Romancing the Son of Heaven

Stratagem 16: Be a Little Personal (4)

Qiu Ling pretended not to see Jing He's worried expression. Anyway, his beloved was almost always worried so if he always reconsidered just because he thought something like this, they would never get anywhere. No, it was much better to be a little more adventurous and give it a try. Anyway, this didn't seem like such a frivolous thing to do.

The two of them stopped at the edge of the lake and exchanged a glance. Jing He's heart thumped but he didn't know what to say. Should he ask Qiu Ling to turn back? But that would also cut their stroll short. It probably wouldn't be very nice. On the other hand, if he stayed quiet, then who knew what would happen next? With the kind of ideas that Qiu Ling would sometimes come up with, he really didn't know what to expect.

Qiu Ling watched Jing He's expression with interest and almost wanted to laugh. From the way Jing He looked at him right now, one might even assume he was expecting him to ask to go skinny-dipping the very next moment. Well, even if he was very open-minded, he also didn't think that that would be a good idea. What if somebody saw, after all?

Qiu Ling motioned over to a spot on the other side of the lake. "There's a boat."

Jing He glanced over and there was indeed a small boat tied to the tree there. Relief flooded his expression and he almost heaved a sigh of relief. So that was all that the dragon king had thought of. That probably wasn't too bad?

Qiu Ling waved his hand with a smile and the boat shook, slowly gliding over the surface of the lake toward them. "Well, since we're already here, how about staying for a while?"

The boat reached the shore and stopped in front of them, slowly turning around so that they could easily get in. Jing He looked at Qiu Ling with slight hesitation but then nodded. Anyway, whether it was strolling together at night all alone or sitting in this boat, his father would find it unacceptable. He just had to make sure that he did not hear about it.

Qiu Ling helped Jing He into the boat and then sat down next to him. The water below the boat rippled and they slowly drifted away from the shore.

Jing He couldn't help but smile at that. "I had thought that one was supposed to row the boat."

Qiu Ling nodded unabashedly. "I think that is the idea. But then again, what's the use in that? This way, we can focus on each other. Isn't that much better?"

Jing He looked at the person sitting next to him and then turned away, taking a shaky breath. Focus on the person he was with ... It would be good if there was something hindering him from that. It was already much too noticeable. After all, what else was there to occupy his mind?

The sky was dark with only the stars lending their light, save for the rippling water everything was quiet and in the middle of the lake, the only warmth he felt came from the body next to his. It was more than enough to draw his attention to this person, wasn't it? Did they really need to get even closer?

Qiu Ling watched as Jing He turned away, seemingly showing him the cold shoulder. It seemed that he had gone a little too far just now? He cleared his throat and then searched for something he could say to make things less awkward. "So ..." With his gaze roaming around, the only thing he noticed was still the water around them and that was rippling from the use of his magic. "I've noticed that despite knowing each other for quite a long time, I've never seen Your Highness use your magic. It wouldn't be that the gods don't like using their gifts?"

In fact, this was something he had indeed wondered about. After all, among all three races, the gods were the ones that had been blessed with the best magical abilities. While the dragons and demons were limited in what they could do, the gods were able to use all six elements. But Jing He had never done so. That was a little odd.