Am I In Love With Her? (IV)

It was a duty,

To be here as a pity,

I don't want to be a looney,

But I will be your meant to be.

***

THE YEAR 1904, 100 centuries away from the present time.

"I apologize for not saying it earlier. I just want to keep it to myself once the time I had to fulfill my duties here just to come back from where I belong. I never knew I would be someone here," Althea said in a soft and delicate voice. She might crack at any second and just wiped the tears that fell down from her cheeks.

"You also cursed me?" Qing Long recovered himself from the silence he took up a little later while Althea gazed at him. Her eyebrows furrowed a little bit as she was confused about what he was asking. Qing Long breathed first and drained all of his pride in a bit.

"Tell everything you wanted to tell to me so that I would know how you feel," Qing Long decided to coat his words first before taking the risk of saying everything. Althea was confused as she was at first sight and waited for his words.

"Actually, I don't know what to do that time I was disqualified. It was my dream, it should be a gift to my grandmother because she always pushed me to be an author. I was just... disappointed with myself that it had gone wrong," Althea clasped both of her hands together and propped it up on her knees. She could barely see the island across from them, and she was in deep annihilation.

"I was so angry that time, I never noticed myself going head straight home with nothing but to eradicate what's connected with the Legend of the Cursed Dragon. I just saw myself in my small bedroom, finding something hidden at the very back of my closet, retrieving something that was in guard by my grandmother since the day I got a grasp of this world," Althea spoke in a manner of exhaustion and pain while Qing Long was listening intently.

"I found what I was looking for, and I was surprised when my grandmother had taken guard with that small box that I never know what was the contents inside. I wanted to open it, but someone whispered in my subconscious that made my ears rang---"

"What did you say? A box?" Qing Long halted and looked at her with an astounded face. Althea was halted from describing the situations she had and nodded. Qing Long was flabbergasted again with the revelation but he sat calmly. He just nodded and Althea continued what she was saying.

"It was a box that I never know why my grandmother had been obsessed about. It was the box that I wanted to remove with my life. I called it a Bejeweled Box and I knew that it was connected to you," Althea said while her looks were serrating. She swallowed as she stood up from the sand, recovering the energy from her body. Qing Long was surprised by that but Althea just glanced at him.

"I wanted to throw away the legend and the box itself because I know you had been the reason why I have unfortunate things. Maybe... I was thinking that I was cursed because of how you had been punished by the Nian Beast, I didn't think of it as a miracle in disguise," Althea said while genuinely saying it to him, looking down at him, while Qing Long was hitching his breath. He stood up from the sand with that wet robes and Althea was surprised at how close he was.

Qing Long breathed as he asked, "What did you think of me after all those unfortunate happenings?"

Althea looked up at her with those azure and glowing eyes. Her heart was beating louder than usual, her mouth was now parched, and her hands became sweaty even though she swamped with water from the river. Qing Long was driving in the energy in between, and he wanted to drape his hands on her waist, but he knew he could not.

Althea was very different from the Healers that he got.

Althea swallowed as she said, "I am not the person who wanted to forgive someone that easily, but based on how we get along this day, I knew you were not that kind of person."

Her breath quickened right after she said that. She knew she means it. Qing Long was the one who hid her from the Manchu people, she will be caught once everyone recognized her face. She hid on the streets of the Qing Empire, not knowing that she was the destined Queen. She had been carrying the name of Fang Ying Yue, but Qing Long never wanted to hide forever.

He was looking around for her every time he lost sight of Althea, and she could feel it even at a distance. Qing Long convinced her to show up herself in front of everyone for her not to be killed, but for her protection. Althea's soul might embed Fang Ying Yue's body, but she knew that she might be falling in love with the cursed dragon.

"You save me from every obstacle I might face this day, this Lunar New Year. You never let me hide in the bushes. You know I am the destined Queen and I need to show myself to the people. You let me be with the Crown Prince, even though you knew it was not right," Althea looked down while Qing Long was looking at her longingly.

"I am wrong with everything I think of you, Wang Qing Long, I think... it was this time I realized I must have been prohibiting myself to believe what I do not see," Althea said as she pursed her lips. Qing Long was completely falling in love with her, and he doesn't know why.

"Even just for a day, I know you are a good person, Wang Qing Long," Althea concluded while tilting the corners of her lips.