✧𝔻𝔼𝕍𝕆𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ~ 𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃~✧

✧Xie Lian- I'm Here ✧

A/N- Events in this oneshot aren't canon (at least to the show they're not.) So keep that in mind when reading. Thank you!

EVER SINCE YOU HAD BECOME the lover of Xie Lian, the Prince of Xianle, you had realized many things, and two things were always in your mind whenever you were with him:

One: A lot of people disliked your boyfriend for foolish reasons.

And two: Every time he would fall asleep without you, he would cry.

Due to this second thing, you would always try and stay close to him. You knew he had lost someone he loved, someone very precious to him, and that the stress of ruling Xianle always weighed hard on his heart. You wouldn't want him to break down in front of all his subjects, and you didn't want his sadness to get worse. So you treated him like a weak baby animal, always staying by his side and watching over him.

One night, he didn't return to the palace when he said he would, and he was staying out late. This worried you, as this was the one day that he managed to get you to stay back at the palace and let him go out alone. Maybe he had been hurt, and was lying on the street somewhere bleeding out, crying out your name when you weren't next to him. You didn't know what was keeping him so long, but you chose to go out and look for him. You didn't want him to be alone without you, or he would break.

You put on a simple dress and a hat with a veil attached, so that nobody would see you or guess who you were. Dressed like a common farmer girl, you went out into the streets of Xianle. It was late, and lanterns were hanging on wooden posts to provide light for pedestrians (like the lantern Xie Lian is holding in the picture above). You brushed your sleeves against many people in the crowded streets, and your senses were overloaded with the scents, sights, and tastes of the illustrious kingdom of Xianle.

You stopped for a moment at a stand that sold drinks to buy a cup of tea. You would need warmth on this cold night, to keep going. You hoped that wherever he was, Xie Lian was warm and safe. Without thanking the seller of the tea and wishing him a good night or day like you usually would, you simply left your empty cup on the wooden counter and continued your walk through the streets.

You saw many stands that looked like places you would want to stop at if you had time- fancy hanfu stands, stands that made accessories, and snack stands, which were all still open late at night- but right now, you were on a mission. You had to find the man you loved, before something terrible happened to him!

You searched all through the streets of the richer areas, not finding a trace of the prince. Perhaps he had gone down into the poorer district and the slums? But why would he do that? Why would a royal even look at the places where the peasants lived without cringing, and avoiding them entirely? You came from the poorer district, and you knew what it was like down there. Crime was rampant, and gangs of unruly young men and schoolboys would ravage the streets, robbing and beating up anyone who got in their way. You yourself had been beaten up by many of these boys, and you knew how to defend yourself. But Xie Lian wasn't at all well versed in the ways of the streets. If he was down in the slums, you had to get him out as soon as possible.

You ran back to the palace to get a weapon suited for going into the slums- a sword that had been sharpened recently, and shone like new- and then you raced back down into the streets, running through the streets of the richer districts like a cheetah, wishing that you could fly like the moths that frolicked among the soft, warm light of the lanterns. If you could fly, you could find Xie Lian faster. But you were just a human, and had the weaknesses and flaws of your species. So all you could do was run, ignoring the pain your feet were in, and ignoring the annoying stitch in your side that poked relentlessly at you.