LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

"I heard many women were sent to the inner palace", Xing initiated the talk that Yunxi was hesitating to bring up. Xing had noticed the stacks of scrolls of paintings of women from various families that were sent to Su Yunxi but was withheld by her supposed brother since he knew it would hurt his wife.

Xing knew this would be the way of the life in the palace. There will be always women sent in by their families for one reason or another and Yunxi being the Empress, should be expected to maintain her husband"s Harem as a part of her duties. She should be supervising the women in the Harem and should decide upon who enters the Harem and might share a bed with her husband and to top it off, she would be expected to do it with a smile in her face.

Terrifying!

"I know my role, Mingxia. I know...", she sighed.

"Yeah..",Xing didn"t know what to say to her. But she had a feeling in her heart that her supposed brother who had been planning to become the Emperor for a while and love his wife a lot will have a plan for this.

"You"ve managed a Harem before, haven"t you?", she asked and Xing nodded.

"It"s not the same though. The Emperor was not my husband and I treated it as a job", Xing added. When feelings and emotions are added, everything gets more complicated.

There was a long silence as they walked to a garden with well maintained flowers. Even though it was autumn, there were very well maintained flowers blooming all through the garden and with bees buzzing, b.u.t.terflies fluttering, that place looked mesmerising.

Ah, Xing! Since when did you start appreciating gardens? Guess you"ve changed too! Xing talked to herself.

"I trust him, Mingxia", Su Yunxi told Xing as they were sitting in a stone table beside a fake lake and her face had a faint blush making her looking adorable.

"I know", Xing nodded. She saw how the Fire Emperor was ma.s.saging Yunxi"s legs last night when she could not fall asleep. Not many men would do that for their wife and certainly she didn"t expect someone like him who"d rigidly follow tradition to do that.

"It"s never the job of a man to look after his wife. It is always the woman"s job to take care of her husband whether he asks for it or not and whether he deserves it or not. And serving one"s husband is akin to serving G.o.ds ",These were somethings that were taught to these n.o.ble ladies as they grow up and n.o.ble men aren"t taught such things as to take care of their wife.

Well, Su Yunxi is loved by her husband and so he does that out of his own free will. But Yukiko said the same thing about her husband too. The t.i.tle of the Emperor and his responsibility would change him a lot overtime if he is not strong about his love.

Xing wished really the best for Yunxi in her heart.

She not only wished but gave a stern warning to her supposed brother that she"d rather dethrone him before letting Yunxi suffer.

"I"ll hold on to that promise"

That was his reply and he meant it too. Even Xing had hopes for her supposed twin to have the smarts to protect both the nation and his family.

"Can you really not carry a child?", Su Yunxi asked after contemplating for a while. She wanted that to be not true. But the painful reaction of the one in front of her confirmed it to be true.

"I"m sure you will have as many children as you want, Mingxia!", she wished for her heartily.

"That day you saved me and my son, Mingxia! I am someone who"s believes good deed begets good. So I won"t believe even for a single moment that you"d be left childless. Even the heavens cannot be that heartless. I"ll promise now... Your daughter will be my firstborn son"s bride and the next Empress", she held Xing"s hand and spoke with her eyes bright.

"Good deeds..? I"ve killed children too", Xing mumbled. When she eradicated the descendants of Zhu Rong, there were many children in that list too. She was not that senseless as to not realise what she was doing.

"What?", Yunxi didn"t catch what Xing said and asked.

"Nothing... Let"s not make promises about something non-existent", Xing faked a smile.

Her making marriage alliances for her children now is like making plans to sail through a distant mirage in a desert. It"s an illusion and it is not going to happen.

Also by the way Chenglei is now, it is doubtful even if she"d get to keep him by her side. How will she able to get pregnant even if her womb was fine, without him?

-

The day of the Coronation came and Xing walked together with Chenglei. She noticed his usually cold and aloof demeanour had become dull these past days and his sharp sparkly eyes had lost its l.u.s.tre too. He also insisted in staying in a separate room. When she inquired about it, he just blamed his chest pain as usual and Xing pretend to believe him even though her heart hurt.

She knew her man is not someone who"d talk his feelings. Even in the past he wasn"t willing to open up to her and she knew he won"t be able to open up now unless he decides by himself.

Xing noticed him not holding her hands as they this time and she took a deep breath. For her it seemed like he is distancing himself from her because he was going to marry some other woman.

But she didn"t want to lose him to another woman without a fight and took an initiative herself.

Xing"s slender fingers searched for his hand inside his long sleeves and held his hand. Xing could feel him flinching the moment her hand made contact with his startling Xing.

Why?

What is going on with him? He is despising my touch now?

But Xing didn"t let go and her grip on his hand tightened and to Xing"s relief, he did not push her hand away.

The Emperor and the Empress were standing in front of the Dragon Throne and the ceremony was carried in according to their tradition. There were some women left from the previous Emperor"s Harem and one of them was chosen as the Empress Dowager but it seemed like the real power was left with the Empress as Xing could hear from the murmurs of some disgruntled officials.

Even though most of them had accepted Prince Kang as the Emperor, some were still opposed. But they didn"t have any voice as most were still having nightmares thinking of that day they witnessed many new things.

The time for gifting came and our of respect Chenglei and Xing were asked to gift the Emperor and they offered the Heavenly Relic Sword that was lost to the Tians.h.i.+ Emperor by the last Lu Emperor of the Fire Kingdom.

As the Envoy, Xing offered the sword and to her surprise the Fire Emperor half knelt in front of her along with his wife and the entire court followed their Emperor and knelt with their forehead touching the marble floor.

With both hands the Fire Emperor accepted the sword when the entire court chanted greetings for the Divine Ruler.

Xing was already used to people kneeling in front of her but Chenglei by her side felt extremely uncomfortable and Xing sensed it.

When she turned to look at Chenglei he had a dark expression in his face and his entire body emitted coldness making Xing s.h.i.+ver for a moment.

In the past, he used to look at her with pride and adoration whenever such things happened but now....

Xing felt her heart squeeze but she decided not to bring the old Chenglei back and she composed herself immediately. She knew men won"t like it if their women are better than them.

I"ll play along! This is nothing compared to what he gave up for me in the past.

She waved her hand to let everyone stand up.

"The Sword that adorned the great Emperors of the past is returned as a symbol of peace between the three kingdoms and Fire Kingdom"

The Eunuch announced and a thunderous applause was heard followed by joyful chants.

The Emperor and Empress of the Fire nation standing together with the Divine Ruler and her husband made a nice picture that was painted by a famous painter of the kingdom to mark that joyous occasion.

"Chenglei, When are we leaving?", she asked leaning closer to him.

"Tomorrow, Miss Táng", he replied with his eyes cold and looking at the distance.

Xing"s hand about to hold his hand froze and her eyes filled with tears.

Miss Táng?

So we are back to being strangers again?

Why?

What did I do?

What changed?

What should I do?

Xing felt like her soul left her but she put on a fake smile as everyone"s eyes were on her till the end of the ceremony and got back to the Kang Manor where they were staying. And all the while Chenglei didn"t say a word to her but he held her hand in the end as they were greeting the officials and let go the moment they got on the carriage.

Xing wasn"t concentrating on anything until the end of the ceremony as she was wondering what went wrong suddenly. She didn"t even drunk much even though they served the best wine. That"s how upset she was.

Zhu Rong"s curse! She came to a conclusion.

Even though she was punished, she was still a G.o.d when she cursed her and it will be effective to some extent.

Luckily! I"m the Prince of Heavens and has the power to nullify any curse.

Xing who didn"t know that the letter she wrote to be burnt was the reason for everything, decided by herself and decided to meet Chenglei and remove the hex in a fun way.

She took a floral bath using the best of her bath salts and wore a seductive set of nightwear, covered it with an ordinary outer coat to avoid other"s prying eyes and headed towards Chenglei"s room.

Chenglei who returned from the ceremony was leaning on the chair holding his head. His head was splitting with headache.

I shouldn"t have had wine!

He cussed himself even though he only had a single cup of wine out of necessity. But the source of his head ache was not the wine... It was the slightly burnt piece of paper in his hand.

My Prince!

She"d written.

Her Prince!

Who is that? Which kingdom was he from?

Grew up together... He taught her... He was her everything! He guided her, supported her, loved her, put her above himself...

How can anyone beat him?

"Won"t look for you anymore..."

"Won"t dwell in the past..."

"Will look forward to the future..."

She"d written and he was glad when he read that... Like a dry land that saw rain after a long time, his heart was filled with glee.

But... It only lasted some seconds and the sun dried up the land immediately scorching the land out of the refres.h.i.+ng water.

"Come back to me..."

She still wants him back!

So, Who am I for her?

Someone to pa.s.s her time until that man in her heart returns?
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Once he returns, she"d leave me?

How cruel is she?

Yes, she is amazing... The moon that s.h.i.+nes bright in the night sky! The envy of women, the allure of every man and the dearest to G.o.ds.

The powerful divine ruler.

Who am I?

A subst.i.tute... A toy for her to pa.s.s time!

How dare she?

I"m not going to fall for her antics again!

I"d rather be alone like I was before I met her. I don"t need a woman. And I certainly won"t need her.

Tang JiaXing!

JiaXing!

The only one who addresses me by my given name.

The only one whom I love!

That beautiful eyes and lips...

He almost slipped from the chair thing about her kisses.

No!

I"m not going to think about her again!

I"ll have to send a letter to cancel the wedding! I won"t be a victim of that vixen!

He stood up.

Yes, a vixen... She is a vixen. The taste of her lips... Delicious!

"Ouch!"

His foot got hit on the leg of the table and he hopped holding his foot in his hand.