Han Lian Ai's room

"The moon is shining, it looks so round and surreal from here."

Han Lian Ai was laying on the wooden red window sill. Her head was almost upside down, trying to get a clear view of the sky.

"I knew it! It is better to view it like this."

"Sister!"

Someone came in running and hugged her.

"Xia?" Han Lian Ai called.

Han Wu Xia was clinging on to her, he did not seem to let go. His arms on her neck, strangling her.

"Xia, Xia..., sister can't, can't, breath... Ugh..."

"Oh! Oops, sorry Sister..." Han Wu Xia apologetically said. Han Lian Ai held her neck and tried to catch her breath.

I swear this boy is lethal!

Han Wu Xia was carrying a box with an earring inside. Han Lian Ai tilted her head when she realized that the earing was the same as the one the real Han Lian Ai's shadow had in her dream.

The earing with a big blue gemstone.

"That is..."

"Ah, we removed it when you collapsed two months ago." Han Wu Xia gave the earing to Han Lian Ai. "Here, put it on."

"Oh, alright." Han Lian Ai picked the earring up and looked at it a little bit closer. She felt like this earring was not ordinary. The earing was made of white gold and jade, it was definitely made by the most skillful craftsman. The details were carefully being done from the tip of the hook until the place where the blue gemstone was placed.

"This earring... how did I get it?"

"Hm? Father gave it to you, you don't remember?"

"Uh..." Han Lian Ai could not say no, could she? "Of course I remember, ha, haha..."

Han Lian Ai hurriedly wore the earing in her left ear, she smiled awkwardly. Han Wu Xia's dark eyes became darker.

"..." Han Wu Xia looked at the earring on her left ear, contemplating. "Sister..."

"Yes, Xia?"

"You do know that the earing should be worn on your right ear right?"

"Eh?" Han Lian Ai blinked twice. "Oh, sorry, I forgot..."

Just then, Han Lian Ai reached for the earing on her left ear.

"Forgot, eh?"

Han Wu Xia swiftly took a hold of Han Lian Ai's hand and stopped her from reaching her ears. The eyes of the crown prince glinted dangerously as he glared at the woman in front of him.

"More like you didn't know at all."

Han Lian Ai's eyes widened, she did not foresee what happened next.

Han Wu Xia's black eyes turned amber and gold.

He is using the Kirin* tribe's power!

Oh no, he is serious!

Han Wu Xia knocked Lian Ai onto the wall with a single swing of his arm. He gave Lian Ai no time to breath when he pinned her neck. In a freezing cold, low voice, full of rage and fury, he asked.

"Tell me, who are you?"

Gulp.

Hui Lei had a taste of the Kirin tribesmen's monstrous strength in the past. He wanted to hold Han Lian Ai's strength back. He could do that if only he had the complete control of Han Lian Ai body. But-

The existence of Hui Lei's soul in this body was not steady. She fainted today. Hui Lei gritted his teeth.

I can't fight him back!

Han Wu Xia's grip around her neck tightened. Han Lian Ai began to lose her breath.

"Xia, Xia, hold on... listen, listen to me, gasp!" Han Lian Ai struggled to speak. "Please, let, me, explain.  Cough, I, I can not talk like this."

Han Wu Xia furrowed his brows before he let her go. His eye color went back to black. He stepped back and let Han Lian Ai drop to the ground, couching.

"..." Han Wu Xia's mind was a mess, he almost never used his power unless he was in danger.

He looked at his hand. He had this power within him yet he could not use it when the fire got to his mother. The poison got into his Kirin blood, stained it, restricted it.

He cursed himself over and over. He was useless, he was weak.

Han Wu Xia clenched his hand, he calmed his rage down before speaking in a voice full of authority. "Speak!"

"Cough..."

Hui Lei could not believe that someone got him so fast.

He knew that he lacked the personal information of Han Lian Ai, as in her personality and such since he only met her when she was an infant.

Yet, he thought that people had let it slide with the rumors that after the fire, her personality changed.

To think that my cover was blown out by such a young boy... it seems that I underestimated him.

Han Lian Ai put her hand on the floor, trying to not collapse.

"Han Lian Ai... your sister... she..."

"She is no longer in this world?"

"..."

Huh?

Hui Lei's eyes widened, his mouth was opened a bit as he gazed up, not believing his ears.

Han Wu Xia's eyes were dark, so dark and dreary that Hui Lei could not help but gasp. He frowned, his head bent down and his hair covering his eyes. Slowly, unbeknown to Hui Lei, Wu Xia's eyes became damp. With difficulty, he said.

"She departed, didn't she?" Han Wu Xia looked like he wanted to swallow his own words. His voice trembled. "Sister..."

"..." Hui Lei did not know what to say. He kept his words and explanations to himself and let the silence speak as his answer to Wu Xia's question.

Is she dead?

-----

Hui Lei told him about who he was after Han Wu Xia calmed down and silently sat on the couch.

Hui Lei that was inside Han Lian Ai looked at the boy and asked him.

"How did you figure out that your sister was no longer in this world."

"When the fire happened, your heart did not beat. Your body was on top of me yet I can't hear a thing. I was nervous then." Han Wu Xia answered with a low voice and a sad tone. "Yet, you woke up after, so I thought sister was fine."

"... Don't you find my story unbelievable? I mean, my soul went into your sister's body and such."

"Of course." Han Wu Xia made a bitter face. "With your personality completely different and you having zero knowledge of My Sister's life."

Han Wu Xia stood up and faced Han Lian Ai.

"It is as unbelievable as thinking that my sister was replaced with someone else even though I was with her all the time."

Han Wu Xia sarcastically smirked. Hui Lei frowned.

"You may be able to fool everyone, even father, Hui Lei. But not me, I have been with her since I was an infant, I know all about her."

"Oh?" Hui lei found that remark rather amusing. "So the old excuse of personality change after one's parent's death won't convince you?"

"No, of course, no, mate." Han Wu Xia raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell would believe that?"

He brushed the thought off. Han Wu Xia suddenly turned his back and raised his left hand while his right hand was on her chest.

"My sister was a saint! A gentle, kind, and perfect beauty! Her body and soul were as pure and flawless as jade! Untainted by this world. There is no way she suddenly became someone as daring as you in a single night!..."

"..." Han Wu Xia kept praising the real Han Lian Ai and that made Hui Lei think of an idea.

"You are a sly and shrewd fox lays on a bed of lies, a dirty liar! Very, very, very different from my goddess-like sister..."

Just in time Han Lian Ai cut his word. "Xia."

"Yep?' Han Wu Xia who was praising his sister to the heaven while walking around the room stopped.

"Don't tell me you have..." Han Lian Ai scrutinized her brother. Looking up and down, she landed at his dark black eyes in the end. She tilted her head and bluntly popped the question.

"Sister complex?"

Han Lian Ai received a sudden punch on the back of her head.

"Ouch..." She held her head on the place the punch landed. She growled. "You did not need to hit me so..."

Han Lian Ai looked at Han Wu Xia's face in bewilderment.

His face was glowing pink and red.

Eh?

"Shut the..." Han Wu Xia trembled. "Shut the hell up! You damned Hui Lei!"

"Agh!" Han Lian Ai swiftly moved to avoid Han Wu Xia's attack. But it was no use, she still got hit.

"Idiot!" Han Wu Xia shouted before he ran out of the room.

"..." Han Lian Ai was left behind sitting on the floor with her hand rubbing the aching and sore places.

"Hee..." She grinned. "That was totally unexpected, haha."

-----

*Kirin is one of the three ancient tribes.