General Wei Jiang was now appointed with a job at night. He watched the pavilion from afar and only protected Kai Yin and his companion if he called for him.

Wei Jiang wondered sometimes if Prince Kai Yin was simply ignorant or ignoring the girls who were interested in him. Peony Palace aside, the inner court maidservants, closest aides, and the noblewomen all watched Kai Yin boldly behind their fans. And, of course, Wei Jiang.

He looked up at Prince Kai Yin, who would say the most idiotic things, such as, "Is my outfit too flashy for this visit? They're all glaring at me," or, "Ah, they're all looking at the plum blossoms, let's take a minute to admire it too!"

Although four years older, Wei Jiang's similar lack of experience with woman allowed him to not laugh at Kai Yin's innocence but hide in its shadow. He, too, was afraid of the transaction that came with wooing a woman and marrying her.

Yet now, at twenty, Kai Yin has sought after his first woman! Of course he had slept with women, but it was different to make it public, and he was a Prince, of all!

Inside Peony Palace Kai Yin met with Shui Lian, who had lost all anger for his old attitude again.

"What is it?" Shui Lian asked from idly writing calligraphy words and then finally ran dry of ink but didn't want to work the ink stone slab. "Can't you see I'm practicing writing tonight?"

"Shui Lian, don't be mad. I have a little surprise, would you come with me?" Kai Yin asked, feeling as though their statuses has switched and Shui Lian was a prince now.

In fact, Shui Lian suited the high and mighty vibe of a young prince, bored in life and oh so beautiful. Kai Yin watched him in his robe of magenta, making his lips look more red than usual. Kai Yin swallowed and stopped staring at his lips.

"Where is the surprise?" Shui Lian asked. He saw Kai Yin's abrupt jump and knew he looked good—and seductive. "Perhaps you'd like a surprise from me, my lord. Come on."

Shui Lian stood up and walked over to Kai Yin who stood paralyzed, and Shui Lian took his hand and held it into my robes, to his bare skin. Shui Lian wilted at the touch, and Kai Yin's hand roamed around him before tracing his neck and touching Shui Lian's cheek.

Shui Lian was panting heavily, feeling lust—something he shouldn't be able to feel, and wanting that touch again.

"Sleep with me," Shui Lian whispered—a beg, and a command. No. Maybe just a lover to their lover.

"No." Kai Yin was insistent. The air was tense before he pulled back, heart beating wildly at the fire in his fingers and loins. He stood up and held out a hand. "Now hurry, come outside for my surprise."

"I'm not going outside, it's too cold!" Shui Lian pulled away from Kai Yin, somehow disappointed.

"We can share a robe!" Kai Yin learned from Wei Jiang's lame proposal, making Shui Lian cringe.

"It's not going to disappear, let me take my time—"

Kai Yin wrapped Shui Lian in a thicker wool cloak and then held hands with him again, fingers .

"It's a lovely pav—place! You'll like it, I know."

"Why?" Shui Lian asked.

"We can watch the rain and moon, you've been looking better in outside air." Once the two were outside, Kai Yin bundled Shui Lian in his larger robe.

"Shui Lian, I'm sorry about two nights ago. I have grown up to think war and victory was part of my lifestyle. My second brother was nearly exiled for losing a war. My third and fourth brothers support it with their money, and obviously I go to fight along Brother Jin Long."

Shui Lian's repressed tears were going to spill, and he hated himself for it. He wished Kai Yin would stop talking.

"But you know, after meeting you, I've been thinking the strangest things. What if you were a woman, or if only I was the first Prince, if only I was there to save your village years ago. If only you were happy with your family, and we hadn't met." 

"Saying such things are useless."

"I suppose. It's cruel of me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I wished war would cease to exist, but then we wouldn't have met. That thought sends me into despair."

"You've only known me for five months, my lord."

"You've been counting," Kai Yin said, trying to hide his happiness.

"No!" Shui Lian had roughly guessed, but now that both men stopped to think about it five months was right on the mark. Shui Lian sighed and they walked like that, hands intertwined, Kai Yin holding out his robe for Shui Lian to duck into.

"You're so selfish. I knew you'd be off to war sooner or later but," Shui Lian bit his lips, "but you can stay back as Prince, can't you?"

Officially, as the second leader after Crown Prince, Kai Yin could. But he shook his head.

"All my precious peers in the army will fight, and I am a healthy young man, I need to fight so one less person dies. I fight too so I can keep the Sixth Prince, my only blood related younger brother, out of war. He's sixteen, so I need to fight as many battles I can to satisfy Crown Prince. I won't let my younger brother go to battle."

"You're a hypocrite, my lord. You aren't fighting because you want to either, you're only fighting so you can, in your eyes, save someone. Do you not feel ashamed to face war with such an attitude? All the men who fight think of protecting their families and children, and you fight because the Cruel Prince said to. You're simply his doll."

Kai Yin sighed.

There was never a day he got comforted by the beautiful eunuch and yet he had still expected something.

"Here it is, you cruel courtesan," Kai Yin said.

He tilted Shui Lian's face, still facing the ground as always, up.

The Peony Pavilion now was a mix of brown wood with a beautiful, temple-like roof structured out of dark green. Detached from the northern wall and it's own little overgrown garden of weeds drying in autumn, it had a small table and two seats of stone.

"It's a pavilion. And a garden, and even a pond? The Suicide Pond?" Shui Lian was stunned, mouth agape.

"You've never been here in five years?" Kai Yin asked in surprise. His face warmed at the thought he was the only one who knew.

"Well, you didn't find me five years earlier, either," Shui Lian said, and Kai Yin hugged him.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing." Shui Lian always had a crass mouth, but he didn't know what it felt like getting genuine apologies or even talking sincerely with someone. "Prince Kai Yin, I like reading mysteries."

He pulled away and laughed. "It suits you. You probably smile when villains get murdered."

"I do not!" Kai Yin helped Shui Lian step over the step to the pavilion as though he were some noblewomen. He sat down and Kai Yin turned to face Shui Lian.

"Go look at the moon, my lord," Shui Lian said.

"I want to hear about you tonight. Your likes and dislikes."

Shui Lian blushed and Kai Yin laughed inside, biting hip lips. Next he wanted to see Shui Lian smile.

"I dislike mirrors, it's unpleasant to see my face every moment and when I move, they move."

"So you're afraid of ghosts!" Kai Yin teased.

"No, I am not, my lord. Ghosts go not exist. I like folktales, especially the horrible ones about evil creatures and cruel gods and goddesses. It makes me feel a bit happier reading about people with fates worse than mine," Shui Lian said.

"You really are a strange one," Kai Yin teased. "What about seasons?"

"If I must choose, autumn is my favorite season, but it's passing to winter soon. I don't want—"

The wind blew and Shui Lian caught his mouth in time.

"—I don't like the thought of people leaving."

Shui Lian had wanted to say, I don't want you to leave.

How had Kai Yin came in mind although they were discussing seasons? Shui Lian felt heavy with the thought of his departure and hadn't felt this strongly since the first two years in Peony Palace, often raped and beaten.

Shui Lian said what came to mind quickly, trying to fill up the silence as they rested in the pavilion. It was beautiful, and he wondered if Kai Yin had someone clean it just for him.

No way, the prince most likely just found it.

"I dislike being lied to. I didn't mind your honesty after I calmed down. I was disappointed, but I know your road is hard to forge. You are a royal, and one day you'll marry." Shui Lian sniffed. "Pardon me, I'm getting emotional, my lord."

Kai Yin stood up and hugged Shui Lian from behind. He always felt as though he'd slip from his grasp like a lotus, but now he knew. He was always trying to not get caught by Kai Yin, who was going to have his arms wrenched open when the time came.

"May I kiss you?" he asked Shui Lian.

Shui Lian's eyes glittered in the dark and turned to face him, he titled his lips to Kai Yin's jawline, then cheek, and finally they kissed, Shui Lian gripping onto Kai Yin's arm.

"I've been waiting, my lord," he breathed out, the murmuring drowned with the rustling of the trees. "Kiss me."

Kai Yin kissed him hungrily. Their pants warmed one another and Shui Lian's soft kisses on Kai Yin's lips felt so adorable and precious.

"I want to kiss you all over," Kai Yin panted on Shui Lian, holding his waist tighter to his. Even in this cold his erection was growing.

Shui Lian pulled Kai Yin's robe over his shoulders and Kai Yin grasped it, the two like a sweet cocoon.

"When will you make love to me?" Shui Lian asked. "Will you never?"

"I will, when I return," Kai Yin promised, feeling Shui Lian's slender waist and resting his head against his shoulder.

If only he could tell Shui Lian about the political affairs Kai Yin had yet to sort. People were planning on overthrowing the Cruel Prince, and his own faction was too involved with the strange advisors. His father was forcing him to choose a princess as soon as he could, to marry. Even his own brother was soon going to join the battles they conducted.

But no, with Shui Lian with him thoughts like that faded, and the first time he told Shui Lian his "choice" to go to war he had looked so hurt.

So Kai Yin decided he would never say anything to hurt him again.

He will face them by himself, and Shui Lian would be as untainted and pure as the water lily he was...