Wei Ying's POV

"Wen Ning!" I called him immediately and he entered my bedroom with no delay. As if he stood in front of it the whole time. I stared at him in shock.

"Wen Ning, did you change my sheets?"

Maybe that question came out harsher than I thought as Wen Ning fell to his knees instantly.

"Y-yes, your Highness." He answered and I felt two things at the same time.

I was embarrassed that he had to clean up the mess I left behind. It might be true that he did so every morning already when I had those dreams but that doesn't mean it would get less embarrassing every time. Moreover, this time it wasn't just my mess. Wang Ji was part of it too.

I also felt shocked. Shocked that he found out about Wang Ji and me on our first day. What did he think of me now? He must have been disappointed as I was no different than Lan Huan.

"I-" What? What could I possibly say now? There was no excuse and to be honest, I didn't want there to be any other truth than what Wen Ning witnessed. Yes, Wang Ji and I got together. It's wrong. It's a crime. But what could we do when we loved each other? What could we do when we wanted each other so much that no one could have stopped us? Even if someone did, our longing for each other would only grow.

"Your Highness, you are wrong." Wen Ning said and I closed my eyes. Of course, he wouldn't agree with my feelings. He was my friend after all. Friends are honest and protect each other.

"You and the crown prince are different." He continued and I opened my eyes and looked at him in shock and confusion.

"What?" Did he just say what I thought he said?

"The crown prince cheated on you out of nowhere, your Highness. He betrayed your love, betrayed your relationship of almost 20 years. He chose Wen Qing not because he loved her but because he wanted to make his father as well as himself happy. He chose to betray you only for the sake of an heir which was wrong. He could have waited with that. No matter how much he wanted a son, he could have waited a few more years. Your Highness, you are different." Wen Ning said.

He agreed with me. All he said was my opinion as well. He understood me. But...

"Why is what I have done differently?"

"Everyone knows what happened between you and the crown prince and everyone heard your announcement at the emperor's birthday banquet. The crown prince heard it too. You announced the end of your relationship. You explained to him the obvious reason and you explained to him why you couldn't leave him."

Wen Ning looked up at me a little unsure. "Cheating is wrong. Despite your announcement, you and the crown prince are still married. So... what you are doing does count as cheating, your Highness.... but your case is different. You did it after ending your relationship with the crown prince. Your feelings for him are no more and he should know that by now. The crown prince betrayed you while being in a relationship, while he still loved you."

Despite this difficult topic I had to smile. It was a sad smile. "Cheating is cheating, Wen Ning. It doesn't matter who loves who. So no matter what everyone is saying, I am in the wrong. I know that but I can't help it. What happened has happened. I can't change that nor do I want to. I am happy right now. While cheating is a crime, being happy is not so I hope the gods will have mercy on me."

"Your Highness....." Wen Ning looked sadder than I felt right but I guessed that was only because I was with Wang Ji not long ago so this topic doesn't make me as sad as it should.

"I didn't want to ask this first but.... How much did you see, Wen Ning?"

"Nothing, your Highness!" Wen Ning bowed down again. "I only changed the sheets. I did so as fast as possible to not disturb you two."

I snorted. "So you didn't see anything but you heard it?" Wen Ning didn't answer nor did he look up but I saw his neck turning pink.

I sighed. "Wen Ning, it's your decision whether you reveal what you witnessed or not but I sincerely ask you to keep it-"

"Your Highness!" Wen Ning spoke loud and sounded a little offended. "I am your servant and I am your friend. If I am not loyal to you, who will!? No matter what I see or hear, no matter what you do, be it a crime or not, I won't ever tell on you. You are my savior, my friend, my master. I will be loyal to you forever."

I blinked away forming tears. He was right. He was the most loyal friend I will ever get. He never did nor will do anything that gets me into trouble. He was and would always be on my side.

"I am sorry, Wen Ning. But after what happened...."

"I know. If I should ever do something disloyal to you, you may behead me." Wen Ning declared.

"Get up, Wen Ning," I asked him and he obeyed.

"I am always on your side, your Highness."

"Thank you, Wen Ning." I smiled. I was so happy to have Wen Ning. Without him, I wouldn't be the person I was today, that was for sure.

Suddenly I yawned. After I have overcome the shock, my tiredness returned.

"I will make sure no one disturbs you so you should go to sleep. I will go and clean up the bathroom."

I nodded and closed my eyes before cuddling into the blanket. But then his words arrived in my brain and I opened my eyes again instantly. "Wait, Wen Ning! This...." I bit my lips not knowing what to say.

"It's okay. It's not my first time." Wen Ning smiled his innocent little smile making me only feel more guilty.

Servant or not, he shouldn't have to clean stuff like that. "Wen Ning, I am sorry....." I mumbled.

"Go sleep, your Highness." With that Wen Ning left for the bathroom and I slowly closed my eyes.

I was shocked to find out that I slept a whole day and a whole night. I knew that the night before was.... tiresome, kind of, but to sleep for so long? I was getting old and I didn't like it.

"Prince Wang Ji came last night." Wen Ning announced while serving the breakfast and I looked at him in excitement.

"He did? Why didn't he wake me up?"

"He wanted to let you sleep. He said it was his fault for tiring you out. He left only recently after I came to wake you up."

I smiled. It wasn't sorely his fault but I love it that he cares so much about me. And to know that he slept next to me the whole night made my skin tingle. I started to miss him and let out a deep sigh.

"Would you like to visit him after breakfast?"

I nodded. "Yes, I will go and visit his palace. But Wen Ning...."

"Yes, your Highness?"

"How come you.... you know .... how can you accept everything so easily? Let alone the fact that what I am doing is a crime, Wang Ji is my brother-in-law. Don't mention loyalty to me, Wen Ning. It should still be a shock no matter how loyal one is."

"I have no difficulties accepting it because firstly, I don't care what happens or what you do as long as you are happy, and secondly it's because I knew it would happen." He answered as a matter of fact and I dropped my chopsticks.

"What?" I stared at him. "You... how could you possibly know? It's not like you are a seer or anything."

"No, I am not. And, indeed, I am not the smartest one... " He smiled in embarrassment. "... but in the last years whenever we visited prince Wang Ji at his palace I could see the way he look at you. Whenever he saw you his eyes lightened up. Not only the prince's eyes but his mood changed whenever he met you. At first, I didn't understand what that meant but then I saw it in the crown prince's eyes as well. The way the crown prince looked at you, the way you looked at the crown prince.... I understood that prince Wang Ji happened to fall in love with you. ."

"When did you know?" I asked him shocked.

"Hmm... since the first year I served you? Or maybe the year after that? I am not sure but it was not long after I met you,"

"19 years!?" I shouted out. "You knew about it for 19 years and didn't tell me?"

"I couldn't, your Highness. It was obvious prince Wang Ji tried his best to hide his feelings. I only noticed because we visited him so often and he would often almost lose his composure with you around him. He didn't want you to know.

But despite that, if I had told you about it, you would have been unhappy. You had no feelings for him after all. You would have felt burdened to know that the brother of your husband had feelings for you. I don't think you would have told the crown prince. But in any way, everything would have changed. You would have stopped visiting the second prince and his palace which happened to be your favorite place in the whole heavenly realm. Prince Wang Ji was your only friend next to me and you loved spending time with him. If you would have lost him, you would have been more lonely and you would have suffered greatly. So I couldn't tell you."

"But... but..." I couldn't possibly say anything against it because Wen Ning was right. I would have been unhappy and stopped spending time with Wang Ji. If that would have happened, he and I wouldn't have found each other. But still... Wen Ning met Wang Ji as often as I did, yet I didn't realize Wang Ji's feelings for me.

'Because that time you only had eyes for Lan Huan...' My inner voice told me and I closed my eyes.

"I don't know when you fell for prince Wang Ji, your Highness. I knew you behaved slightly differently towards him but I thought it was just you trying to distract yourself from the crown prince's betrayal. When you started avoiding prince Wang Ji, I thought you wanted to bring some space between you and him as he was the crown prince's brother. I didn't know that you had feelings for him until not long ago. You were sleeping but started to call out his name in the middle of the night. You were dreaming about him and when you woke up in the morning..." He stopped and his cheeks turned pink.

"I could see you were embarrassed so I never talked about it." He finished his sentence.

"Obviously ...." I mumbled and looked away, not able to look into his eyes. He had to clean up the mess I made. A mess that shouldn't happen as I was in my mid-thirties and not in my late teens. If that wasn't embarrassing...

"Your Highness, I long decided to not care about what is right and what is wrong. After everything you went through you deserve to be happy. And I can see you are happy now so I will do everything to protect you and your happiness. Hold onto prince Wang Ji. He loved you for almost 20 years without condition. And I know he will keep loving you. He is different than the crown prince. He won't succumb to anyone, he won't let others tell him what to do.

Your Highness, I would like for you to hold onto Wang Ji and be with him. I know that this is not only what I want. And no matter what happens, I will protect you and I will protect your relationship."

I bit my lips and got up, approaching Wen Ning and pulling him into my arms.

Wen Ning was with me from the beginning. He was always there for me and served me not only as a servant but also as a friend. I didn't know how my life would have turned out if I hadn't had him with me.

"Thank you, Wen Ning. Thank you for being at my side. Thank you for understanding me and thank you for protecting me. This means a lot to me."

"I will protect your Highness until the end. You saved my life and I will save yours."

I hugged him tight and ruffled through his hair before sitting back and continuing to eat. Just a thank you was not enough for him to show my gratitude so before I die, I would make sure to marry him off to someone worthy of him. Of course only, if he had feelings for her. No one deserves a loveless marriage.

'No one but Lan Huan and Wen Qing....'

"Wen Ning, come sit down and eat with me."

"I wouldn't dare to eat from the same table as you, your Highness." Wen Ning answered and I rolled my eyes.

"Why would it be a problem to have my friend dine with me?" I asked him and pointed at the seat opposite me. "If you see me as a friend, would you please sit down and eat."

Wen Ning jumped from one foot to the other before nodding and sitting down. He felt uncomfortable as he saw himself as a servant and servants were not allowed to sit at the same table as their masters.

"Wen Ning, when you were still in the fire realm being the crown prince, did you let your servants eat with you?"

"Being a prince can be very lonely so of course, I dined with them." He answered as a matter of fact and I raised my brows.

"So why are you feeling uncomfortable now?" I asked amused and his cheeks turned slightly pink.

"I don't know...." He mumbled making me chuckle.

"Then relax and eat. You should have realized that the food I get served every day is far more than I can eat. I would love to have my friend help me with it."

He looked at me shyly and nodded. "Yes, your Highness." I smiled seeing him raise an additional set of chopsticks and start to eat.

 "Your Highness...." Wen Ning entered my room after taking away the leftover food. I could see on his face whatever he wanted to tell me was nothing positive.

"What happened?"

"The crown prince is still waiting for you outside."

"Still?"

"Yes, he came yesterday but left when he found out you were sleeping."

I frowned. "Why is he here? Shouldn't he be with Wen Qing?"

"I don't know, your Highness. He said he needed to talk to you and wouldn't leave until he did."

"Why not barge in here right away?" I asked sarcastically and got up. "Well then. Let's go and meet him. Or else I might never be able to go and see Wang Ji." I said and walked out of the door. Albeit I did not want to see Lan Huan's face, knowing that I would see Wang Ji again soon, took away some of the annoyance.

I stepped out of the room and saw him standing some meters away from it. I raised my brows seeing a weird look on his face. He looked kind of defeated but also rather determined. I frowned, not knowing how I should think about it because that was a weird combination. Not the defeated look worried me but the determined one.

'What are you up to now, Lan Huan?'

"Wen Ning, leave us alone," I asked him and Wen Ning bowed before walking away. Far enough to follow my order, but close enough to oversee what was happening.

"Here I am." I stepped up to Lan Huan. "Say what you have to say but please make it quick."

I flinched when Lan Huan knelt in front of me. "I accept it."

"What?" I asked him. I was confused but made sure not to show that in front of him.

"My punishment." He answered. "I accept it. I married someone I don't love but have to spend the rest of my life with. I deserve to be punished."

"Good." I hid a smile. I was satisfied with Lan Huan's acceptance. It meant he still had a conscience.

"I won't let Wen Qing move in here nor will I move in with her. Not only because I don't want her between us but also to have her serve the punishment she got from you albeit I think she is innocent as I decided to sleep with her. Therefore it was my fault."

"Lan Huan, you know just as much as I do that it takes two people to have an affair. She is just as guilty as you are. But as long as the both of you will accept your punishments I will feel at ease."

Lan Huan looked up. "I also accept it when you see our relationship to be over. This is your view and I accept it. But I see things differently, Wei Ying. I will live in this palace together with you. I am sure that one day you will see my sincerity and accept my apology because you are good at reading people. I am sure that one day you will forgive me. Wei Ying, no matter what happens, I love you and as long as you don't hate me I know that I still have a chance."

"Do I really have to start hating you for you to give up?" I asked him disappointed. "I am not that kind of a person who hates people easily. Also, I don't want to waste my time having negative feelings for others, Lan Huan. I don't have that much time in my life."

"I know that, Wei Ying. I know your time is limited....." He closed his eyes and seemed to fight with his inner self. "I will never be able to accept it.... But I won't waste my time thinking about what happens after you are gone. I will think about it when the time has come. Until then I will fight for you. I will show you my love and my sincerity until you forgave me."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked him and frowned. "Are you going to follow me everywhere I go? Will you keep pestering me every day even though I don't want to have you close to me?"

"No, Wei Ying. I won't come close to you if that is what you want. If you tell me to stay away, I will do so. You forbid me to enter your room so I won't ever enter it unless you allow it. I don't want you to start hating me, Wei Ying. I won't pester you, I won't annoy you. All I will do is live together with you quietly, I will show you my love and my sincerity every day until you forgave me." He got up. He was about to reach for my hand but stopped his intention halfway and retreated his hand, knowing to keep a distance.

I am happy that he understood me now. That I didn't want him close to me and that he accepted his punishment. I didn't know what was going on in his mind but I will deal with it once he revealed his intention. I knew for sure he won't annoy me because he knew I that wouldn't help him to get my forgiveness. Nothing would help him to get it but he still wouldn't give up.

Lan Huan smiled at me and even bowed before leaving for his room. If I forget his betrayal for a moment and hear his speech just now, I remembered why I fell in love with him in the first place. He wasn't a bad person. No, it was the opposite. He was a good person, a good friend, and possibly also a good husband. If he loved someone, he did so for good and he would show it to everyone every day.

The problem was he wanted to please everyone equally. Especially his father who had a lot of expectations for Lan Huan. And to achieve that, he always had to sacrifice something. Either he knew the outcome of his sacrifice or he didn't.

By agreeing to lay with Wen Qing, not only per the emperor's request but also because of his deepest wish to have a son, he sacrificed our relationship and my love for him. He didn't know the outcome of his decision but once he did, he knew he did wrong, he knew he lost what he loved the most.

I hoped he would learn a lesson from that.

I sighed. Lan Huan would have a difficult life ahead of him. Until his father descended the throne and let Lan Huan take over, Lan Huan surely would have to make many decisions with others trying to influence him, especially his father. I just hoped that if he did so in the future, he wouldn't let himself get pressured by anyone and think about it clearly, making sure what he would get out of each decision. Or else there was no future for him. At least not a happy one.

I sighed again and shook my head before turning to Wen Ning who was waiting for me. "Let's go."

The closer we came to Wang Ji's house the more I had to fight myself to not start running. Behaving like this was ridiculous as I was a grown man and not a teenager anymore. Weirdly, I was doing so many things a teenager would do than one an adult would.

But somehow I couldn't help it. Maybe it was because I was so happy with Wang Ji that I was scared something would happen that would take him from me. I didn't know if I would survive if I would lose him.

"Your Highness, slow down a bit." Wen Ning begged while he walked after me. Or should I call it running? Without knowing I fastened my steps even more.

I slowed down. "I am sorry, Wen Ying. I didn't notice...." Wen Ning nodded and gave me an exhausted smile.

About 10 minutes later we arrived but I stopped walking once I saw the emperor in front of Wang Ji's palace. He looked quite annoyed and he stepped with his feet on the ground, signalizing that he was waiting impatiently. He stopped stepping only to start again after a few seconds.

As an emperor one should never show his true feelings in public. But with his stepping on the ground in an impatient manner, he did exactly that and that probably made him more annoyed than he already was.

"What is his majesty doing here so early in the morning?" Wen Ning asked me and I shook my head.

I didn't know but seeing a beautiful woman standing not far away, I understood that he was once again trying to set Wang Ji up with someone. And I sure as hell didn't like that.

"Your majesty, I assume that his Highness is not available to see me right now. He might be busy so I shall return to my quarters and wait once he is ready."

"My son must be still sleeping. I guess last night he took a longer walk than usual. I am sorry, Xiao Zhi. I will arrange for another meeting soon and I am sorry to have wasted your time."

"Don't worry, your Majesty. My father told me that his Highness likes to take walks during the night and seldom leaves his palace during the day. Maybe tonight I shall have a chance. But if not, I might as well return home. Please excuse me, your Majesty."

"Of course, of course."

The lady bowed to the emperor and walked away in my direction. Out of nowhere two servants showed up and accompanied her.

"Is his Highness not available, young Mistress?" One of them asked and the lady shook her head.

"Unfortunately I came at an unusual time for his Highness. I knew prince Wang Ji never leaves his palace during the day but I still tried my luck hoping he would make an exception for me."

"Young Mistress must really like prince Wang Ji." The servants giggled.

"I do." The lady smiled. "But it seems my feelings are not reciprocated. Even if I try it again tonight, I am sure he won't see me."

"Why wouldn't he? Young Mistress, you are young, smart, beautiful and your father is the prime minister. He would benefit from a marriage with you."

The woman smiled. "He would benefit from it for sure. But prince Wang Ji is different than other princes. He doesn't marry someone just for benefits and I can see that doesn't want any benefits either. Prince Wang Ji is someone who would only do what he wants. He follows his heart and won't let others influence him. Not even by his Majesty. He proves it every time he rejects a good match introduced by his Majesty."

"Is that why you are so smitten by him?" Another round of giggles.

"Precisely. But it seems that I have to give up soon...." The young woman sighed and walked away.

I watched her leave and once she was gone I looked towards the front door of Wang Ji's palace. The emperor was still standing there and he looked disappointed. He was trying hard to make sure Wang Ji would get married to someone he thought was a good match for him.

It annoyed me that the emperor didn't even ask Wang Ji what he thought was a good match for him but instead decided for him. Just as he decided about Lan Huan's offspring. He might have been a good emperor but he was far from being a good father. I didn't know what a good father was as I grew up without one but I was sure that the emperor was far from being one.

"Let's go, Wen Ning."

"But your Highness! His Majesty is still standing in front of the palace."

"Did I ever use the front door?" I smiled. "No one dares to take the labyrinth because they wouldn't find their way out of it without Wang Ji's help. But I don't need his help. I am the only person next to Wang Ji who can enter and leave the labyrinth as I want. Let's go." I grinned and managed to sneak past the emperor and enter the labyrinth.

To be continued...

I stan Wen Ning!!! 

Where can I get one?!

My dear readers, don't worry too much. That beautiful young lady was only a cameo ^^

The next chapter is going to be all about Wei Ying and Wang Ji! 

Why? Because they deserve it and we can't get enough of them. 

I love writing about them more than about anyone else. (and JiYang and HaoXuan, of course, because with them I can bring my inner pervert to paper *blush*) 

Anyway, see you next time (maybe sooner than usual ^^) 

Feel free to vote and leave a comment or two. I love reading them <3 <3