Chapter (2): Let’s make a deal

"Your highness, shouldn't we get back? It is getting dark!" A man with black straight hair stated, that half of his hair was tied up and his bangs covered the right side of his forehead until reaching down to his earlobe.

His dark brown eyes were watching the dark corners that already shadows had expanded massively.

It was the young eunuch of princess Xing Huan, he was incredibly handsome and not like the rest of the eunuchs in the castle, nor was he at their level in martial arts and education. He was way beyond them all, The princess chose him after her mother's death.

Some people used to utter nonsense rumors regarding the princess Xing Huan loved to have glamorous people around her but the fact was that she cared about skills, not features.

The princess was wearing a royal violet dress, her black hair was tied up in a horse tail form as she came here to hunt, but not hunting goats. She was hoping to ride near the Di kingdom's border where their men found the butchered bodies of robbers.

"Fu Liu, you know how long I had waited to convince my father to let me come here, don't you?"

"Yes, my lady! But we dispatched the thieves, I doubt if they have the courage to tangle over here, again!"

Xing Huan shook her head, they didn't catch the thieves' head, although she attended personally on those frays and killed the robbers, yet, she couldn't sleep in relief. The day they had slain her valets were still popping up in her nightmares.

Today the forest wore shiny golden gleams and didn't have even a single similarity with that ominous day. Near the temple had a scary air. It was not allowed to hunt over here so, she didn't have such intention.

Arriving at a meadow of flowers with white petals, she halted, however, their speed wasn't that high. Fu Liu followed her gaze and smiled.

"Is this the meadow your highness used to come and run with her mother?"

Xing Huan nodded and dismounted, her eyes yet had a blank dark color, but when it came to her memories she wanted to cry and let the deep-rooted sorrow be downed in the abyss of darkness.

Stepping to the meadow, a gang of white butterflies fluttered and evoked her memories, the sun was going down and those orange rays that could escape the verge of Xin mountain embraced the beautiful field.

"Here is beautiful Fu Liu, isn't it?"

The man looked at the guards and raised his palm, she wanted to halt for a while.

"Yes, but we must come back, tomorrow morning we will get here again to investigate more."

"If I didn't know you, I would say that you are serving me curry!" she dryly smirked and walked forward, "Follow me, I have made something here."

She took him to a rock where a decent painting was engraved with something sharp. Caressing the art, her palm stopped on the woman who was holding her daughter's hand watching the sundown.

"If I could change my life, I wanted to bring my mother back and live as a regular folk."

Fu Liu stared at her, she shouldn't say this but she was speaking her heart with him only, why this girl was doing this to herself? With her power and the bright future of ruling this land as an empress, she could save lives and end crimes. At least for her mother's sake, as she said, her mother always counseled her to heed their people.

"I am helping you to fulfill her wish and destroy our enemies to protect people!"

He was too mean and Xing Huan quickly grasped his point. But her mother was a wise person who would rather choose a reasonable path rather than bloodshed, so would she follow that term of morality.

"Help me bring peace between the seven Kingdoms, then."

Fu nodded, "The way your highness treats me is as if I am her guard rather than a lowborn eunuch."

"Your intelligence is undeniable to me, Fu Liu, you are more than a eunuch to me."

She turned to him, studying his face, there was a light shade of blush on his cheeks.

"Then let's follow the procedures that your highness craves."

Locking her hands behind her, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the last rays of dawn. It was full of energy, the last ones that would remain until the night blossomed.

Mounting up the horses, the troop hit the road to get back to the tents where the princess desired to stay, it was a wide field near the river.

…

When the sun was slipping down behind the mountain, two figures in dark gray cloaks were watching the princess through shadows, the smaller figure began to change as soon as the sun faded away. The figure that was a girl a moment ago transformed into a slender man.

His sharp eyes glittered when he saw the princess's face. She was wearing a tensed soulless skin unlike this prince, who was always wickedly cheerful. He clearly heard the words that left her lips. She had huge dangerous goals but what her expression was saying screamed unlike what she had in mind.

"She is interesting!"

Chao frowned, they talked about this and he promised not to fall for her, nor could he take a risk of stealing her.

"Your highness, you won't make a mistake, would you?"

"What do you think of me, Chao? I am prince Wu Xiuying, no girl can seduce me! But what she said caught my attention! Peace? Huh, she must tell her father to give Xin province back to us, then we can talk about peace before a gruesome fray.

I'm stuck to this curse because this girl used magic, perhaps it was all her plan and this is why she is looking for this jewel and excused it as her mother's gift."

He brought his hand up, he could feel his heartbeats increase since they neared them, he could sense deep gravitation to her which wasn't normal at all, let alone that she was alluring. It was something beyond her beauty that he could sense.

"Then let's make a deal, your highness!" Chao was serious, he didn't want his prince to make a huge blunder at all.

"You won't die if you trust me! What is it?"

He turned back when the royals of Mei kingdom were gone. Getting close to their horses, he jumped up.

Following his prince, captain Chaoxiang noted, "Get close to her, break the curse and we will get back to Di."

Prince Xiuying sighed, it was the tenth time that the captain noted this.

"Fine, I promised before! However, it is disgusting to be a daily maiden yet I have to do it."

Yanking on their horse's flanks they rode to the meadow, where the princess was showing her eunuch something.

The prince watched the engraved image that was masterfully worked, 'Did she make this?' if she did, she was talented as he assumed, although the drawing already caught his attention.

Quelling additional lingering thoughts, tilted the rein of his horse and left. He should get back to Di's reign before his siblings could take the crown from him. Being disqualified from his father's side meant death to him. He couldn't disappoint his father, even if he had to massacre the girl to break the curse, he would keenly do it. He hadn't a soft heart, in the end, to let his desires be suppressed because of a girl.