Wuxia Tale: Hua in Bloom

The Prince and The General's Daughter

(PRINCE JIN)

My eyes never lied then.

They never lied everytime I am catching a glimpse of the quiet but clever looking daughter of the widely respected General Wang.

Wang Hua is truly exquisite looking.

Beautiful will be a too mild word to describe her. Wang Hua looks lively, vibrant, brilliant and she shines.

In her peach colored robes and white silk skirt, Wang Hua is like the noble ladies in those paintings that were the source of lovesick poems by fools.

She may be petite in structure but there is an innate aura of liveliness within her. An indication is the way she laughs.

I once heard her laugh out loud, maybe about a year ago. She and a daughter of a minister where looking for a place to hide in a game of hide and seek with my sister, the Princess. The minister's daughter tried to slip hrself under a table but she won't fit. Wang Hua tried it and she fit inside. That made them laugh.

Wang Hua's laugh is contagious and has a life of it's own. It's like hearing bells ringing or feeling the warmth of the sunshine at the first day of spring.

She is a captivating girl. Wang Hua.

But she refused the offer of marriage to me. Why?

"Am I that offensive to you?" I want to know. I want to know why she refused entering the bride selection for me.

Because it's making me curious. And the curiousity is killing me.

If she's an ordinary girl, she would have jumped on the opportunity. Even if I won't be the Crown Prince, I am still a Prince. A first born too. Any girl who is lucky enough to be selected to be my bride will be a Princess.

Yet Wang Hua refused to join the bride selection.

Why?

Did she find me offensive?

Wang Hua's eyes widened when she understood the question. "O-offensive? You, your Highness? Oh never!" She put both of her hands up in the air to wave them but then she dropped the thing she is clutching and it broke when it hit the ground.

"Oh wow!" Wang Hua exclaimed when we all look down at the shattered thing, it looks like a doll, on our feet. "Oh well, I don't like it anyway." She said.

I gave her a surprised look. "That looks like a doll owned by my sister," I said.

Wang Hua nodded, "She gave it to me as a parting gift but I don't like dolls. I was thinking of what I can do to it or who I can give it to when I almost slipped on the steps. But now it's broken so...I think that's one problem solved..." she gave an awkward laugh.

Is she for real? She doesn't care for dolls? My sister collected them like an insane brat. She had like, hundreds of dolls. I don't like going inside my sister's room because I feel like those many dolls can give me nightmare. All those lifeless eyes staring at you.

Creepy.

But Wang Hua doesn't like dolls. Another thing separating her from my immature and ill bred sister.

And she said she doesn't find me offensive.

"Why won't you enter the bride selection for me, then?" I asked.

Wang Hua gazed up at me. Then her cheeks tainted a delicate color of rose. "I am still young to be married. My parents must have rejected the offer..."