Youxian stirred awake to the faint sound of a flute playing in the background. Lifting himself up, he looked around and winced when his face stung.

He got up and touched his face. A whimper left his mouth as he stood up. The quilt covering him fell off, landing on the floor.

His eyes widened when he felt he was naked. Looking down at his body, he saw that he only had a robe on, a crimson robe, to be exact. He frantically looked around the room for his clothes but couldn’t see them.

Closing the robe and locking his arms around his waist, he left the room and walked down to the end of the hallway, where a dim light came from. He saw as he passed windows it was already nighttime outside.

He stopped when he came to the door that was open and peeked through. Looking into the room, he saw it was sparsely vacant and looked like an office. Sitting behind his desk, Changling was writing characters on sheets of parchment.

The brush in his hand paused when the music stopped. Rucheng took the flute from her mouth and placed it in its case. She got up and walked past Youxian, who was staring at her. Changling watched his sister leave, meeting eyes with Youxian, “Come here,” he ordered.

Youxian hesitated for a moment but listened to him since his face was currently on fire. He strolled up to Changling and stood opposite him by the desk.

“Next to me,” he clarified.

Youxian walked over slowly, then stopped on his left side. Changling sighed, “Sit down!” and he plopped down beside him. Changling pulled Youxian’s arms away from his waists making the younger boy gasp, “W-What are you doing?”

“Why are you covering yourself up? What are you hiding from me?” Changling asked curiously.

“N-nothing, I’m naked and I have nothing to cover me with,” he said in defence.

“Oh,” Changling knowledge, then went back to what he was doing.

Youxian felt frustrated since this prince was odd. First, he held him here, then smacked him and now he wanted to know what he was hiding when he wasn’t hiding anything.

Making sure the robe was held firmly in place with his right hand, he used his left hand to scoop his long hair behind his ears.

He glared at his thighs that were showing after sitting down on the chair beside Changling. His attention was drawn to Changling, who sighed heavily. The parchment he was writing on was pulled off the desk and crumpled up. He chucked it behind him, then started writing again.

He looked at Changling as the brush flew left and right, creating characters. Seeing his rushed movements, his brow rose and his eyes lowered to the parchment. He was taken by surprise. He thought that because Changling was rushing his strokes, it would be a mess, but it seemed like Changling was a professional.

“Stop staring, you’re making me nervous,” Changling said with a frown.

Youxian cleared his throat and looked away. “Why did my father ask you to correct me?” He asked, since he didn’t enjoy the silence.

Changling smirked to himself, “It wasn’t him, it was my mother.”

Youxian scoffed, “You mean Your Highness?”

“Mn,” he hummed as he placed a piece of blank parchment on top of his writing to dry it.

“So he complained to her?” He asked in a harsh tone.

Changling picked up a brush on the side of his desk. “Hold out your hand,” he said.

Youxian held out his left hand on the desk. The brush flipped in Changling’s hand and came down on Youxian’s hand, hitting his fingers.

Youxian hissed in pain and drew his hand back into himself, grabbing it with his right hand. His robe loosened, opening and giving Changling a wonderful view that made his member stir awake.

Youxian quickly covered himself and stood up, feeling embarrassed that the prince had just seen him naked.

Saving him from further embarrassing himself, Rucheng walked in with a tray filled with food. She set it on the table and walked out. “Go eat, you haven’t eaten since your arrival,” Changling ordered.

Youxian looked at him with a scornful look, then walked away mumbling, “Whose fault do you think it is?”

Changling raised a brow as he looked at the sassy boy walk away with his hips swaying left and right.

A smile tugged at his lips, “Well if you didn’t run away I would have fed you,” he answered him.

Huffing, Youxian sat down and turned in the chair to refute Changling’s statement but remained quiet when he saw Changling look at him sternly. Turning in the chair, he grabbed a bowl and chopsticks and started eating.

The moment the tasty vegetables touched his lips, he moaned. His stomach growled low, telling him to hurry and feed himself because he really was hungry. Rucheng came in with another tray filled with dishes and frowned when she saw her brother wasn’t eating.

She placed the dishes down and shook her head when Youxian thanked her for them and started eating from those dishes. She walked over to her brother. “Not hungry?”

Changling nodded his head.

“Then eat. I’m not warming the food up again,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest. Youxian paused and turned around to look at them. His eyes looked between the brother and sister, then stopped on Changling, who was still writing.

“Later, I have work to do,” he said, annoyed.

“Don’t later me, my ass is going to bed just now!” She said as she walked around the desk and dragged him by the hair and sat him down opposite a stunned Youxian.

Changling’s head hung in defeat.

“I’ll go make you tea, eat!” Rucheng said and turned on her heels with a sigh.

Changling looked at the table. His eyes caught Youxian, who stopped eating and was looking at him, amused. “Why’d you stop eating?” he asked Youxian, who snapped out of his amusement and started eating again.

Picking up his chopsticks, Changling pulled the half-eaten lamb meat in front of him and started eating, “Don’t eat all of it,” Youxian said warningly.

Changling looked at him with the meat still in his mouth, then smiled. “It’s my palace. I’ll eat it finished if I want to.”

Huffing Youxian glared at him, “Go back to your desk and work!”

Changling rolled his eyes and chuckled, “Fine, I will leave you some.”

“You better!” Youxian said with a smile. Which he soon became conscious of and made it disappear.

“Why do you hate your father?” Changling asked him.

“Didn’t your mother tell you?” Youxian asked him, annoyed. Changling shook his head. “She did, but I want to hear it from your point of view.”

“Well, if you must know. That man divorced my mother for no reason. I saw it myself. He treated my mother with love and spoilt her but then just suddenly divorced her, saying that he couldn’t make her happy yet she was happy—he is hiding something from us and won’t tell us? And I highly doubt it’s another family,” Youxian grumbled.

Changling nodded his head and continued eating. Youxian looked at him and saw that something was off.

Wondering for a moment, he then asked, “Do you know the reason behind his actions?”

Raising a brow at him, he tilted his head, making his hair slide off his naked shoulders. Nodding his head, “I do.”

“What is it?” Youxian asked, standing up. His robe opened, grabbing Changling’s attention.

Clearing his throat and crossing his legs under the table, he looked away. “Close your robe, we’re eating,” he said as he felt his blood boil.

“Ah?” Youxian realised, then sat down with heated cheeks.

The two of them remained silent. Rucheng walked in with the tea and placed it on the table, pouring cups for them and taking the empty dishes. She left the room.

“W-well are you going to tell me?” Youxian asked softly.

“You’ll eventually find out during your stay here,” Changling said and stopped talking even though Youxian tried speaking to him. When the food was done, Rucheng cleared up the table and went to bed.

Youxian sat awkwardly in Changling’s office, watching him do his work. After thinking it over, he asked, “Can I leave?”

Changling lowered the book he was reading and looked at him, “The only places you are to go to are the lavatory and my chamber. Nowhere else, understand?”

“It’s not like I can walk about the imperial palace naked. I’d get caught!” he said with a huff as he walked out.

Changling chuckled with a shake of his head, going back to the accounting books of A Thousand Lanterns.

*

Youxian found Rucheng in the kitchen cleaning up. She stopped and looked at him. “Where is the lavatory?”

“Past the garden. There’s an outhouse near the stable,” she said, making him nod. “Thanks.”

Just as he was about to head to the garden, he asked her, “Do you know what happened to my shoes and clothes?”

She nodded. “Ah-Ling had me throw it out.”

He looked at her, aghast. “Why?”

She shrugged. “You’ll eventually find out during your stay here.”

Youxian hung his head in defeat. What in the world do these siblings think of keeping him here?

Looking at her, he smiled, “Can you make me tea, please?” He asked, thinking it would annoy her.

She nodded her head. “Sure, is anything fine?”

He frowned and nodded his head, “Yes, you can make whatever you want, throw poison in too if you like,” he said and turned on his heels. He stormed off to the toilet to take a dump and relieve himself after his plan failed.

“Ah, my shit really stinks,” he mumbled as he walked out, closing the door behind him. He walked over to the well near the stables and drew up some water. Grabbing a cloth off the lines, he dipped it into the water and squeezed the water out.

Reaching behind him, he wiped his butt, then pushed a covered finger up his butthole, wiggling his finger inside his channel, cleaning it. He hissed, then sighed as he pulled it out.

Grabbing the ladle on the edge of the well, he dipped it in water, then threw the cloth wet a few times before washing it out.

He made sure that there wasn’t a smell to it and threw the leftover water into the garden to water the flowers. Earlier on, the garden looked beautiful, but he didn’t get a good look. Before he escaped, he must pay the garden a visit.

Returning to the room, he found the tea on the table and poured himself a cup of tea and brought it to his lips. ‘Delicious’, he thought. Since his arrival, he had had three different flavoured teas. Earlier in the day, it was strawberry tea. At dinner, it was apple tea with cinnamon, and now he had peach tea with a hint of mint in it.

Bringing over the tea tray to the side of the bed and setting it on the nightstand, he got into bed with his legs up, bent at the knees. Drinking the cup of tea finished, he set it on the nightstand.

Pulling the bedsheet over his legs, he spread them slightly and ran his warm hands on the inside of his thighs.

Bringing his left hand to his lips, he inserted his middle finger into his mouth, lubricating it with his saliva.

Pulling it out of his mouth, he looked down at his slim finger and shuddered. Closing his eyes, he slipped it under the quilt between his legs and poked his puckered rosebud with it.

He bit down on his bottom lip to muffle his moan. Pushing his finger past the first ring of muscles. His eyes fluttered open and widened as he pushed his slim finger further in, letting out the breath he held in. He took another breath in and pushed his finger all the way in.

Letting out a low moan, he started breathing heavy. He could feel himself breathe from inside his channel. It was squeezing his finger and letting go slightly, as if pulsing. Hearing footsteps walk towards the room, he quickly pulled it out and closed his legs, sitting up.

He reached over for the cup and brought it to his stomach, keeping it there. Looking up as he leaned against the backrest, he listened for the steps that were reaching the room. The doors slowly opened as a frowning Changling walked in.

He stopped in his steps and looked at Youxian’s flushed cheeks. Raising a brow, he said, “I thought you were asleep.”

“How could I be sleeping when I just got back from taking a dump?” He asked as he rolled his eyes. Changling closed the door behind him and walked over to the nightstand where the tea was. “You asked for tea?”

“Mn,” Youxian answered with a hum. Changling sat on the edge of the bed on the last step near Youxian and poured himself a cup of tea. He saw Youxian’s empty cup and asked, “Do you want another cup?”

Youxian nodded his head, “Please,” handing it to him. Changling poured for him, then handed the cup back.

They took sips from the tea at the same time. Youxian watched Changling gulp down the warm tea. Placing the cup back on the tray, he got up and walked to the table. Slipping off his robe, he asked, “Did you clean yourself out?”

Youxian frowned, “What do you mean?” He asked, confused.

Smirking, Changling asked, “Did you clean out your ass?”