It was the most uneasy silence of all. Neither of the two wished to begin the conversation. Xia Yu was looking in a different direction as if she was avoiding the prince.
They could have just remained silent. However, Miyojin didn’t want to be completely disrespectful. He looked at the snacks that were served to them. There were tiny steamed buns, nuts, and cakes. There were also grilled pork strips and fruits cut into bite-sized pieces.
Then, there’s tea. While looking at it, Miyojin had thought of an idea to remove the uneasiness. He cleared his throat, breaking the silence. The sound made Xia Yu look at the prince. This was the opportunity Miyojin wanted.
“Would you like some tea?” he said with less intimidation.
Xia Yu offered the prince a soft smile that would delight any man.
“Yes, thank you,” she said while making a short bow.
Miyojin immediately took two cups and poured tea then, he offered one to her. Xia Yu took the cup as she expressed her gratitude. She brought the cup to herself and drank from it. It tasted heavenly as expected from a drink meant for the royals. Silence took over but it was not as awkward as before. It was much more pleasant.
“How are you liking the tea?” Miyojin asked.
“It is nice. It tastes heavenly.” Xia Yu commented with a smile still in place.
“Well, it is a tea that befits the Imperial Family. It is easily the best you have ever had.”
Miyojin didn’t mean to sound boastful. However, in his attempt to keep the conversation going, that was what he ended up saying. Xia Yu made eye contact with him and smiled softly.
“It is indeed one of the best-tasting teas. But I have tasted far more types of tea to name this one the best I ever had.”
“Where did you find such a variety of teas, Miss Xia Yu?”
“Well, in various places since I have been traveling a lot. I have tasted a variety of teas served in other countries and even overseas. I can say that there are really fine ones out there. They all have different brewing techniques and use ingredients that are not known to our empire.”
Miyojin was reminded that this woman spent most of her teenage years in other countries. Of course, she had tasted more types of tea than him. She had likely savored various delicacies that he had never heard of. She had seen more places than he would likely ever see in his lifetime. He had only been in the territories of the Great Yong Empire after all.
“That sounds interesting. What is your favorite tea that you’ve tasted from foreign countries?” the prince asked with genuine wonderment.
“I like the Chamomile tea from the far western countries,” she said. Miyojin frowned with regard.
“Chamomile tea? What is that?”
“It is a tea that is brewed from the dried flower heads of a chamomile plant. The plant grows natively in those lands.”
“It seems that you are well-traveled to be able to reach the far western countries.”
“Oh no. I’ve never been to those lands. But, I had come to know about the tea through the traders from the near western lands.”
“You must have a lot of stories to tell with all your journeys.”
Prince Miyojin felt even more interested in Xia Yu. He had never heard of flowers being brewed as tea. How much more about the western lands he has yet to know? He had only been in the east which is still part of the empire. He had not even traveled beyond the Xieye sea yet.
“Indeed, I do. Maybe sometime in the future, I’ll tell you.” She said.
Miyojin raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Why some time else? We still have some time to talk about it now.”
Xia Yu remained in her soft pretty smile.
“You are right. But, I have a much more important matter to discuss if you may allow me, Your Highness?”
“An important matter?”
“Yes. It’s best to discuss it now that we are completely alone.”
“Completely alone? But, we were alone for a long time now.”
“Not really. His Majesty and the empress left just now. They were listening to us moments ago. They seem to be satisfied with what they heard so they finally let us be.”
What!!?!?
Miyojin could not believe that his parents were eavesdropping on them. He’s glad he didn’t say anything disrespectful. Or were they thinking he was going to say something like that? Could that be the reason why they stayed back?
“Now that it is just us, will Your Highness be so kind as to permit me to speak with you candidly?” Xia Yu requested with a beautiful smile.
For once, Miyojin felt a bit of fear. Why would she ask something like that? But then, his fear turned into curiosity. He wondered why Xia Yu wanted to speak to him openly. If he was interested before, he was even beyond that now.
“I grant your request,” he said.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
After she said that, her soft smile disappeared. It was soon replaced by an unreadable expression. Her eyebrows narrowed a bit as her lips curved into a smirk. This time, she didn’t look sweet and soft.
If Miyojin thought he was able to pull off an intimidating impression earlier, he is greatly humbled now. Xia Yu without her sweet smile looked more mature and wise beyond her age. The sweet fairy he saw earlier seemed to have vanished. Or perhaps, the sweet creature was nothing more but an illusion, a trap to lure people to let their guard down.
It should not have surprised him. After all, she was a descendant of two of the most potent families of the empire. Miyojin began to feel the uncertainty of how he should be interacting with her.
“Your Highness…” she began in a voice that does not sound delicate. It was laced with a tone of nonchalant intimidation.
“It is obvious to both of us that this marriage is something that we do not wish to occur.”
Miyojin was surprised to hear what Xia Yu had said. He didn’t give any indication that he refused the marriage. Only his brothers knew of his discontent. How can she know? Or maybe she just assumed?
But one thing was clear. She didn’t want this marriage.
Miyojin was supposed to be very pleased with this fact. However, he still felt a bit irritated that Xia Yu was this confident in her assumptions of him when they only met today.
“What made you think that I do not wish for this marriage?” Miyojin asked, testing the waters.
Xia Yu raised an eyebrow at him and said.
“Didn’t you want to marry that low-ranked scholar’s daughter? Their family name is Mo, right?”
Miyojin could not believe it. Does she know about Mo Lijuan? But how? He kept their relationship a secret for almost two years. How can someone who had just arrived here know of this?
“I didn’t expect the young miss of the Xias to have an interesting story to tell about me. You should not believe in the rumors you hear about the Imperial family. They are mostly fabricated by the commoners to amuse themselves.”
Miyojin meant to faze Xia Yu with his words. But to his surprise, Xia Yu burst out laughing. She was downright laughing at him. He was the one feeling fazed and disgraced.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. It was rude of me to laugh but I believe there’s something wrong here.” Xia Yu said after recovering from laughing.
“I believe you are not aware.”
“What do you mean by that, Miss Xia Yu?”
“Your Highness, everyone in the capital knows about your relationship with Miss Mo. Even when I was in another land, I heard the news of this. You were quite a scandalous topic this past year.”
Miyojin was stunned by what was revealed to him. At this point, there is no denying it now.
“There was news about me regarding this?”
“Why, yes! Everyone had been talking about how much effort you put into lifting the Mo family’s standing in the capital. You had been helping the patriarch of the family in all of his endeavors by using your connections.”
Xia Yu looked at the prince with a taunting smile.
“They knew exactly your motive for doing all of this,” she continued. “If the Mos had a better standing, Miss Mo can be eligible enough to be your wife, right?”
Miyojin was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe his secret was not a secret in reality. And the most astonishing part of all of this, it was his future wife, of all people, who told him about it.
He made sure that none of his connections spoke of this. So, how did it get out? Jinyi would never betray him. Zhujin would never put him in trouble. Could it be someone from the Mos?
“Since you are not aware of this then, I can also assume that you also don’t know about another matter.”
“What matter?”
“Your intention of marrying a daughter of a low-ranked scholar…” she began to say. “is the very reason why the emperor chose you.”
No…
“He didn’t want you to marry Miss Mo. Thus, you were chosen to fulfill the late Emperor Zhang Chaozhu’s imperial edict.”
Miyojin felt like fainting with all the stress he was feeling. Even his father knew about this! It explains everything now. He placed a hand over his forehead. He felt like all of his energy drained down.
“Forgive me if this was giving you a headache, but that isn’t the matter I wish to speak with you.” Xia Yu said this time with a much more serious tone.
“I want to assure you that I am not your enemy here.”
Even though they just met today, Miyojin felt the sincerity in what Xia Yu told him.
“I wish to propose an agreement with you.”
“Agreement?”
“Yes, an agreement. This marriage is inevitable since we are not in a favorable position to disobey this edict. Thus, I speak to you of a proposal.”
“What is your proposal?”
“We will proceed with the marriage but you and I will only be husband and wife in name. We’ll continue to pretend until the third year of our marriage. That is the day we go our separate ways.”
A marriage only in name? Then, divorce after three years?
“This is the best we can do. Hopefully, we’ll be able to have sufficient reasons to bring forward when we request a divorce.” Xia Yu said.
Miyojin only listened carefully to what she proposed. So far, he didn’t see anything wrong with the agreement Xia Yu was proposing.
“Also, by then your parents would be satisfied enough not to hold the edict against us. We must also stabilize our positions, especially yours. So if we divorce, the separation will not harm us. But… I do have some conditions with this agreement. Do you wish to know, Your Highness?”
“Yes, please proceed.”
Xia Yu paused for a while before she continued.
“I request we never consummate our marriage.”
So this is what she meant by being husband and wife only in name.
A part of Miyojin knew that this was only fair. But there’s also a part of him that feels irritated. Other women would have used this opportunity to entrap a prince like him. He has seen the lengths his father’s concubines had gone just to get pregnant and stabilize their positions in the harem.
However, to Miyojin, it felt like he was being rejected as a prince, as a man, and as a husband.
“May I ask why?”
“There are two reasons. First, the non-consummation of our marriage is a good ground for divorce. Second, I do not wish to bear a child out of this marriage.”
To him, it felt like she had more reasons but chose not to speak of it. However, Miyojin could already make the list of her reasons in his head and this convinced him that he was outright being rejected.
