Oh. My. Fate?! (Bl, Volume 10, Part 1)

3 Things Changed

Leaving the group of people behind them, Leng Jin Yu really wanted to heave a sigh of relief. Even Jinde slowly relaxed.

"That went better than expected." He didn't say more for fear of somebody hearing them but they all knew what exactly he meant.

Yes, nobody had suspected a thing. People had definitely marveled at his appearance but there hadn't been a single person guessing his actual identity. They had accepted him as 'Jiang Li' without a doubt. In the future, that probably wouldn't be any different.

Well, to be honest, they probably shouldn't be that surprised. Jinde's reign had been long ago. It wasn't like there would be many people left from that time. After all, with the war going on, many had died. Both in Jinde's generation as well as in that of Qiu Ling and the dragons being born after he acceded to the throne. Thus, the possibility of actually being recognized was rather slim.

And when it came to people who hadn't even seen him either because they never met or had been born long after Jinde's supposed death, the only thing they knew about the old king Jinde was that he had been a beauty with golden hair and golden eyes. From what they knew, there weren't even any paintings around that depicted him. So there were only tales being told about him and his beauty.

It was enough to influence their beauty standards but not more than that. Not to mention that these stories about him also included how he had fought heroically and then died in the aftermath.

Since people were convinced that he was dead, who would come up with the crazy idea that maybe he had fled to the human realm to recuperate and then find an ascended deity to be his husband? Really, if somebody even dared to suggest that, they would probably be seen as crazy.

But it was only now that Leng Jin Yu and Jinde actually realized that. For somebody not close to them, it was impossible to figure it out. They probably wouldn't have needed all those preparations. Still, it was good that there was somebody around to help them. Even if it wasn't about hiding Jinde's identity, fitting in here might be difficult with his looks. And having somebody help from the inside so he could get to know people fast and get used to him soon was a big help to them.

Lei Jiang led the two of them to the dragon who was allocating the rooms in the palace to visitors. Since neither Jinde nor Leng Jin Yu had an official post right now, going to the head of the guards who had rooms to allocate as well would be wrong.

When the woman saw the two of them, she also stared at them.

Lei Jiang's lips twitched, wondering how long it would take for people to get used to Jinde's appearance. While he didn't mind pretending that Jinde was a relative of his, it would be easier when the questions finally stopped. Or if at the very least, they weren't as frequent anymore.

Lei Jiang hurriedly spoke to her, mentioning how his relative and his husband would be staying for quite some time, and how it would be nice having a room closer to him and his family.

He knew that he himself was in a special position thanks to being married to Ai Hua. Because she was Yi Zan's sister, they had a room that was closer to the dragon king's advisers. As for Leng Jin Yu and Jinde, he figured that they would probably also want to be a little closer to their king so he at least wanted to ask.

The woman looked at the two of them though, not sure what to make of this. "I know you are in-laws with adviser Yi Zan but this is something I can't just decide like that. Also, if this is just an extended relative that is visiting for the first time, I can't do that."

Lei Jiang glanced at the two of them, feeling that this might be more difficult than expected. Maybe he should've had Yi Zan take care of this matter. But who knew when he would come?

In the end, he just shook his head. "Well, if it's not possible to give them a room close to us, it doesn't matter either. I just thought it might be a little easier for them but if there isn't one, don't sweat it. I'm sure they'll be able to get used to things here with a little time as well."

The woman nodded at that and then finally put them down as guests, handing over the key to the room. "Alright, here you go then." She explained where the room was and Lei Jiang led the two of them over after thanking her.

Jinde looked around while they were walking, his expression a little wistful.

Back then, the palace he had grown up in had been destroyed. He had already reigned as king then and had needed to rebuild it. In the end, this was what he had created. His own visions had gone into how it was shaped. While it didn't carry the old memories of his youth, it did carry others.

To see that Qiu Ling hadn't changed much about it was strange. It was ... well, he felt nostalgic seeing all of this and he also felt a little disappointed maybe. The traces of the past, they were everywhere but some things would indeed cease to exist. That was just how life was.

Leng Jin Yu reached out and grasped his hand, interlacing his fingers with Jinde's. "Don't think about it. In any case, we're together."

Jinde nodded. Right, it really didn't matter. As long as Leng Jin Yu was at his side, what did it matter how the palace looked? In any case, he at least had his lover. That was more than he could say about the time when he had originally lived here. So even though things changed, they didn't necessarily change for the worse. He would do well to remember that.