Chapter 5: Were You Looking For This?

"You, little brat come out." Xi Xiao pointed her finger towards Reliott who was playing with a small ball of fire in the corner of the bed.

"Screech… Chi...Qui…" She puffed out another ball of fire as if telling, "I won't leave this comfy corner no matter what you say hooman."

"...You think I won't drag you out from there just 'cause you can puff out that small amount of fire? Hm?" Xiao's voice was provocative as one of her hands rested on her waist.

"Seriously XiXi? You have a royal party to attend and here you are, chitchatting with Reliott?" Riwansa face-palmed herself unable to vent her pent up frustration.

"Um...That I have to tell you something." Xiao pouted slightly as she remembered how a certain someone asked her to be his partner without giving her a chance to come with some lame made up excuse to say no.

"What is it? Let's talk later if it's not too urgent. Go have a shower quickly. Then we have to take your measurements and choose a proper dress for the party. You also need to go through the basic etiquette lessons so that you don't mess up at the very last moment." Riwansa approached Reliott while urging Xiao.

Reliott was quite obedient to Riwansa for some reason and immediately stopped breathing out fire. She spread her tiny yellow wings and fled through the window to avoid getting lectured by her.

"That Prince asked me to accompany him to today's party. I even told him that I might embarrass him, yet he was adamant on his decision." Xiao's pout intensified.

"What the actual hell XiXi? He asked you out? He? The Second Prince?" Riwansa stopped in the middle of cleaning up the foldable bed.

"It's not asking out, he just wants me to be his dance partner Xiao argued with her pink cheeks puffed up.

"Are you retarded? Do you even know what being someone's dance partner in the Royal Party means?" Riwansa continued without waiting for her answer, "It means agreeing to be his concubine in the near future, it's the same as engagement ceremony in your world, just that unlike that one this promise can't be broken. Regardless of the situation you must and must be married to him when he proposes." Riwansa couldn't be any more stressed than she was now.

"You can't be for real. Now what should I do? What if I fall ill? Then I don't have to attend the party right? Or or or… Ahhh… What if I sprain my legs? Then I wouldn't be able to dance right?" Xiao started coming up with all the plans she could from her experience with watching countless dramas."

"Stop panicking for my life's sake, I beg you. Just let me think of something." Riwansa sat down on the crinkled bed covering her face with her hands.

Xiao silenced herself while looking comically at the concentrated Riwansa.

After a few moments of silence Riwansa opened her eyes only to find XiXi staring at her quizzically with a bare distance of a centimetre or so.

"Dam it Xiao, do you want to just give me heart attack?" Riwansa quickly composed herself and poked at XiXi's forehead.

"So….Did you come up with a plan to save me from getting in trouble?" Xiao's eyebrows were raised up as if she was reading some suspense thriller.

"Humph, you think I can't solve this tiny bit of problem? Listen carefully, the second room from the left of the opposite corridor is Ziran's room. Go over there, if he didn't break his daily schedule which highly unlikely he must be showering now. You will find a circular golden token with a rabbit printed on it, under his bed. Take it and get out as soon as you can. Be careful though he is extremely sensitive towards any kind of sound." Riwansa whispered in Xiao's ears.

"Why don't you do it? After all you know about this palace way better than me." Xiao complained.

"You think it's appropriate for a woman to enter a man's room while he is taking a shower? Riwansa gave her a side eye.

"Am I not a proper lady too? How can it be appropriate for me then?" Xiao argued back.

"Fine then get ready to be a palace concubine within the next few years. It's not a bad idea though." Riwansa answered nonchalantly.

Xixi bit onto her lips. She was truly anxious.

"I... Riwansa stopped changing her wording.

"See, even though I am a childhood acquaintance of the both princes. The current political relationship between my family and the royalty isn't the very best. If I get caught by anyone, the courtroom would be in a chaos for a while now. And since this is an urgent matter I can't really think of anyone to help with this. On the other hand if it's you who is caught all I have to do is ask for a favor they owe me and you would be fine."

Xixi felt something was wrong in her logic which she couldn't quite point her fingers.

"Now go go, if you get late then prepared to stay here as a concubine for the rest of your life." Riwansa said covering the hint of guilt in her expression.

"Fine, fine, I will go, you don't have to scare me." Xiao accepted her fate.

What Riwansa didn't tell her was that she had noticed the soft spot the second prince seemed to have for her. According to his personality he wouldn't force her if she is unwilling.

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Xixi left the room cursing a certain prince who was the root of all the troubles.

She tip toed cautiously to the opposite corridor and finally stopped in front the majestic gate.

She didn't know if it was for the reason that people were busy with preparing for the party or the royals were simply too overconfident but the gate was unguarded and open.

She took a deep breath and gulped nervously before taking a peek inside.

"No one is in the room. I guess he is really in the shower. Hope that he won't be out in a while. Calm down XiXi, calm down." She muttered to herself.

With light and soft steps she entered the room. It was minimal yet was emitting a royal vibe.

"What is she doing here?" Ziran wondered as he stared her from the switched two way mirror glass.

"Was my guess correct? Is she the spy sent by HaoZhi?" He wondered.

Meanwhile, XiXi prevented herself from marvelling at the design of the room and various instruments that she had never seen before. She went to the neat bed and started to look for the token described by Riwansa.

Suddenly she felt someone breathe right behind her ear. She froze. "Am I that unfortunate, it can't be right?" XiXi closed her eyes waiting for the impending danger. But it never came. After what felt like an eternity she opened her eyes only to find the prince she was cursing earlier standing right ahead her eyes.

"Were you looking for this?"