Across Time And Space

Seeing the way she acted, Lu Wei felt slightly amused.

A few minutes ago, this woman had casually invited him to bed, and now she was anxious. He thought that though she was good at masking her expression if he looked closely, he would notice that her body language would speak her mind.

He turned his body to face her and saw that her grip on her blanket only grew tighter. After watching her for a few more seconds, Lu Wei reached to take her hand.

His action made her jump. Before she could ask him what he was trying to do, Lingchen heard his voice, "Stop holding on it too tight or you"ll hurt your hands."

Her grip on the blanket loosened. However, she was still alert to him. This was the first time she had shared a bed with a man. As an obedient Princess, she was never close to any men. Unlike her cousin, Mingyue, Lingchen had never experienced any romance in her life. After her coming of age ceremony, she was taught of a few things and heard of what will happen when the lights go out.

Looking at how her expression gradually changed, Lu Wei wondered what was it that on her mind.

"I"m not anxious," Lingchen spoke after an extended silent.

Lu Wei frowned when she suddenly speak. But then, he recalled his question earlier on.

"I have never slept with anyone. So it feels a bit strange."

"So, you"re anxious."

Lingchen turned to him with slight anger in her expression. Through the moonlight that seeped into the room, Lingchen saw how Lu Wei was watching her with a teasing smile on his face. Her anger risen. "I"m not."

"Okay, you"re not," Lu Wei decided to give in into her stubbornness. "Perhaps I have misread you."

For a while, she was stunned at his response. Perhaps she had thought that, if they argue a little bit, the uneasiness in her heart will lessen.

"I won"t do anything without your consent." Lu Wei said. Since they were married, Lu Wei knew that soon, the two of them would have to engage in husband and wife activity. Otherwise, how was a child that was supposed to strengthen the unity of the two countries was going to be born?

However, Lu Wei thought that since they did not know each other that well, he wanted to give them more time to adjust to each others" presence.

Before she was married, she often heard that if the husband did not touch his wife on the first night together, it would be the wife"s fault for her that she was unattractive. Of course, when her husband did not make a move on her, Lingchen started to wonder if she was really not that attractive.

Hearing that Lu Wei"s intention to let them adjust to their new life together, Lingchen felt a surge of warmth in her heart. She did not expect that he was only considerate towards her.

They were married. As a wife, and soon to be the Empress, Lingchen knew her the most important task for her was to give birth to an heir. Therefore, it makes no difference to her whether they adjusted their life together or not.

If she did not give birth to an heir quickly, the others would think that there was something wrong with her. In their agreement, if she failed to have a child, then, Lu Wei will have to pick someone as a concubine. Once a child was born, then she will have to raise that child as her own. That thought was making her uncomfortable.

"However sooner or later…" she trailed off and bit her lips. Suddenly, she was worried that he would view her as a wanton woman.

He understood what she meant. However, to view everything as her job, Lu Wei found that her life was quite pitiful.

"You… what do you know about this night"s activity between a husband and wife?" Suddenly, he was curious about what she had learned.

"Isn"t it just lying still on the bed and wait until the man gets bored and stops poking into your body?"

Her answer turned him speechless. He wondered if she was really clueless or if she was only taunting him. For the woman to lay still like a dead fish, was that not enunciating that the man was not skillful enough?

"Where did you hear about this?" Lu Wei asked. He refused to believe that this was something that her mother had taught.

"The old maidservants," Lingchen said in a small voice. "I overheard their conversations when I was younger."

Lu Wei threw his head back and laughed. He felt that the stubborn princess had an adorable side of hers as well.

"Why are you laughing?"

Sensing the anger in her tone, his laughing voice came to a halt. "You really need to stop to listen to what others said."

"A monarch who did not listen is a failed ruler," Lingchen pointed out.

Lu Wei felt the corner of his lips twitched. "It"s not wrong to listen. But you don"t have to believe in everything the others had said."

"Am I stupid?"

"Of course not. Sorry. I misread you again." Lu Wei said. His lips curved into a smile.

His words only made her anger risen. The tone he used to speak, why does it sound like he was coaxing a child?

"Anyway, what the old maidservants said was wrong." 

"What is wrong?" She had temporary forgotten what they were arguing about after he made her angry.

Knowing where their conversation might lead to, Lu Wei felt his face hot. "That… of course, you don"t have to lay down still."

"If that"s not it, then what?"

He looked at her and met her gaze. The way she was looking at him curiously, expecting him to explain further, made his heart skipped a beat.

The room fell into silence for a moment as the two continued to gaze. Suddenly, the mood turned, causing the Princess, who had started to loosen her anxiety after a bit of bickering, turned nervous again.

"I will show you."

When Lingchen saw him lifted his body and moved closer to her, she instinctively closed her eyes.