Crown Prince Jing Han looked over to Shiyao when he heard her audibly gasp, her round eyes bugging out of her head. He smirked at how she covered her mouth:

"No!" she exclaimed softly.

Even he had to admit, the National Theatre Troupe did a good job covering up Queen Zhi Xiu's involvement in the War of Revenet, so when King Shuo ascended the stairs to the court room and a spotlight above suddenly revealed her to not only be already on the throne, but to have his closest and most trusted advisor by her side, he could understand Shiyao's genuine shock.

It was cute.

"Black Robe" was the most famous play in Revenet's history - it was a retelling of the founding of the nation as it had existed for the last seven hundred years. It began with Queen Zhi Xiu (then Crown Princess) being chased down in the human realm, her return to Revenet, being married off to the vampire Prince Shuo of the Northern Territory, becoming Queen of that nation and how she successfully got revenge on the people who ousted her and took over Revenet in the process, but how she merged the two lands together and spread their culture.

"She was so cool!" Shiyao gushed, linking arms with Ina as they left the Royal Box, the four of them (Zixuan had joined them as well) "Wasn't she?"

"Absolutely! That's your ancestor, you know?" Ina smiled, happy that Shiyao was so excited about something.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Jing Han commented, Zixuan offering her a polite smile as they trailed slightly behind and got into a carriage that departed for one of the more opulent restaurants that were expecting them.

"But don't you think," Jing Han began, shifting over to allow Zixuan room in the four seater carriage. "That she was a tyrant? A lot of scholars have said so."

"Absolutely not! Who would dare speak out?"

"Her own son did."

"No way!"

Ina and Zixuan suppressed their laughter, finding Shiyao's enthusiasm for the subject rather endearing.

"Her second son did, her firstborn Yunhao thought she was the greatest thing to grace this realm."

"So did her husband." Shiyao added with a sigh. "Oh, I'm a bit jealous of their relationship, I've never dated anyone who could be my Yun, I've had nothing like that, except maybe-"

Why did Prince Min keep popping into her mind these days?

"Who?"

Shiyao looked to Jing Han, whose gaze was rather... pointed.

A sweet smile immediately graced her lips, an automatic reaction from a lifetime of dealing with buttering up highers ups who were upset.

Was he unhappy?

What would he have to be unhappy about?

"No one of consequence." she assured him. "Is there anyone of consequence in your life, Your Highness?"

Jing Han cracked a wry smile.

Deflection at its finest.

"Perhaps." he nodded his head and Shiyao didn't miss how Zixuan raised an eyebrow at his comment. "But things have opened up a bit for me."

"Have they?" she replied, her smile unchanging. "Do keep me updated, Your Highness, I love a good drama."

Ina's burst of laughter was enough to set Zixuan off giggling with her, the two royals wondering what was so funny but not caring enough to ask.

"What was it you did in Ranhara anyway?" Jing Han continued. "Fortune telling?"

"You-!"

"You?!"

"....Say that like you weren't there, Your Highness."

"I saw that your king wouldn't do or say anything without your presence, is the removal of balls a requirement for ascending the throne in Ranhara or what?"

Zixuan and Ina looked between the two, their hearts in their mouths as they noted Shiyao's expression was unreadable. The energy in the carriage had drained away, pulling down the mood with it. Shiyao sat back comfortably in her seat, calm and cool, her gaze never breaking. Her tongue wetted her bottom lip and the corners tugged up ever so slightly, as though she was mocking him.

"Something like that." she replied lightly, her tone a complete and confusing contrast to her body language and Jing Han didn't know if he had offended her or if she was looking down on him or what the hell she was thinking.

It was so... interesting and now Zixuan's comment about her stabbing him in the back at any given moment made a bit more sense.

"Princess Shiyao's job was to handle domestic affairs, Your Highness, to provide reports of her visions of the future, she even picked the last king! She had to do a lot of diplomacy with members of other states and even arranged the evacuation of the Witches before King Zhan had ordered her to do so, she-"

"That's quite enough, Ina." Shiyao interjected, her palm raised slightly.

"So what you're saying is, the country would've fallen apart without her?" Jing Han asked Ina, who nodded enthusiastically in response. He turned back to Shiyao with a feline grin.

"I was only supposed to be Her Holiness The Witch... Ara." she paused, surprised at how easily she'd almost forgotten her old name. "You know, doing funerals, sharing my holy visions to the royals to help them govern."

"Oh, they really trusted you, huh?" Jing Han chuckled.

"They did. They relied on me for everything in the end, and they deserved everything that happened to them." such icy cold words were spoken with such a tender expression was throwing him off a little, Jing Han had to admit.

"Well I'll propose a toast to that when we arrive."

“Shiyao, you can order for us." Jing Han suggested, taking a seat in the private room located on the second floor of the restaurant.

"Okay." she shrugged, looking through the menu that the server handed to her. "Is anyone allergic to anything?"

"I'm allergic to garlic." Jing Han said.

"Good thing this is a Kandrakaran restaurant, then." she replied without missing a beat, her eyes never leaving the menu. "How many dishes would you recommend for four people?"

"About 5?"

"Then... one braised duck's neck, one fire chicken, one Job's Tears soup... fragrant tuna's head, one crispy fried okra, a large bowl of rice and..." she scanned the drinks section and her eyes lit up when she spotted her favourite: "Crystal Wine - one bottle that's been frozen and a flask of warm water."

"Is that everything?"

"Yep." she nodded, looking around the table and handing the menu back when no one protested.

"Your Highness likes spicy food, it seems." Zixuan commented with a low chuckle and clearing his throat.

"Oh I'm sorry, can you not eat spicy food?" she asked, accepting a cup of water that Ina poured for her.

"I enjoy it very much, Your Highness."

"Fantastic."

Jing Han noticed how Ina leaned over to whisper something into Shiyao's ear, wondering why she suddenly looked over to him with eyes full of mischief and very pointedly said nothing to him.

"Your Highness, may I ask why you ordered the wine frozen?" Ina took the bottle that was sitting in a bucket of ice from the server and placed it on the edge of the round table.

"The taste is much better."

"That's a very expensive bottle of wine." Jing Han noted. "You don't want to mess around with the natural flavours."

"Have a little faith in me, Your Highness." Shiyao replied casually, standing up and crossing over to where Ina had placed the bottle. She picked it up to examine it and shook her head. It wasn't nearly cold enough. With a quick mutter, the whole bottle instantly froze over. "Gosh, I said frozen, it wasn't even fucking cold."

She slowly reheated the top of the bottle so that she could actually open it and looked to Ina whom she expected to pour the drinks.

"Oh! Let me-" Ina began, before Shiyao stopped her upon noticing she had plain short nails.

"You'll burn your hands." she muttered, expertly arranging the cups with speed and precision, not having to struggle at all as she simultaneously held her robe sleeve back with the hand that was also holding the bottom of the icy bottle, her nail extensions providing her fingers protection and making the pour look all the more graceful.

She was used to this, Jing Han reasoned.

Just what kind of Holy Witch was so accustomed to pouring alcohol for others?

Surely their dumbass king wouldn't have made her, someone of such high status, pour drinks for others?

His incredulous sigh caught the attention of the other three.

"What?" he asked, and the others shook their heads.

Ina passed the cups out to everyone, her hands seizing up a little at how cold the ceramic had turned and they all stood up, clinking their cups together as Jing Han toasted Shiyao's arrival and wishing her many fruitful days ahead. The three locals took long sips of the smooth, slightly fruity and very clean alcohol that slid down their throats and cooled their insides before it turned into an unexpected burn at the bottom that Ina couldn't quite handle. They all looked to Shiyao, who held her cup high, releasing a satisfied hiss.

"One more," she gestured to Ina to hand her the bottle and looked to them for refills, stopping only when she realised only her cup was empty, shrugging and refilling it anyway. "Okay, then. Cheers!"

The others indulged her, managing to finish their cups this time as Shiyao once again downed hers in one shot, automatically refilling their cups but not toasting because none of them had eaten yet and she didn't want them to end up absolutely steaming before they'd even eaten.

"Oh, this is good!" Jing Han declared, taking more of the salty and deeply spicy fire chicken, the numbing pepper adding a layer of extra flavour that made his mouth water.

"You've never had it before?"

"The Guorun Palace serves only local food." Ina answered for her, her eyes closing and her fists shaking in delight at the wonderfully rich flavours. "Thank you for ordering this, Your Highness."

Shiyao looked over to Zixuan who met her gaze. They exchanged an amused smile as they continued to eat, enjoying their companions overreactions. The fish surprised her the most, how they kept the skin crispy while the inside flesh was juicy, she didn't know. Maybe they blasted it with fire after it was finished steaming, she had no idea, she didn't care, it was too delicious.

"You're welcome." she replied, taking a mouthful of Job's Tears soup, a sweet and goopy offset to the spicy dishes.

As more and more food was had, the alcohol kept flowing and before they knew it, they had moved on to desserts - cheesecakes and fruit platters laid out across the table, their bellies quickly becoming full. The alcohol had loosened them up and Shiyao had entertained them with her mixing skills. Jing Han tried his hardest not to let it show how much he hated watching her smile so freely as she surprised them over and over with her concoctions. He did, however, quickly suggest that they move on to a game of cards and betting some coins for fun.

Shiyao learned a lot about her companions that night: Ina was a sore loser and wasn't too shy to whine about her bad luck, finding every excuse to justify her defeat. She was very cute once alcohol had gotten into her system. Jing Han reminded her of Hunter in some ways; he was almost as large as the General, but leaner, his arrogance bounced off the walls but she supposed that could be forgiven because he was literally the Crown Prince. He was smart, but not as much as Zixuan, whom she noticed held back during the card games to allow him to win, though that courtesy didn't extend to the women. She smiled to herself. Jing Han seemed to really know Zixuan, he appeared to be more like a friend than an advisor and that was a good quality in and of itself. Jing Han seemed like he was very much... himself - at all times. There weren't many people who were. She liked that a lot.

His eyes were wide and sharp, the under area a little dark and puffy but that only made them seem larger. His chin was razor sharp - a feature she shared with him, but while her own nose was a gentle slope, his was quite large, taller than average but appropriately wide, with a bump on the bridge that was only visible when he was turned ninety degrees. Still, it didn't overwhelm his face - it was a nice feature, even if it was large, and besides, everyone knew that if man's nose was larger than average then whatever he had going on downstairs was bound to be big, t-

"Am I that handsome?"

Jing Han's voice broke her out of her train of thought and she straightened up, not having realised that she was staring at him with her head in her hand.

"I was miles away, Your Highness." she smiled. "I'm going to get some fresh air, I'm feeling a bit sleepy."

"Perhaps we should head back instead, Your Highnesses?" Zixuan suggested, noting that Ina was barely able to stay awake.

"Let's." Jing Han agreed, stumbling a little as he rose up.

Shiyao managed to rouse Ina enough to get her up and supported her as they made way back to the carriage where she pushed the younger girl in with some difficulty, hands planted firmly on her butt. Jing Han chuckled at the sight and burst into full laughter when Shiyao took one step up, slipped and fell on her knees back down on the ground, her cry of surprise enough to have Zixuan zooming over to her to help her back up.

"Don' you dare put your hands on my ass!" she warned, "I swear to god, Min."

"I wouldn't dream of it." he chuckled. "But I take full offence at your misremembering my name, Your Highness."

"Huh?" Shiyao gently pushed Ina up so she could take a seat, pulling her robes in so the boys could get in.

"I'm not whoever you just called me, Your Highness!" he clarified in faux offence.

"Well I apologise! Master XIAO HANG!" she emphasised his name loudly. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY NAMES I HAVE TO REMEMBER?!"

"I HAVE NO IDEA AT ALL IT MUST BE VERY HARD FOR YOU YOUR HIGHNESS!" he half-yelled back, matching her big hand gestures.

"IT IS!"

The two continued with the big hand gestures, too tired to keep yelling and not noticing how Jing Han pointedly ignored them until he made a point of clearing his throat as loudly as possible.

Lady Dana had busied herself all night with reading up on reports and preparing for the big meeting the day after tomorrow where she would have to present a proposal for their next move to prove to King Yun that he was ready to take over the throne.

It was a tradition in Revenet that the Crown Prince, rather than waiting to take over the throne when his father passed away, could instead propose a challenge for power once he felt like he was ready enough to becomg king himself. The reigning king had the right to reject the proposal so long as he was under the age of sixty-five. Over that age, the king would need support from the rest of the court ministers and representatives if he wanted to reject a challenge.

A challenge had several requirements, but most importantly they had to be: Of benefit to the people of Revenet, Proof of his ability to govern and something that would have long lasting effects. If the proposal was submitted and the ministers on the Challenge Committee had approved it - then the Crown Prince would have six months to begin the challenge and would have to complete the challenge within eighteen months.

If the challenge was successful, then the Crown Prince would be crowned after the Harvest festival, on the first full moon of the new year.

Lady Dana wanted nothing more than to help the Crown Prince in every way possible, happy with the knowledge that one day she would be by his side as Queen. She swiped her cup of warm water and took a few gulps to try and wake herself more. It was almost three o'clock in the morning and Jing Han's messenger still hadn't arrived to escort her to him.

But he would, he always showed up eventually.

All she had to do was stay awake.

She stretched her arms out and got up, opening her bedroom door and quietly stepping outside into the corridor of Peridot Hall, where all of the special advisors lived together in one compound and made her way outside, the cool air of the night keeping her awake. She followed the pathway to the entrance, hoping to catch sight of her lover should he be coming back late from a meeting, no doubt brainstorming himself about what he might possibly do to take over the throne.

As she neared the areas where the royals themselves dwelled, her feet came to a gradual halt and her heart hammered in her chest as she watched Jing Han stagger across the courtyard with Zixuan by his side, the pair of them chatting happily and having fun with two women she'd never seen before. One of them was no more than a servant girl, but the other? With robes almost as grand as Jing Han's, who the hell was she?

Was this why he hadn't come to see her?

Because he was spending time with other...

And she had spent countless hours doing research for him while he had just...

How could he do this to her?

Dana's fingers curled into a fist and yet rather than call him out, she found herself hiding in the shadows and stewing in anger. Follow them or go home? Follow or go home? Follow or go home?

Would she even be able to sleep if she went home?

A sudden sharp prick to her right arm was enough to make her yelp, hissing as she pulled away from the tree she was standing by. She didn't dare move as the four looked over in her direction and she hid herself further back, hoping she was too far away for them to see.

"So when will you challenge your father?" Shiyao asked when it was just herself and Jing Han in Kingfisher Residence, Ina safely inside and Zixuan snoozing outside the gate. She crouched down by the pond that was illuminated by fireflies and admired the reflection of the night sky.

Jing Han hummed as he thought it over, finding it hard not to focus on her beauty while she was distracted completely, attempting to pet the koi fish that sailed past under the surface.

"Can I ask why you chose Zhan over Min to be king?" he asked suddenly, taken aback by how sweet she looked looking up at him like that with her big doe eyes.

"Min would've conscripted everyone to fight for him. Zhan would've evacuated everyone possible. I knew this war was coming, I knew that we wouldn't stand a chance." she replied. "The Universe told me that Min was supposed to be king and there would be endless bloodshed."

"And you ignored the will of the Universe?"

"The Universe was wrong, Your Highness."

Shiyao stood up, never seeing how Jing Han's eyes widened at her boldness. And people said that he was arrogant? His smile caught her off guard as she finally righted herself, brushing any leaves that had fallen down off her robes.

"What if I asked you to report your visions to me when I'm king?" he asked, stepping to the stone in front of her, towering over the tiny Demon.

"I would tell you that your brain is a far better tool, Your Highness."

A rush of goosebumps erupted over her skin as his large hands landed on her shoulders, sliding to rest on her upper arms and she dared not move. She wasn't stupid enough to piss off the Crown Prince and Queen Yun had asked to her humour her, so... she supposed she could bear with it once. Shiyao closed her eyes as she felt his face getting closer to hers and she braced herself, mentally preparing for something she couldn't quite accept yet. Jing Han stilled for a moment as he felt Shiyao practically vibrate with tension. She still looked cute as she stood with her eyes closed like she wasn't riddled with nerves.

But she would let him.

Well...

Maybe next time.

He leaned down and placed a lingering kiss on her forehead. His way of thanking her for the night. He hadn't had such fun in a long time.

Shiyao let out a breath as he pulled away, flinching as his index finger brushed the tip of her nose and he bid her a goodnight, watching her go inside her home and lock the door after herself, chuckling when the head servant in the house scolded her for coming in so late.

Kingfisher Residence wasn't so bad, it had a nice atmosphere. Calm and peaceful, he could definitely see himself dropping by more often to get away from the lively commotion of the main palace.

Maybe he could ponder over his Challenge proposal here?

He clasped his hands behind his back as he stepped out of the main gate that automatically locked itself, shoving Zixuan awake and no sooner did his sleepy friend spring to his feet did he stop:

"Lady Dana?"