"My lady? My lady? Are you awake? Your presence is needed by the crown prince."
A maid said as she knocked repeatedly on my door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." I said as I stood up from my bed and walked towards the mirror to do my hair.
"I'm alive again." I said while smudging a bit of lipstick on my face.
"My lady what are you doing? You're ruining your makeup". A maid said as she dropped the clothes she was holding on the bed and walked closer to me.
"Lu Lu, what is today?" I asked identifying her from the reflection on the mirror.
"It's the Emperor's birthday today and the crown prince invited you to come choose a perfect gift for him." She replied almost immediately as she came closer to me
Before meeting them, Lu Lu was my most trusted maid but was framed by someone and personally executed by me. Thinking back to that day I was really stupid to not investigate the matter clearly and just jump to conclusion.
"I anything wrong your highness?" Lu Lu asked noticing my unusual silence.
"Go prepare a bath for me." I said completely ignoring Lu Lu's question.
"But your highness you just put on makeup." Lu Lu said as she looked at the handkerchief she was using to clean the smudge off my face.
"Are you the master or the servant?" I asked in reply to her question.
Immediately dropping to her knees Lu Lu started apologizing, "I'm sorry your highness."
"Then get going." I said sending her off with a wave as I leaned back in the chair waiting for the bath to be ready.
. . .
"My body and blood right? What a dog." I talked to myself quietly as I sat in the bath pressing my hand on my lips,
"Already talking bad about your saviour just after a day? Was that how you were trained princess?" A familiar voice asked but the person talking was nowhere to be seen.
"What is my so called saviour is afraid so show his face so we can pretend that I didn't say anything." I said taking my hand away from my face.
Feeling a weird wriggling sensation on my lower leg I decided to lift it up and see,
"(Screaming) A...A...A....." I was about to scream but suddenly a hand covered my mouth.
"You ask me to show myself and suddenly scream when I appear? Are you afraid of me princess?" He asked as his eyes stared directly into mine.
This was the first time I finally saw his fully facial features and he was honestly handsome.
As I pushed his hand down from my mouth I suddenly met his chest which was completely bare instinctively closing my eyes and wondering how someone who looked like a floating sac could have such a defined body.
"Are you shy?" He asked in a sly tone as he moved his body away from mine and leaned beside.
"Entering a lady's bath, how gentleman of you." I said as I opened my eyes and turned to face him. He had already seen me so what's wrong in looking at him.
"As a princess, you're maids are less attentive to you than I thought." He said as he casually leaned back looking at me.
"I am the one and only princess of the Emperor, apart from you, no one else can enter without permission." I replied as I played with the rose petals in the water.
"The more I stay with you, the more I feel you lack the decency to be a royal princess." He said as he placed his head on my shoulder while watching me play.
"(Laughs) Decency? You sneaked into my bath house while I was bathing and still want to give me a lecture on decency? Just how shameless can you be?" I asked as I tilted my head to face him using my fingers to trace the side of his face.
"Shameless? (Chuckles slightly) As an imperial Heir, you randomly take a shower with a guy you just met not even asking about them. Between me and you princess, I think you are even more shameless than me." He said as he slightly lifted his head to face me, his lips brushing over mine for a few seconds.
"Not asking about you (Scoffs lightly) Well may this humble imperial princess ask about the origin of my handsome saviour?" Turning my face towards him, our eyes fixated on each other I asked with smile on my face.
"(Smiles cunningly) At first I only wanted to use your soul nurturing components to build back my original form but I feel you are a more interesting person than that. I am Tan Ci, King of the forbidden and forgotten snake clan."
Tan Ci a nice name but a weird personality. If I hadn't known better I would have thought that he was just a loner from the fox tribe. He's cunning nature makes me wary of him but at the same time wanting to know more about him. I feel like we are somehow connected, haven't I learnt my lesson? I sure have but I'm definitely sure that his personality is more to what meets the eye.
Next Chapter to be released within
the period of 1 week.
Stay tuned.