A Flower Without Rain

Chapter 69

It was morning as Crown Princess Lian Yu sat at her desk. Her son, Xin Shiying was asleep, leaving her to wrap up the rest of what she needed to write on that paper she started a while ago. Once she finished, the woman set her brush down and read it over.

Just reading it felt as though needles were piercing her chest, and the expression she held was filled with sorrow. Slowly, as she reached the end, a few tears slipped down her cheeks but quickly wiped them away with a sniffle.

She couldn't cry, not now, not ever. But that's only what she kept telling herself. Lian Yu wanted to cry.

Folding the paper, the woman slipped it into an envelope and taking the melted wax, she poured it onto the seal and stamped it. Lian Yu simply looked upon it, as if she were waiting for something to happen. A moment's while, she then stood to place it somewhere that it will be safe.

After doing so, the Crown Princess left to lay with her son who was sleeping on her bed. Pulling the blanket to cover him more, silence was all that came. Just looking at him was enough to fill her with joy but only this time it didn't. Her once clear vision became blurred as tears slipped. Coming closer to him, she kissed him on the cheeks.

Lian Yu tried, yet those tears couldn't be suppressed no matter what. To cry meant everything was coming true and nothing could stop it.

Sitting at the desk of his quarters of the Yuan Manor, Yuan Shan read through the One Rise book again. He was trying to find something, anything that may be connected to the worries Ru Mingyu held. A heavy sigh, he turned the page seeing that there was nothing relating to it here. The next page held information that he had already known having read it before. Going through it again, it was about Crown Prince Fei Li Yang of the Jin Kingdom who made a pact with His Divine God Bai of the Wei Kingdom to give him the power to the save the Four Kingdoms from his brother's greed.

And the moment he finished reading this, he simply sat there, gathering his thoughts from what he had just read. At first, his expression was calm, then puzzled, and at the end it turned into realization as his brows pressed together. Shaking his head, he tried to deny it but this only made him believe it more.

"Did Yu......no it can't be....."

Abruptly, he stood from his seat and ran out of his quarters. His shoes were barely even on and to the servants who watched as he passed them, they held question as to why the Young Master was in such a hurry. But nothing else mattered right now. If what he was thinking is right, then he had to tell everyone.

Quickly, Yuan Shan got on his horse and sped out of the Yuan Manor and to the palace.

"She better be there. She better be alright!"

Wrapping her son in a blanket, Crown Princess Lian Yu had just finished feeding him. As she did this, her hands gently squeezed his cheeks with a laugh. She could never stop herself from doing this.

Finished with what was she doing, she took him into her arms and left to sit in the rocking chair that was out on her porch. Lian Yu's eyes were only ever filled with awe around her son and whenever her eyes met him. He was her bundle of joy.

Then, the woman's gaze came to look over that hill and she couldn't turn away. Her eyes shaking and lips forming into a small frown, she got up from the chair and went back inside. Lian Yu wanted to hold him longer but time did not allow it.

Leaving Xin Shiying in the care of the servants, the Crown Princess went on a walk alone around her palace. Just like the first time she set foot here, she still felt the same about it.

The pergola pathways that she adored the moment she saw them were still as beautiful with the star jasmines that loitered the wooden lattice. Walking through it, was a dirt path instead of the concrete pavement. Her hands hovered over the flowers, not touching them as she didn't want to tarnish their beauty. Stopping for a moment, Lian Yu looked upwards with a smile. This still felt like a magical fantasy.

But catching her eye, was a light rain of pink over the hill that called her. And like a magnetic force, her legs moved on their own. As the Crown Princess passed over the bridge where a koi pond lies under, she set foot onto the green grass that surrounded the magnificent peach tree.

Coming forward, the woman placed her hands on the trunk of the tree once she was before it and looked up at the branches that held a vibrant pink. The tree was overflowing with life.

A yawn, fatigue seemed to hit her and decided to sit under the tree as a way to also hide from the sun's rays. Looking about the scenery for a moment, her admiration for the natural beauty only grew. But growing more and more tired, Lian Yu shut her eyes.

It was not long after that Crown Prince Xin Hua came rushing to Crown Princess Lian Yu with something in his hands. He had heard from the servants that his wife decided to take a stroll around the Peach Palace and with this he believed that he would find her at the peach tree, and he was right.

Excitedly, he shouted her name. "Yu!" he called.

Once he reached her, he realized that she was sleeping and immediately went quiet as to not wake her out of surprise. Coming closer, Xin Hua chuckled as he knelt down and reached to remove a petal that was stuck in her hair whilst making sure that whatever was in his hand did not escape.

But recalling that his wife is still recovering from the birth, Xin Hua couldn't allow her to sleep here. "Yu," he called her. "Yu," he called again, nudging her arm.

However, she did not respond. A brow raising, he called her again and again but still, she did not make any movement or sound.

Both of his hands on her shoulders, the white butterfly that he had been holding to show her flew out of his grasp. "Yu!" his voice rose as he shook her.

His eyes shaking as liquid began to build, Xin Hua repeated her name over and over again despite no avail. He didn't like this and could feel his throat going dry and chest tightening in pain.

"YU"

A gush of wind, a single peach blossom fell from a branch and onto Crown Princess Lian Yu's lap.
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