Oh. My. Fate?! (BL, Volume 11, Part 1)

140 Wedding Planning

Jing He wished he had some time to think about this but with Qiu Ling right in front of him, there was naturally no way he could just pull back and ponder for a while. Well, he also didn't want to leave his side so that wasn't bad either. If he could have, he might have wanted to get even closer instead.

Qiu Ling watched his expression closely. Seeing it smooth out in a natural way instead of the forced pretense before, he felt relieved. It seemed that reminding Jing He that he would get that splendid wedding himself if they just waited a bit longer had been the right move.

Of course, it would have been great if they could have just talked about this directly but he knew Jing He wasn't there yet. He had needed a thousand years with Jing Yi to get to a point where they could be completely honest and that was without the baggage of Jing He's race, his position as crown prince, or his overbearing father. He naturally couldn't expect to continue right where they left off in the trial.

Maybe things would move in the right direction after Jing He started to remember those things but there was no guarantee. Even if he had the memories, he might feel that acting that way wasn't suitable for his trueborn god self. Whatever it was that the future had in store for them, he'd deal with it when the time came.

Qiu Ling didn't worry about this any longer, feeling that no matter what, their future was long so a solution could always be found. Instead of that, it seemed better to focus on what was more or less in front of them. "Your mother's help should speed things up considerably and maybe we can find help elsewhere too or come up with some specific plans. Anyway, I intend to not wait too long to finally call you mine officially. Since that is the case, how about starting to plan everything?"

Jing He's cheeks flushed. "You mean ... we should already plan the ceremony?"

Qiu Ling watched his expression and wondered if this suggestion was actually that outrageous. He hadn't thought so but Jing He seemed to be thinking deeper. Or could it be he simply felt a bit shy because this was about the day they would become one?

He thought of how he had once expressed the process of a dragon wedding in one sentence to Jing He and ... well, it suddenly didn't seem so inexplicable that he would flush at the thought of their wedding.

Qiu Ling cleared his throat and tried to look solemn. "It's an important day. Even though my people are a bit casual about it, I am still their king so some more effort can be put into appearances."

Jing He hadn't yet thought of what a wedding in the dragon realm entailed. Instead, he had thought that it might be a bit bad if they started to plan their wedding before his father gave his approval. If they were caught ... he could already imagine the temper tantrum his father would throw.

Of course, this didn't mean that he didn't want to. On the contrary, he was ecstatic at the thought of planning his wedding to Qiu Ling! He would love to discuss it for hours at a time down to the very last detail.

When Qiu Ling suddenly brought up the customs of the dragon race, his mind also flashed the previous explanation he had gotten and the flush across his cheeks deepened. "Appearances ..." He hurriedly grabbed onto the most normal part he could find and hoped to divert his attention.

Qiu Ling gave a hum. "Yes. I haven't given it too much thought yet. After all, this should be a decision between the two of us. My advisers might also have some ideas that should be taken into consideration.

"But what I mean is that we should have something to make it clear to my people that you are about to become mine. I am sure you don't want to have witnesses there for the actual ceremony and at most somebody to check afterward but we can probably incorporate something earlier. Well, that and an announcement ahead of time, of course."

Jing He looked at him in a daze. Back then, Qiu Ling had told him that the so-called 'ceremony' of the dragons meant nothing else but a 'night of passion' between the future spouses. As they hadn't even made their engagement clear between themselves at that point, he had been too embarrassed to ask any detailed questions.

The matter with the witnesses ... Either Qiu Ling hadn't mentioned it or he had been so stunned by the general idea that this had completely slipped his mind. Now, he suddenly realized what seemed to be a requirement of the dragon race's marriage.

His lips parted and even though he was mortified to even think it, he finally still spoke up in a breathless voice. "I ... I am sorry but ... is it that there should be somebody present when we ..." He couldn't get further than that and simply stared at Qiu Ling with wide eyes. Even the calm expression he was usually so proud of couldn't be maintained any longer.

He couldn't help it. His whole mind was occupied with conjuring up the image of the part of the wedding that would be held in the dragon realm. He wasn't sure how Qiu Ling's palace looked from the outside or the inside but he had the vague idea of a room that might not be unlike his own. Somewhere in there would be a bed and while Qiu Ling took what would be his right at that point ... several other people were supposed to be in the room and ... would be watching them? Had he gotten that right?

Suddenly, Jing He got to his feet, startling An Xin into scrambling onto the table instead. He couldn't care about that though. At this point, he also couldn't look at Qiu Ling. Instead, he turned around and hastily fled out of the room, unable to sit still any longer.

Behind him, Qiu Ling blinked his eyes. The wedding planning ... didn't seem to be going too well?