"Help!"
A deafening scream came from behind them.
One of the young noblewomen had lost control of her horse. The horse was galloping so fast towards them that they almost couldn't react in time.
When the two animals were close to colliding, somebody lifted Yanyue off onto another horse.
The man's reaction was not quick enough to snatch her back when he quickly moved his horse and rescued the young lady as she almost fell off her horse. He couldn't hold onto two people together and could only let someone else save Yanyue in that short moment.
"Prince!" the guards clamored behind them and rushed towards Beichen.
"I'm fine," Beichen gestured to the bodyguards and then glanced down at Yanyue sitting in front of him, still registering what had just happened. Then, he looked at the man who she was riding with earlier. The man's attentive eyes did not stray away from Yanyue, which irked Beichen as he did not like people trying to steal from him, and this man did not seem scared of him.
"Let's have this kind gentleman send the young lady back to the rest station for medical attention."
The woman was so taken aback by shock and fear that she had fainted right before getting saved.
"Guards, escort them back safely," Beichen kindly ordered with a purpose.
The man looked at Beichen with contempt, wishing to say no. However, he had no reason to deny a request from the prince, and he didn't want to look suspicious.
A smirk appeared on Beichen's face as the man admitted defeat and returned with the guards.
However, he did not know that the man had other thoughts:
As he departed, he promised to make this seemingly almightly person behind him regret everything he had done to his treasure. A smile appeared on his lips as he imagined the soon-to-be future that they had planned. Very soon, she will be returning willingly.
Yanyue and Beichen were left alone on the trail.
"Let's go as well," said Yanyue.
For one, she did not want to be on the same horse as Beichen. And she also didn't want to lose that man because she was sure he was Sile. She had so many questions to ask him about everything she had left behind when she assumed the identity of Shen Yanyue.
Beichen did not understand what was on her mind and felt mad because she seemed in a hurry to catch up to that man. So, instead of following everyone, he turned the horse around and slowly went in the opposite direction.
Yanyue was confused and turned up to look at him.
"What are you doing?" She panicked and mandated, "Take me back immediately."
But Beichen did not respond and acted as if he had not heard her.
She was annoyed when he didn't say anything, but she was pregnant and had no idea where they were in the mountains, so after an unhappy sigh, she told herself to rely on him for now.
A while later, they came upon a trail. It was hiding behind shrubs and bushes. The narrow pathway was not easy to spot if one hadn't known about it from a previous adventure.
Beichen must have known about it because he grew up training in these woods and mountains. He could assume the crown prince's position anytime if anything were to happen to his brother, so he did not get the benefits a young commoner child would have to do or be anything he desired. He spent almost every waking hour training to suppress his emotions and hone his body to bear the torture of combat and sleepless nights.
As for Yanyue, the poor child never knew what it was like to see the outside world. That was until her sister suggested something that would change her life forever.
Her sister was in love with the cook boy from the Shrine.
They were not cheating anyone or anything like that, and they had only done it two other times before. Plus, they were practically the same down to the details. The only thing that singled them out was the cursed moon birthmark that came with the firstborn as the legend had described.
It was the night when the moon waned over the polka-dotted sky, and the energy became full and intense would the two sisters tiptoed down to the waterfall and performed the full-moon ritual. They pricked their finger with a needle and printed the middle of their forehead with their blood. Then, they would lean, forehead to forehead and blood print to blood print, eyes closed, and whispered each other's names:
"Lucianna, Lucianne."
And it was that night she, Lucianna, no Lucianne, met him, Jun, the most beautiful and worst mistake of her life.
"Give me your hand."
Yanyue put her hand into Beichen's own. It was hard to get down with her round figure from a full-grown mare like Angel. She couldn't afford the slightest risk.
"This..." Yanyue questioned, looking at the enchanting scenery in front of her.
"It's beautiful."
The poppies were like freshly popped popcorn with red dye, and the whole field was full of it.
She walked into the thigh-high poppies like a little kid, teasing her nose at the bittersweet and earthy floral scent.
Beichen was following behind and seeing her happy face made his head throb. It occurred multiple times in the past and typically transpired when he was with her or reminded of her. And oddly enough, she was also the much-needed cure to his misery.
First, his head would feel a little heavy like a sandbag, and then the sharp pain came in like lightning, followed by constant throbbing and vibrating. Then, flashes of images would pop up in his mind like a projection until he did what his heart desired. The nights he spent intimately with her and relishing in her scent seemed to take away those mysterious headaches. His body became in pain because of her, but he would need her body to keep him under control.
It was like he was possessed. He wanted to unravel those clothes. Then lay the woman on the poppies as in the pictures he saw briefly of them all entangled up like animals in a field far away and just as red as this.
Yanyue was unprepared when she felt two hands cupping her from behind. She gasped and then struggled because who else could it be other than him?
"Stay still," Beichen whispered softly into the crevice of her neck. She felt sparks and butterflies down her back and stopped moving. He was so much like Jun at this moment which made her emotional.
The poppy field triggered memories for Yanyue of when they were young and naive, full of passion, and vowing to the Goddess of Corydalis to tie their fates together. They didn't know what that meant back then, even more so now that they weren't Lucianne or Jun.
Beichen brushed away the hair that joined neatly at the nape of her neck and then delicately kissed along the soft arch, earning an almost muted moan from Yanyue.
The way Beichen was now was how Jun showed her that he wanted her when they hid at the edge of the palace in the stable so that no one would catch them. That was how they spent countless hours in the library in the dead of the night when she was supposed to be locked away in her sister's chamber.
He came in like a whirlpool and whipped her out of place, out of the duty of the cursed princess as well as the duty that belonged to her sister. She broke her promise to her sister and brother for him. She had wanted too much after being set free from the Shrine that had kept her away from the world for more than eighteen years of her life. And then she proved everybody right. She showed them that she was indeed just the cursed child who was followed by and brought with her catastrophe wherever she went.
"Don't-" Yanyue protested, turning her head to the side to dodge the man's lips. But her body was betraying her heart because she could feel the goosebumps of pleasure spreading throughout her whole body.
Beichen smirked when he saw that her eyes were closed. He didn't know why she was pretending to reject him, but all he cared for was to become one with her and get rid of this throbbing madness in his head.
"Listen to your body it," he whispered in her ear, "needs me, and I need you." Then, he moved his hand to undo the zipper on the back of her clothes.
The cool breeze raced against Yanyue's back, but Beichen was caressing all her sensitive spots and quickly brought back the heat to her and shrouded away the coolness. She didn't know when he had sneaked down, but a wave of pleasure ascended her body, and she couldn't help but sigh indecently.
"Good girl."
Beichen smirked as he brought his sticky and wet finger to his mouth and licked it while appreciating Yanyue's breathless and defeated look. He had never felt more psychotic.
"Sweet," he grinned.
Then, he leaned over to kiss her plump lips, which she had been biting to suppress the countless times she wanted to moan from the satisfaction his fingers brought her.
She had no strength to oppose Beichen and unexpectedly found herself lying underneath him, bathing in the poppy flowers that spread around them.
She was deep in thought, her memories all jumbled up, and the person in front of her was Jun while she was Lucianne, and it was when they loved each other. No loss, hatred, or vengeance needed fulfilling. They were just innocent and lost people who needed each other.
Yanyue unconsciously raised her hand and cupped Beichen's face, looking deeply into his eyes with a yearning passion that Beichen had never felt from her before. He was stunned and captivated and consumed by her pearly eyes.
"I love you," Yanyue cried out, shedding tears silently.
It was the final straw for Beichen. He drove deep into her core, satisfying his craving and the desire in his heart that he could not explain.
He bent down and seized her lips, snaking his tongue with her honeyed one as he gently fought for domination. Her alluring moans as he backed away to reinforce her hips higher so that he could thrust in deeper were like the oil sent to flare up the flame already burning all over his body.
Beichen watched every of the woman's moans, cries, and spasms of pleasure. His eyes remained on her face, taking in all the little changes in her expression as if she was like the most beautiful goddess he had ever seen. And he suddenly became greedy.
He had never sensed it before. It was a raw feeling that this woman panting and puffing underneath him couldn't belong to anyone else but him. And when he thought about the men who had shifted their eyes to her a second longer or touched her hands, he wished to make them bow on their knees and beg for mercy.
"I mean it," his raspy voice sounded out next to her cheeks that blushed nonstop, "You are mine and only mine."
They were deep in passion and pleasure underneath the bloody sunset. It was as if time had gone back to the past for Yanyue, who was momentarily shaken by Beichen's charms again. But once the stupor and haze in her eyes became unmistakable again, regrets, anger, and disappointment were all she felt.
"I'm not anybody's object," she whispered to herself, intentionally or not, while facing Beichen, who was slowly drifting off to sleep next to her from exhaustion.
Yanyue looked at the crimson moon from above and picked a poppy flower from beside her.
"We can never go back to the past again, Jun."
She nestled in Beichen's broad chest for the last time in a poppy field. It was where they started, so it was befitting for an end.