The Legend of Min Hong

"I will tell you what is and what isn't impossible… So let us hear it…"

Min Hong with the intent of smoothing out the situation decided to make a compromise;

"I want you all to myself!"

The princess finally blurted as Min Hong simply let go of himself as he fell on her bed with his face starring at the ceiling before muttering;

"Damn it… Beauty is truly a heavy burden…"

The Princess heard him and rolled her eyes as Min Hong continued;

"Learn to always keep your head up, because you might just look as pretty as me in this type of situation…"

Min Hong peeked at the princess from the corners of his eyes, and saw her force back a smile as she tried to hide it with a deep sigh, but he wasn't ready to let her be just yet;

"Seriously… This face- is set up well…"

Min Hong added gesturing dramatically at his face as the princess finally couldn't hold back any longer;

"Pfft!"

Her laughter spilled through her façade as Min Hong finally gave a silent sigh of relief, but just as he made to stand up and leave, the princess finally moved over and laid her head on his chest…

~Hu~

She gave a relaxed sigh as she listened to Min Hong's heart beat for a bit, before speaking; "There are many powerful suitors in my clan; from the sons of the grand elder, to their young distant cousin and nephews…"

"These grand elders have been pushing for me to marry their family members ever since I have learnt to walk, as they all wanted the probability of having a heir to the throne come from their own families…"

"They are so greedy about it, that they are willing to forsake our ancestral traditions that says; all princesses of the Clan must set out to look for their mates…" Princess Cui sighed at this point;

"But even after finding you, I would still face a lot of scrutiny and insults when they finally get to know that the person I have brought back home to marry already has three ladies in his heart…"

"Though, that really won't matter much to them, because all that matters is the continuation and empowerment of our bloodlines…"

"But once they find out that, not only are we four, but the princess which was chosen by the ancestors was the fourth and not first, that might give the grand elders a cogent proof that we no longer need our ancestors to choose for us anymore…"

"Should that happen, not only would your life be in danger as it is a taboo for any partner of the royals to have more than one partner, you might also be unable to get the support you want…" Princess Cui revealed;

"I thought your mother was the matriarch?"

Min Hong frowned slightly as he began to realize that politics might have truly found a way to obstruct his plans once again;

"Yes she is, but we have three grand elders whose opinion also matters when making every decisions…"

"If we take every decision to be 100 percent, I would say my mother has 40 percent, with the remaining 60 percent shared equally amongst the three grand elders…"

"Thus, one of the grand elders must always side with her in every decision before it can be valid, except if the decision doesn't involve the future of the clan itself…"

Princess Cui explained before purring slightly when Min Hong began to caress her hair soothingly;

"So all three grand elders have banded against her?" Min Hong asked;

"Not really… It's just that, they have three different reasons to stay independent of the guidance of our ancestors…" Princess Cui replied;

"At least for one of them, it had to do with us living in hiding for countless generations now…"

"They believed that we should be allowed live like every other human, an action which would be against our ancestral rules and regulations…"

"Thus, if the clan can ignore the ancestral laws when choosing a partner for a princess, then stabbing one more rule for the sake of freedom would not be too opposed to…"

"What about the rest?"

Min Hong wanted to learn about the internal political state of the clan he would be allying with in the future;

"Well, for the strongest amongst them, he simply wants us to step out and begin our conquest to taking over the Empire by absorbing the lesser clans and alliances, before moving up the ladder towards the super clans, and once we have finally gathered enough power, fight with the Imperials for the rule over the empire…"

"So, she is an ambitious fellow…" Min Hong made a mental note as the princess continued;

"She is also the strongest of the three, but as for the last one amongst the three, she is just interested in having her bloodline having a direct relationship with the throne, and perhaps in the future, her descendants would eventually take over the throne…"

Princess Cui spoke with a hateful expression as Min Hong guessed that, this specific grand elder would be the strongest obstacle to the princess marrying him…

"I don't want to be the first failure in the history of our clan's princesses…"

"It would be a shame I can never recover from…"

"The first time since the inception of our clan that a whole princess is unable to find a partner or get married…"

"If I am banished from the clan, then at least I won't be there to face all the shame and ridicule that the clan members might throw at me…"

"But if I am not, I would have to live the rest of my days facing shame and ridicule from every corner…"

"It is so disheartening that I have no control over my own life, and I have to do everything in life for the benefit of the clan…"

"I can't even be allowed to make the biggest decision of a lady's life; marriage…"

The Princess sniffed at this point whilst Min Hong continued to caress her hair and actually began to view life from her point of view…

He had always hated politics and the way the lives of actual humans have to be decided by a bunch of entitled humans like themselves…

"So, how do you plan on resolving this problem?"

Min Hong asked looking to test the Princess' decision making abilities;

"I only have two methods in mind, and they won't like either of them back in the clan…"

The princess sniffed and gazed up to look into Min Hong's eyes, causing their faces to be literally inches apart from each other;

"The first would be for you to actually bully and overpower all three grand elders simultaneously…"

"If you can achieve that, then no one would be able to object to whatever it is that you want, but-"

The princess paused slightly, as Min Hong asked;

"But what?"

"The weakest of the three grand elders has a 6 Star Saint Stage cultivation base, and the strongest has an 8 Star Saint Stage cultivation, and that is only their cultivation…"

"Their Daos are also very strong, our weapons and treasure vault have been proven to be the best in the entire empire, even over the Imperials…"

The princess voiced her concern;

"The second option is more of a desperate one…"

"It would involve you knocking me up with your child…" The princess looked away with beet red face when she made this statement;

"If I am already with a child, then their hands would be tied, since having another child after that would have no effect on the clan's bloodline, since I will no longer be pure…"

Min Hong froze in shock and was truly stunned at the princess' decisiveness, and guts to risk the ire of the entire clan just to get what she wanted…

"I am only doing all this because of my mother; she is all I've got, and if I was to choose between the clan and her, I will choose her every chance I get…" She added;

"What about you… What do you want?" Min Hong asked;

"Me? I don't even know anymore…"

"Perhaps, freedom to do whatever I want…"

"Perhaps, the freedom to live a normal life; settle down with a man, raise his kids, and become a good wife to him…"

She spoke absentmindedly whilst fondling with the ropes on Min Hong's clothes…

"Tell you what; you are very far away from the clan at this point, and you can do whatever you want here…"

"I can at least promise that anyone who wants to stop you from being happy would have to survive my wrath first…"

"This journey is going to be four months long, and if that is all I can give to you, I will make sure that you have as much fun as you want, and do whatever you like…"

"Simultaneously though, this is also a training mission, and a learning experience, so I would want you to improve on your strengths and abilities as well…"

"I always love and respect anyone who relies on themselves to pull themselves out of every troubles they face, and I will want you to possess the ability to do the same when you return to the clan…"

Min Hong spoke whilst looking at the ceiling as the Princess finally looked up to his absentminded face, and in that moment, she felt really happy…

For the first time in her life, someone, other than her mother only, cared about what she wanted out of life, and was even willing to make her happy…

This was all she wanted; to be with someone who looks after her happiness above all other things…

That is the kind of person she wanted to settle down with for the rest of her life, and she would give everything she could to please such a person;

"Fei Hong, I need to ask you a question and I want you to answer me honestly…"

Min Hong's thoughts were pulled back to reality as he look down his chest at the princess' face which was much closer than ever to his, as they could both feel each other's breath on their lips;

"What is it?"

He managed to ask despite being gob-smacked by the beauty who was currently resting intimately on his chest;

"Would you truly love me if I become the type of person you described earlier?" Princess Cui asked with an intense blush…