The Untamed Princess

Chapter Sixteen: The Queen's Wish

"Umm, about what happened earlier," Weisheng said, then stopped, realising that he was not entirely sure what he wanted to say.

Luckily, Ming Yue interjected before the silence became too awkward.

"I am quite recovered now, thank you," she rattled off quickly.  "It really was very kind of Your Highness to assist me.  I hope it was not too much of an inconvenience."  She smiled, and Weisheng took her cue.

"Not at all, not at all," he said.  "I was glad to be able to help.  We need say no more about it.  No more about it at all," he finished.

His words might have been brief, but his mind was racing.  If this was to be how they resolved the matter, then the way forward was clear.  They would simply behave as normal, and Ming Yue would not have to leave his side.  "After all," he reasoned to himself, "if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"  If he and Ming Yue both carried on like nothing had happened, then it was logical to decide that nothing actually had happened.

Weisheng ignored the small, nagging voice that told him his logic in this respect was fundamentally flawed.

The two of them stood still for a moment, acknowledging the silent agreement between them.  Then Ming Yue made the first move.

"Well, if there is nothing else Your Highness needs...?"

"No, nothing at all.  Please be on your way. I will see you tomorrow."

They made their way off in different directions, back to their own chambers.

***

When Ming Yue was back in her room and able to think about their brief encounter just then, she decided that, all things considered, it had been a good thing.  The matter had been resolved relatively quickly and under the comforting cover of darkness.  It would have been much worse, she concluded, to have had to deal with the prospect of an awkward conversation in the cold light of the morning.  As it was, the end of that day as the moon reached its peak also symbolised the drawing of a line under the incidents that had occurred in the twenty-four hours previously.  Now, they would just move on and say no more about it.

However, as many times as Ming Yue told herself this, her body and her mind betrayed her, and she spent her most restless night yet within the palace walls.

The following morning, she dressed in her new clothes. She was delighted to find that they were a perfect fit, and the simple, flowing lines of the heavier material draped around her figure in a much more flattering way than the maid's outfit, but still left her with plenty of room to move around easily. The darker shade also contrasted well with her pale skin and dark hair.

Also, as she was no longer a maid, she decided she would forgo the usual maidservant's hairstyle and, instead of pulling all of her hair into tight braids on top of her head, she left the back section to fall loose, only securing the fronts and sides away from her face.  It wasn't much of a change, but it made her feel just a touch closer to the woman she had been before she entered Han, which was a comforting sensation.

After a light breakfast, she made her way to the prince's study.

Unlike Ming Yue, Weisheng had slept rather well. After being faced with the possibility of having to send her away, their mutual, unspoken decision to treat yesterday's incident as never having happened had left him free to pursue the lesser of the two evils and keep her as his secretary, even if he knew things could go no further between them.  Consequently, his mind had been relatively at ease as he laid his head down on the pillow the night before.