Suzhen slowly opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room. her eyes scanned the room.
The windows were closed, a majestic table surrounded by three chairs.
she looked up at the ceiling and saw a huge majestic dragon painting on it. There was one door at the far end to the right and another on the left. This room sure is big.
suzhen then enjoyed the warmth of the large embroidered silk dark blue blanket.
suzhen then tried to remembered something.
' I was on my way to the empress's estate and then I got the shocking news of my life. it started raining and feeling sad,I run off to nowhere in particular.
I felt dizzy and then I heard someone call out to me but then I saw black.
the question is,who saved me?'
she tried sitting up but then she felt a sting in her chest and fell back. she was too weak to move. what if she is in her kidnappers room and never see her family. she tried to move again but failed.
This is agitating
After so many attempted tries she finally got out of the bed.
she walked to the door but before she could touch the door knob, it turned and the door slowly opened.
The next thing she saw was a familiar handsome face accompanied by four maidservants dressed in pink hanfus.
the two on his right were carrying a tray of food and the other a tray of tea while those on his left were carrying a piece of silk clothing folded nicely and the other carried a hairpin. suzhen couldn't figure out what hairpin but, eh, who cares?
"prince Haoran....you --"
"suzhen,what do you think you're doing out of bed" prince Haoran interrupted suzhen.
"come here" prince Haoran helped suzhen walk to the large bed and sat her on it.
"careful" he said softly.
The prince then gestured the maids to put the things that they were holding on the large bed side table.
"my prince how did I get here?" suzhen asked.
"so you don't remember anything?"
"no I do. it's just that --"
"don't worry about it, your in my room"
"your....room?"
"yes my room, don't worry. your job here is to rest and get better soon,ok"
after saying that he ordered a maid to go prepare suzhen's bath.
he dismissed the other maids and got a porcelain bowl filled with joy rice pudding.
"eat this" he offered as he sat near her while facing her.
"open your mouth" he softly said but suzhen objected.
"no need my prince,I can feed myself"
"eat up, that's in order" he coldly replied.
suzhen got startled at his sudden coldness. she then let the prince feed it to her. looks like she shouldn't offend him.
"your highness, the young miss' bath is ready" a maidservant appeared from the bathroom in the bedroom and said.
"you may leave" prince Haoran permitted.
"yes,my prince" with that said she left the room before closing the door.
"hurry up and drink this oolong tea which is good for relieving stress and the rice pudding will help bring back her energy" he said as he continued feeding her the pudding and once she was done she also drunk the tea.
"go bath ok" prince Haoran instructed.
suzhen nodded and got the folded hanfu and slowly walked to the bathroom.
------------
After taking a nice warm bath,suzhen was about to wear the dark blue hanfu when she heard a knock on the door.
panicked she asked " who's there?"
"Young miss,do you anything?" a famine voice replied.
"no need"
"ok young miss, once you're done I'll inform the prince and he will then send you back to your family."
upon hearing family, suzhen hurriedly took a near hanfu and wore without realizing that she got the wrong one.
once she got out of the bathroom,the maidservants present were surprised to see what suzhen was wearing.
seeing them in a daze towards her, suzhen followed their gaze and what she saw was surprising.
"how come I'm wearing prince Haoran's clothes?" she asked as she touched the hems of her sleeves.
soon after the door opened and prince Haoran came in.
"you may leave" he ordered and all the maids left.
"how are you..... feeling" he asked
"I'm fine, thanks for worrying about and taking care of me" suzhen said.
prince Haoran scanned her entire body and noticed that those where his robes.
confused he asked "why are you wearing my robes?"
"oh, yeah.....i-i was wearing when I...."
"forget it"
"huh?"
"let's go to your home, I'll drop you off" he offered.
suzhen smiled upon hearing home, gracefully she thanked "I will never forget your kindness,my prince"
---------------
In the carriage, suzhen thought about how she almost caught hypothermia. if it weren't for prince Haoran of course,she would have been long gone.
suzhen looked at the prince whose eyes were looking outside through the window.
"my prince" she caught his attention.
The prince nodded as in permitting her to go on.
"well....thank you for taking care of me. if it weren't for you.....I - I don't know what could have happened.once again,thank you".
"no need to thank me" he replied.
suzhen was really grateful for the prince's kindness.she used to hear that the prince was cold hearted,but seeing him right now made her believe that all that was not true.
"suzhen"
the prince broke suzhen out of her thoughts.
suzhen looked at him while smiling but then she noticed him frowning. worriedly she asked "what's wrong my prince?"
"suzhen.....why were you walking in the rain?"
suzhen looked down.
he continued, "where were your guards and maids. he sounded concerned.
Suzhen avoided his question by replying "I was lost so I wondered around looking for anyone familiar that I could ask but then it started raining. I --" she was cut off.
"liar" prince Haoran looked directly into her eyes. "suzhen,from what I heard you know this place like the back of her hands"
well that was embarrassing.
"my prince I --"
"suzhen..." he paused.
since they were sitting opposite to each other,the prince moved to the seat where suzhen was sitting on and sat besides her.
" look at me and tell me the truth." he urged
suzhen's lips shook as she was about to cry.
she didn't want to remember what happened because she felt terrible about her getting married to a prince of a foreign land and one that she has never seen.
"The prince asked for your hand in marriage..
... he threatened us" suzhen remembered the empress' words clearly.
A tear fell on her cheeks and not long did suzhen start crying.
The prince felt worried "suzhen, what's wrong?". unfortunately for him he didn't know how to comfort people because of the hardship his been through.
"M- my prince, I...I don't want to get married" suzhen complained between sobs.
"who said you'll get married?" he asked.
"The ..... empress" she replied.
"what....no,the empress?"
suzhen nodded.
"to whom?"
and she cried harder.
"to a person a don't even know of. the prince of naishi wants to get married to me..... a - and if I don't, he'll wage war against us and innocent people will suffer and I don't want that to happen but....."
"so it's a political marriage." he said , ' how come I didn't know about this' he added in his mind.
the prince looked at suzhen again and he subconsciously pulled her in his embrace.
suzhen felt his hands wrap around her neck and her head placed on his chest as she hears the steady rhythm of heart.
The prince slowly patted her hair and soon after suzhen hugged him back.
Her shoulders shook violently.it was clear that she was in pain.
He then felt the sudden urge to protect her ; never leaving his sight.
in his arms,she was a fragile thing and could break any moment.
He rested his chin on the crown of her head "shhhh.... don't cry. I won't let that happen, won't let you fall into a loveless marriage. I'll do everything in my power" he said 'even if I have to kill that bastard prince ' he add in his mind.
"I won't let you be sad, leave everything to me. okay?"
suzhen nodded and she soon calmed down.
a comfortable silence fell on them.
After a while the carriage stopped and the guards announced their arrival.
"my prince,we have arrived"
Haoran nodded at the guard.
still that same position,he softly shook suzhen.
"suzhen, we've arrived..." he then noticed that she was sleeping.
prince Haoran chuckled and swiftly carried her out.