One Year

Prince Ronin's Birthday Party

On the day of Prince Ronin's birthday party, Siri made sure to dress up nicely.  Instead of colorful clothes, she decided to wear black to contrast her skin, hair and eyes.  Her features would shine against her dark dress with silver lilies embroidered on to it.  She wore silver accessories and instead of her hair being up, she left her hair down so the wind would blow her hair and make her look even more ethereal.

When Prince Ryu's carriage parked in front of her Flowing Lily Courtyard, she walked with Gilldy and Meada by her side with Nurse Nancy following close behind.  She had chosen those three to serve her in the palace and knew they would look out for her should anyone have intentions against her. 

The curtain to the carriage parted just a small crack to see his enchanting wife make her way towards him.  Her audacity to leave her hair down to attract all the male attentions made his eyes squint and his right eye brow twitch.  His wife does have great courage to leave her hair down so anyone could just touch it when ever.  He'll have to keep a closer eye on his wife to ensure she wouldn't be violated. 

The door opened and Siri climbed in as gracefully as she was taught to.  With years of experience under her belt, everything she said and did flowed like water as if it was second nature to her. 

"You approve?"  Siri teased him as she saw that he kept on staring at her the moment she sat down across from him. 

"Tsk." Ryu tsked in response.  "Be sure not to make this Prince lose face."

Siri snorted at smiled at Ryu.  "Your beautiful wife would never do such a thing.  While I charm the crowd with my wit and beauty.  You look behind the scenes to catch your culprit." 

"You speak as if it'll be easy for you to charm everyone."  Ryu said.  "How are you so sure?"

"I know because it's is what I've been training my whole life for."  Siri told him.  "Now is the time to use those skills to ensure your victory.  Isn't magnanimous of me to be your smoke and shield while you search for the Moonlight Silence? You should think of other ways to thank your wife when you start walking again." 

"You shouldn't count your victories until they're absolute."  Ryu warned her. 

"I'm not counting them yet."  Siri told him.  "I just want you to think on how you'll reward me on a job well done.  That's all."

Ryu tsked at her once more, not believing her.  "We shall see."

Siri's sweet smiled widen and a genuine smile broke through.  She stared at her husband as he stared at her lips as if he was entranced.   "Beloved husband, if I can catch your entire attention with just my smile, I can bewitch the entire crowd with just a look from my eyes."

Siri held back her laughter as Ryu quickly look away and scowled.  Siri knew she would be pushing it if she laughed in his face, so instead she turned her head to look out the other window.  The rest of the carriage ride was in silence, Siri didn't mind the silence being that she got the last word in.  If she broke through the silence she would lose the upper hand she had just won. 

When they arrived at the palace gates they alighted their carriage and went into a fancy carriage to take them into the Peony Koi Garden where the birthday party was being held.  From their carriage to the next carriage, Siri somehow found her hand being held by Ryu and being led by him.  She couldn't take her hand away from him in public, so she let him hold her hand and lead her inside the palace carriage.  Once inside Ryu immediately released her hand and cleared his throat as if nothing happened while Siri looked down to her feet to hide the smile on her face. 

"Your hand is cold."  Ryu said as he looked out his side of the window. 

"Em." Siri confirmed.  "I'm always cold."

Ryu's eyes flicked over to Siri, staring at her profile for a long time before he looked back to the window as if he didn't hear her last sentence.

When they reached the Peony Koi Garden, the celebration was in full swing already.  Everyone except the King and Queen stood up when Ryu and Siri walked in. 

"Prince Ryu and Princess Consort Siri."  The eunuch announced. 

When they reached their table, Petra parked Ryu on the right side of the table, closest to the King then pulled out the chair for Siri to sit in.  When she finally sat, Ryu then excused everyone to sit down. 

"What a great surprise that you have joined us, brother."  King Cai said as he took a sip of wine, hiding his frown.  Ryu never attended any family gatherings in the past, why is he doing so now? What is his Prince Brother planning?

"My Princess Wife wanted to celebrate our nephew's birthday and wish him many blessings and fortune to come."  Ryu said back as he took the wine from Siri's hand to drink from. 

"Haha!  Good. Good!"  King Cai said.  "Let us celebrate together!" 

Siri could see the musicians start playing a cheerful tune as several toast was made to the little boy, Prince Ronin and his mother Concubine Nina. 

"Did you bring a present?"  Siri asked her husband. 

"Em."  Ryu said as he took the half eaten pastry from her mouth and directly put into his.  He licked his hand of the sweet powder from his finger tips one at a time captivating her as she studied his soft, full lips and his long, strong hands.  Her womanly modern self wanted to jump his bones in that very moment, but her young inexperienced current self, blushed a bright red on her cheeks.  Siri quickly looked away from her seductive husband to the birthday boy and his mother. 

One by one everyone announced what they bought as a present to Prince Ronin, before he could even open the present that was presented in front of him.  As if the one giving the present was bragging to the whole party how expensive their gift was.  One after another, the gifts became more expensive and ridiculous.  As if a child needed different sets of tea, paintings of bamboo, porcelain vases, gold and jade. 

When it came time for Prince Ryu and Siri, Siri stayed quiet and to let Ryu talk, however he didn't talk until Siri took a sip of wine from the cup in front of her and he grabbed the wine away from her to drink the rest himself.  Hearing the quiet room become even more quiet, Siri quickly scanned the room to see everyone staring at them. 

A flash of red could be seen on her pale cheeks as she flushed red in embarrassment.  Siri hated the fact that she could blush so easily.  But to everyone else her blush was charming and enchanting. 

"This Prince did bring a birthday present to Prince Ronin."  Ryu said as he wiped the wine off of his lips with his thumb.  "This Prince's gift is this Prince's Wife, Princess Siri."

Wait.  What?  Siri thought before she quickly whipped her head towards her husband in disbelief.  What did he just say?