13 Qing Long's Lonely Life

When I was in the middle,

I find it hard to wriggle,

The life I had with him,

Is like a blurb in the rim.

***

THE YEAR 1904, a century away from the present time.

"The dragon who had been cursed. The Legend of the Cursed Dragon, King Wang Qing Long. Are you... are you the reason for that prohibited folklore?" Althea finally said it and she was waiting for his answer. Qing Long didn't have the time to deny and he nodded right away. Althea put her two hands on the corners of her lips, covered the puckers, and she was opening her mouth wide. He smiled sadly as he continued to sketch something on the sand.

Althea stood up as she balanced herself and stood farther away from Qing Long. He looked up at her suddenly, and Althea didn't know what to say.

She was with the cursed dragon itself! And she was not in the order to remain calm and sweet to the man who shed some umbrella to her earlier! He, who made her change her clothes while she was sleeping! The cursed king was in front of her, and she didn't want to remain calm.

"The prohibited folklore had been indulged since the day I had been cursed. So... no need for a surprise, dear lady, I will not nib you in," he sighed and brushed the sand again, eradicating the sketch he was working on earlier. Althea huffed as she pointed to him in an abashed way.

Qing Long avoided her finger, too close to poking his nose, with her fingernails long.

"You... you are the reason why I had been here! You... you are also the reason why I am suffering from disqualification now, I'm...," Althea realized that she was not in her timeline after she had said that. Where was she in particular? Where was her place? Is it the same with the Yangtze River who she had seen a century away? Where she had been born?

Althea knew that Qing Long was the only one who could answer those questions itself.

"Disqualified from a writing contest? Is that you?" Qing Long brushed the sand again, threw the stick away from him, and turned to Althea. She gaped and gasped one more time as she gritted her teeth. She jumped up and down, vexatious about Qing Long's question, and clenched her jaw. She turned around again, hissed, and pointed another finger to him.

"You... what kind of a person are you? How did you know this kind of thing? Are you a fortune-teller?" Althea frowned while asking, which made her forehead wrinkled in the broad night. The stars twinkled behind her, and the sky was pitch black. She sighed as she put her hands by her hips as she doesn't hear any answer from him.

"I just know... remember... I am not the one you come across to be normal, my lady. I am the late King of the Zhaochong Empire. I know what you mean, but to be honest, I am not the same anymore," Qing Long stated as he turned his head and looked at the fire. Althea changed her expression to a soft one as she heard the devastation in his voice. Qing Long swallowed as the fire cracked.

"I had been alone since the fall of my kingdom. Everyone turned their backs to me, and I was all alone, battered and beaten when all I can do was neigh, and cry. I was lonely now until you came," Qing Long said as he sighed and started the first part of his story. Althea opened her mouth as she tilted her head to one side, careful not to spill anything, and just listened. Even though her insides were burning out of rage, she wanted to lend an ear to him.

"I had been here, at the mortal realm, with no one to rely on. Except that I only have a few acquaintances, my eunuchs, who had been destroyed and had been grieving on with the curse too, just like me," Qing Long whispered as he started to stare at the smoke that was protruding from the fire. Althea did the silent thing, she just wanted to be out of the problem anymore, just listening to him rant about his life.

"I never know why I had been cursed, but it's because I did that to the woman, and I realized, for being a hundred years older than anybody... that I finally noticed I'm cruel," he said as he averted his eyes towards the fire and stood up from the rock.

The moonlight had faded a little when the clouds hid them behind their backs. The river seemed an endless path away from nowhere. Althea sighed as she looked at him with a pitying look and avoided her eyes away as soon as Qing Long said it.

Qing Long smiled jokingly, with the tone of regret on it, and continued, "I'm not a good king, as everyone would say on my fallen empire. But... before that happened, I was their hero."

Qing Long's eyes turned to Althea, as she was looking down and listening to everything he was saying. Qing Long sniggered a little as he mumbled, "I was their savior, but I was also the reason why they fall."

Althea licked her lips. She sighed as she looked up and met his eyes. She averted it quickly because she couldn't handle the shadow white eyes staring back at her. She looked back at the center of the empire, and Qing Long didn't have the time to say something. Althea opened her mouth to say something, "I never know that it would be something sad like this. I mean..."

She turned her head towards the center and continued, "I was not in the right place to say this, but... I hate you, King Wang Qing Long, for being cursed and entangled with my life."

She shifted her eyes as Qing Long was surprised by what he had heard. She took a deep breath as she wanted to say, "I don't know why I am in here, and why I met you... but it's because I fell down on that river with my mind being empty. I just... I just wanted to eradicate the legend and the box all throughout my life by throwing it on the river, yet I am here, being transported on a world where I am in danger."

Althea gritted her teeth as she mumbled, "I was cursed for being unfortunate, but you are in front of me, explaining how you had been lonely with your life without even knowing what I had been through my life."