A Second Chance to Live

Zhào Jùn Huá, Interlude

He woke with a happy heart. And a smile on his face.

It had been a very long time since he felt this way. The strangeness of this situation reminded him of his past self, the one who had grown up with a low hanging cloud of obscure sorrow and a foreign restlessness that tangled within his heart.

Being widely read and tutored by the best and brightest minds in the nation, it was easy to conclude that such an ailment isn't the norm.

And being the smart child that he was, the 18th Prince tried to overcome such strange affliction of his heart in a myriad of ways.

Excitement, danger, wild adventures and escapades, he tried them all. Trying to overthrow the shackles of his heart.

But after that initial burst of frenzy of actions or thrilling calculations and guesswork, everything eventually simmered down and fades away. Without even a whisper.

Leaving his heart colder and a reputation of a reckless daredevil.

There are times even waking up became a source of boredom.

When he reached the age of majority, and alcoholic drinks became available, Róng wangye tried drowning his ennui. 

This fevered rampage of dangerous behaviour continued until one dawn, when he woke up to the sight of his Imperial Mother's silent tears as she earnestly kneeled and prayed by his bedside, the beads of her jade rosary clacking in his bedchamber.

Her carefully preserved beauty destroyed, marred by wrinkles and worn complexion as she suffered a state of constant anxiety over her youngest trueborn son.

For an empress to leave the Imperial Harem, even for a quiet visit to the residence of her own flesh and blood, would be grounds for punishment.

Yet she risked it all in her worry.

The guilt almost burned Zhào Jùn Huá alive.

Thankfully, the Highest Lord was willing to turn his eyes and ears aside, feigning oblivious of the wrongdoing committed by his Royal Spouse.

A protection of sorts, by his Imperial Father.

The careful mask of impartiality that the two husband and wife cultivated for such a long time, cracked.

What parent could forsake their own flesh?

Scrambling for some sort of diversion, to turn their 18th Prince away from his path of self-destruction, the Emperor laid task and duties, from the frivolous to the prestigious, upon his back.

The Empress, on her part, cajoled and scheme in many ways to throw a bevy of beauties into the Róng wangfu.

Reasoning that perhaps a wife or four, with children if the Merciful She would bless the household, would be a good way to calm if not cure his streak of recklessness.

And thus his days filled with endless back breaking Court obligation, and the rest of his time was spend fending off his Imperial Mother's well meaning intentions.

Sometimes, the 18th Prince felt that this persistence would almost work. A person would spark his interest, his heart would stir. As if there's a sign that his unknown self, in the deepest parts of his heart was looking for.

But too often, too soon, the flames would flicker off and die.

Leaving his spirit colder and his soul even sadder than before.

After so often of this consistent disappointments, not long afterwards, Zhào Jùn Huá could feel the desolation creeping back, despite all efforts of his Imperial family. 

Until one day, on a whim, he decided to visit the capital's most exclusive teahouse.

The sight of that mysterious beauty hiding behind the veils of his hat remained with Róng wangye until he fell asleep.

Only for him to be immersed in the strangest dream ever.

Visions of the veiled stranger in a multitude of situations, laughing with him, smiling at him, waiting for him, running toward him. He saw how this person evolved with age. From a sweet innocent child to a handsome dependable adult.

But the love and affection shining within his beautiful eyes remained constant.

Zhào Jùn Huá was filled with a breathless sense of waiting. An expectancy for a final step that lies between them, changing everything.

A new path on their life's journey.

He woke from this dream with a paradoxical feeling of both sorrowful longing and elated jubilation.

His cold and sluggish heart exchanged with a new organ.

It is now insistently beating, vigorously with a sense of anticipation.

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' What the mind forgets, the body will remember '

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