Atropa Belladonna

~~~二~~~

"I have to agree, Your Highness," the female chuckled as she hid her amused smile behind the right sleeve of her robes.

"These questions are quite strange, if one weren't thinking clearly then they would guess that you might want to hire me for something," she continued while leaning back by a few degrees.

"Drop the formalities, I just want to get to know my new friend a little better," Yulan defended while petting the neck of his mount, "Is there something wrong with that?"

"If that's the case, then here's a fun fact for future reference," the woman replied as she returned both hands to the reins.

"I hate people that fake kindness in order to use me," she continued in a low tone, her eyes turning cold as ice while the gentle smile on her lips shifted into a fine line.

All that could be felt in that single moment was danger as her eyes seemed to scrutinize one's soul and pinpoint their deepest fears before they softened upon seeing a butterfly float across their path.

The traveller went silent at what he just witnessed as even the male who had known her since childhood seemed taken aback with his eyes wide, never having seen her make such an expression in the past.

Over the span of a few minutes, the relaxed atmosphere slowly returned and the black-haired prince asked, "Will you be coming with us to the capital, Diān Qié?"

"You're a prince," the taller male interjected in his usual deep voice as the corners of his lips twitched downwards for a moment, "Address her properly."

"Your Highness, I don't come from a noble bloodline, so there really isn't any title he needs to address when referring to me," the woman said as she turned to face him.

"You are engaged to the Crown Prince, so there techinally is a proper way to address you, but since she doesn't care, then there isn't a problem with me calling Young Lady Bai by her given name," the male to her right mused, as he leaned back to shoot a playful grin to the other prince.

Before the foreign royal could proceed to irritate the other further, the nineteen-year-old said, "I haven't visited the Empress in a while so I might as well come with both of you."

"I miss the tea she always has prepared for me and I have some new stories I would like to share with her," she continued with a chuckle.

After a whole day of traveling, including all the breaks they took for the sake of their horses, the group finally made it to the capital city of Huángjīn by nightfall where they were welcomed with a grand feast.

"Diān Qié!" Emperor Long Jin cheered with a welcoming smile as the female gave her salutes to him and Empress Long Zhū.

"Stand up, my future daughter! Stand!" he continued with a boisterous laugh as the female did as instructed before retreating to her table that was placed beside the prince in white.

"Zhang-er, you should have said you were bringing back Young Lady Bai," the empress spoke with a smooth smile as she looked over at her eldest son, "We could have had some gifts prepared for her."

"There is no need to grant me such things, Your Majesty," the woman respectfully declined as she spoke with a clear tone in the marble hall, "I just wanted to make sure the Crown Prince was safe since he told me that he was going to be traveling on his own."

"What a loyal wife you'll be for my son," the emperor complimented before turning to the guest, "but moving onto the reason for this gathering."

"Second Prince Cheng Yulan, we welcome you to our grand Mogolla," he continued while raising a chalice filled with wine for a toast, "May we have a productive meeting and work towards peace for both of our great countries."