Across Time And Space

Lu Wei paused at the door. His gaze fell on her black hair that fell to her waist. Earlier today, he had felt his soft hair against his hands when he helped her to remove the heavy headdress. As his thought drifted towards her smooth hair, Lu Wei immediately looked away.

The servants stopped their action to greet him. One of the maidservants stepped forward to inform him that the bathing water was ready. Lu Wei nodded and had the servants retreated.

After living with her grandmother and the Nanlin Tribe for a few years, Lu Wei was used to doing things on his own. He found it uncomfortable to have someone to attend him during his bath. Lu Wei went to take his bath and returned not too long after.

When he reentered the room, his wife was resting on the bed, reading a book. Only one of her maidservant had stayed inside the room.

He looked at the maidservant and signaled her to leave the room.

The maidservant bowed quietly before she walked out and closed the door behind her.

Seeing that the Princess did not look up at him, Lu Wei pulled a stool and sat down in front of her.

Princess Lingchen looked up in surprise. She blinked a few times at him and tilted her head sideways. "What"s wrong?"

The two were husband and wife now. Since they were married, Lu Wei planned to have a small chat with her. They were going to spend their time together for a long time. It would be best for them to live in harmony.

However, when he saw the way she had her fingers tapped against the book cover, Lu Wei knew that she was nervous about being around him.

Though they had not spent their time together for a long time, Lu Wei noticed some of her habits through their short interactions. When the Princess was worried and anxious, she would always tap her fingers. Lu Wei wondered if she had noticed this habit of hers.

"Princess-"

"Why do you still call me a Princess?" she asked before he even began. "Since we are already married, let"s not be too courteous with each other. You can call me Lingchen. If the citizen heard rumors that you are still addressing me formally like this, they might think that Da Cheng was really suppressing Qian Rong."

Lu Wei paused. A seconds later, his lips curved into a small smiled. "Lingchen."

Hearing her name from his lips caused her body to tremble slightly. Lingchen tightened her grip on the book in her hand.

"If you feel uncomfortable with me around, I can sleep in the study."

"And let others gossip about us?"

"You"re worried about what others would say about you?"

"Of course," she lowered her gaze from him. "A rumor might be nothing but words, but it one not careful, it would bring harm. Sitting at this high position where others were always looking at you, shouldn"t we be conscious of everything around us? You might not be aware of it, but because we are married, and the two countries will soon be united as one, many were eyeing for our position, they were waiting for their chance to harm us. If we"re not careful, we might lose our life."

Lu Wei continued to stare at the girl in front of her for a while. Back then, when he was still a Prince of Qian Rong, his brother and his father"s concubines had done a few things in their attempt to kill him. And the Princess… because of the greed for power, she was poisoned and had to suffer from it since she was very young. He understood what she was worried about. One careless mistake might lead them to death.

Her words have some truth in it, however, to live while constantly worrying about everything, will that be considered as living?

"It"s not that I was not aware of it. It"s just that I thought that living and worrying about what others will say about you is too tiring," Lu Wei said. "Lingchen, you need to relax a bit. Haven"t you ever wonder what it would be like to let go just a little bit? Worrying too much is not healthy."

Lingchen watched him with a slight frown. Though she also hoped that she could stop worrying too much, she just could not stop it. She was taught to fear for everything around her, how could she change her nature now?

Moreover, her cautiousness was what saved her from others" attempts to bring her down. The higher her position, the more she should be alert.

Now that she thought about it, Lingchen noticed their differences. Lu Wei was someone who would dare to propose marriage to her just because he did not want to sit on the throne. He was too carefree and different from her. Although he had promised that he would do his best to work together, she still could not trust his words. Not until she observed him a little longer.

Lu Wei took a deep breath and said, "Forget it. This is only our first day together. Let"s not get into an argument. We still have to attend the crowning ceremony in the morning." Lu Wei decided that he was going to teach her to worry a bit less from now on.

Lingchen nodded. She put the book on the side and moved inside. When she saw her husband stood at the side, she asked, "Aren"t you going to sleep?"

Lu Wei blinked. He was looking around the room to find a spot to sleep when he heard her question. Seeing that she had moved inside, Lu Wei knew that she was giving him s.p.a.ce on the bed. He watched his wife with amus.e.m.e.nt.

He blew up the candles and lay on the bed. Lu Wei closed his eyes for a few minutes and noticed that the person beside him was breathing irregularly. Through the glow from the moonlight, he could see that she was gripping on the blanket tightly. He continued to watch her for a while before he asked, "Why are you anxious?"