Episode 10

Upon returning back to her room, Xiaobai sat on her bed and turned to her mirror on her bedside table.

Dijun soon walked from his chamber to Xiaobai's chamber, Cha Cha followed behind him, holding a tray with sorrowless flower cakes that Xiaobai's immortal counterpart loved to make before she became mortal.

As he entered her chamber, he found the Princess lying on her bed reading her book, her hair free from pins and ties, cascading around her on the bed and her back.

"Cha Cha!" she yelled before looking up from her book to see the Prince standing there with Cha Cha behind him, holding a tray. She quickly sat up, her book falling to the floor by her feet and went to bend down to pick it up.

Holding a hand up, Dijun stopped her as he walked to her side and knelt down to pick the book up, before motioning Cha Cha forward, he placed the book beside the plate of cakes, he leaned over and picked the plate up.

"These are my way of cooking sorrowless flower cakes, I have been trying to learn to cook for you, so please give me some feedback" he said as she looked at him before picking up one of the cakes.

Taking a bite from the cake, her eyes lit up and a smile found its way to her lips.

"This is really good" she said as Dijun smiled, Cha Cha left with the tray and them to themselves, she returned to the kitchen to find some wine for the couple.

Dijun watched as the Princess shoved cakes into her mouth, mumbling how delicious the cakes were, after swallowing the food, she turned to him and asked him where he had learnt to cook the cakes from.

"A girl I used to know from a faraway land, she loved making these and she did whatever she could to get a friend of mine to fall in love with her" he said as Xiaobai makes a face and turns away.

"Why do you want to be married to me? Is it because of my position as Imperial Princess and my upcoming coronation to become Empress?" she asked, wondering what he motives were for coming to propose marriage to her.

"I fell in love with the smart Imperial Princess, who is kind, who doesn't take orders from anyone, you also live freely while doing what your mother says" he said as she nodded her head.

"Of course I do, I hate being tied down by my status as Imperial Princess, especially when I become Imperial Empress Xiaobai" she said huffing, moving her knees to her chest and leaned her chin onto her knee.

"I will make sure that you get what you want, now, my father has prepared the feast in your honour for tomorrow night, but for tonight, I take you to the village to see the first night of the Festival" the Prince said and stood up.

Holding a hand out to the Princess, she moved her hand up and slid it into his as he helped her up before calling for Cha Cha.

"Yes your Highness?" she asked, bowing to the Prince before the Princess.

"Get her Highness changed and do her hair, I am taking you both out to the village for the Festival, my guard Qingti will follow" he said and Cha Cha nods, smiling happily.

"Cha Cha thanks your Highness" she said and moved to Xiaobai's side to help her get dressed after the Prince left.

Cha Cha helped the Princess into a baby pink hanfu dress, slipping the red blue silk off her arms, the back hanging low at the back.

Cha Cha applied make up to Xiaobai's face and did her hair, using her favourite pins to make it look more beautiful as Xiaobai watched from the mirror, afterwards, Cha Cha helped slip on her shoes and helped her up.

Xiaobai waited with her maid in her chambers for the Prince as he appeared at the door and walked in to see them.

"Your Imperial Highness" he said Cha Cha walked to the door and the Prince walked up to the Princess.

When he walked in and saw her, he had never met anyone as beautiful as her, he didn't want to think about his supposed soulmate Ji Heng, for before his name appeared on the rock, he tried to deny he was in love with Feng Jiu.

Holding a hand made crown in his hands, he watched as Xiaobai took steps towards him.

"Xiaobai greets Prince Shen Ye" Xiaobai said bowing her head to the Prince, Cha Cha was standing beside Qingti.

"Your Highness, you look beautiful, Cha Cha has done a good job" he said as Xiaobai slightly blushed.

Dijun then held the crown up towards her head as he placed it gently on her head, the front of the crown against her forehead and the back held together with pink silk entwined with her hair.

He then held his arm to her and she linked hers with his, he walked her out of the Palace and towards the carriage that would take them into the village centre to enjoy the festivities.

As they passed a brick bridge, Xiaobai's eyes lit up, a smile on her face as she looked among the shops that were decorated for the festival.

People stopped and looked their way as they started chatting, greeting the Prince and his guest, the Imperial Princess from the Wei Kingdom,

Everyone talked about how beautiful the Princess looked and how good they looked together, they talked about her beautiful smile and her bright eyes that took everything in.

"This is like a really good dream" Xiaobai said to the Prince as he smiled and pulled her close, her smile disappeared from her face as she felt shocked about his affection towards her.

'He must really have fallen in love with me' she thought to herself as a blush crept to her cheeks before she leaned more into his embrace.

'She's more comfortable with me then when she was in the Heavenly Palace, she trusts me now, but I don't want her to leave me' he thought to himself as he moved her head back by her chin and kissed her gently and lovingly.

There started up chattering about the kissing couple, cheering for their Prince, happy he had found a bride that he loved dearly.

Xiaobai's eyes closed as she returned the kiss, her arms limp by her side as she was not sure what she should have done in this situation since she was new to romance.

Pulling away from her, he looked into her eyes and smiled softly.

"Mine and mine forever" he said, kissing her forehead where her phoenix flower birth mark had disappeared since she was now a mortal.