Concubine's Greed (Revising)

Sixteen

The wind blew softly ruffling Jianyu's hair, he ran his hand through his hair making it more messy. The more I looked at him the more his looked so different, he looked tired and there were a few white hairs that began to show in the light. I felt my heart tighten at the sight of his hardship, he was only 19 years old and already bared the responsibilities of an Emperor. I quickly thought of Mengyao as well but it wasn't the same for him, my brother had to carry the weight on his own, with no support.

"Sister, what is the matter, you're looking at me with wolf hungry eyes."
He smiled as he joked, he walked a little closer and patted my hair, I quickly felt my eyes overflow with tears as I pulled in for a hug. I felt his laugh and he patted my head until I called down.

***
"Who know my sister would be such a cry baby."
He said as we walked back to the dinning area, I punched him in the arm, jokingly. Despite how stressed he looked, he held a wide grin.

"How is everyone how is everything, how is being Emperor?"
I felt all my excitement spill into questions, as I turned and looked at him with curious eyes. He chuckled a little.

"I'm not emperor yet, I'm still the prince, but it feels like I'm the emperor."
He smiled to me sincerely before continuing.
"As for everyone, it couldn't get any better here."

I walked the rest of the way, content with his answer, in silence. We eventually arrived to the dinning room, to see that everything was set for dinner tonight. The table was set with red and gold fabric, and the silverware was polished finely. Jianyu walked in and sat at the chair at the end of the table, I chose the one next to him. As soon as we were seated, dinner began.

***
After dinner Ming and Lin came and sat with us, looking extremely uncomfortable sitting at the same table as Emperor-to-be. They kept there heads down and avoided not to talk, Jianyu noticed this.

"You two, no need to be shy, you are friends with Jia right?"
He asked with a friendly smile, the two looked up with curious but frightful eyes, and nodded to him. Jianyu huffed silently before turning back to me.

"I'm glad that you could finally come home, that rotten Emperor finally let you go."
Jianyu spat quickly changing the mood. Ming and Lin stiffened at his words, but kept their heads low.

"I came here on my own.."
I said quitely and looked him in the eye. He looked surprised for a brief moment before smiling a bit.

"At least your home."
He said warmly before taking a sip of his wine. I attempted to tell him the truth, I felt my words get caught up in my throat. I stayed silent and looked over to the sisters, but their heads were still low.

"You can go back to your room, there is a surprise waiting for you."
Jianyu said with mild excitement on his face, I felt curious as to what it was, but also nervous as well.

"Well then, you girls enjoy yourself here, I must return to my work."
Jianyu said as he rised from the table, immediately picking up his dishes, servants ran out and snatched it from him before hurrying away to the kitchen. Jianyu looked unhappy but continued to leave.

Eventually we were alone in the dinning room, sitting in silence.

"Why didn't you tell him?"
Ming said strongly but quietly. I turned to her in surprise, but felt ashamed of myself.

"He was too happy, I didn't want to disappoint him."
I responded with equal strength. Ming looked up at me and nodded before rising up and moving to the door.

"Tell him soon, we can't stay here forever."
She said quitely before exiting the room, I sat in silence and alone, wondering how I would break the news to him.