The Fine Print✔️

Chapter 27 (2)

I couldn't accept the fact that the one who had made all this possible was talking about leaving me. "You won't miss me. You are staying with us!" I demand; she shakes her head, "Now that the curse has is lifted, all my sisters are free as well. Lord Xuandi wants us to return to him."

I open my mouth to voice my displeasure, but before I can, Weredra shakes her head, "YiJun, don't make it more difficult than it has to be." With that, she opens her palm. A small shiny green bead appears on it. "This is my parting gift to you." She offers the pearl to me. "YiJun, the reason I wasn't able to heal your wounds fully was that the witch had done something to you even before you were born. You came into existence with the help of magic."

"I don't understand."

"When I got my magic back, I peered into the witch's mind. YiJun, " Weredra's brows crease, "You were supposed to be born as a boy."

"What!?" I balk. "What are you...what... how?" I find myself incapable of coherent speech.

Weredra takes my hand in hers. "It was the witch's potion that altered your constitution. She wanted you to remain a girl till your marriage." As she finishes, her cheeks color.

"Weredra, can you please stop speaking in riddles?" I demand and watch as Zhan mutters something about tending to the horses and leaves me alone with Weredra.

I look at the horses but don't spot anything out of the ordinary.

"He is giving us some privacy, YiJun," Weredra explains and smirks. "He sees me as a child still, I guess."

I shrug. "Zhan didn't have to leave. There are no secrets between us."

Weredra sighs. The act makes her look years older than the disguise she is donning. "The potion, Senior gege has been giving you since you woke up was to suppress your true self from getting exposed."

It was bonkers. I was me; why should I have to hide what I am?

A knowing look crosses Weredra's features. "Dezhutang has just come out of a bad patch. Imagine what would have happened if Zhan would have told the truth. Do you think your uncle would have let you marry senior gege? What if you too were accused of witchcraft?"

The things Weredra was saying made sense. I find myself nodding.

"After your birth, the witch realized that the gender-altering magic was not going to hold. So she started feeding you a potion that would make the magic retain its effect."

"The drink she gave me every four weeks or so!" The elaborate plan my aunt had devised to gain control over the six kingdoms both astonished and sickened me.

"Yes. You needed to take it till your wedding."

"Why only till my wedding?" I enquire and feel my cheeks heat up.

"The spell was somehow linked to your virginity." She says cryptically and purses her lips.

"I don't follow, Weredra," I state but find that it didn't matter. What mattered was that I was never supposed to be a princess at all.

"Your husband will explain it to you." She closes her eyes and shakes her head. It reminds me of the look aunty LiFen often directed towards me when she thought I was acting stupider than usual. She waves a hand in front of her face, and pointing at the pearl, she continues, "Once you have consummated your marriage, your true form will be visible to everyone. I won't be here to provide you the concealing potion like I have been doing."

"Oh... OH!" The truth of the potion I had been having becomes clear. "So, the potion was to hide my identity."

"That, and for your speedy recovery." She elaborates. "When I was trying to heal you, I saw glimpses of your past." She chuckles. "You see, when you left the palace that day, your friend gave you a drink that made you throw up. If my guess is correct, when you threw up, the potion you had had that morning left your body. You were too busy putting distance between yourself and your aunt's men. You failed to notice that you had turned into a man. When I saw you, you were a man, and I addressed you as such."