The Fourth Prince Jiang and Third Prince Peng were enjoying their luxurious drinking session in one of the chambers of The Palace of Tranquility.
"Have you heard of the recent rumor surrounding the palace, Third brother?" asked Jiang before sipping a wine from his finely crafted silver cup.
"Hmm...about First brother and Fei Jia?" Peng replied as he raised one of his eyebrows.
"Yes, yes! About them bathing together." Jiang giggled, his palm covering his mouth. "What do you think about this rumor? Is it true or false?"
"Haha! Jiang, you know these palace maids, right? They only know how to stretch a fine normal piece of words. I am sure they might have misunderstood the situation." Peng spoke while he rested one of his elbows on Jiang's shoulder.
"No, it's freshly true news!"
"Come on, you know First Brother, right? He is not the one who likes to tangle in such women stufffs. It's just impossible between the two of them." Peng strongly put his point forward.
As they were discussing, Jiang saw Anchhi standing at the entrance of the door. "Why not we ask to Fei Jia herself?" Jiang smirked, his eyes fixated at Anchhi.
"What do you mean, Jiang?" Peng followed Jiang's gaze when he saw Anchhi walking towards them.
"Greetings, Your Highness Third Prince and Your Highness Fourth Prince."
"Fei Jia! What are you doing here?" Peng was almost stunned.
"Why are you people so surprised? Were you just talking about me?" Anchhi squinted her eyes, pointing her finger on both of them.
"No, no! It's not that..." Peng was about to clear the air but Jiang interjected in middle. "Yes, we were talking about you and our first brother." He said, mustering a wide smile over his face.
"Really? Your first brother and me?"
"Take a seat and we will explain to you in detail." Jiang stretched his hands as he gestured Anchhi to take her place
As a response, she nodded and took her seat.
"Hmmm....steamy bath....together...in a bathhouse...Our first brother and you...Oh my god! I am blushing." Jiang tried to explain the rumor but in a hilarious way. While, Anchhi was still confused and trying to figure out the situation he was talking about.
"Sister! Don't take his words seriously. He is a little bit drunk so he is blabbering anything." Peng tried to cover up for his small brother.
"I am not kidding, I am serious and I have already sobered up." Jiang stated in a loud voice, banging the table. "Let me tell you, it is rumored that you and our first brother took bath together in men's royal bathhouse. They even saw you both soaked!"
"What?"
"Yes, my dear sister Fei Jia." He leaned slightly forward and pinched Anchhi's soft cheeks with his both hands.
"First brother? As long as I remember, I was in the bathhouse with that stalker. How come he?" Anchhi expressed her confusion within herself. "Wait! Could it be that he is the first brother?"Her pair of eyes widened and her lips remain parted in shock.
"You are trying to say that man is your first brother? I mean, Is he the first prince of this empire?" A loud bang in the table could be heard whilst she asked in amusement.
"Yes, you guessed it right." Jiang winked at her. "Why? Were you unaware of this fact?" Peng raised his concern.
"Help! Help! I am doomed now. That man whom I had thought to be a stalker, is actually the first prince of this empire? Why didn't it pop on my head despite meeting him two times in the palace? I impulsively behaved in front of him, told him many rude shits. What should I do now? He will surely tell the Emperor and punish me for belittling him!" Anchhi's expression were as if she would cry anytime, she was wondering and literally cursing herself.
"Sister! Why are you lost on your thoughts? I was asking you something and what's wrong with your face?" Peng asked her.
"Royal brother! What..w-h-a-t should I do now? I am done for sure. Please lend a helping hand to this sister." She hurriedly grabbed Peng's arm and started yelling.
"Don't worry, my dear sister. It's only a rumor and you still have a brother by your side to protect you. I won't let your status to degrade by an inch." Jiang interrupted in middle as he hit his chest with his fist.
"Rumor is not the problem at all. The thing is..."
"Here, take this glass of wine! It's the solution of all your problems." Jiang poured a glass of wine and was offering it to Anchhi. Without thinking even once, she took the glass from him and gulped the wine at once.
"Give me more. I want more..." Anchhi yelled.
"Here, take this! I will fill your cup." Jiang was about to fill up her cup. "Hey! Wait.. we will also accompany you." said Peng, raising the silver cup. Then, the three of them raised their toast and accompanied each other till they got fully drunk.
~~~~
It was the time of night and Shuo Jin was practicing swordsmanship in the training ground. With a sword on his hand, he whirled and waved the sword in the air. Shuo Jin closed his eyes, grimacing at the flickers of pain still running through him.
The incident still fresh in his mind, his blood was boiling as he was enraged and it was motivating him more to take his revenge.
"What had I really done to go through such number of misfortunes? Why only me?" Shuo Jin heard a voice of woman bellowing and when he turned here and there to see who she was, he found Anchhi dawdling in the corridors.
When he saw her, a light evil smirk painted on his lips and a malicious thought harbored his mind. Then, Shuo Jin chose to saunter towards her with the sword still clenched in one of his hands.
"Do you dare to disturb me during my practice? He implanted his sword on Anchhi's neck, who was bending on her knees.
"No,no! Forgive me, sir. I am innocent. I haven't done anything." Anchhi threw a small gasp before she stood on her feet with her both hands raising on air as if she had surrendered herself to him.
Shuo Jin chuckled which scared Anchhi more. As she was drunk, Anchhi was neither in the state to ask for forgiveness nor she was in the mood to argue with him.
She even forgot the fact that the man standing in front of her was the first prince of Gua Empire. "Ooohh! We met again, my rude stalker." she giggled, removing the sword from her neck. But, the playfulness fled away when she confronted the actual thing that was bothering her.
"Hey, you stole my first kiss! Now, how will you compensate my lips which were virgin?" Anchhi drew a fiddle look and gripped her collars, pulling him towards her.
On the other hand, Shuo Jin kept on staring at her eyes. For a moment, they had their eyes locked with each other.
"Are you done?" Shuo Jin raised his arched brow with a disgusted look. Then, he threw the sword that clittered on the ground and took off Anchhi's hands from his collar.
He turned around and walked away that's when Anchhi started weeping, "I miss you, Mom. I am sorry for leaving you. I am stuck in this maze with no any directions to return back. What should I do? The heaven is cruel towards me that he left me in this world surrounded by unfamiliar faces. I am all alone, how shall I return?"
"What an act she is putting!" Shuo Jin mumbled before he halted at his place. "Now, don't start your melodrama here. I am not even a bit interested. It will be better if you return to your chamber." He shot a sideways glance and spoke in a raspy voice.
"Please, sir! Help me return back to my own world. I cannot bear to live here, now. Sir, I beg you." Anchhi wailed as she suddenly clinged to Shuo Jin's leg, avoiding him from taking a step ahead.
"Have you losted? Let go of me!" He sneered in anger. But, Anchhi had already made her mind to not let him go this easily so she purposely grabbed his leg, making him unable to step further. Therefore, it was just an act of Anchhi to annoy Shuo Jin.
"No! First, let me return back to my world then only I will free you." she gave a gleeful chuckle, shrugging her shoulders.
Shuo Jin struggled a lot, but at last, he got tripped over his own feet and fell flat on his face.
"This little...." he gnashed his teeth then, crawled over the ground about to grab Anchhi that's when he stopped at his place, seeing her burst into a loud laughter.
As she was laughing her heart out, Shuo Jin faintly stared at her face and noticed how beautiful she was with those glistening pair of pearly eyes and soft cherry lips. Her long black hair tugged back with some beads and flowers, was flowing like a river.