Once Guangfeng had bathed and changed he handed his clothes over to the guard that usually followed him but had been on an errand earlier. He returned to his tent and stood outside it, frowning as he tried to figure out whether he could just go in or if he should ask permission to enter his own tent first.

Fortunately, the doctor who had started treating Yuelan’s injury before hurried up to him and saluted. “Your Highness, I’ve brought the antidote for her ladyship’s poison. It will take some time to counteract the symptoms, but I’ll be able to actually close the wound now and finish her treatment.”

Guangfeng relaxed and waved. “Go.” He didn’t have to make a decision yet. If the doctor was going to be removing bandages and stitching the wound then it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to follow after and enter the tent.

The doctor bowed and headed inside. About half an hour later he came back out followed by Camphor.

“Your Highness, Miss is awake and said you may come in if you’d like,” the maid told the prince before turning to the nearest soldier. “Go and get clean bedding and bring it here immediately.”

The soldier looked a bit startled and then his expression darkened. He started to open his mouth to object, but was cut off by Guangfeng before he could.

“Listen to her,” the prince ordered in a tone that did not allow for argument. “While you're at it, inform the entire camp that if she or her mistress give an instruction it is to be followed without argument.”

The soldier closed his mouth and headed off, still looking quite grumpy.

Guangfeng turned to the doctor. “Any special instructions?” he asked.

“She is not to use that arm and until we’re sure that there’s no risk of infection she should stay here and not travel. It should only be a couple of days and I’ve put her arm in a sling so she won’t use it on accident,” the doctor explained. “When she returns to--wherever she came from--she should see a doctor again, but it’s unlikely she’ll be able to use that arm for a few weeks.”

The third prince sighed and nodded. “Thank you.” He stepped past the doctor and into the tent, followed by Camphor.

The first thing Guangfeng looked at when he entered was Yuelan. She was still wearing the clothes she’d come in and the blood on her white robe and green dress made his heart ache. “I’ll send someone to get you a new set of clothes to wear,” he said quietly as he moved the only chair in the room next to the bed and sat down. “They’ll have to be ready-made instead of custom, but at least they won’t be covered in blood…”

Yuelan nodded, a small frown on her face as she looked at him with slightly narrowed, jade green eyes.

Guangfeng wanted to reach a hand out and rub the crease between her eyebrows. He lifted his hand and moved it toward her, then pulled it back and put it in his lap again with a sigh. “Are you angry with me?” he asked gently. “It’s my fault that you were injured…”

She rolled her eyes. “Did you shoot the arrow? No. Therefore, it’s not your fault. I’m not mad at you.”

“Are you sure? I just got the letter you had Shadow bring me...I’m not sure what I did to make you so angry, but you seemed quite upset…” Actually, the contents of the letter had made Guangfeng smile. The girl in front of him had clearly been upset when she wrote it and the tone of it felt as though he was being scolded, but everything in it had indicated she had been thinking about him quite a bit and had felt lonely in the two and a half months since he’d left the capital.

The girl’s cheeks puffed out and turned red as she turned away from him with a huff. “It’s all your fault,” she complained. “Your oldest brother is a jerk who won’t leave me alone. Your second brother decided to officially pull out and has started bugging one of my friends. There’s nothing to do but study the scrolls Long He pulled out for me and there’s so much information sometimes it feels like my brain is going to explode if I don’t find something fun to do. But I can’t go anywhere interesting because it’s ‘not proper’ in your society for me to go because I’m not married!”

Guangfeng smiled and brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Alright. It’s all my fault,” he agreed, even though none of it had anything to do with him in reality. “Why did you step in front of that arrow instead of letting it hit me? Now you can’t even use that shoulder and it’ll probably leave a scar…”

Yuelan glared at him. “What else was I supposed to do? You wouldn’t turn around and look so you could dodge on your own!”

She was so adorable that Guangfeng couldn’t help leaning closer to her. “I’m sorry. I thought I was hearing things. You being there should have been impossible.”

The girl seemed to only just realize that Guangfeng’s fingers were stroking her face and she lifted her free hand to smack his away and her glare turned more angry. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

The prince sighed and leaned back again. “Trying to comfort you…you seem to have missed me quite a bit…”

Yuelan’s entire face turned red as a cherry. “In your dreams! Obviously I can’t stand you!”

“Mhm. Which is why you somehow showed up here just in time to save my life and didn’t even stop to think about it first,” Guangfeng replied, smiling.

She lifted her hand and leaned forward to hit him with her little fist, but Guangfeng caught it and gently wrapped his other arm around her waist. “You shouldn’t move around too much. You’ll pull the stitches and make the wound worse,” he advised. “You’ve also been poisoned. They gave you the antidote, but you still need to rest.”

When she pulled her hand away he let it go, but kept his arm around her waist. It felt quite nice to hold her.

“Nobody’s allowed to hurt you. Why do you think I gave you that pendant?” Yuelan snapped at him, pounding on his chest with her tiny fist.

Guangfeng chuckled and stroked her hair with his free hand. “I’ll be more careful,” he promised her. “If I die, I won’t be able to marry you, after all.”

Yuelan stiffened. Her small, oval face turned so red it was almost purple and she looked away from him.

The third prince smiled and carefully pulled her closer to his chest. “I won’t propose yet...a military camp isn’t the place for it. Wait for me to go back to the capital, alright? Biming will be coming down to replace me in a few weeks now that his leave is over and I’m expected to attend Ainuan’s wedding after the mid-autumn banquet because my mother was a princess of the country she’s marrying into and she’s my younger sister.”

“Who said anything about wanting to marry you?” Yuelan demanded, turning to glare at him. She reached her right hand up and pulled on his left ear. “With which ear did you hear it? Hmm?”

Guangfeng winced, but didn’t want to let go of her and just let her pull on his ear. “You didn’t say it, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t make the offer…” His words were enough to make her let go of his ear and her usual anger dissipated to be replaced with shyness instead.

Very gently, he used his fingers to turn her head to face him and gave her an earnest look. “I mean it, Yuelan,” he said softly. “I want to marry you. Not for the throne, though I won’t deny that I do want to be named crown prince. I’ve missed you these last two and a half months. So wait for me to come back and propose...please? And no more adventures where you could end up in danger?”

Yuelan pushed on his chest to try and get him to release her, but it was so weak Guangfeng wasn’t sure she was actually trying. Still, he pulled his arms back and let out a helpless sigh.

“I’ll think about it,” she mumbled, refusing to look at him. “I’m tired, so go away.”

“I’ll have some soldiers bring some water so Camphor can help you bathe,” Guangfeng told her. “You can use one of my spare robes for tonight and I’ll have new clothes ready for you in the morning.” He stretched a hand out and gently stroked her hair before he stood and headed out of the tent.