The Other Side of the Mask

A temporary truce reduces their damage and the cult retreats back into who-knows-where… well, XiaoLong and I know.

The fights quickly settled down and the towns returned to normal. XiaoLong and I sent troops to the north to clean up things, and we headed back to our Eclipse Palace.

"Welcome back!" our parents greet us with hugs.

"Why are you guys here?" I ask, confused.

"We'd like to discuss something. Come on, let's go inside."

We seat ourselves at the dining table and talk over lunch.

"We believe that you two are old enough and wise enough to rule the kingdom now. It seems that our intuition has gone bad with old age," my mother states.

"Yes, so we'll step down from the throne and pass it on to you," Queen Huang continues.

I look at XiaoLong, waiting for him to answer. He holds my hand and looks up, determined

"Very well. You guys can keep staying in the Yue and Ri Castle, since QiLing and I are staying in the Eclipse Palace…"

He frowns, a bit sadly.

"Don't worry about us," King Huang starts, "We will take care of ourselves. In the meantime, let's get your coronation."

I finish my daily duties and return to my room at night. Dismissing everyone, I jump onto the roof.

Taken by surprise, I find a shady masked person.

"AH!"

He catches me, "Be careful."

I smirk, "Mister, are you an assassin?"

XiaoLong fake slips and 'catches himself'.

We burst out laughing on the roof, reminiscing.

"We've come quite far…" XiaoLong sighs.

"Yeah, back then… when you were an ASSASSIN, and I was a CONTESTANT TO BECOME YOUR CONCUBINE!"

"..."

I sigh, somewhat in relief, "I'm glad you didn't die back then."

"Well, thanks to you, I've developed immunity to the poison anyways…"

"...That wasn't intentional…"

"You were blackmailed, it's fine."

"And that blackmail was a lie," I sigh feeling my heart ache.

XiaoLong pulls me closer to him, in a hug, "You have me now."

I smile.

Then, changing the topic, "So~ are you going to receive concubines?"

"Heck no! How could you say that!" XiaoLong replies without delay, a hurtful face appears.

I pat his head and laugh, "It's a joke, besides, if you actually do, I wouldn't really mind."

"I would!"

I laugh, thinking 'how could someone this childish become king'?

But, he did. The coronation took place a week after as we sorted out everything.

XiaoLong and I revisited the caves in the north, building plans.

"Haha, hiking trails that we walked in the pitch black night almost every night," I respond, lowkey sarcastically.

Commander Yang plastered an 'oh!' face, "We can call this trail, the King and Queen's love trail/trial or something like that."

"Rejected," XiaoLong and I state simultaneously at the cheesy request.

I ponder a bit and come up with an idea, "I think it'll be best called the 'Freedom Trails'... what do you think?"

"Sure, we can keep all those freedom signs, then… not the statue because we don't want to deal with another cult."

XiaoLong and I laugh. Suddenly, gentle snow falls, just like when XiaoLong and I first came to the north.

"How pretty, and free…" I mutter, "Freedom…"

Is lost now that I'm tied to the throne…

XiaoLong whispers in my ear as if he could hear my thoughts, "We'll be free together."

I smile, yes, not all is lost.