The Lion and The Rose

The Moon, You and I

Lady Ning rushed up to Leyan and showed her the letter.

"Princess, it's from His Highness, Prince Leo!" She shoved the letter into Leyan's hands and encouraged her to open it.

Leyan was so happy, her smile grew wide from ear to ear. Her dainty fingers clumsily picked on the stamp that sealed the envelope. When she opened it, there were only two words in the big piece of paper.

"Thank You."

Leyan frowned. Lady Ning grabbed the letter and read it.

"I heard that Prince Leo don't talk much. I didn't know that he also don't write much. Well, at least you get a letter. That means he accepted your gifts."

"What are you going to do with the letter?" Leyan asked when she saw Lady Ning took it and put it in her pocket.

"I'm going to keep it for you."

"But–"

"Princess, I will keep it in a safe place for you. When you need it, I'll bring it to you. Now, we have to think of another way to seduce His Highness." Lady Ning encouraged.

Leyan obediently nodded with a soft smile.

After Lady Ning left she huffed a sigh. She didn't know since when, but talking to Lady Ning these days exhausted her. Everyday, it was endless encouragement of seducing the Prince. It was endless coaxing on how to quickly become a Princess Consort. And if she don't listen, Lady Ning would berate her for having no ambitions.

Leyan thought it would be better that she didn't get any attention from His Highness. She could live a solitary life for a whole year. They never specify that the Princess has to be wedded to the Prince, it was just a courtship year. Peaceful alliance between the kingdoms would still be carried out even if the Prince don't pick a certain Princess.

—

Leo sat high up on the tree and watched, the individual from below, tore opened a stag to drink its blood and eat its meat. He was an old man in his ethnic clothings. What did the Kingdom of Tang sent over? What was this beast doing, wrecking havoc in the Dead Forest? Something must be done before he destroy the whole ecosystem of the Forest.

He came to the Dead Forest to hunt for werewolves, but what he encountered was a whole different type of monsters. One that lived and thrived like a human in the day, but hunt for raw meat at night. In the Far East, there was a type of witchcraft and necromancy that fed on the dead. The necromancer sacrificed his own life to end up becoming these half hybrid monster. These monsters cultivated their power by killing the livings, drank their blood, and ate their raw meat. And they sent one over to Galanthus, what was their purpose?

Does that girl know what type of monsters are living with her?

—

That huge maze neared the East Wing, where the Prince lived, kept changing. Leyan wondered if anyone noticed, but she had been watching it everyday and noticed little changes here and there. One time, she saw its wall of hedges grew in heights.

"Strange."

"What's strange, Princess?" Siniang asked.

"That maze, I don't see anyone ever enter. What is it used for?"

"I heard it's something built for His Highness to play with. But as he grew older he abandoned the maze."

Leyan couldn't keep her eyes away from the maze, crazy thoughts went into her head all of a sudden. She wanted to try going through it.

"Why would they build something like that for a young prince?" Leyan asked. "It look so intricate and complicated. Perhaps, it was too hard for him, so he abandoned it."