"Hm ... Since it is your desire to escape from Xuan Kingdom, I shall not probe further into the details of your past. From now on, I will only know you as my one and only Hong Yan Zhi Ji, Huo Jae-in! And let's live your life till the fullest!" Qi Yuan concluded on his side.

A pleasant feeling with a sigh of relief fill within her as she is grateful that he wasn't angry or disappointed in her due to the concealment of truth.

With everything being confessed, the knot tied within their hearts has been released as though a huge rock shouldered by them has been lifted.

Raising their own tea cups respectfully offering towards one another, both took the tea into their mouth in one go, as a way to celebrate their friendship that has gone to the next level of trust.

"Oh right, so who is that pretty looking little lady that we met at the entrance of your manor?" Jae-in playfully ask.

The image of her appeared in the mind of Qi Yuan, almost automatically, he frown in annoyance as though he dislike thinking of her.

"Let's not talk about someone who is not important." Qi Yuan swiftly ended the conversation there.

Knowing that he is not comfortable to talk about her, Jae-in guess that she must be someone that he cannot handle or rather, a tough one to shake off. Laughing mentally, she realised that in this world, there is someone, that Qi Yuan is so afraid of, existed judging by his carefree and reckless personality.

"Since you know that I am the fourth prince of Kai Kingdom, you do not need to worry about your long-term stay in my manor as I can afford to let you stay comfortably."

"Then I shall say my thanks in advance." Jae-in bow with two hands layered on one another in front of her.

"Eh, please do not be so polite and formal towards me! If you do, I will get angry." Qi Yuan fake an anger.

"Alright alright, shall listen to you then."

*

*

*

Walking along the streets of Capital of Xuan with Yu-ji by her side, this is probably the first time she is on the street without Qi Yuan and Qing Feng by her side.

This time, Yu-ji is exceptionally excited and happy to roam on the streets with her Missy without the presence of a hateful man.

Dressed up in a white high-collar top with sleeves that ends at her arm, golden pins sewn to button up at her neck area, carefully sewn intricate designs of butterflies with a light blue string to tie at her stomach area. Matching the white and light blue combination of colors, a light blue long-sleeve with pink petals of flowers sewn at the side to cover her delicate hands.

With dark blue skirt worn, Jae-in's outfit drawn lots of attentions from the passerby in Capital of Kai. They are all blown away by the beauty of Jae-in, wondering where this little lady is from as they have never seen such beautiful lady on the streets for awhile.

Unaware of the attraction she is drawing, she continue her shopping with Yu-ji, admiring all the delicate sewing on the clothes that she seen from this clothing store.

"Oh my, who is this? Isn't this the lady whom I saw at Qi Yuan's manor?" A voice broke her attention.

Turning her body towards the voice, a lady dressed in light red chiffon outerwear, with pink flowers sewn on them. A white innerwear top combined with a red and white skirt, her exquisite hair accessories shows the high ranked status of herself.

Golden earrings accompanied with ruby that is hard to get and red gems in the shape of a flower, with drapes of pearl hanging loosely at one end, stuck onto the sides of her hair. Such a beauty with undeniable cuteness in every actions she does.

"Hello, thank you for remembering me. Are you Qi Yuan's friend?" Jae-in politely asked.

"Friend? Hmph, I am no friend of Qi Yuan. I, the Jun Zhu of Jing kingdom, the soon-to-be wife of Qi Yuan, Jing Ai Le!" Ai Le proudly introduce herself.

[Jun Zhu: 君主 A status of a princess. However, because Ai Le is a princess from Jing Kingdom, not from Kai Kingdom, therefore I would use the chinese address to avoid confusion of using the word 'princess'.]

"I see, Jing Jun Zhu, it is my honor to meet you." Jae-in greeted her gracefully.

"Since it is fate for us to meet again, I would like to invite you for a short tea session at a nearby restaurant, Yuan Ding Lou."

"That is a good suggestion, shall comply to your proposal then."

"Missy!" Yu-ji whispher and pull Jae-in's sleeve with little strength to warn her Missy to be wary of Ai Le, since she did showed her unfriendly attitude at the entrance of Qi Yuan manor.

Giving a comforting glance, Jae-in follow behind Ai Le.

The two ladies left the clothing store and enter the restaurant, entering the usual private room that Ai Le will always go to, Jae-in follow behind quietly.

Taking a seat in the room, Ai Le proceed to instruct the server to bring the same dishes which shows that this restaurant is a place that she frequently visit. With everything being served, Ai Le observe Jae-in and was impressed by her mannerism.

At first, she dislike this woman who appeared out of nowhere, occupying Qi Yuan's attention and she has a woman's intuition that she is someone he holds dearly. Not going to deny that she is jealousy and curious at the same time, so she decided to approach her to get to know her better.

After all, it is best to keep your enemy close to you than further away.

"Since you know who I am, why not you tell me your name?" Ai Le asked while taking a bite of the Fu Rong Gao.

"My name is Jae-in, born and raised in Xuan Kingdom. Due to some incident, I get to know Qi Yuan and we decided to become friends, accompanying one another as a travel companion to Kai Kingdom. But, I was not aware of his identity till last night."

"Hmm... Friend of Qi Yuan."

Staring at Jae-in's face to catch any lies, Ai Le knows that this woman is not interested in her Qi Yuan in a romantic manner.

"Fine, since you have stated your relationship with Qi Yuan very clearly, and you seems to be someone that does not hide malicious intention, I shall be kind to be friends with you." Ai Le come to conclusion on what to do with this lady.

"Fantastic! It is my honor to be friends with such dignified lady of Kai Kingdom, not to mention that you are the Jun Zhu of Jing Kingdom." Jae-in smile.

"Of course! Qi Yuan's friends is my friend as well! Judging by your looks and personality, you do not seem to be an evil person. Also, I would like to thank you for taking care of my Qi Yuan during the trip back home." Ai Le offered a cup of tea and drank it.

With such open and non restricted mannerism, Jae-in knew that Ai Le is someone who is very open-minded and seems to be a friends worthy to make.

'More like him taking care of me.' Jae-in laughed mentally.

Wiping her mouth clean with the sleeves of her clothings, Ai Le squirm closer to Jae-in's side.

"So ... Jae-in how old are you?"

"I am 20 this year."

"Oh my! Then can I call you older sister? I am 18 this year!"

"Of course, Ai Le sister."

"Alright! Sister Jae-in!" Ai Le smile brightly to Jae-in.

"But the way, I am curious how did you and Qi Yuan got engaged?"

As the topic revolved around Qi Yuan, the light in Ai Le's eyes brighten up and show off the natural glow of a maiden talking about her lover.

"Hehe! This is a long story, me and Qi Yuan can be known as childhood friends who grew up together since young in the Kai Kingdom. As mentioned, I am the princess of Jing Kingdom, but I was sent to Kai Kingdom at the age of 5 as an alliance to the everlasting friendship between Jing and Kai.

Even though I know I was sent here as a tribute in the name of a hostage, but Uncle Kai (Kai Emperor) treated me very very well!

The life here in Kai is very comfortable and I was bestowed the title of Jun Zhu, living comfortably with a gifted manor of my own and many a times, Uncle Kai will give me treasures that are hard to sought for. "

"During the first year in Kai Kingdom, I was very lonely as I do not have any friends. But, I think god heard my request and bestowed Qi Yuan to me as we coincidentally met under a tree and that was how we met!

But do you know that when we were younger, Qi Yuan was never like how he is now? In the past, he was very quiet and reserved. And it was thanks to me, who will visit his quarters to entertain him, making his palace more lively.

Sometimes, he will quietly stick to me and listen to things that I share.

Those times were such memories and eventually he started to loosen up to me and reveal his true emotions of sadness, happiness and loneliness.

Somehow, something told me that he is to be the one of my life and I decided to be his wife!"

"So, I went to Uncle Kai and request to be his fourth daughter-in-law! At that time, Qi Yuan was present as well, he was so embarrassed and got angry at me, then he left the study chamber and shouted that he will never marry me.

Then Uncle Kai laughed loudly and continuously, knowing that he love me too, he agreed to this engagement.

Sister Jae-in, you don't see the reaction of Qi Yuan towards me is quite mean but, deep down in his heart, he actually likes me."

"WHO SAID SO! JING AI LE, DON'T YOU DARE TO PUT WORDS INTO MY MOUTH!"

Qi Yuan barge into the private room with sweat beads forming at his forehead, showing that he ran here upon hearing the news of Ai Le inviting Jae-in to Yuan Ding Lou.

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[A/N]

To avoid confusion, would like to clarified that when Jae-in reach the Kai Kingdom, the places that she visited and travel is not at the main Capital of Kai. You can think it as the small cities that you passed by before reaching the main central city of the country.

Therefore, the places she went to is of different parts of Kai and different tourist attractions. Now, they reached the Capital of Kai, which is closer to the Kai Palace as well.

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[Jae-in] - 小豆蔻兒

[Jing Ai Le] -典典棠