Immortal Fairy Falls for The First Prince {Completed}

Chapter 17: When Did You Start Loving Me?

"Wah, palace life is so dull," Fa Zhen whined as she fanned herself.

"Crown Prince enters!" A eunuch announced from outside the entrance.

He's back.

"Xiao Dan," he called out to her lovingly. His eyes filled with excitement like a child's.

She doesn't respond, continuing to fan herself with eyes closed.

"What's the matter?" He asked, feeling coldness exuding from her.

She said, "Nothing."

He asked, carefully treading, "Did someone say something to you or looked down on you?"

"It's nothing like that."

Confused, he sat down at the round table, the maid Xiao Tong began to pour a cup of hot tea for him.

Just as he was taking his first sip, Fa Zhen rushed from the bed and grabbed his sleeve, "Let me ask you, why did you want to marry me back then?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"I mean, even in our letters, you had expressed wanting to marry me. And we didn't even know each other that long. Was it because back then you wanted my brother's support for the throne?"

A look of surprise flashed on his face, but quickly replaced with a smile, "I guessed you ran into Yu Ruo today... In a sense, it's true. When I found out your identity from that night at the Whimsical Flower Pavilion, I've laid out a plan to get you to fall for me, but it didn't work."

"Why?"

"Because I started to like you."

Crossing her arms, unconvinced, "You fell for me?"

"Yeah."

"When? Tell me? The exact moment you fell for me."

Did he fall for me? Or for Xiao Dan?

"It was... "

"What?"

"You should know that your letters were like small pieces of light in the dark I have faced my whole life."

So he was in love with me when he was stationed at Dey Prefecture... so he's really in love with me. Not this image of Xiao Dan.

"The moment I saw you at Mo Manor, I knew that this woman was the one who would be mine. You are so beautiful." Zhang Yun raised a hand to caress Fa Zhen's soft cheek.

My-- my beauty?

"The reason I was at Whimsical Flower Pavilion that night... was because it was the death anniversary of my mother. She was a musician at the brothel, sold there as a child. She came to the palace accompanying dancers to perform for the Emperor. His Majesty admired my mother's musical skills and ordered her to play him music every night. He then took her into his harem, and I think he loved her, but this I can never be certain. My mother died when I was ten. She-- People think of her death as an illness overtaking her will, but to me it was obvious someone wanted her gone."

Fa Zhen listened intently. Finally, she was going to learn more about Zhang Yun's life. She wanted to know more about him because to her, he was the only person in the world that mattered the most.

"That night when you came in and interrupted my cycle of sorrow and self-pity, I began to see the day of her death in a different light. You became this distraction that rendered me captivated by who you are. Strong and bold, yet crazy."

"What?" Fa Zhen muttered quietly, annoyed at his description of her.

"I've never been interested in anyone. But I like you because you were easy to tease," Zhang Yun pulled Fa Zhen's arms and sat her down on his lap, "Spending time with you made me forget about the struggles of the inner palace for just a moment, and that... energized me."

"Like what times?" Fa Zhen's eyes grew big, wanting to pin point the events that led to Zhang Yun's discovery of love.

"Tsk. You really don't remember? When we talked and went on walks to look at the moon, wrote our names on wooden planks at the Love Temple... all those moments."

Ugh, but all those moments weren't ALL me...

Disheartened, Fa Zhen's weary face made Zhang Yun wondered what answers she had not heard.

"What about you? Did you want to marry me back then?"

Surprised by his question, Fa Zhen stuttered, "We-- well, you were nice... um, and a little overbearing but gentle. I felt like... I don't know how to put it. I felt like you belonged to me, and I wanted you only for myself, but then you also weren't mine."

"Why would you think that? Am I some sort of thing?"

"Because! Because in my heart, I don't know when, but you slowly started to exist, and I would worry about you, hoping you would be safe, have good food to eat. I wondered when you came back from the prefecture, if you would recognize me. If you didn't then, maybe you'd thought I was not good enough."

Fa Zhen blushed from all the cheesy confessions she was making in the embrace of her husband. For thousands of years, she's never had the guts to make all these proclamations of love toward anyone!

"But I did recognize you even without the veil."

"Right. You did."

"The you, who hugged me at Whimsical Flower Pavilion, the you whom wrote me letters, the you whom gave me baked sweets, the you whom kissed me under the peach blossom trees, the you whom I wrote our names  on wooden planks with, the you now. That's who I love. I've loved you in all those moments, and I will always."

Zhang Yun said all of that with a sincere heart. His eyes soft, and smile warm. He was a simple man when it came to loving and dedicating his life to one person. He just didn't know the frustration that Fa Zhen was facing.

Zhang Yun, in this lifetime, I've decided. Whoever you loved whether that be Yi Chen, Xiao Dan, or I, Fa Zhen. I will always love you. As long as I am true to you and you to me, our love can last forever. Even if you're a mortal, even if you will cease to exist, I don't think I will be able to forget you.

"Wait a second... Did you say a 'kiss' underneath the peach blossom trees?"

"Uh, yeah."

"So? How was it? That kiss?"

"Um... you were... persistent," leaning into her ear to tease her, he said, "Lots. Of. Tongue."

HUH! That! That! That! Xiao Dan! Lan Qiao!

"What about this then?"

As to one up Lan Qiao's previous courtship with Zhang Yun, Fa Zhen's fingers tilted the smooth chin of Zhang Yun's upward, leaning her lips into his, she softly opened and closed her mouth to take the breath away from him. He closed his eyes to fully experience the sweetness of her tongue. He thought to himself that his lovely Noble Consort was rather frisky today. Perhaps, they would be able to continue their night of romance?