Little Green Book

"Are you okay?" Imposter Zhong whispered. "If... if you don't want to get married I Can help you. You don't have to sulk for that,"

With her head lowered, her body softly shook.

"Are you laughing now? Hey I just offered you help and you are laughing," he whispered holding her forearm.

Ambai slowly lifted her head. "Why.. why?" she whispered as Tears rolled down her face. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

His eyes went wide at this. He dragged her to a bone-crushing hug and whispered, "Don't cry. I don't want to see you in tears ever,"

His strong heart beats resonated in her ears.

She clung to him. "Why am I still alive? I'm an awful person, I deserve to die." her body trembled as she sobbed.

She could feel the devil's heart stop for a moment.

He cupped her face with trembling hands and looked her straight in the eye. "Don't.. Don't ever say that." He nuzzled into the crook of her neck. "Never... Never say that. I don't want to see you die again,"

As he was comforting the sobbing Ambai, The king and the emissary softly whispered.

"Rukle... don't trust anyone," the emissary whispered.

"What do you know?" he whispered.

The emissary sighed. "Lijin might be planning something worse than war. He plans to collaborate with the demons." he held his shoulders and whispered, "After he lost this daughter he completely became crazy so... so don't underestimate him,"

"Don't worry old friend, I will stay safe." The King wiped his tears away and patted his shoulders. "You should too,"

The emissary laughed out loud. "Pst, of course I will. Even now, Lijin will be just a proxy king. Without the Imperial seal, he has no real power. But even so, he easily killed our King and replaced him, so I will never underestimate him."

The kings softly whispered, "He doesn't have the seal? Then where is it?"

"Deric has it. That's why I brought that kid here as soon as possible," the emissary said.

"Hmm, that's good. He will be safe here," the king said.

"Ahh, enough chitchat, where is your wine stash? Treat me with that thousand year old moon shine, yeah,"

"No never that's mine," king Rukle said.

The emissary looped his hand over his shoulders and dragged him out of the room. "Come on, for old times' sake. Let's drink under the moon,"

Zhong listened to their footsteps. Only after their footsteps were minutes farther did he pop his head out from under the table.

He gazed down at the sobbing Ambai and sighed.

"Come on, no more talking about death. I'll help sabotage your marriage arrangement," he said and pulled her out from under the table.

"But.. But i am not crying for that ah,"

He wiped her cheeks softly with his sleeves. "Yeah I TOTALLY believe you. Tsk, but your puffy eyes... tell me otherwise," he whispered.

"Ahhh ahhh, I Am a selfish woman," she cried.

"Huh? Did you hit your head somewhere? You are a man, not a woman. I understand that you feel like they are treating you like a woman and plan to marry you off, but that doesn't mean you should call yourself a girl for that," he said.

"What? You know what I don't care, I don't mind marrying a man, I like men anyway," she whispered wiping her already swollen eyes. "I am not crying for that. I am crying about my fate,"

He cupped her face and made her face him. Her shimmering green eyes met his. "I will help change your fate," he whispered. "Now, let's get out of here,"

Nearby the door, the guards still stood frozen with barely any expression on their face.

"They will unfreeze, right?"

"Yeah, any minute now," he said and dragged her through the corridor.

'Mommy.. Mommy wait for me.' little Fynn chirped and rushed after them. He clung to her pant legs. "I did a good job, right mommy?"

"Yes, you did so well." Ambai caressed his fury little head.

"Oh, little rat is back,"

The little chipmunk sprang onto his face and started scratching him.

Imposter Zhong plucked him off of his face and flung him to her.

"Your mount is intolerable," He whispered.

Zhong pulled her to her room and plopped onto the couch.

She sat on the bed and stared at the window in a daze. She ripped the veil off of her face and threw it to the ground.

"What are you doing? wear it," Zhong said.

"What's the use, everyone is out to kill me anyway," she whispered with her hands on her chin.

"So you are going to give up," he said.

After a moment's pause, she gazed up at him. "Nope," she whispered.

She removed a book from inside her shirt and waved it at him. "See, I have all the info about Lafta now,"

He chuckled softly.

He also removed a small green book from his shirt and waved it at him. "I found something interesting too,"

She plucked it out of his hand and read its title.

"The green eyed pea? You stole a children's story book?" she said.

"tsk, tsk, always jumping to conclusion without a cause," he said.

"You…."

"Open it," he suggested.

The opening page had a painting of a small blond haired green-eyed girl.

"So," she said with a wooden look.

"Tsk," he plucked the Book from her hand and read it out loud.

{"Once upon a time there lived a little girl.

Her hair as blond as the sun and eyes shimmering like a green jewel,

Beauty that none can beat,

In winter her eyes, Green like a pea. So people called her Mia Pea.

Her eyes so peculiar that they could see men's befall.

Every day she shouted, 'The numbered ones will bring your fall,'

But everyone ignores her plea,

And thus the kingdom was led to its catastrophe.

She cried, she sobbed, her tears became a jewel,

And that jewel created new life."}

"Numbered ones? Do you think they are speaking about forehead numbers?" she whispered in awe.

"Mnn hmm, exactly. Your eyes can see danger, just like the girl in this story," he said.

She frowned. "But... But isn't this a children's story?" gazing at the girl's beautiful painting, she whispered, "We have to tell my father this," she said and rushed to the door.

Zhong gripped her hand sand said, "And what are you going to say?"

"I'll explain everything about the numbers. And then I'll show him this book and i will warn him about Kaden and Deric,"

He shook his head. "That's not going to work,"

She sidestepped past him, but the devil stood in front of her again. With her eyebrows up, she sidestepped to the right, but he stood in front of her again.

Ambai was shocked by his behaviour. "move."

With his eyes wide he said. "It will not work,"

"Why not? It's perfect. We have all the clue we need,"

He sighed softly. "But if you tell your father about this book, there is a huge chance that he might suspect my identity."

"Why!" she demanded.

The devil stood silently gazing into her eyes.

He was acting suspicious.

She folded her hands and bit her lips. 'Why is he so against it? What else is in that book?' she thought. She flipped through the small green book again, but she couldn't find anything related to the devil.

She gave him a sceptical gaze and whispered, "If you don't want me to tell my father, you have to tell me he reason why he would suspect you."

He sighed and broke their gaze. "I found it in a secret compartment inside the book shelf," he said.

"So... go on," she urged him to continue.

"It was shielded with Devils magic. If you show your father this book he could probably sense It." he sighed.

He continued after a long pause. "And he will get curious as to how we got it, and then he will start looking into me. I really don't want the extra hassle."