A Royal Engagement

No more Lies

(DAYU)

I am biting the nail on my right thumb subconciously as I watch Qing bow down again in front of the camera.

How many times will my King bow down before this apology will be done? I agonized as I watch him.

He is taking all the responsibility. He will take all the blame. He is saving me and Lao. Sparing us. By saying that he made it impossible for me to say no, he is absolving me of any sins.

Wang Qing...why is he being so cool? I mean, really...he is so cool!

"Right?!" I asked Chong who is sitting beside me and watching the conference with me inside my small but clean room. I have a small TV inside and Qing's press conference is the one I have been waiting to watch the whole day. "He is so cool..."

"And you are so insane," Chong replied.

I snarled at him and push him away from me then went back to watching Qing. He is answering questions now.

"So are you saying that everything you showed in public while going out with Feng Jian Yu, it's all acting and for a show?" A woman sitting with a laptop in front of her asked.

"No," Qing smiled. "I haven't seen Dayu for fifteen years but that's what we are when we are together. You can ask all the people here in the Palace, they witnessed us when we were kids and running around here. Dayu and I, together with Lao, we are always playful like that. That...we cannot lie about..."

"But you lied about the engagement?" A mediaman asked.

"We lied about the sincerity of our approach on the engagement. We made everyone believe that it will lead to marriage when it fact we will just show everyone that I am not ready for marriage," Qing replied.

"How?"

"By having a very public courtship and break up. That was the plan. We will show everyone that I have no choice but to be engage to him because he hold my grandfather's ring but everyone will see that we don't suit each other and I am not ready to marry anyone yet,"

"But the ring? Is it really the ring of the late King Dao?"

"Yes," Qing nodded. "My grandmother can confirm it. We have the video, we can show you that I did gave that ring to Dayu when we were eight. We have photos that can prove that for sixteen years, Dayu had held on to the ring. Keeping it safe. It is King Dao's ring. That is not lie..."

"Then you still have to marry him, right? Because that is the Royal Edict of your grandfather," the woman with the laptop asked again.

Qing open his mouth then sighed before he speaks again. "That decision will be on my Family, the Counsel and in the Public's hand now. To the people I lied to. They will have the say if I can still redeem myself and marry the one my grandfather wanted for me. It will not be on my hands anymore. I lost that right when I lied to everyone," he points at someone. "Yes, what is your question?"

"Do you still want to marry Feng Jian Yu?"

Qing breathed then nodded, "Yes. If he will have me,"

"Then why confess? If you want to marry him, you could have just go on with the lie and the engagement?"

Many agreed but Qing shook his head.