Min Li was starting to think that maybe she was a defiant soul.

She had been happily avoiding Fenhua before not wanting to step into her role as the chosen one’s faithful friend. But with Betti the head maid approaching her, she now felt different about the situation. That maybe such a role wasn’t as burdensome as she once thought it was. Maybe instead, it was thrilling.

Min Li got to start her new investigation the next day. She was wondering exactly how much Fenhua knew about birthmarks, glowing and quite frankly the prophecy as a whole. This time she was going to be completely transparent and ask Fenhua about the nape of his neck face to face.

Fenhua obviously knew more about what was going on than her.

From the way he had helped with her nightmares, he had known about their matching marks a long time ago. If not, he wouldn’t have told her to ‘calm down’ during his fight.

Min Li wanted to follow Betti’s advice just out of the respect that she had for her, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible for Min Li. She had her heart set on knowing what was going on and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to rest just like a curious cat, until she was completely satisfied with the answer that she had for the situation.

So, there Min Li was outside of Fenhua’s bedroom door knocking softly on the wood.

To be honest, Min Li didn’t have the best feeling about the situation she was in. That was mostly due to the owls hooting in the night sky and the foxes making whatever noise it was that foxes made.

Just looking around made Min Li knock a little bit harder. To no avail however, there was no response from inside the room.

“Fenhua,” Min Li stage whispered, “are you there?”

Nothing.

Min Li spoke a little louder this time, “Fenhua.” Min Li looked around to make sure that no one caught her. Recently due to their budding friendship, she had resolved to speak respectfully to the crown prince when other people could hear. “Crown prince, if you are sleeping, please wake up, I have something to talk to you about.”

Again, there was no response.

One thing that the crown prince valued highly was his sleep.

When they were young, Min Li had seen countless nurse maids replaced due to their inability to wake up the crown prince to attend functions.

Pondering on the matter, Min Li was even more thankful for the crown prince taking care of her during the night. Min Li was proud to say that she had grown so much as a person that she had looked past his previous transgressions and given the credit of her peaceful slumber to him.

When he took time away from his beauty sleep, it meant he valued what he was doing very highly.

Min Li smiled idiotically at the thought, now gently caressing the door.

Her calm demeanour didn’t last long though.

A couple short hoots of an owl frightened Min Li. She had nearly forgotten that she was out in the dark of night.

The palace was the safest place in the whole kingdom but given the situation with Yilin that wasn’t saying much. No matter how implausible such a scenario was, everyone was still scared that they would be kidnapped by a couple of rebelling Yilin bandits.

The notion made Min Li shiver. This time she was totally freaked out and decided that the best course of action would be to retreat back to her own room.

Min Li said a prayer of thanks that Fenhua had given her the room next to him. She didn’t have to walk too far; it was just a stone throw away.

…

Just as Min Li was about to give up and go on her way back to her room, she heard a noise other than the rustling of trees in the wind, the hooting of the owls, and whatever the sound was that foxes made.

Still frightened Min Li automatically ran away, taking a corner and hiding behind the side of the building.

With he poor lighting combined with Min Li’s current hiding position, Min Li couldn’t see anything that was happening.

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Min Li could hear something clearly though. Slow footsteps were approaching the room door of the crown prince.

The footsteps sounded rhythmic and from experience, Min Li just knew that it told the coming of the crown prince to his room.

Min Li sighed. This was becoming a frequently occurring situation. Thinking about the embarrassment of the last time she was in the same exact scenario knocking on the door when the crown prince wasn’t in, Min Li felt grateful that she did decide to talk to the crown prince at night. She could just imagine a happy Lily asking why she was talking to herself.

Happiness bloomed in Min Li, with the disappearance of all the previous negative feeling she felt towards the man, she was now excited to see the crown prince despite the warning of Betti the head maid.

Min Li wanted to jump out and surprise the man, but instead she decided to bide her time.

Min Li listened carefully and heard another noise in the night.

Not only were there one set of footsteps, but two. The crown prince was with someone, and they seemed to be talking, whispering, whispering extremely softly.

The soft whispering triggered something inside Min Li. Min Li was sure that it could trigger something inside even in the most righteous of people.

Soft whispering represented that two people were talking about something they didn’t want others to hear about. In other words, something extremely interesting. It was innate in every human being to lean in to hear what two people were talking about in that situation. In a world of survival of the fittest, that much made sense.

The crown prince probably wasn’t the best person to spy on. But curiosity was curiosity and curiosity didn’t discriminate.

Min Li listened carefully and heard a voice that she could easily recognise.

It seemed that the other person involved in the enthralling game of whispers was Joe.

Joe was the perfect person to spy on contrary to the crown prince. Joe was always doing something fun. Always plotting something that was sure to make Min Li laugh.

Min Li leaned in even more straining her ears to hear the two men. Fortunately for her ears, the men were approaching her anyway, so it was becoming even easier for her to decipher what the men were saying.

"It is a tricky situation. You need to be careful,” Joe said.

“I know.” The crown prince sighed heavily.

“There is only two ways it can go, and I don’t think either would be beneficial for either you or her at this point.”

At the mention of a woman, Min Li’s ears automatically pricked up.

“I have already decided. I am going to carry on doing what I was doing before. to. But it would be rude if I made it obvious.”

“You have done it before. Surely you can do it again. You made a mistake moving her so close.”

Close. Min Li smiled knowing that they must have been talking about her. Then she frowned realising what Joe had said didn’t sound all that positive.

There was a slight pause in the conversation between Fenhua and Joe.

“You were a major reason for that.” The crown prince delivered the statement to his friend icily.

“I didn’t force you to do anything. But if you are sure of the way you want to go, you have to commit to it. It will hurt both of you less.”

The prince sighed again.

“If we find a way to undo it, maybe there would be a chance of reconciliation.”

“That’s not likely. You are probably going to have to stay away from Min Li forever.”

Min Li’s heart dropped.

There was a light ache in her chest and she wished that she hadn’t been drawn in by the soft whispers.

Fenhua stopped talking suddenly.

“Are you alright, prince?”

There was another light pause.

The information that Min Li had heard hurt her, however, it hadn’t been strong enough to completely remove her nosiness from her or remove the care that she felt for the crown prince. Min Li treaded lightly to the corner of the wall and lightly peaked her head around the corner.

Fortunately, neither the crown prince nor Joe saw Min Li. The crown prince was huddled over with one hand on his heart.

Joe leaned forwards focusing on the crown prince clearly concerned for his friend.

After a little while Fenhua straightened up again.

“Don’t worry. I am alright. It’s not from me.”

“This is what I mean. Either you two will have to make a clean break or a proper go of it. This back and forth is hurting the both of you.”

The two stood in silence again outside Fenhua’s room.

Sensing just how thick the atmosphere was getting, Joe tried to lighten the conversation up a bit.

“I could run interferance for you. She seems to like me, and I sure do like her.”

The crown prince seemed to gain back all the strength he lost with that one simple statement from his best friend.

He glared at Joe, “Don’t you dare. Just because I am backing up doesn’t mean that anyone else is allowed to step forwards.”

Joe let out a low whistle.

“It was just a joke. But I guess, you can no longer joke about certain things.”

“You guessed right.”

With that the conversation between the two men was finished. They said bye to each other, Fenhua entered his room and Joe left the way that he had come.

With a heavy heart, Min Li resigned back to her room.

She was awfully disappointed in both Fenhua and Joe.

The main reason for her disappointment was that the two men didn’t seem that well versed in the art of gossiping. They had known her for a long time, had she not taught them nothing, or did they just refuse to put what she taught them into practice?

Who gossiped right in front of their door instead of going into the privacy of their own room? That seemed absurd to Min Li. It was like they wanted her to hear them. Didn’t they know that maids were the flies on the wall?

They shouldn’t have gotten complacent as it was the dark of night, servants in the palace never truly stopped working. Especially as the next king of the kingdom, Min Li shook her head, the prince should definitely know the value of secrecy and how to protect the people around him.

The man was lucky that Tom wasn’t around, if he was the information would gotten back to Betti the head maid in a heartbeat.

Fortunately, this train of thought, a joke and Min Li’s very best coping mechanism worked for Min Li. She had nearly completely taken her mind off what the two men had been speaking about. .

Min Li’s nightmare came back stronger that night. Min Li had an idea why. This time she was blaming it on Fenhua.

Moral of the story; don’t eavesdrop.