Aqua followed her father, to the fountain on the backside of the palace, close to their family temple they worship their ancestors every year. A palace on the cliff that had sea surrounded it, with the nonstop wind and waves. A sound that always brought peace and calmness in one. But this time it disturbed Aqua.
She grew anxious as the silence from her father extended while the tides hit the cliff in the background. Aenon looked at his daughter who looked pathetic, a Princess who look calm on the outside while the inside kept boiling with frustration, fear and love, he understood all of them at one glance.
Aqua pretended to look composed and sat down near the fountain. "Pa," she called him. She urged him to speak.
"Stop going around enquiring about the moon child, you could get severely punished by the Emperor, Aqua. Don't offend anyone, this is for your own goodness and safety, you're a princess of our realm we look forward to have," Aenon advised her.
"But what is going on?" she asked him, very concerned ignoring what he just said.
"Your suspicions are right," he said finally.
"That Huo is the moonchild ?" she asked. Her instincts always said so. The moment she heard Volca mention about his demon blood she wondered if it could be true. Only an off spring of the heaven would have the silver hair and he did, but having a demon blood, if not for moonchild who else could it be.
"Yes," Aneon replied. "The child of the Empress and the Demon King Dritan before she married the emperor. He is half demon, the only child of Demon king, the demon prince, the heir to throne, who went missing, the moonchild said to be murdered by the emperor, he possess the demonic cultivation powers as well as his mother's, incredibly powerful but he looks like the heavenly descendant, that's what the birth mark suggests, the dragon," he informed her every single rumour he had heard about her love.
Aqua felt the ground falling off under her feet.
"How did you know?" that was all she asked. She couldn't find any words to pronounce.
"Your Shifu told me," he informed her.
"But,"
"Shifu brought him up, saving him from the emperor's hands," He continued. "He found the childe by chance, and he couldn't being up the courage to kill it, he brought him up,"
Aqua's eyes filled with tears, a sense of insecurity, and she grew frightened. She wasn't sure why, but she knew one thing, she wasn't willing to let go of him, something told her that something is wrong.
"He shouldn't ever come to power, nobody would be able to defeat him, his demonic nature may arise anytime,"
"Are you saying the emperor did the right thing? What if he is spreading rumours, can you assure that? Pa he is not a threat trust me, besides don't you dislike how Emperor Tai is, then what now?" she questioned her father.
"If he had accepted his step son, would any of the problems have arised?" she snapped at him and left the place.
She had a point and as a father he couldn't deny it, but as a ruler, he had no other way but look at things practically though he wasn't sure if everything he heard was true.
She looked at the sky, it was already night. She was feeling a sense of loneliness . She searched for the cancer's constellation. It was shining bright like hers. 'It means he is doing well,' she told herself. "I can't believe I fell on love with a person I knew nothing about and once I did I am no longer wanted," she talked to herself, she smirked at her thought. Sitting on the doorstep of her chamber. She sent all her maids away to sit alone. She wished for so many things in her heart deeply.
"Who said he doesn't want you," She heard a voice talking to her out of nowhere.
She spun up looking around and saw him. She was right. It was him.
"Huo'er," she called him and ran towards him.
Huo'er has been in her sea palace for a long time, watching her in his own way, hiding himself well. But he could no longer control himself when her thoughts were about him. He walked over to her, seeing her astonished have, happy to see him, but sad somewhere. Huo'er hugged her tight kissing on her head. She wasn't expecting that anyway and it made her feel a bit better to have him in her arms.
They didn't say anything to each other for a long time. Sitting on the doorstep, sky gazing together. He taught her a little about star reading. And she remembered them.
"You could have come asked me, If you badly wanted to know, " he broke the silence. "I would have tried to tell you. I was upset when you went around spying me," he said sadly.
"But you kept avoiding me," she said back.
"Because I was afraid, you know we're not meant to be," he let his confusions out. He said what he should not.
"Who said that? Or did you decide that on your own? Is it because of what Volca said to you, threatening you?" she did not like what she heard. "Don't say it, Don't say we are not meant to be?" tears whelmed her eyes.
"You don't get it," he said smiling realising how much she had heard to his chat with Volca the othernight. "Aqua am a threat, there are people who want to tear me apart, "
"And do you know am the weapon to that? Do you know that?"
"What?" he was stunned.
"The princess of the Water Realm born with the power to control the bloods? I could kill you and bring back to life if I want to, with my crystals, Do you know that? Do you the person you love could be the person to kill you? " she looked into his eyes. "You can runaway I don't mind it, but tell me first and then act, let's not be ambiguous, because am not afraid of anything written for us,"
"So we are trapped," he said looking into her eyes.
"We are," she said cupping his cheek. "Can you not just give up on us?" she requested him. And he nodded for an answer. "I didn't expect you to come to the palace," she said changing the mood.
"I would to any place, if I want to come find you," he said taking her hands and placing it on his heart. She laid her head on his shoulders and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, listening to the sound of the waves. She felt his heartbeat and rested while she could.
Even though he never spoke to Aqua for the past two and half years, he recalled all the moments he did just to watch her, while cultivating, following her, teaching her, while she walked around the place, sneaking into her house to watch her sleep at nights, keeping the grocery full at house, and he couldn't help but smile. He remembered how he once got drunk and almost kissed her while she was asleep. He even wrote their names on the wall which she never noticed until now. He remembered how he would hurry and finish his works Shifu gave him so that he could lecture her and conduct her training session. He remembered how he always made sure the cooks on the school chose plenty of meat and vegetables that Aqua liked, changing and altering the list at night, every week before they leave to town for shopping.
He recalled the moment he took the chance to stay alone with her, in the name of guarding her on her coronation day until Milan walked into her chamber. He was enjoying his lone time with her until then. He recalled the moment when he fought inside her chamber, he took her to the bath and later zipped her clothes Little did anybody know that, how his heart fluttered when he set his own on her as she got ready. He recalled how hard it was to control himself. He remembered how the heart of the perfect man in the school that kept going around the princess secretly. He intended to keep all of it a secret that he wanted to cherish forever.