Tang Zixuan didn't have many responsibilities besides keeping his best friend in check and assisting him as and when he needed. The Crown Prince was quick to anger and while he wasn't exactly sensitive to the words of other people, when his cold dead heart did manage to feel something, he felt it deeply. So as he watched the Crown Prince toying with Princess Shiyao, he was beginning to wonder if Lady Dana had meant anything to him at all. Was she just another plaything? Well, that was hardly out of character, he supposed.

Noon was fast approaching and Ina had informed him that he would be eating with Jae and herself that day while the two royals dined together. Yixing would remain outside to ensure no one disturbed them, and it was at that point his mind began racing with the possibilities of what that was supposed to mean - Jing Han was hardly a man who took 'no' for an answer. But he supposed that Shiyao was able to handle herself just fine.

"Master Zixuan!" Ina called, waving over to him from the main dining area. "Let's eat." He waved in reply, heading over to the main building and nodding towards the two royals in the study as he passed by.

For most of the morning, Jing Han had been studying newspapers from the last half year in order to get a feel for what issues the people were having that he could attempt to fix, but it was frustrating to find that most of the papers were filled with feel-good trash to take up space.

Of course the press couldn't criticise the government.

He glanced over at where Shiyao was, curled up in a ball in the rounded rattan chair, head jerking up every few moments as sleep tried its hardest to come and get her. Even in such a state, she still looked pretty. The book she was reading, a History of Revenet, was no doubt the culprit. It teetered dangerously in her hand and only as it slid out of her weak grasp and fell on the floor with a loud thud did she waken up properly.

"Your Highnesses, it's time for lunch." the head of staff, an unmarried forty year old called Ms. Fang announced, a team of servants behind her armed with various dishes.

"Where are the black and white mungbean cakes?" Shiyao asked, her gaze pointed at Ms. Fang.

"Your Highness, I have prepared some hallabong that was freshly picked this morning from the orchard. It will satisfy your sweet tooth."

"I didn't ask for hallabong." she replied. "And why are all of these dishes so plain?"

"His Highness prefers plain foods."

"His Highness is not the only one dining here today."

"Your Highness-"

"I suggest the kitchen make something I find palatable, otherwise I shall be forced to leave the table and find lunch elsewhere while His Highness remains alone to eat."

Ms. Fang looked from the irate Princess to the Crown Prince beside her, who was looking amused. He wasn't going to speak out about this?

"Very well." the head of staff nodded and backed away from the table, only turning around after she passed the threshold of the private tea room.

Jing Han bit his lower lip for a split second, grinning as he began digging into the dishes provided for him. No one else would ever have the balls to complain that only he, the Crown Prince, was being catered to. They all deferred and defaulted to whatever it was that he wanted to do, what he wanted to eat, what he wanted to see or where he wanted to go - even Zixuan never dared to complain.

"How is your research going, Your Highness?" Shiyao asked, deciding she ought to fill the time in while she waited.

"Let's not talk about that while we're eating." he picked up a bland looking crystal skin dumpling and ate it as it was. "Mmm! Not bad. What were you reading about?"

"The founding of the nation." she grabbed her cup and drank from it.

"For fun?"

"Well, it's important to know how it happened." she shrugged. "The sun got the better of me, Your Highness."

"Did you know you snore?"

"I do not!" she shrieked, practically bristling in her seat and scowling as Jing Han fell about laughing.

"How do you know? You don't hear yourself sleep."

"No one else ever complained about it."

"I wasn't complaining, it's cute." he explained, cackling as she smacked his arm.

This was fun, he had to admit - it was so easy to wind her up.

"And who's 'no one else'?"

"None of Your Highness' business."

"I get it, I like to sleep around, too." he nodded.

"Well, in some cases there wasn't a whole lot of choice." she admitted without a thought and so she didn't see how he froze for a moment for she was distracted by Ms. Fang finally delivering the well seasoned, rich foods she preferred.

Jing Han waited for them to leave before he spoke again:

"Are you saying that they forced you into it?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, they didn't." she replied, attention now on loading her plate with the sweet braised pork and pumpkin pancakes. "I mean, if I really didn't want to then I wouldn't, but sometimes it was just easier to let them than risk having a bitchy court member take his anger out when there was a vote."

"The King sent you to sway the representatives?" Jing Han clarified, his hand sliding over his mouth. "Is it any wonder you're so adept at pouring alcohol? How could he-!"

The sudden bang on the wooden table made all the plates jump, startling Shiyao in the process.

"Your Highness?"

"How dare they treat you like that! Was there nothing they didn't take? They wanted your mind and your body and your powers all for themselves. Fucking Ranharan scumbags, I should have made that asshole suffer more before I killed him."

"Who? Oh, Zhan."

His shoulders rose up and down with his breathing, anger taking over his heart as he discovered that he could, actually, hate that little nation even more than before. They deserved what they got when it was crushed.

"Your Highness, it didn't happen that often." she assured him.

She placed her small hand over his large one, the coolness of her skin and the sweetness of her smile enough to calm him down.

Sure, what was the use of getting upset over these things that had already happened? Everyone who ever did such a thing was probably dead or displaced, there wasn't anywhere to direct his anger to, but the thought of a member of the Revenet Royal Family being used as a pawn like that made his blood boil.

His thumb stroked along her four fingers that were curled gently around his hand and she didn't like the little chills such a careful touch gave her.

"I don't care how many men you slept with so long as you did it of your own volition." he shook his head.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I'm all right." she smiled.

"Well okay, then. Let's eat."