429 The Wedding Date (1/2)

The king of the Stone Kingdom sat in the cold and dark main hall, his scrawny body curled up into a ball. He looked like a ghost who could not bear to leave its favorite haunt. It was only once he spoke that others were sure he was alive.

”Ah, the Prime Minister of the Stone Kingdom, my right-hand man. It's been a while. You are the Prime Minister, aren't you? I can't recall clearly.”

Zhong Heng was unaffected by the jibe, he even wore a look of amusement on his face, as if the feeble man sitting on the throne was just an unskilled laborer. He then gave a cursory bow, informing the king about the Dragon King's decision, ”The Dragon King wishes to conduct his wedding with the princess ten days from now. Please, make preparations, Your Majesty.”

”Preparations? What's there to prepare? What can I contribute? The royal seal is already in your hands. Why don't I send the chair I'm sitting on to the Dragon King as a gift?”

”There's no need for that,” replied Zhong Heng earnestly. ”The Dragon King doesn't need anything from Your Majesty. In fact, he wishes to send Your Majesty a gift. This wedding is extremely vital for the Stone Kingdom and we hope Your Majesty will treat it seriously.”

”I will,” replied the king. Though he knew that the words did not represent true authority, he could not help himself. ”I will definitely become serious if you guys draw your weapons,” he added.

Zhong Heng remained grinning but unexpectedly did not deny it. He then turned around and left the hall.

The king shrank even more, looking as if he had melded with the throne.

Zhong Heng also went to inform the princess about the wedding.

He had never been soft-hearted, but upon seeing the princess, who was obviously anxious and worried, put on a brave front, a small part of him could not bear to be too harsh to her. ”Please rest assured, Princess. After the wedding, Your Highness will still reside in the palace, just as before.”

The princess truly wished for things to be the same as they were before, once again. She knew, however, where she was stood and what the right words to be saying at this moment were. ”Thank you, for your concern, Prime Minister. Where I should be staying after the wedding will be up to the Dragon King. I won't be choosy,” she said.

Zhong Heng did not expect her to possess so much more wisdom than her brother, at such a young age. He found a new level of respect for the princess. Bowing deeply, he slowly retreated.

Xu Yanwei was waiting outside for him.

Finally, the Dragon King was going to wed the princess. Xu Yanwei was probably the only person truly happy about the wedding. She tended to feel strongly responsible for her ex-customers and masters, as evidenced by her feelings toward Luo Ningcha, Shangguan Ru and the princess of the Stone Kingdom.

The princess was naturally weak-willed. From a young age, she was controlled by various forces, as such, she was in dire need of a strong protector to take care of her. To Xu Yanwei, the best candidate for that role was the Dragon King.

Under Xu Yanwei's gradual influence, the princess's impression of the Dragon King had changed greatly. At the very least, she already understood that those far-fetched rumors about him were false, and no longer thought of her future husband as that fearful and murderously cannibalistic monster. That said, their first encounter had made all of Xu Yanwei's effort wasted.

Even though the princess could only remember parts of the scene where the Dragon King was killing, they were securely imprinted within her memories and could not be forgotten. For a few days after that incident, she suffered from nightmares, waking up abruptly every night. She would ask Xu Yanwei, who would hurry over to console her everytime, if the Dragon King planned to murder her.

Xu Yanwei swore that he would not, but to little effect. As such, she deduced that there was only one way to get rid of the fear in her mind, and that was for both of them to be wed post haste. After they had spent a few blissful nights together, they would naturally become affectionate toward one another; the mystery concerning the other party would diminish.

It was a conclusion borne from her own personal experiences.

She only worried about one thing.

She was not interested in how good the Dragon King's kung fu was, or how many soldiers he commanded, nor who the enemy he was about to face was. There was one matter, though, that she was clearer on than anyone else.

”There's no need to wait for ten days. If it's up to me, tomorrow's pretty good. Today's alright too. How complicated could a wedding ceremony be? There just has to be some music, then they have to end up in the bridal suite. Why do we have to wait so long?”

Zhong Heng would normally avoid Xu Yanwei, but he was the Prime Minister of the Stone Kingdom now and he was trying to create a future for himself. He was not willing to rekindle an old romance, nor be entangled with an old flame, but since he was questioned, he could only try to tackle the problem head on.

”Er, ten days is already fairly rushed. The princess has her status to worry about and the wedding cannot be overly casual.”

”Did you not get my meaning?” Xu Yanwei asked, her eyes opening wide, as if Zhong Heng had committed a rookie mistake.

”Your... meaning?” asked Zhong Heng, secretly puzzled about what could bring the cold-blooded Dragon King to trust such a woman.

He changed his mind, though, and wanted to thank Xu Yanwei for her reminder, after hearing what she had said later.

Xu Yanwei bit her lip and hesitated, saying softly, ”Never ever tell anyone that I leaked this piece of information to you.”

”You haven't said anything yet.”

”I'm afraid that if the wedding gets delayed by a few more days, the princess might not even be alive.”

”Why? Are you referring to the Golden Roc assasins? Don't worry, the Dragon King has prepared for them.”

The marriage between the Dragon King and the princess of the Stone Kingdom was meant to stabilize the relationship between the Great Snow Mountain and the five nations of Xiaoyao Lake. As such, Zhong Heng had already predicted Shangguan Jianyi would naturally try to disrupt it.

”The Golden Roc assasins are nothing,” replied Xu Yanwei, as she twisted her mouth with disdain, as if she had stopped countless of assassinations before. ”I'm talking about someone at the Dragon King's side.”

”Someone at the Dragon King's side? What nonsense are you talking about? Is it Fang Wenshi? What will he dare to do to the Princess? I bet he isn't even capable such a thing.”

”Sigh. You're such a intelligent person, but today, you turn out to be as dumb as a pig.”

Zhong Heng scowled. This was one of the reasons why he tried to hide from Xu Yanwei; the woman had probably spent too much time in the red light district of Pleasure Alley and was frequently insurbodinate. Luckily, there was no one else around them, otherwise the Prime Minister would have lost face.