Chapter 103 - ...On A Mission

That evening, Lei Xing returned to the palace with her bouquet flowers in hand in a pretty good mood. The Princess was not what she expected at all, and the group did not turn out to be the awkward tense lot their initial gathering presented. Although the dissolution of the tense atmosphere came by way of her embarrassment, she decided to overlook that fact and summed it up to be quite a good day. 

She was still feeling a bit queasy, which baffled her as she usually had thicker nerves than this. Regardless of how much Princess Nalan's detailed cuisine session bothered her, she should have gotten well over it by now. Lei Xing sighed and concluded that this body was really too weak and pampered. She ate some berries to help alleviate the feeling of nausea and then went for a warm bath, relaxing and lingered in the bath until she started dozing off. 

Then she happily made her way back to her room, yawning and longing for her bed. She stopped in her tracks when she rounded the corner and saw more servants than usual around, then she glanced around and then frowned at her bedroom doors.

Seeing her just standing there, an Eunuch took the initiative and walked up to her and smiled, "Your highness, the Emperor did not want to rush you and so has been waiting inside for you, for quite a while now. You should hurry in."

Lei Xing cast him a side glare, irritated with his smile. He quickly bowed and retreated when he saw her expression. Lei Xing then took a deep breath and went inside. She bowed in greeting to the Emperor who was sitting down on the side looking at her. 

The Emperor looked her over and then asked, "How was your day?" 

Lei Xing observed his expression and thought he looked normal and so went to sit down as she responded, "It was great."

"Great?" The Emperor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Good." Lei Xing corrected as she scratched her hand. Then she went to pour herself a cup of tea, she saw the Emperor still looking at her with a raised eyebrow and then gave a half-smile and poured a cup for him as well as she said, "The Princess is a lively and fun person to be around."

"Sounds like you get along well." The Emperor commented as he picked up his cup, took a sip and then asked, "What about Prince Rui?"

Lei Xing blinked and swiftly responded, "He seems okay too. I didn't really interact with him." She finished and drank her tea.

"Is that the bracelet?" The Emperor asked frowning at the bracelet on her wrist that was exposed as she had her hand up holding the cup. 

Lei Xing knit her brows, looked at the bracelet then at him and was confused, "What bracelet?"

The Emperor narrowed his eyes at her, "The one you received today."

Lei Xing frowned.

{...Bracelet? What the hell is this guy tal-...Ohhh! See, good thing I didn't take it -_-)...}

Lei Xing relaxed her expression and lightly sighed, "So that's what was in the box." Then she saw the Emperor's disbelieving frown and quickly explained, "I had it gifted to my sister."

"You didn't open it?" 

Lei Xing shook her head and the Emperor smiled in approval, seemingly pleased with her choice. Lei Xing who observed him suddenly switching moods, thought it was funny but held herself back from laughing. The Emperor then frowned again and looked at her, Lei Xing flinched a bit and cautiously looked back at him.

{...What? What now?  ⚆ _ ⚆) ...}

"Why would a foreign prince be giving you a gift?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.

Lei Xing froze for a bit and blinked.

{...Is it okay to tell him? Could it cause trouble? Ahh, I'm not sure...I could say it was a courtesy gift...Yeah, but then his sister should have been the one giving the gift not him...Also, this guy is sneaky as hell, what if he's trying to trap me somehow?...But now why would he do that? -_-)...}

{...*Because he's petty -_-)...}

{...Is he though? I don't really get that vibe...Ah yes, there was that book thing though...maybe?...}

{...*Let me tell you, he's a - His kind is very petty! Petty Brat!...}

"You don't know?" The Emperor asked narrowing his eyes at her when Lei Xing did not respond.

Lei Xing instantly made her decision. She barely knew Prince Rui and technically owed him nothing. Not to mention, the alliance story going around was that he confronted the Emperor around that time period, so the Emperor obviously knew he was in the city, so it should not matter if she said the truth. And so she honestly answered, "Oh, ah...I offered him a little help in the past...unknowingly. So as per their custom, he sought to repay the good deed with the gift."

"I see..." The Emperor calmly said.

Lei Xing gave herself a mental pat on the back, she had still instinctively left out the details, so she did well enough for a person she barely knew.

"What help did you offer?" The Emperor inquired and Lei Xing inwardly sighed.

{...Screw it, it's their problem. I tried -_-)...}

"I had freed a group of slaves, and he happened to be in amongst them." She bluntly explained.

The Emperor then smiled at her and nodded, "It was indeed a good deed." Then he went ahead to leisurely finish his tea.

Lei Xing slightly narrowed her eyes at him.

{...He definitely knew, right?... He was trying to catch me in a lie, wasn't he? -_-)...}

{...*Told you he was petty! -_-)...}

Lei Xing inwardly sighed and refilled her teacup and drank, her mouth was feeling very dry for some reason and her head was starting to hurt. She closed her eyes and rubbed her head, tired and wanting her bed.

{...I need sleep...Can this guy go now, please?...}

{...*Hehe~ I will give you some privacy now. Goodnight hehe~...}

Lei Xing knit her brows wondering when the bracelet became so polite.

"Xing er'." The Emperor softly called and Lei Xing opened her eyes to find him standing in front of her with a hand outstretched towards her.

Lei Xing blinked and then knit her brows and looked from his hand to his face, a bit confused at first, then she quickly became wary. He smiled and motioned for her to take his hand. Instead, Lei Xing frowned at the hand and then quickly got up on her own, putting her hands behind her back and wiggled out to the side, to put space between them. 

The Emperor's smile quickly changed into a smirk and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Lei Xing nervously smiled and looked off to the side as she awkwardly said, "Ah, it's been a very long day. Thank you for coming to uh,... check on my day...I'm sure you've also had a tiring day. You should go ba-"

The rest of her words caught in her throat when the Emperor suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to his chest. Lei Xing instinctively put her hands up to his chest in a futile attempt to hold him back and looked down avoiding eye contact as she nervously said, "Um, I do-"

"I'm happy you were honest with me." The Emperor said smiling at her, "Now that's settled. We should get on to important things." He softly said as he lowered his head to kiss her. He had barely just touched her lips, when Lei Xing pushed him back a little and said, "Um, I- I'm not feeling well so-"

"You look very healthy to me." The Emperor said smiling as he brought a hand up to caress her cheek, then he raised her head so she had no choice but to face him. Lei Xing knit her brows as she kept blinking feeling nervous and awkward and turning redder the more she looked at him. The Emperor caressed her cheek with his thumb and softly said, "Xing er', I will be gentle."

Lei Xing blankly stared at him, she could see her reflection in his gentle eyes that seemed to be beseeching her, asking for approval. Lei Xing's eyes darted off to the side and her heart was pounding loudly. She was feeling incredibly nervous and somewhat uncomfortable.

{...This is odd...Very odd...}

"Xing er'?" The Emperor softly called to her again, which made her feel even more anxious. The Emperor kept caressing her cheek as if to reassure her.

Lei Xing bit her lip and frowned, feeling somewhat aggrieved.

{...Okay, Enough! We've resolved to do this...It's nothing hard, so let's stop whatever this is and get it over with!...}

Lei Xing then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The next moment, she felt her lips be captured in a gentle kiss, that deepened with each movement. His thumb stroked her jaw and then pressed down lightly to part her lips, and his tongue merrily slipped in and entangled hers in a scorning, yet gentle kiss. Lei Xing's eyebrows lightly twitched but she did not reject it this time as she was prepared for it. 

His movements seemed to get bolder with her acceptance, and the intensity of the kiss increased and his hands began to wander, all the while maintaining the gentleness he promised. Lei Xing could feel all her blood rushing to her face as the hand on her face moved down her neck and ventured lower.