"Any progress on your challenge idea, Your Highness?" Shiyao asked as the Crown Prince mulled over papers and slapped a hand over his tired eyes. He had invited her to his study after running into her outside where Yixing had scared Jun away, and he was more than impressed with the guard's loyalty.

"Nothing." he groaned, his body becoming limp in the chair, head rolling to the side to regard her. "I'm never gonna be king before I'm fifty... what's so funny?"

"Nothing, Your Highness." she smiled. "Tell me more about the rules."

"Well, there's a good few." he began, sitting up properly. "It has to be of benefit to the people, proof that I can govern and have long lasting effects."

"Oh, okay." she nodded, reaching over to take a mint candy from the pretty white dish in the middle of the table and popping it in her mouth. "So you're going to tackle part of the economy, Your Highness."

The economy?

Jing Han blinked, clearing his throat.

"Are you saying that our economy is not good?"

"It is good." she agreed. "But economies serve the interest of the elite."

"You-!" he started, finger in the air as he pointed it right at her. "Our economy serves everyone."

"Is that what they told you, Your Highness?" she smiled. "Well, then. It must be true."

"How would you know about any of this?"

"Because I spent my entire adulthood working in diplomacy, I know very well how it serves the elite and how we always manipulate it in our favour." she continued, picking up a mandarin orange and focusing her attention on rolling it against the dark wood. "Those at the bottom can never be too comfortable - they make up the majority of the workforce. They need to be pushed harder to produce more and generate more money, which creates more jobs, which means more people buy more things and there's more money to go around. People are greedy, Your Highness. That's something us and the poor have in common. We always want more, but the difference is that throwing them a bone costs us almost nothing, but it greatly improves their impressions of and attitude towards the state."

Jing Han tried to ignore how much louder his heart was beating in his chest.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, how could not have thought of something so obvious?

"I mean, unless you're not allowed to do that kind of challenge, Your Highness. What did King Yun do?"

"He didn't challenge for the throne, my grandfather died quite young."

"How about your grandfather, then?"

"Our great-grandfather also died pretty young."

Shiyao raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds fishy." she commented and Jing Han cackled.

"I didn't want to look at the records, I wanted to think of something by myself."

"Well, that's just my idea. I wouldn't know how to go about executing it." she shrugged and he smirked at her outright lie. "What does Your Highness think?"

Huh.

Jing Han laughed to spite himself - she was treating him like a peasant and throwing him a bone, and if he was being totally honest with himself he couldn't find her any more attractive at that moment. Her nonchalance, the sheer confidence with which she spoke of these things ought to have put him to shame.

Truthfully, he hadn't even thought that big - going as far as introducing a law - he didn't think it would be in the realm of possibility so he hadn't even considered it and yet, there she was, tossing it out there like it was no big deal while she casually rolled the damn orange under her fingers.

"Well, I'd have to send some trusted people out to go and live among the people in the poorest regions, have them report back for... a few months, half a year, maybe? Then using that data I could come up with proposals and draft legislation to help alleviate the worst of it."

"You need to-" she began, stopping herself. "That sounds like a great plan!"

"Speak."

"May I?"

"Yaoyao... you're the only person who's been of any help so far, and I know you're on my side, right?"

"Of course, Your Highness." she replied, ignoring the flutter in her stomach at the pet name. That was new.

"So be honest with me, what am I missing?"

"Well, you won't know until you begin." she finally dug her nails into the orange skin and began peeling it back. "I just wanted to say, don't give them more than scraps. Enough to make their lives a bit easier so that they're grateful, but not enough to make them complacent or else it'll only brew more discontent."

"And?"

"And... the officials who are in charge of carrying out the policy can't profit from it in any way. You'll have to keep it working as it should, at least until you're crowned."

"So I'd need more informants to dish up the dirt."

"Not necessarily, Your Highness. You could pick someone with less influence, plant evidence, charge them and make an example out of them."

That was the hottest damn thing he'd heard in a long time.

How bold.

How brazen.

To so openly discuss deterring corruption by being corrupt - she was so ballsy and that was exactly what he needed. Maybe she would prove to be a better choice than Dana after all? He had kept Shiyao in mind anyway because of her family, but for some reason it never entered his head that she, herself, would actually be a useful person to him. It made total sense, she was basically running the show back in Ranhara.

How had he missed this?

"Which one is my star?"

Shiyao looked over to Jing Han as they stood outside near the lake on the pagoda overlooking the water.

"When is your birthday?"

"The thirteenth day of the third month."

"And the year?"

"Nine hundred and nineteen."

"May I have your hand?"

Jing Han held out his left palm, watching with curiosity as she inspected and traced the lines over his skin, nodding in understanding. He followed her from the pagoda as she scurried outside, her head tilting back as she almost looked vertically up. He wondered what her smile could mean. She grasped the stone on her necklace in her hand, wrapping three fingers around it, her index finger resting on the tip of her nose, her thumb resting under her chin. She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating before muttering: "Show me."

Her hand suddenly flew upwards in the direction of the star, palm outstretched, the stone suspended in mid-air. Jing Han quietly gasped as multiple circular glyphs appeared, each one zooming closer and closer until a star that was lightyears away appeared before them in perfect clarity through the window of the final glyph.

"There it is." she whispered, admiration clear in her expression. "It's beautiful, Your Highness."

Jing Han craned his neck, pinching the back of it when the muscle cramped.

"This won't do." he muttered, shrugging his floor length seaicead off and laying it out on the grass below, gripping her wrist. "Join me."

She no longer shook with nerves when he touched her, indeed, she didn't seem uncomfortable any longer.

"Your seaicead will get dirty on the grass, Your Highness." she pointed out.

"it's just an outside coat, it's supposed to get dirty." he replied, sitting down and laying back, his palm outstretched towards her. "Join me."

Shiyao said nothing, but took his hand and carefully sat down on the expensive robe.

"Please." he added, frowning and clearing his throat as his tone came out softer and more plea-like than he had intended.

Shiyao bit down her bottom lip for a moment, heart racing as she lay back, expecting to hit fabric but hit an arm instead.

"Your Highness." she began, moving to shift away, but the mere touch of his fingers on her half-covered shoulder was enough to stop her.

"It's fine." he assured her. "The ground is too hard."

"It's not appropriate." she murmured, though gingerly laid back down as he wanted.

"Says who?"

"I don't... I don't know."

"Are you not attracted to me?"

"Sorry?" she spluttered, her cheeks heating up as he laughed. "I-I- Your Highness! I thought you wanted to look at your star?"

"Then tell me about it."

"It's beautiful." she commented, raising her finger. "The colour is like that of a pearl, it's bright and shiny but not blinding and its rotation is quite slow. That's a sign of longevity - you'll live a long and healthy life, Your Highness."

"Is that so?"

"The lines on your left palm match the lines on the surface, the crevices. That's how I know it's yours." she reached over his body and took his hand, holding it up so he could compare. Huh. It really did match. "Your birthday narrows down which part of the sky to look at, and royals usually have brighter stars."

"Does everyone have a star?" he asked.

"Yes."

"And you can find them all?"

"Some are harder than others, but eventually, yes."

"Show me yours."

She smiled that smile again, her pendant floating up without a word and her hand moved very slightly to the right, the star next to his now becoming the focus.

"This is mine." she said.

"It's right next to mine?" he questioned, "Alright, gimmie your hand, missy."

Shiyao giggled in surprise as he grabbed her left wrist, holding it up and comparing the details on her palm, studying it closely against the giant star swirling in the middle of the glyph. Why did he look so handsome when he was concentrating? His resting face was already so serious, conniving, even, but it suited him down to the ground.

"What does that mean?" he asked after a minute, not letting her palm go. "Your star is right beside mine."

"Your star has always been beside mine." she replied. "Probably because everything was leading up to me arriving here, and you'll be the next king. The position can change after major events."

"Your star is brighter than mine." he noted. "What does that mean?"

"It's a sign of potential." she lied. "I'll do great things."

"The colour is different, too." he said. "It's got a reddish tinge. What does that mean?"

"It can mean different things depending on the person." she replied. "Red can mean passion, love, new beginnings or bloodshed and vengeance."

"What does it mean for you?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"I don't know." she sighed, and it was the truth. "I've never been any good at interpreting my own star, so I usually don't bother."

"Thank you for showing me." he said lowly.

It must have been after midnight when the Crown Prince offered to send her home and as she was feeling sleepy she accepted without protest.

"Here, you can put your arm in mine." he murmured, and so she slipped her hand through the gap, her hand lightly resting on his forearm. "I enjoyed the time we spent together this evening."

"Me, too, Your Highness." she replied genuinely.

The pair enjoyed the sounds of night time as they approached the area where he had run into her, Yixing and Enda, Jing Han's guard, dutifully following behind. The moon shone high over the Guorun Palace, bathing the grounds in light as they passed through. The Crown Prince smiled as Shiyao let out a long yawn.

"Rest your head." he urged her and for once she didn't hesitate, her head leaning comfortably against his shoulder where it barely brushed the top.

It really did make her feel more relaxed, and if she wasn't still moving she might well have fallen asleep standing up.

"Your loyal advisor kneels before you."

Jing Han looked ahead, spotting Lady Dana some meters away, flanked by another woman. Shiyao, thankfully, hadn't bothered to open her eyes.

"Dana." he nodded, noticing her shiny eyes and red cheeks. Was she drunk?

"Your Highness." she began, getting to her feet somewhat shakily. "Your Highness, who-"

"I thought I told you not to disturb me when I'm with company." he interjected. "Although since you're so interested, we had a very... productive evening. Did you enjoy Master Luo's secret party?"

Dana couldn't tear her gaze from the woman on his arm who was wearing such low cut robes. She was the same one as last time, her clothes were much too grand for her to not be of nobility.

"Yes." she replied somewhat defiantly. "I did, very much so."

"Good." he smiled. "Then, we will be off first. Get back safely."

With that, it was all Dana could do to watch the pair walk past. It wasn't her place to say anything, but fuck did it hurt watching him be so close to someone else. Even if they weren't official, everyone knew that they had something going on. This was embarrassing, to say the least. Could he not have a shred of decency and at least keep it private? He had spent time getting to know her well, enough to really make her feel special and loved and with her family's position and their relationship's progression, she was certain that she would be queen one day, no questions asked.

Maybe it was wrong of her to assume anything before he had made an official engagement announcement.

But she couldn't lose him without a fight.

She wouldn't.