"You lost again, Your Highness." Chu Qiao said cheerfully.
"How did this happen? Why have your chess skills improved so much and so fast? You didn’t even know how where the Rook or the Knight went before."
Chu Qiao secretly laughed in her mind, "That was before and now things have changed, Your Highness. I have been practicing chess so hard for the last months, just to beat you at it."
"You really impressed me. Seems like I have to see you in another light now." Dantai Yunhan said with amazement.
"Well, it’s getting late, Your Highness. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m leaving. It would be better if you go to bed early as well for your own health."
Dantai Yunhan didn’t realize it was so late until he looked at the dark sky: "Well, just go to bed if you fell tired."
"Yes, Your Highness." Chu Qiao curtsied and left.
In fact, Dantai Yunhan wanted to ask Chu Qiao to stay, but he was too ashamed of what happened last night. He felt that Chu Qiao’s temperament had totally changed and he couldn’t help thinking about her all the time. The intoxicating rose fragrance on her body was still lingering in his nostrils.
On their way back to the Palace, Qi Luo asked Chu Qiao curiously, "Your Highness, why don't you stay with the Prince? I can tell that he didn't want you to go."
Chu Qiao explained with a smile: "Silly girl, you can't always be so nice to a man and obey all of his orders. Instead, sometimes you have to go against his will as long as you are not going too far. In this way, he will always have you in his mind and want to see you all the time. Sometimes you have to play hard-to-get."
"Oh, I see. But when did Your Highness learn these tricks? What will happen if you go too far?"
Thinking about what happened last night, Chu Qiao forced a smile and told Qing Luo, "Horrible things."
It was rare that Dantai Yunhan wasn’t occupied with public affairs while staying in his palace, for normally he would be too busy to go to sleep before midnight.
In fact, Dantai Yunhan wanted to get done with some important work, but he couldn’t focus with Chu Qiao on his mind. The consequences would be unbearable if something went wrong. He must calm down first, for thousands of lives were in his hand.
He couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning in his bed. Thinking of Chu Qiao's alluring face, a surge of desire burned up in his chest, so he got up right away, put on his clothes and ran towards Chu Qiao's palace.
Chu Qiao was sound asleep, dreaming of returning to her previous life when she was a professional assassin, and she had no idea that Dantai Yunhan was coming for her. And Qing Luo was also asleep.
Chu Qiao saw the target dashing towards her and she was about to kill him in her dream when she felt as if someone was on top of her.
Suddenly she widened her eyes at the sight of a face over her, "Ah!" Dantai Yunhan immediately sealed her lips with his, which was apparently a little too late.
Hearing Chu Qiao's scream, Qingluo rushed in immediately: "What's wrong, Your Highness?"
But soon her face turned red like a tomato when she saw Dantai Yunhan on top of Chu Qiao, and she apologized in a hurry, "I wasn’t aware you were here, Your Highness...Please forgive me for my disturbance."
Then she quickly stepped out. Soon the guards arrived and asked, "Qing Luo, what happened to the Princess?"
Qing Luo explained with the trace of a blush: "The Prince and the Princess are...Never mind, you may leave now."
"Qing Luo, we have to go inside and check in case there is an assassin hiding in the room. We hope you can understand."
Dantai Yunhan already felt ashamed for being walked in on by Qing Luo, and he would completely be disgraced if a swarm of guards saw him in the Princess’s room. So he had to let go of Chu Qiao and shouted, "Didn’t you hear her? Leave, right now!"
Hearing the Prince’s voice, the guards outside immediately took the hint and immediately apologized, "Sorry for our reckless behavior, Qingluo."
Qing Luo quickly waved and said: "Never mind. No one will blame you for performing your duty."
"Then please excuse us." The guards left.
Chu Qiao hadn’t regained control of herself from the shock yet. It took a long time before she came to her senses, "Your Highness, why are you here?"
Dantai Yunhan was dumbfounded, and he wouldn’t say that he came to visit her secretly because he was missing her. So he faked a cough, "No big deal. I brought you a piece of jade I received on my birthday, which I think suits you."
"I see. This jade is smooth and pure, which obviously is precious. Thank you for being so considerate, Your Highness."
Chu Qiao wasn’t so silly as to believe that Dantai Yunhan came here secretly at midnight just to give her a piece of jade, but she chose not to nail his lie. It seemed that Dantai Yunhan had become pretty nice to her.
"Well, I’m leaving now. Sleep tight." Dantai Yunhan was about to sit up when his arm was grabbed by her soft hand, "It’s too late. Just can stay the night here." Chu Qiao said coyly.
Dantai Yunhan was overjoyed. In fact, he didn't expect that Chu Qiao would ask him to stay. It turned out that although she was angry about what happened yesterday, she still cared about him.
"Ok, I'll stay if you insist." Dantai Yunhan laid down slowly.
“I feel you've changed so much that I can’t even recognize you. You're totally different from who you used to be. How come you became so strong, moderate, prudent and well-behaved, which really amazed me?”
Chu Qiao smiled and said, "I've told you that I’ve always been nice. It’s just that Your Highness don’t know much about me, so you could only see the superficial aspects." Her voice gradually faded away.
"Is that so? Then I must get to know more about you, otherwise it would be shameful to say that I don't even know my wife well." Dantai Yunhan looked at Chu Qiao and found that she had already fallen asleep.
Chu Qiao fell asleep with her arms around Dantai Yunhan, and it seemed that she was exhausted. Staring at her face, Dantai Yunhan had no evil thoughts. He reflected upon the past and realized that he did ignore her feelings and needs, and never cared about what kind of person she was. Since he wasn’t a dutiful husband before, he would like to start making up for it.