Dragon finished up his bath quickly and rushed over to the pavilion where Hazel was waiting. From afar, he could make out a slender figure, dressed in a thin blue gown, sitting and looking out at the serenity of the water in the garden lily pads.
The stillness of the whole scene was so breathtaking that Dragon stood in the same spot for a good minute before Hazel's light brown eyes glazed upon him.
"17th!" she cried in a sweet voice filled with genuine happiness to see him. "Over here!"
Dragon, beckoned by such a beautiful lady, made his way over with haste. Upon placing foot on the gazebo, the young lady welcomed him with a most warm embrace.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she mumbled into Dragon's chest, not caring that her tears were staining his newly washed clothes. "I was worried for so long, but you kept refusing to see me."
[That's because I don't know you!]
"Sorry…a lot has been on my mind lately," Dragon pulled out the ultimate answer that Pan Yue taught him. "I'm still recovering from the trauma of the fall and I didn't want to worry anyone."
Hazel lifted her small face up to look at her husband's.
"You were well enough to stand night vigil for the Tengs' daughter but not even pay me a simple visit?"
Dragon was taken aback, not by the question, but the tone in which she presented it.
As a nobody who climbed the social ladder with blood and sweat, he had seen more than enough emotions capable to harbor within a man, no matter how cleverly one learned to hide it. The subtle instances of greed, malice, and jealousy were all but a scratch to a surface of things all too familiar to the eyes of the trained ex-general.
But when it came to women…he saw nothing.
[Did I just imagine it?]
"Sorry Hazel, I haven't been myself after our fight. Can I make it up to you?" Dragon asked with the softest expression he could manage.
"YES! Of course! Spend today and tomorrow with me," she gushed, blocking all excuses from going through with her excitement. "Let's start with your forte—painting!"
"Ah. Sure," Dragon agreed carelessly.
"Let's fly kites now!" Hazel suggested next and the emperor went along with it.
"I'll play the guzheng and you play the flute!"
Though it was only one song Dragon knew, Hazel didn't complain. When dinner finally came around, Dragon couldn't be more thankful. He never knew keeping up with a concubine could be so physically exhausting comparable to training.
"Here have more of this, your favorite," Hazel said before crinkling her eyes into a smile and placing more food in Dragon's bowl with her chopsticks. "And this, and this, and this…I made it all especially for you."
Dragon ate everything, every last piece of it. When the maids came in to take out the plates, they looked at the emperor in shock.
'When did the emperor have such an appetite?' they thought. 'He finally eats like a man.'
After the meal, Dragon invited Hazel to go on a stroll on the pretense of walking off some of the weight he just packed on. In reality, he wanted to take the time to analyze the geography of this area. He haven't really been in this part of the palace and it may just come handy in the future.
That gesture didn't go unnoticed by the gossipy maids and guards on post.
'Did the emperor actually suggest going on a stroll? Can his weak body withstand the breeze?'
"Are you okay so far? We can walk in the morning when the breeze is lighter," Hazel asked after walking a little.
Dragon turned to look at the red-nosed Hazel and let out a boyish laugh before throwing his coat over her thin shoulders.
"Seems like you're cold. Let's head back then," he said before retracing his footsteps, taking the lead and even holding the lady's hand when crossing the bridge.
"17th, it's cold. Please think of yourself," Hazel urged him to take it back.
"This temperature is quite favorable to me," Dragon responded while placing his coat back on the concubine once more.
'The emperor is finally acting like a man!' the watchers cheered on.
Like a good gentleman, Dragon safely returned Hazel back to her residence and bid her a good night.
The current emperor liked Hazel. In their short time together, he could make out that she genuinely cared for her 17th prince. That was reason enough for him to look out for her in place of 17th.
However, Hazel's opinion of Dragon "after the fall" was not as simple.
This Dragon was still kind and doting on her, but unfortunately, didn't possess an ounce of elegant composure or the aura of intelligence distinctly unique to the 17th prince of Jin.
Her Dragon wouldn't agree to do half of the activities she asked and shouldn't have performed it with such ease. For the things he did excel in, he surprisingly failed. Even their conversations had a different flow to it.
There were countless rumors saying that the emperor changed after the assassination attempt that caused him to hit his head after flying out the balcony. They said he acted like a completely different person, standing up for himself and having the guts to actually make decisions.
She was afraid to confront him at first, not wanting to see for herself what he has become. But after witnessing his personality firsthand, she reached one solid conclusion—one that she boldly brought to the emperor the very next day.
"I want to ask, what happened that day of the fall?"
[Where'd that come from?]
"Nothing really. An assassin came after me and I fell off the balcony. I…was shielded though…" Dragon replied, vividly picturing the scene where he used his own body to cushion the emperor's fall. It wasn't pleasant recalling such a death any more than he already had. "I was lucky…"
"No," Hazel spoke gravely. "It was suicide. 17th attempted suicide!"
"What?"
"You're not 17th!"
Dragon tried his best to pretend to be shocked, to pretend as if what she said was absurd. Try as he may, it was the truth and there was some comfort in knowing that there may just exist one person who'd believe him.
"Then who could I possibly be?"
Hazel looked Dragon dead straight in the eye.
"General Teng."