When they reached the Crystal Moon Residence Yuelan was still trembling. Guangfeng helped her down and frowned a little as he studied her pale face and felt her trembling hands. “Yuelan…”

She looked up at him, her green eyes filled with anxiety. “Will you stay for a while and play chess with me?”

Guangfeng’s expression softened and he smiled as he gently stroked her cheek. “Of course. Shall I invite Liling and young general Chang to come as well?”

Yuelan shook her head. “No. But maybe Yun Cai has some stories he can share to help me take my mind off what happened.”

I will inform Lueduo to bring him here. Byakko’s voice was gentle and he rubbed his head against Yuelan to offer reassurance.

“Thank you, Byakko.” The priestess patted the tiger’s head and headed toward the main hall of her residence. “Chung Soo, have someone pull out the jade chess set I received for my birthday.”

The steward bowed and sent one of the nearby servants to fetch the set from where it was stored while Guangfeng walked hand in hand with Yuelan to the main hall. Willow, Leila, and Chung Soo followed behind the prince and priestess.

When they reached the main hall, Guangfeng helped Yuelan sit on the cushioned seat of the wooden couch with a table set in the middle. He then sat on the other side of the table and reached across it to hold her hand. “Are you alright?” The third prince’s eyes were filled with concern.

“Not really,” Yuelan admitted. “I could use a hug.”

Guangfeng smiled and stood up. He walked over to her and bent down to wrap his arms around her. “I’m happy to oblige.”

Yuelan cuddled into his embrace and rested her head against his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to the steady beating of his heart.

Chung Soo and Willow looked like they wanted to object, but Leila waved them off. “Leave them alone about it. This is something the priestess requested, after all. And after what happened at the palace I think she needs it.”

Chung Soo turned and went to call Laurel, who was already arriving with a tray of sweets and Camphor right behind carrying a tea set. The two maids nearly dropped their trays when they saw the third prince embracing Yuelan, but they quickly recovered and focused on serving the tea.

Yuelan leaned against Guangfeng, who remained standing and bent over slightly rather than joining her on her side of the couch, until Yun Cai arrived with Lueduo on his shoulder. The raven eyed Byakko for a moment before flying up to perch on top of one of the beams along the ceiling.

“Priestess. Lueduo said you sent for me.” Yun Cai knelt in a deep salute, his focus on Yuelan while he pretended not to see Guangfeng standing with her.

Yuelan took a breath and slowly let it out then moved away from Guangfeng, who released her and sat down on the other side of the couch again. “I did. I was hoping you had some stories to share to help distract me from the events that happened in the palace today.”

Yun Cai gave the priestess a sympathetic look. “I heard about that from Lueduo. She saw what happened to the former empress. What sort of story would you like, Priestess? I know several.”

“Anything. I just need a distraction.”

Guangfeng looked over at Yun Cai. “Something light-hearted,” he suggested.

The information broker nodded and studied Yuelan for a moment before smiling. “When I was in a small village a few years ago there was a married couple who got into a fight. The husband had been secretly hiding away money from his wife and she found the sum. They’d been struggling to buy food for the past couple of years, so she was furious when she found such a large sum of money. You could hear her shouting at him through the entire town, so I went to take a peek. She was chasing him with one of her shoes in her hand and hitting him with it while he tried to explain. It wasn’t until she was too tired to keep going that he finally managed to get a word in and told her that the money he’d been setting aside was to buy enough cloth that she could make herself new clothes. He’d noticed that she kept repairing her old ones with patches so that he and the children would have new clothes because there wasn’t enough cloth for her, so he wanted to buy extra cloth so she could have some nice clothes. The wife looked a little lost for a moment, then hugged him and apologized. He gave her the money, since she’d found it, and after that I don’t know what happened. I was there for another reason and just happened to have a spare moment to watch the scene.”

Yuelan smiled a little. “That poor husband. It sounds like his wife is quite fierce. I hope things are going better between them now.”

“I’m sure they are.” Guangfeng smiled at her. “I hope you will trust me and ask before you make an assumption when you learn I’m doing something.”

“I’ll try,” Yuelan promised. “I’ll at least not chase after you with a shoe.”

The third prince chuckled. “Thank you. If you did I’m sure the servants would be very amused, but it would be quite embarrassing for both of us in the end.”