The Other Side of the Mask

He sighs from exhaustion. It's been a couple weeks since XiaoLong and my wedding. Both Kings have explained the situation to the other Kingdoms which is so tiring. Ugh, politics.

So basically, since XiaoLong and I are 'too young', Ri and Yue Kingdom are going to stay the same as always until we ascend to the throne. Then, the kingdoms under our rule will combine to become Eclipse Kingdom… something like that... Anyways, XiaoLong and I are living in the Eclipse Palace for the time being. We have a set of people from each kingdom to serve us and all.

"Your majesty, a letter arrived from your parents," Ji says as she knocks on my door.

I raise my hand, busily still finishing my paperwork. She passes the letter to me which I swiftly open and read. After gathering my thoughts, I decide.

"A honeymoon huh… I'll talk to XiaoLong about it."

"Talk to me about what?" his voice comes up suddenly from behind my ear.

Even Ji startledly jumps, not noticing his presence.

"Ah," I stammer.

He doesn't move his face from beside my ear. I can feel his breath tickling the side of my ear.

After calming down, I start, "So our parents are planning for us to have a honeymoon around both the Ri and Yue Kingdom."

"What do you think?" he asks me.

"Sure," I respond nonchalantly.

He FINALLY moves his face and replies, "It's settled then."

I stand up after finishing the last of my paperwork.

"Let's go eat lunch," I say, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the banquet hall.

My stomach grumbles as I smell the amazing food.

"Easy, easy," he says while laughing.

"I'm not a horse," I responded hastily.

We seat ourselves and discuss the honeymoon.

"So where should we start?" XiaoLong asks while munching on the amazing assortment of food.

"Mmmm," I take a big bite and the juiciness overflows my mouth, "Ah, um maybe the North? I've never been there before."

"Haha, then you've probably never seen snow," he replies.

"Snow?" I ask, "Well, I've heard of it, but never really seen it."

"You'll probably love it," XiaoLong says without looking up.

"How would you know?"

"Well, you like things that represent freedom right?"

?! What? I didn't really know that about myself. I think about it and realize it's quite true. The reason I escape to the roof at night and love to stare at the stars in the sky, the vast universe in front of us. I guess I also love ships because of that too. They are free and can roam the ocean like that.

XiaoLong continues, "Snow is sort of like that, flying freely in the air."

"Wow… you know me better than I know myself… you also like free things?" I comment and ask.

He looks into my eyes and smiles, "Of course!"