"Get out of my face you perverted dragon!", Xing placed her hand on the face of that female hooligan also known as the Son of Heavens of the Earth Empire and pushed her back while sitting straight, "Have you no shame... ? Attacking sleeping people... Such a shame.. Tsk.. Tsk.. Tsk.. "But Ayane didn"t care about that and just gave a dejected expression.
This sudden commotion woke the Emperor who was sleeping and he sat up confused,
"What is going on?"
"What?", Ayane screeched, "You two are in the same room? I thought.."
"What of it?", Xing interjected, " Weren"t you with Yi Kwan the whole night? You smell like him. It"s not like you did something though! ", Xing smirked and whispered in her ears, " Or did you?"
"Wh.. What are you saying?",Ayane placed her hand over her hip and looked at Xing with her chin up but her eyes were unfocused, "I"m scared of the dark and he"d guard me as it is his duty ". She was clearly lying.
"Ooohhh, is that so?", Xing chuckled, "Scared of the dark, huh! Is that what you tell him to make him accompany you to bed? Indeed, darkness is terrrriblllle...", she waved her hands to make eerie expressions.
"Oh, shut up!", Ayane became red as she was caught, "Don"t tell him. He thinks I am a fragile flower to be protected!", she whispered.
"Whatever!", Xing didn"t mind. If that"s what helps her to be with him a bit longer, so be it.
All is fair in love!
The Emperor listened to this conversation between these women and wondered if it is okay for women to lie to satisfy their wish. Would they like it if men lie to them? No, right?
"You women are terrible!", he wanted to say but swallowed his words because he was outnumbered and he really cannot fight back. He was raised a gentleman and these women are too much for a good boy like him to handle.
"Why are you here in the middle of the night?", Xing asked rubbing her forehead. She didn"t even sleep for an hour and she felt tired.
"Didn"t I tell you about another person for you two to meet? We are leaving to my summer guest house a couple hours ride from here to meet them. Get ready!", Ayane said and gave her clothes to change into.
Xing noticed a set of her clothes on the bed and wondered it should be that Bai Li who left it there. From the moment they entered the palace he was nowhere to be seen. So much for a "protector"!
So Xing changed to her usual attire of crimson robes and raised hair and left with the Emperor to the stables where Ayane and Yi Kwan were waiting. As they were about to leave through some secret back door, Lee Daejung found them and asked Ayane to stop as she has some important discussion in court today but she just waved him off and the four of them left the Imperial Palace and reached this place in a mountainous area.
The Earth Kingdom had a hot climate and as they travelled near this mountain, a chill breeze welcomed them. There was a big wall surrounding a portion of the base of the mountain that read Imperial Summer Guest House.
There were some servants there to take care of them and as they got refreshed and had lunch, Ayane took them to the inner part of the compound that had a narrow path that was a little steep as they climbed the mountain. Xing could hear the sound of water running and as expected there was a water falls that was not so high looking like silver flowing. The foam from the falling water rise up and just as they were walking they felt the cool sensation of water droplets in their skin making them feel nice in that hot weather.
There was a big tent there in an inconspicuous place within the dense trees surrounding the waterfalls and Ayane lead them there and there were two people who greeted them.
Xing was surprised to see that man with silver hair in his Imperial white robes with golden dragon embroidery and for a moment Xing"s heart skipped a beat thinking it was Shengli and she most tripped on a rock in that uneven terrain. But as she looked closer, he had eyes as blue as the summer sky and he was holding this elegant lady in bright red clothes with a phoenix headdress adorning her dark brown hair and her wonderfully green eyes filled with mirth,
"Byeol! You are here!", she walked towards them as elegant as a Swan but paused her steps noticing the two strangers accompanying them.
Xing didn"t need explanations as to who they were, the silver haired man should be the Emperor of the Water Kingdom and the woman must be the Empress.
But why is the Empress the cousin of Ayane?
As far as she knew, the Water Emperor was raised as a commoner and his wife was a commoner too and he made her Empress even though everyone in their court opposed to a commoner given the phoenix crown. It would have been a bigger issue if the truth that she is the cousin of the Earth Emperor, right? Or... Do they not know about it yet?
Xing had more informations about the Water Kingdom because she lived near to that kingdom and also she had previously worked with General Kin of that Kingdom.
She knew that Emperor didn"t have any heirs either and their court is still not in order with many families trying to influence the court. In other words their kingdom is far worse than the Wind Kingdom.
So this is the surprise Ayane mentioned! Good indeed! We came here to meet one Emperor and just because we came early we get to meet another Emperor too.
While Xing and the Emperor sized up those two, they found out who they were too.
"Greetings, Emperor Tongtian!", the Water Emperor gave the bow of equals to the Emperor.
"Greetings, Emperor Akatsuki", the Emperor returned his bow.
"Lord Táng!", the Empress smiled at Xing and Xing smiled back.
Okay, how does she know me again?
"Yukiko, how do you know Lord Táng?", Ayane was surprised.
"Ryuga talks about her a lot", her soft and smooth voice was clear and enticing to hear.
Wow! What an elegant lady! Xing was crus.h.i.+ng on her elegance when she realised she mentioned her as "her". Wait... She knows I"m a woman? Ryuga...? General Kin ? So he k ows I am a woman ? Is me being a woman a open secret or something?
Wait...! Xing remembered the last time she met General Kin, he gave her a hairpin and said some stuff.. So he knew I was a woman and that was him confessing? And I laughed at him...?
Well, whatever! He should have known by now he won"t have a chance with me... So it is fine!
Xing brushed it off,
"I"m Huang Mingxia, current Empress of the Wind Kingdom. Please just address me as Mingxia", Xing bowed and before she got any response, Ayane pulled Xing and Yukiko towards the waterfalls, "Let"s play", she was excited.
"Let me tell Katsu!", Yukiko tried to turn back but Ayane didn"t let her, "Your husband won"t die of longing if you are absent for an hour! And besides he has perfect eyes and perfect ears so he must know where we are going"
The three ignored men who heard everything that was spoken, stared at one another not knowing what to say to each other and an awkward silence ensued.
Women!
Lord Táng is a woman?, the Water Emperor was shocked. He had heard about the "achievements" of Lord Táng previously. Obviously his wife knows she is a woman and he doesn"t? Wait, so this is the woman Ryuga fancies? And she is now the Empress of the Wind Kingdom? Didn"t he say she was in love with another man? Fate could be cruel, huh!
Kouki was shocked to see the person too similar to his brother in appearance and even their age was close. This is amazing, right? Generations ago the Emperors of Wind and Water Kingdom were identical because they were twins and after many generations, there are two people from the Royal family with the same appearance around the same age too. The chances of this are astronomical, right?
The awkward silence between the men was broken when Yi Kwan asked them of they wanted to join him for fis.h.i.+ng and so they all went to a small lake a bit farther from the falls the women were at.