Crown Prince and Ghost King

Chapter 10

The next morning, when Xie Lian opened his eyes, Hua Cheng wasn't next to him. He raised his head, confused, but then smiled upon seeing an inviting breakfast waiting for him on a brand new table. Well, maybe brand new was too much, because it definitely saw better days, but Xie Lian was thankful for that; something too new in a place like that would have seemed weird, for the time being.

He got dressed, took a bite, then pulled back the curtain. Hua Cheng was just outside, hiding in the shadows alongside the shrine, twirling the broom in his hand and watching the sky with a bored expression. The way he was watching the sky was as if he wanted to grab the sun and smash it into pieces. It wasn't surprising, but it still made Xie Lian chuckle.

All the fallen leaves that Xie Lian didn't clean the day before had been swept into a mound next to the entrance.

«Good morning!», he greeted him, going out the door.

Hua Cheng's lips lifted, but he didn't say anything. Maybe because of their... playful activities, last night, his braid seemed to be even more crooked, loose and casual than it was before. It actually looked quite funny, if one knew who the person bearing it was.

«Want me to help you with that?».

Still smiling, Hua Cheng nodded and went back inside with Xie Lian. As he sat down, another wave of memories washed over the Crown Prince, recalling how he did almost the exact same thing when Hua Cheng was simply San Lang and not a Ghost King that had been waiting centuries for him. It wasn't quite identical, because at the time they were outside an in a much different village, but it still made him happy.

At the time, he had thought that maybe his hair could tell him if the man was human or not. He didn't wear them in a braid, being in his true form back then, so finding an excuse to check them had been much more difficult. In the end, Xie Lian took advantage of a particularly bad hair day – he was now sure Hua Cheng messed up his inky locks on purpose – and found nothing.

He already knew something was amiss, but without proof there was absolutely no way he could say it. Thinking back, Xie Lian ran a terrible risk.

«You have beautiful hair, did you know that?», Xie Lian complimented him, for good reasons. Even in his youthful form, it was still soft and silky, black like the darkest of inks, spilling on his shoulders in his contrast with the blood red of his robes.

With his hair down he looked a lot more like his true form, still handsome with an added air of wickedness. He could fool many people, with that appearance. In fact, the villagers asked a lot of questions about him the day before, especially girls. Xie Lian, although he didn't really want to pop their bubble, didn't want to listen to them delude themselves so much; he couldn't help it, and blurted out they were married.

Luckily, aside from a bunch of disappointed whines, people simply congratulated them and went on with their day.

A small sound of appreciation came from Hua Cheng's lips, alongside a comment that told Xie Lian his hair were just as beautiful, and the Crown Prince felt heat crawling to his cheeks as he carefully combed black strands in place. Despite having spent quite a lot of decades together, by now, Xie Lian still couldn't get his head around those compliments. They were just so nice...!

He gently combed his fingers through Hua Cheng's hair after putting down the comb, and the Ghost King let out a laugh as if he was ticklish from the touch.

«What?».

Hua Cheng shrugged, turning his head slight to look at him: «I was just remembering», he said. «When you did this while trying to understand if I was human or not, you took so long... were you distracted, back then?».