. Suddenly a growling stomach was heard.
 

“I’m hungry… again.” Zi Tao said sadly and held his hand on top of his stomach. I couldn’t help but smile.
 

“Let’s order something then.” I said and looked at the menu lying on the table. There were some dishes I’ve never even heard of, and some that I knew that I didn’t really like. Then I saw something that caught my interest. Smiling, I waved for the waitress to get to our table.
 

“Four servings of steamed buns please.” I said happily. Zi Tao chuckled a bit, amusedly looking over at Xiu Min. “It reminds me of you.” I said with a smile while looking at the confused Xiu Min. I had told Zi Tao earlier that I thought Xiu Min looked like a bun and he had agreed on it.
 

Yi Xing laughed loudly, earning glares from Li Yuan again. But he didn’t care. We talked happily, eating the delicious steamed buns that had soon arrived at our table. Xiu Min had commented about if he looked like a bun, then Zi Tao looked like a panda. Which was indeed true when you thought about it…

I saw Li Yuan get up hastily from his chair as soon as three young guys entered the inn. He looked almost terrified and I couldn’t help but look at the guys. One of them was really tall! He looked extremely tall when standing on the other side of one of the other guys. I noticed the handsome smile from the shorter of them and couldn’t help my heart skip a beat. The remaining guy was also good-looking; he seemed like a somewhat playful person. He almost reminded me of Zi Tao somehow…
 

Li Yuan glared at the three guys but since he didn’t say anything, they all ignored him. Obviously he knew them, but I was pretty sure that he didn’t like them very much. But however I look at them; they don’t seem like bad people.
 

Suddenly the tallest guy looked at me and soon widened his eyes in awe. I could see a glint in his eyes before he swiftly made his way towards our table. He took a chair and sat down in front of me. He stared deeply into my eyes with a somewhat delighted gaze. Nervously I just sat there, not daring to avert my eyes. He then smiled widely, a really cute smile which like before with that shorter guy, made my heart skip a beat. I could feel the heat on my cheeks and I knew that I was blushing.
 

“What do you think you’re doing?! She’s mine. Back away!” Li Yuan burst out while getting closer rapidly, grabbing the collar of the tall guy’s jacket. The tall guy only smiled at him amusedly.
 

“Hey Wu Li Yuan! Long time no see!” The short guy said out of the blue. He had made his way towards us too and so had the last guy also done. Li Yuan released the collar. 
 

“How dare you call me by my name so casually?! You should be calling me your highness!” Li Yuan angrily declared, staring at the short guy. “Kim Joon Myeon.” He coldly added.
 

“Oh, so you remember me? What an honor.” Joon Myeon said sarcastically. “Then you should remember my friends too right? Byun Baekhyun and Park Chanyeol.” He pointed at the shorter of them first and then the tallest before smiling teasingly.
 

“Humph!” Li Yuan let out, still glaring at the three guys. I watched them amusedly from my seat, pleased with how they treated the prince with sarcasm.
 

“I’m not yours yet though.” I said coldly after a while. “And if you keep being like that, it will never happen.”
 

The one named Baekhyun laughed out loudly, making thumbs up towards me happily. Obviously very amused by my comment. Well, it was true after all. I’ll find a way out of this marriage somehow. Zi Tao embraced me protectively from behind, glaring back at the angry prince.
 

The prince his heels when feeling that he wouldn’t get anywhere like this, and stomped back to his seat in the corner.

Now all three of them sat at our table. They introduced themselves and Chanyeol moved even closer to me. I looked at him suspiciously. He innocently stared into my eyes and I turned away, so I wouldn’t blush again.
 

“So… how do you know the crown prince?” Xiu Min asked curiously, very interested in their connection with that weird guy.
 

“Eh? Oh… that. We work for his father, or actually his younger brother, since we were appointed to support and help the younger prince. That guy in the corner sent us out on a task, which he thought would be impossible to finish. But here we are, after a month of trying to complete that assignment and succeeding with it.” Joon Myeon answered. Chanyeol was still staring at me, infatuated. 
 

“All we want to do now is to hurry back to our friend, to tell him about our travels.” Baekhyun said while eating one of the steamed buns that were left. “But it was raining too much so we had to take shelter here. Not that I regret it, we met new friends by doing so.” He happily added before taking another bite.
 

“I definitely don’t regret it…” Chanyeol said, unexpectedly he had a very dark voice. Somehow it didn’t really suit his face. He gazed right into my very soul, longing to get rid of the distance between us. I got goose bumps and had to turn away once more, not able to keep the blush from appearing this time.

Suddenly the fire went out and Joon Myeon tapped Chanyeol’s shoulder. Chanyeol nodded and flicked his fingers making the fire burn again. I stared at the fire amazed. It’s burning without any wood!
 

“What did you just do?” Yi Xing suddenly asked, surprised by what had happened.
 

“Oh, Chanyeol controls fire. It’s easy for him to do something small like that. I on the other hand control water.” Joon Myeon answered instead of Chanyeol who was back to gazing into my eyes. With a sigh I tried to concentrate on the others. “Ah, and Baekhyun controls light.”
 

Shocked by the new information, we all three sat there in awe. So all three of them were magic wielders? How many are there? Aren’t those supposed to be uncommon?
 

“Well, I’m a healer! Xiu Min can make things freeze and Zi Tao is actually a time controller!” Yi Xing proudly said, smiling cutely. Now it was the other three’s turn to look amazed.
 

“Wow! I didn’t think we would meet this many magic wielders in the same place!” Baekhyun said excitedly. “And your powers are really rare! Especially time control! You must be the only one in the whole world with that kind of power!”
 

Zi Tao blushed slightly and smiled shyly while looking down. He wasn’t used to talk to strangers openly but it seemed like he was getting used to it now, even if it’s only little by little. I’ve heard from my father that Zi Tao has problems trusting other people after some kind of incident that happened when he was younger. And that’s why he acts shyly around people he doesn’t know.

I faced Chanyeol who was still staring at me.
 

“How long are you going to stare at me? I’m getting a bit… uncomfortable when you do that...” I said while raising an eyebrow.
 

“As long as it takes until you fall for me of course.” He said with a teasing smile. I sighed deeply. Unbelievable…
 

“What if I’ll never fall for you then? Are you going to keep on staring anyway?” I asked sarcastically, making him grin.
 

“Well, why not?” He chuckled at my displeased expression. All of a sudden it became cold, and I looked down on the table. It was frozen…
 

“Xiu Min! What are you doing?” Yi Xing asked surprised seeing his pained expression. Xiu Min had clenched his fists tightly while staring at Chanyeol angrily. Everything in a meters distance became ice, so of course it was cold!
 

“What? You don’t like what I’m doing to the girl?” Chanyeol smirked at Xiu Min. “Why? You like her too, don’t you?”
 

“No… I love her!” Xiu Min unexpectedly confessed loudly. I just stared at the two guys who had confessed their feelings for me so easily, shocked knowing about Xiu Min’s feelings. I didn’t know what to say. But the coldness soon disappeared, changing into warmness instead. Chanyeol had used his magic to defrost everything, before smiling brightly towards the now shocked Xiu Min.
 

“Then let’s be friends! We can help each other then!” He happily said, making everyone confused. He reached out his hand to Xiu Min. “It’s better to be friends than enemies, right? It’s just unnecessary to hate anyone, it’s too tiresome.”
 

Xiu Min hesitantly took the other’s hand after a minute of thinking, shaking it before letting a slight smile spread on his face. “Sure.” He simply said. “Good luck to whomever of us that get chosen!” He soon added with a really cute smile. Dumbfounded I sat there, not being able to believe what had just happened in front of me.
 

“Just so you know though… I’m supposed to get married to that horrible guy in the corner over there…” I said while tilting my head in the direction of Li Yuan. Chanyeol blinked a few times in disbelief.
 

“What?! You’re getting married?! With that jerk!?” He asked angrily while glaring at Li Yuan. “I’m never going to let that happen! Ever!” He yelled out, making Li Yuan snort at him. With a mocking smile, Li Yuan turned away to continue talking with his servant.
 

“Calm down! Please… I just have to come up with a plan to get out of this marriage.” I calmly said. “I may be a princess, and this marriage is for our country, but I will not accept to be married to a guy like him…”
 

“What? What did you just say?” Baekhyun asked with wide eyes.
 

“Eh? Didn’t we tell you that she’s Xia Jiao Lin? The Xia princess…?” Xiu Min asked unsurely. Chanyeol and Baekhyun shook their heads in unison.
 

“So… she’s the famous green eyed princess of the Xia family? Wow… I didn’t think we would ever be able to see you in real life, or be able to meet you like this. But I did think it was odd for you to have green eyes… it’s really rare…” Joon Myeon said while nodding his head understandingly. “Oh! Nice to meet you! Princess Xia Jiao Lin!” He suddenly said while bowing, both Chanyeol and Baekhyun bowed too.
 

“Ah! Don’t! Please just call me Jiao Lin! No need to bow to me…” I said troubled.

We ended up staying at the inn a bit longer than we had counted on, and were talking about our trip so far. Suddenly a thought popped up in my mind and I turned towards Xiu Min.
 

“How did you pursue my father to follow us anyway? I mean… you’re the new gardener after all…” I asked curiously. Xiu Min blinked a few times as he thought deeply before answering.
 

“Ah…” He started. “About that…” He scratched his head before continuing. “Actually, it wasn’t that hard… I thought it would be really difficult to get him to allow it, so I had prepared my speech for him all night. So when I heard that you already had gone outside, I hurriedly made my way to the king. He was surprised to see me at first but listened to what I had to say…”
 

We sat patiently, listening to his story, and when he suddenly stopped we leaned a bit closer. He took a deep breath before going on.
 

“I told him straight out that I liked his daughter, well, loves his daughter… And that I would go on a strike if he didn’t let me go with you all! I shook because I was so nervous and when I had finished saying whatever I wanted to say he only nodded. Then he just said: ‘Well, what are you waiting for then? Go take her by storm!’ and smiled brightly, I just stood there shocked!”
 

I face palmed myself after Xiu Min had finished his story. My father is indeed crazy… How can he tell someone to just go take his only daughter by storm like that? Unbelievable really… I guess he would say that to anyone who confesses like that… But I’m supposed to get married to Wu Li Yuan though…
 

“Eh…? The king… said that?” Chanyeol asked in disbelief. I sighed and faced him.
 

“My father is like that… he’s definitely not like any other king…” Yi Xing and Zi Tao started chuckle, thinking back at what had happened yesterday before the party. When the so called “king” made us break into the kitchen and all…
 

After a while of total silence, Chanyeol suddenly spoke. “Oh… does that mean I got a chance too?” Chanyeol asked with a huge grin. Then he stared at me lovingly again. I just closed my eyes and breathed out. What have I gotten into?