My Beloved Enemy

1. Change of Plans

Du YuShi took a deep breath and entered the meeting hall of the palace of Yu when his arrival was announced. His posture was proud, his steps were relaxed. After five years of war between the Kingdom of Du and the Kingdom of Yu, Kingdom of Du was the victor and the prince Du Yushi was in Yu for an important mission.

To get the Yu princess to Du as his future wife.

When Du YuShi received the king's message, he was on the border, dealing with the dead soldiers. In the message, his father was telling him to bring the Yu princess to Du. Although it was quite common to end a war with marriage, Du YuShi would never think that his father would apply that method. Especially after his mother, the queen died in the hands of Yu royalty, which started the war.

Although Du YuShi hated Yu royal family, the idea of a marriage with the Yu princess didn't sound so bad. Thinking her as a bird in a golden cage fed the Du prince's ego. Also, the rumors were saying that she was a true beauty, so after hearing the rumors Du YuShi's willingness for the marriage soared.

So, there he was in the meeting hall of Yu with his five reliable soldiers; Fu Jian, Ren Jing, Hua Suo, Dong Feng and Wu Bo.

There were around twenty people present in the room, sitting two sides of the room and at the end of the room, the king, the queen, the princess and the prince were sitting side by side, ten stairs above from the others.

While Du YuShi was walking towards the steps, he checked the royal family one by one. The king was a chubby old man with long white hair; the queen looked a lot younger than the king and she was still beautiful with those big black eyes and long shiny black hair; the prince was more like a ghost rather than a human being as his complexion was deadly pale and he was the way too thin; and finally the princess seemed like a fairy with those big eyes, cherry lips and fair complexion.

The more Du YuShi looked, the more he liked her.

"Welcome to Yu..." the King of Yu greeted the newcomers politely, but as the men didn't give their names, he didn't know how to address them.

"Du General is enough for you to address me," Du YuShi snorted rudely while looking at the old king.

"As you wish," the king replied politely yet coldly, "you came from a long way, would you like to join us for dinner?"

"Yeah sure, so that you can kill us like our queen," Du YuShi snapped at the king and everyone in the room was astonished in the face of the rude remark.

"Isn't it your expertise?" the prince taunted him while fanning himself with a red hand fan. The crowd hummed in agreement.

Indeed, the Kingdom of Du got its name from poison as it was their expertise while the Kingdom of Yu was the opposite as they were healers.

Still, his words made Du prince angry anyway, but he couldn't find any words to retaliate. Therefore, he dropped the topic and commanded "we are in a hurry, princess get ready, we are leaving."

Hearing him, Yu Mei Li, the princess got paled visibly while the king and the queen grimaced. Du YuShi enjoyed their helplessness, but it didn't last long.

"My sister won't come with you."

Shock reigned in the room. All eyes were turned to Yu Qiao Bai, the prince, for the explanation.

"How dare you interfere?!" Du YuShi yelled at him when he recovered from the shock.

Yu Qiao Bai let out a chuckle, "I see your king didn't inform you about the change of plans," he said wryly as he took out a rolled paper out of his sleeve and threw it to Du YuShi.

Du YuShi caught the paper with shaky hands. It was a message from his father stating the change was the most welcomed and Yu Qiao Bai's conditions were to be granted. If Du YuShi didn't see the Du royalty seal, he wouldn't believe it. How come his father agreed to something like that? They were both men! It was outrageous!

Not only Du YuShi, but also the Yu royalty was surprised as they didn't know anything about the secret messages between the prince and the King of Du.

"What does it mean?" the king asked his son with wide open eyes.

"I am willing to go to the Kingdom of Du and the king of Du approves the change," he said nonchalantly.

The crowd grumbled but with a hand movement Du YuShi silenced them. "Why do you want to do that?" he asked with a genuine curiosity. He couldn't want to marry him, right?

"Because I heard how handsome your prince is and I want to see him with my own eyes," Yu Qiao Bai said very shamelessly with a smirk.

Crazy! He is crazy as well as shameless! Du YuShi's mind was screaming while his soldiers were giggling behind him.

There is no way that I will agree to marry him, we can just keep him as a prisoner, the prince of Du said inwardly, his hands were clenched into fists.

"Let's go!" Yu Qiao Bai raised on his feet and climbed down the stairs elegantly. Then he bowed three times to his family and turned around to leave the room, but Yu Mei Li rushed to him and hugged him tightly.

"You can't do this, A'Qiao!" she cried out, "it is my fate, you shouldn't do this for me."

Du YuShi rolled his eyes, wasn't it too much drama for a marriage?

"It is okay, trust me... it is the best option," Yu Qiao Bai patted her head lovingly and saved himself from her grip. His heart ached, but he had to save his kingdom.

The king and the queen kept their silence, but there were tears in the queen's eyes.

Yu Qiao Bai took Du soldiers to the back gate of the palace where two carriages and a young girl were waiting alongside the horses of Du YuShi and his soldiers.

"What does it mean?"

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you about my conditions," Yu Qiao Bai hit his head lightly with the red fan, "I will have two carriages, one for me and my maid, and the other for my belongings; we won't travel at night and I will have my privacy at nights."

"Look at that! He is more demanding than a princess!" Hua Suo exclaimed.

"Sorry but are you aware you don't have the upper hand?" Dong Feng asked with disdain and the other nodded whole-heartedly.

Yu Qiao Bai didn't even flinch but his maid rushed to his help.

"YOU UNWORTHY SOLDIERS! HOW DARE YOU TALK LIKE THIS WITH A PRINCE!" She was a frail-looking girl but her anger was like a dragon.

Interestingly, she managed to silence them before Yu Qiao Bai patted her shoulder, meaning it was okay.

"Your king approved my conditions, so you have to comply," he said with a cute smile.

The soldiers grimaced as it was true and they mounted their horses, silently proving that the prince won the round.

"Why so fast?" Yu Qiao Bai uttered with disappointment, "won't you tell me your names first?"

Du YuShi rubbed his face, irritated to his very core.

That journey was sure to be tormenting...