I sat in the bath, my head tilted up at the ceiling and my thoughts all over the place. Why had Meilin been reserved last night? Why had he seemed colder towards me than usual? He had left me without much to say and he hadn't even seemed like he wanted to talk to me. Although I should've known that he would treat me coldly, I couldn't, for some reason, help but feel hurt by his rejection.

I sighed and skimmed my hand over the surface of the warm water, looking around the empty room with a small smile. This was the place that I had accidentally stumbled upon Meilin. Though I hadn't seen much of his body save for his bare chest, I had been mortified and blushing like mad at being caught in such a compromising situation, with the emperor no less!

Although Meilin was known for being a formidable man with blood and terror staining his reign, he also had sides to him that nobody spoke about. He garnered respect from dozens of people, and he was an honorable person, one who wouldn't force someone against their will to do something they truly didn't desire. He didn't force the Peccata to follow his every wishes and he had even given me the option of opting out of this marriage.

I was so conflicted with him and it was more apparent since our wedding was drawing near.

Just as I was thinking that, the door to the bathing room flung open, jumbling all my thoughts as Meilin waltzed in casually, lost in thought. I yelped and immediately covered my chest with my hands, my eyes wide and my lips parted as I stared at him. His steps faltered when his eyes landed on me and he halted in his steps, his dark eyes flicking from me to my barely covered body.

"Y-Your Majesty," I stammered, thankful that my waist was covered by the water. Still, he could probably see the distorted image of me through the almost clear water.

"Daiyu," he said slowly, not taking his eyes off me. "I didn't think you would be here."

"Please look away," I said quickly, my face burning with different shades of embarrassment. The roles were reversed from our first meeting to now. Back then, however, Meilin hadn't been embarrassed and didn't care if I saw his body, while I had the opposite reaction.

He blinked back before averting his gaze and opting to stare up at the ceiling. He looked amused, much to my discontent.

"Please don't look," I said as I stepped out of the bath and quickly dried myself, keeping my eyes on him and making sure he didn't look at me. As quick as I could, I pulled my hanfu on with much difficulty, my hands shaking and slipping.

"The roles are reversed this time," he said with a chuckle. "Bohai lied to me."

"Commander Bohai?" My eyes widened and I gasped, thinking back to how I had bumped into him before entering the bath. I had told him that I wanted to bathe and he had told me that this was the only bath that was only accessible to Meilin and that Meilin rarely visited it.

"He told me no one was in here," he said with a shrug. "I mean, it's my personal bathing room."

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, pulling back my wet hair.

"Don't apologize."

"You didn't see anything, did you?" I asked him cautiously.

"Only your shoulders and your navel."

My cheeks burned with color.

"Don't be embarrassed," he said when he looked over his shoulder at me. "I'm going to be your husband, remember?"

I nodded.

"Alright, well, I'll be taking a bath now, so you can either stay or leave," he said as he started loosening his shirt, his brows raised at me.

Just like the first time we had met, I ran out of the room as fast as my legs could carry me, my heart pounding, my face flushed, and my fingers trembling.

When I was farther away from the bathing room, I slowed down in my steps and almost ran headlong into Minos, who was talking casually to Yat-sen. He held my shoulder when I almost bounced off of him. His brilliant blue eyes were on me and he had a raffish smile on his handsome face.

"Aunt Daiyu," Yat-sen said animatedly, excitement glimmering in his eyes at seeing me.

To say I was surprised at seeing Yat-sen cheerfully talking to a Peccatum was an understatement. Still frazzled by the moment between Meilin and I, my cheeks were still flushed and I was out of my element. Blinking out of my reverie, I smiled at the younger boy. "Yat-sen, Minos, nice to see you both."

I leaned forward and gave Yat-sen a hug, squeezing him tightly before releasing and meeting the older boy's blue eyes.

"Minos was just about to show me some fighting moves from Sanguis," Yat-sen said breathlessly, enthusiasm brimming from him as he beamed from ear to ear.

"That's awfully nice of you, Minos," I said as I brushed back a wet tendril of hair.

"Yat-sen is improving steadily and I thought it would be better to have more experience," he said with a shrug.

"I'm glad you both are getting along well."

Minos seemed to understand what I was saying because he broke out into another smile, ruffling his already messy black hair. "I don't really care about people and their family history, to be honest. He could be the previous emperor's son and I could care less. Hell, he could be my son and I wouldn't give a damn." He laughed and clapped the younger boy's shoulder. "What I'm trying to say is that merit is what makes a man. Family history doesn't make you who you are. Besides, I'd be a hypocrite to say that family makes a person. My mother was a prostitute and my father sold me into slavery so he could buy a few more rounds with my mother. How sickening is that?" He laughed out loud like it was natural, an amused glimmer in his eyes that told me he honestly didn't care.

Still, for a young man like him to be ok that his mother and father had discarded him so uselessly must've hurt him at some point. It was hard to imagine a life knowing that you were abandoned from the beginning. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," I said truthfully. "Family bonds aren't always determined by blood, you know. It makes me happy that you have the Peccata and Meilin by your side."

He blinked back at my sincerity and bobbed his head. "Yeah, I'm grateful to be breathing and living. After all, my beautiful face is a blessing to this world."

Yat-sen gaped at him while I couldn't help but laugh softly. "That's quite arrogant of you to say," I said with a warm smile at his humor. Though, a part of me knew that he was only half joking.

He shrugged. "I learned from Master."

Yat-sen balked. "Uncle Meilin taught you how to be arrogant?"

He laughed at our expressions. "It's obvious that Master Drakkon is beautiful, right? He sometimes talks about how his beauty is such a hard thing to handle at times." Minos rolled his eyes. "Master is surprisingly pretty narcissistic when it comes to his appearance. Once he told me that he thought he was better looking than most women in the empire."

My mouth practically hit the ground at this weird side of Meilin that Minos was telling me about. Though, it wasn't a stretch since I had seen a teasing side of Meilin once or twice. Still, the level of narcissism Minos was talking about told me that there were still unexplored parts of Meilin's personality that I had yet to encounter. His teasing nature was one I still needed to see.

"I still can't believe Uncle Meilin has a narcissistic side," Yat-sen breathed.

"It's not that hard to believe," Minos said with an easy smile. "I'm surprised you haven't seen it yet. Just ask him what he thinks of his beauty and I guarantee you, you'll spark that egotism of his."

Suddenly remembering what Meilin had told me, I turned to Yat-sen. "This is a little off topic, but Yat-sen, do you know anything about the royal markings?"

Yat-sen blinked back in surprise and bobbed his head after a moment. "Yeah, of course I do. I'm the prince, after all."

"Do you have the royal mark?"

"Yeah. Even though Father didn't like me, he still acknowledged me as his son," he said as he pulled his sleeve up. There, on his forearm, there was a marking of a snake with a circle next to it. "The MuRong family's sigil is the snake and the moon," he explained.

"I see," I murmured, fascinated by it.

He let go of his sleeve and looked from me to Minos.

Minos gave an exaggerated bow. "Well, my beautiful lady, I think it's about time for us to depart." He nudged Yat-sen and gave me a small wave. "I'll see you around."

I nodded and waved as the two of them left, still flushed and confused about Meilin and I.