I couldn't accept the fact that the one who had made all this possible was talking about leaving me. "You won't miss me. You are staying with us!" I demand; she shakes her head, "Now that the curse has is lifted, all my sisters are free as well. Lord Xuandi wants us to return to him."

I open my mouth to voice my displeasure, but before I can, Weredra shakes her head, "YiJun, don't make it more difficult than it has to be." With that, she opens her palm. A small shiny green bead appears on it. "This is my parting gift to you." She offers the pearl to me. "YiJun, the reason I wasn't able to heal your wounds fully was that the witch had done something to you even before you were born. You came into existence with the help of magic."

"I don't understand."

"When I got my magic back, I peered into the witch's mind. YiJun, " Weredra's brows crease, "You were supposed to be born as a boy."

"What!?" I balk. "What are you...what... how?" I find myself incapable of coherent speech.

Weredra takes my hand in hers. "It was the witch's potion that altered your constitution. She wanted you to remain a girl till your marriage." As she finishes, her cheeks color.

"Weredra, can you please stop speaking in riddles?" I demand and watch as Zhan mutters something about tending to the horses and leaves me alone with Weredra.

I look at the horses but don't spot anything out of the ordinary.

"He is giving us some privacy, YiJun," Weredra explains and smirks. "He sees me as a child still, I guess."

I shrug. "Zhan didn't have to leave. There are no secrets between us."

Weredra sighs. The act makes her look years older than the disguise she is donning. "The potion, Senior gege has been giving you since you woke up was to suppress your true self from getting exposed."

It was bonkers. I was me; why should I have to hide what I am?

A knowing look crosses Weredra's features. "Dezhutang has just come out of a bad patch. Imagine what would have happened if Zhan would have told the truth. Do you think your uncle would have let you marry senior gege? What if you too were accused of witchcraft?"

The things Weredra was saying made sense. I find myself nodding.

"After your birth, the witch realized that the gender-altering magic was not going to hold. So she started feeding you a potion that would make the magic retain its effect."

"The drink she gave me every four weeks or so!" The elaborate plan my aunt had devised to gain control over the six kingdoms both astonished and sickened me.

"Yes. You needed to take it till your wedding."

"Why only till my wedding?" I enquire and feel my cheeks heat up.

"The spell was somehow linked to your virginity." She says cryptically and purses her lips.

"I don't follow, Weredra," I state but find that it didn't matter. What mattered was that I was never supposed to be a princess at all.

"Your husband will explain it to you." She closes her eyes and shakes her head. It reminds me of the look aunty LiFen often directed towards me when she thought I was acting stupider than usual. She waves a hand in front of her face, and pointing at the pearl, she continues, "Once you have consummated your marriage, your true form will be visible to everyone. I won't be here to provide you the concealing potion like I have been doing."

"Oh... OH!" The truth of the potion I had been having becomes clear. "So, the potion was to hide my identity."

"That, and for your speedy recovery." She elaborates. "When I was trying to heal you, I saw glimpses of your past." She chuckles. "You see, when you left the palace that day, your friend gave you a drink that made you throw up. If my guess is correct, when you threw up, the potion you had had that morning left your body. You were too busy putting distance between yourself and your aunt's men. You failed to notice that you had turned into a man. When I saw you, you were a man, and I addressed you as such."

"Fuck." I whisper and look up at Weredra and find her staring past me. A forlorn look flutters across her features. "I won't be here to help you conceal it. Keep this pearl on you." She closes her eyes, and the wrist band like the one she had given to me weeks ago appears on her palm. She takes the pearl and slides it inside its secret compartment, and ties it around my wrist. "With this on you, only those you want to reveal your true form to will be able to see it."

That's when something occurs to me. "But Weredra, when I woke up in the palace, Zhan saw me as a man. I mean, even though everyone saw me as a woman, he saw me as a man. Is it because he already saw me as a man and knows what I look like?"

She shakes her head and looks at Zhan, "He will always be able to see your true form. No magic can taint the way he sees you."

"How come?"

"True love is a powerful thing, prince YiJun. You are lucky to have each other." With that, Weredra smiles and vanishes into a blue cloud of smoke.

"Weredra!" I call and look around, hoping for it to be another one of her silly tricks, but deep down, I already know that she has left.

Wiping my tears, I stand and give Lord Xuandi the finger and mutter a fuck you under my breath. I wait for the lightning to strike, but it doesn't. I guess now that he has taken Weredra away from me, he doesn't care.

On the way back, I don't let sadness show on my face; I don't want to upset Zhan more than he already was. I smile more than I ever have and laugh at Zhan's silly jokes, each trying to distract the other.

When we reach our chamber Zhan pulls me into a tight embrace and whispers, "We don't have to do anything tonight if you are not feeling up to it."

"Like hell we won't!" I yell, holding on to Zhan's shoulder.

No, don't get me wrong, I was upset that Weredra had left us, and I knew that I was going to miss her terribly, but that didn't mean that I was going to give up a chance to be all over Zhan: the man I had been lusting after for over two months! Moreover, I am sure Weredra would understand. After all, she was in my mind on more than one occasion when I had had inappropriate thoughts.

"Are you sure?" Zhan asks, looking confused.

"I have never been more sure in my life," I reply and push him into the sheets. "But I want to be on top," I demand, and for some reason, he agrees.

'True love is a powerful thing.' Weredra's words come back to me, and the reason why Zhan had agreed becomes clear in an instant.

"In that case, we can take turns topping." I suggest; Zhan smiles, "Sounds fair. Now, dear husband, tell me how you want to do this."

"Let's kiss." I offer, and he nods. His face becomes unreadable. He takes my hand in his, he smiles. "That's a good start. But do you know what you need to do if you want to make it pleasurable for both of us?" He asks, picking up a small vial from the edge of the bed and holding a jar out to me.

I accept the jar and peer inside; it's a clear liquid. I blink. "What is this?" I enquire and dip my finger into it. It comes out slimy. "Is it oil?"

"YiJun, you do know what topping means, don't you?" He asks, looking at my crotch, and I realize that I had no clue what he meant.

"Isn't kissing and hands all there is to it. After all, we are both men." I ask, and he sighs. "There is more, my shameless husband...so much more."

"Are you sure?"

Zhan nods, "Come here." He holds out his hand. I take it and look at his calm, composed face.

"How about I help you out of your garments while I explain what more we can do?"

I nod, "And I will get rid of yours!" I exclaim and pounce on him. He holds my over-excited hands. "Wait. I am not going anywhere. What's the hurry?"

He was not wrong. I nod, letting him take the lead.

Slowly- a little too slowly for my liking- he gets busy discarding my garments. Ridding me of my several layers, he explains what the responsibilities of a Top are.

At the end of the explanation, I find myself naked and scared out of my wits. I find Zhan fully clothed and looking at me expectantly. "Didn't you want to undress me?" He asks, guiding my hands to his waist.

I take my hands off of him. "I don't think I will ever need to use this pearl, Zhan." I confess, making Zhan laugh, "Does it sound that scary?"

"Doesn't it sound scary to you?"

"It does, but then I look at you, and all I want is to be with you, and it doesn't feel scary anymore."

His words somehow put me at ease, and with my heart going crazy and my brain, a puddle of unexpectedly hard-to-digest information. I take off Zhan's top garments to reveal his beautiful smooth skin (and well defined abs).

I eye his lower garments, and apprehension fills me.

How big is he? What if he is not as small as I was lead to believe!? How will it fit? Can I trust oil and fingers to do the trick? 

Taking a deep breath, I remove his lower garments, and fuck! It's huge. How the hell!? I look at my junior, and though they look different, they both look equally intimidating. Yes, I obviously knew how I looked down there, but I still couldn't wrap my mind around what Zhan had explained.

What if I hurt him and he ends up leaving me? What if the word spreads that I am horrible in bed!?

I open my arms, "This time, I will let you top."

"How come? Isn't it scarier to bottom?" He asks, sliding in next to me. His large hands and slender fingers caress the scar on my chest, making me feel all hot and horny. 

 "I don't want to mess it up and hurt you," I reply sincerely.

I watch a multitude of emotions dance across Zhan's face, each one more beautiful than the last. He puts his arms around my waist and captures my lips. We kiss till we both run out of breath.

Zhan pulls me on top as if reading my mind (it might have something to do with the fact that I kept trying to kiss his beautiful body, not letting him fulfill his Top responsibilities), and I go to town, leaving bite marks all over his body.

The way he moves and moans my name has me rutting against him. Pleasure courses through my body, and I wonder how I never missed this feeling.

But when I move to his waist, Zhan stops me and pulls me up, "Enough." His voice is deep and rough.

Shivers run down my spine as he flips our positions and gives me the same treatment I had given him. But he doesn't stop at my waist. He goes lower.

Zhan does things that have me feeling shocked, embarrassed, uncomfortable, and hot as hell (in that order). I squirm and make sounds I did not know I was capable of.

Then he does things to me that I absolutely refuse to tell you all.

Why?

Simple, though I am shameless, I am not that shameless. Who knows, a child might be lurking around. And I absolutely won't want to taint their innocent mind more than I already had. 

{Word count: 2050}

That's brings us to the end of this story. Thank you for reading and supporting The Fine Print.
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