Proposal XII

'Hmph, what a way of giving yourself away Shen Rou… thankfully…' The chilly coldness in the Fourth Prince's dark eyes vanished and was replaced by a thigh frown as he quickly waltzed out; the frown was usually the common mark of the Fourth Prince being enraged, nevertheless, with Shen Rou's being the one in possession of his body was solely in signs of intolerance or an annoying pondering.

The first out-of-the-ordinary reaction of the Fourth Prince was simply done out of reflex by Shen Rou at being suddenly held by the arm, making her disgruntle but also grateful of two things: she had only glared icy thorns and not attacked him, and lastly, the tall frame and positioning of the middle-aged man had sheltered her from the prying eyes she knew existed but had been disregarding all along.

Nevertheless, there will sometimes be exceptions. With the best seat in all the Main Palace and without even actually being paying attention, such grand display of dominance didn't escape the excellent vision range of a pair of smiling golden eyes, making a well-hidden wave born within them.

…

Once the Fourth Prince stepped outside, the cool breeze of the starry night accrued his innate charm. He looked far in the distance to his right and then to his left.

Finally, after a swarm of meaningless thoughts, he tilted his head and strode to his left.

'The Golden Spirit Water Lilies, how fancy and brash of the Snow Flower Empire, tsk, tsk…' He came to a lake with about twenty glittering golden flowers dispersed on its surface. As they could nurture the soul, they were considered valuable; however, here they were, lying in tranquillity without anybody daring to take them.

Shen Rou was quite interested in them but she will need at least fifty of them and the aid of a Venerable Alchemist to make something really good out of them; moreover, as she already had other herbs and pills that fostered the soul, you could say the glittering water lilies could still enchant the place with their presence.

She contemplated their beauty for a moment before looking down to the lake's surface and she finally saw what she looked like clearly; she hadn't bothered before as she had seen the Fourth Prince before, though she hadn't really paid him too much attention to his outer looks and only to his constitution.

Her new face was something else: refined features, pale red thin lips, a sculpted nose and perfect slanted eyes with long eyelashes. Incredibly, she felt he was more beautiful than her past self and she was a renowned beauty who looked and was actually way younger than the Fourth Prince, 'Perhaps is because of that…' Her past looks were the ones of an exquisite sixteen-year-old girl and she hadn't reached the five thousand years of age, a thing that she had kept to herself; she was a devious evildoer regarding cultivation, nevertheless, as many geniuses her grand path met an unanticipated occurrence. While the Fourth Prince looks were around eighteen and was about two hundred thousand years old… when she had been on Earth she had heard that older people were better looking.

'… or it might just be my perspective. I can't judge myself fairly…' she added to her train of thoughts.

The night matured and she imprinted her mind with her new appearance from head to toe.

"His… His Highness, may we return?" seeing their prince all wordless and without any intention to move, his eunuch, Ting Niao, reminded him with prudence; they had come out when the banquet was half-way.