Vision without Sleep

Early the next morning, Lan'er had a private talk with Xuan'er, Chen Xi's younger sister.

"This is not good, if this continues the vision my sister saw may come true." Xuan'er said.

"The Emperor's birthday is still far away, last time the Princess had told the Second Prince to prepare the troops just in case anything happens." Lan'er said.

"We should be fine but sister.."

"We need to find a way to recover her old memories. If she stays like this, I'm afraid the Emperor will use her for his own gains."

"We should separate our sister from the Emperor then."

"It's not that easy, the princess believes that she and the Emperor are lovers. Before the princess lost her memories she was going to become the Empress, becoming Empress now just proves to the Princess that she indeed loved the Emperor."

"What should we do then?"

"There are still some visions that haven't come true yet. I'm afraid one of them foreshadowed this."

"Which one? I can try to prevent it from coming true."

"I don't think we can prevent it."

"What do you mean?"

"The plum blossom tree had bloomed, the people under the tree were the Princess and the Emperor."

"Can't we just cut the tree down?"

"The tree is very important to the Emperor. Even if we cut it down, I don't know---"

Just then the door opened and Chen Xi walked in.

"What are you guys doing here and chatting?" Chen Xi asked.

"SISTER!" Xuan'er said, alarmed sprinting up.

"Princess, we were talking about what we should do in this Empire." Lan'er said.

"I haven't seen Xiao Bai in a long time, let's go visit him." Chen Xi said.

"Xiao Bai is still in the Xi Empire, he didn't come with you when you married to the Long Empire." Lan'er said.

"Really? I thought Father said where I go, he goes. Guess not."

Xuan'er and Lan'er looked at each other and Chen Xi: "I want to visit a place with a bridge."

"Princess, there are many places with a bridge."

"I feel like I've been there before, a man called my name but I don't remember him at all. His voice sounded a lot like the Emperor's voice."

"You never met the Emperor outside, you never even fell in love with the Emperor, Princess."

"Sister, what Lan'er said is true. Trust us, he's not a good person." Xuan'er said.

"Then how does he know the sunset, the candy and even…"

"Spies. He has spies planted all over all from the maids to the guards and even the people on the roofs."

Chen Xi held her head and yelled.

"PRINCESS!" Lan'er shouted.

"SISTER!" Xuan'er yelled at the same time.

After a moment, Chen Xi took deep breaths and said: "Father is ill."

"What? When I left Father was still in good shape." Xuan'er said.

"He doesn't have time left. I saw him in a bed with Mother, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, and Xuan'er at his side. But I don't see me." Chen Xi said.

"It didn't happen yet. I'm here not by Father's side." Xuan'er said.

"Wait..Princess did you have a vision without sleeping?" Lan'er said slowly.

Xuan'er looked at Lan'er with a worried expression.

"Bring sister to her bed and let her get some rest." Xuan'er said.

After Lan'er escorted Chen Xi to her chambers to get some rest. She pulled Xuan'er into a quiet and room and said: "She's not going to…"

"Shhh, we can't let anyone know of this." Xuan'er said.

"What do we do?"

"I'll sacrifice myself."

"You can't do that, if the Princess knows she will.."

"Don't tell her, keep hiding it until you no longer can."

"But Second Princess you will…"

"I was a curse to begin with. Father never liked me because of this curse, no one from the Xi Empire knows I was even a human. If I'm gone, no one will really know anyways." Xuan'er said.

"There has to be another way.."

"There is, the Emperor of the Xi Empire." Xuan'er said.

"He won't be much help."

"He will trust me." Xuan'er said before knocking Lan'er asleep.