The Dragon's Flower

XH 78

"Who is Feng Jiu?" Xiao Hua finally found her courage to ask. Her heart feels uncomfortable not knowing who that beautiful lady was. Even if Feng Jiu had introduced herself as the Third Prince's good friend, she found it hard to believe they were just friends.

They had known each other for eight years and the Third Prince had to be gay if he felt nothing towards Feng Jiu! How can a normal guy resist that beautiful and classy woman?!

This young lady is not jealous! I’m just curious to know!

She was actually glad she was not facing him, allowing her to hide her face from being seen. She was pretty sure that whatever she was feeling would be shown clearly on her face.

"Feng Jiu is a good friend of mine."

Xiao Hua: '...' Nope. I'm not jealous at all!

"She is An Wan's master."

"Huh?" It took her a moment to process his words but perhaps it was her ear that was faulty for hearing something shocking. "Feng Jiu is Sister An Wan's friend?"

"Feng Jiu is the true master of An Wan," The Third Prince corrected. "An Wan was sent here to protect me."

Looks like her ears worked just fine. Maybe the problem lay on her brain. But why would her brain process the Third Prince's words into a story of a strong maiden saving the damsel in distress gentlemen?

"Why would Feng Jiu sent An Wan to protect you?" Xiao Hua decided to humor her brain.

"When An Wan was sent to me, I'm still weak."

Xiao Hua sighed inwardly. So her brain was normal. The problem was the Third Prince himself!

It was not that Xiao Hua refused to believe the Third Prince's words, but she would need some time to accept it. That was because An Wan showed nothing but unwavering loyalty and never hides her adoration towards the Third Prince. She called him master without reluctance and would willingly sacrifice herself for him.

Such a perfect role model of an inner maid of the Third Prince, and now the man himself just told her that An Wan was not his maid, to begin with?!

This young lady wants to flip a table! The life of a servant is too challenging!

"Your Highness... is Feng Jiu your betrothed?" Xiao Hua asked calmly, but her heart feels as if tiny needles were stabbed on it. Her eyes kept on blinking to stop the tears from flowing as she barely breathed while she waits for his answer.

No matter what he answered, Xiao Hua knew that she has no right to feel jealous or possessive. How ironic, the second man she has fallen in love with had shared the same face with the first man she had fallen for.

Even if a miracle happened where the Third Prince has the same feeling towards her, the chance of them getting together was slim to none. The Empress would not allow her beloved son to marry a maid. The only leeway was allowing Xiao Hua to be his low ranking concubine.

Truthfully, Xiao Hua was troubled about this matter since she had accepted the fact that she had stupidly fallen in love with the Third Prince. She listed out the positive points of being a concubine and slowly accepted that being a concubine or his servant was better than being nothing in his life.

But the dream from earlier had snapped her out of the poisonous acceptance. Her boss had called her a coward, and much to her dismay, he was saying the truth.

He Zhu was a person with high self-confidence. He was smart and had already planned his future during his school days. He demanded nothing but perfection to achieve his goals. He was Le XiaoTing's first one-sided love and she admitted guiltily that she had dated her ex-boyfriend just to forget about her first love. But it did not work and she decided to end the relationship before her ex-boyfriend got hurt even further by her selfishness.

No matter how acceptable she tamed her heart, Le XiaoTing still found it hard to swallow about being a concubine and share her husband with other women. She was an educated person and grown up to believe that a husband should only have one wife. It was wrong for a husband to cheat on his wife no matter what his excuse was.

But Le XiaoTing's soul had transmigrated into Xiao Hua's body, taking over her life and was forced to bow and obey the culture of this world. She wanted to fight and scream at that chauvinist culture, but what can an ordinary girl with low cultivation and no remarkable background do?

The uncertainty of the future and without freedom of choice was terrifying.

Long Zhu could feel his little maid's fear and depression clinging tightly around her immobile form. His grip around her waist tightens unknowingly as his heart started to feel out of sort. "Feng Jiu is not my betrothed and would never be."

"Why not? She's beautiful and kind." Just like an angel.

Long Zhu does not know why, but he disliked it when Xiao Hua asked that question despite he had gotten them frequently from his friends. He could not shake the impression that his little flower will leave him when she saw a chance to escape.

Xiao Hua let out a pained whimper when the arms circled around her waist tightened until it hurts. "Your- Your Highness?" She glanced back over her shoulder to look at him as she rubbed his arms, hoping they would slacken their grip.

The gentle touch returned his sanity momentarily before it was swallowed up by the waves of possessiveness. "You will not leave me," he sounded like a real dragon from the growl he made. His eyes that normally held gentleness and warmth Xiao Hua was familiar with was absent, replaced with anxiety and harshness.

That overly familiar demanding tone triggered a familiar response in her, provoking a spontaneous response from her. "Don't you dare threaten me!"

The wild waves inside him slowly turned calm when he heard the unexpected words coming from his docile little flower. The dark look in his eyes was replaced with confusion and the beginning of amusement as he turned Xiao Hua around so that he could look at her face.

Those sunny emotions displayed on his face quickly reminded Le XiaoTing that she had scolded the wrong person! That demanding tone and possessiveness she heard earlier were too much like her boss!

Yes, Le XiaoTing had frequently retaliated against her boss when he pushed her buttons way too much. That arrogant guy always treated her like his personal maid!

Xiao Hua: '...' This young lady just realized the irony of that sentence. The only consolation I have is that the Third Prince is a good master!

"I....I....I..." Xiao Hua's voice slowly grows into high pitch due to her panic. "I'm not saying that to you!"

The Third Prince tilted his head to a side in confusion and his action had made some of his long hair spilled to the front and onto Xiao Hua's lap. It landed so close to Xiao Hua's hand, and had it happened at other times, she would immediately take that chance to touch his soft, beautiful hair!

But right now, she must think up of an excuse to save her little life! A scandalous idea streaked past her mind, but her desperate side clung onto it without thinking it twice, violently beating away her rational side for the sake of survival.

Throwing herself onto the Third Prince's chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, she momentarily thought that it felt nice, before continuing on with her plan. "When I'm trapped in that fire, the only thing I thought is 'where are you?'. I waited and waited for you to come to save me, even if it's impossible to happen. I mean, you...you are not around! So...So that's stupid of you to think I will leave you!"

... Did I just call him stupid? Shit! Time for more distraction!

"I only feel safe when I'm with you! Leaving you is scary!"

Please, swallow down my words! Open your eyes and acknowledge what a loyal maid this young lady is!

The reason why Xiao Hua could utter those embarrassing words without experiencing stage fright was due to hiding her face onto his chest. It was also because of her position that she noticed the Third Prince's heartbeat seems to be faster than before.

Xiao Hua squealed inwardly in happiness. The Third Prince must have believed her and was moved by her words!

Long Zhu had long ago lost his calm facade. Luckily his little maid had hidden her face, allowing him to hide an embarrassing expression on his face. His face was twisted in an awkward way as if he could not choose to show his happiness or donning his calm mask.

His arms tighten around her again, pressing her closer to him as the smell that only belonged to Xiao Hua filled his senses. The innocent Long Zhu that had not embraced another woman that was not his mother or sister does not know what was wrong with him.

He was not aware how adorably silly he looked with the wide grin on his face, or how he had literally pressed his nose onto Xiao Hua's hair to greedily inhale her sweet smell that made him so happy.

But he was aware of what that foreign joy did to his wounded heart. It slowly patched up the old wounds that made him distance himself from people with the warm, addicting feeling and he wanted more of it.

"Happy birthday, Your Highness!" Xiao Hua wished when she finally composed herself and stopped hiding her face. "Your present...I'm sorry. I lost it. Si Si has hidden it somewhere."

"An Jing will find it for you."

"I hope she's able to find it." Xiao Hua suddenly smiled shyly. "I'm not able to sew a dragon as you want."

"There's no need to push yourself too hard."

She pouted as the Third Prince rubbed her head, treating her like a child. "Stop spoiling me."

Her words were spoken in a soft whisper as if she does not want him to hear her, but he easily caught her words with his sharp ears. But he just smiled and remained ignorant.