Neither of us moved a muscle. We were lost in the moment, our lips sealed tightly against each other as the chaotic world disappeared into oblivion.

Of all people in this world, once again I had to be kissed by emperor Meilin. 

But this time I didn't fight back. I didn't reject him. Complicated feelings started to converge into forbidden thoughts.

Unsteady feelings started to invade my heart, forcing me to surrender myself to the stranger who was embracing me. 

I was lost in his kiss.

His lips were so soft and so warm that even my willpower was lost to this recalcitrant desire.

I let myself drown in this newfound warmth. I let my brain shut down all the unexplainable things I had experienced in the past few minutes and decided to blend in with the rhythm of our lips. The whole world seemed to vanish away and my mind was at ease.

There was no rejection...there was only comfort and passion.

I closed my eyes and wrapped my hands around his neck...leaning into his face so that there was no space left between us. I felt like I was in a dream: a dream of alleviation and solace, a dream from which I would never be awoken.

I didn't want to break away from the kiss. Instead, all I wanted to do was to cling to this amorous feeling for as long as I could. 

While being sunk in a dreamy daze, I ran my fingers along the gorgeous strands of the emperor's silky black hair. Although things could have escalated with a different turn, something in my mind shifted and woke me up from the dazed glee. My consciousness grew stronger, forcing me to realize the gravity of my unconscious actions.

 

Like a turbulent wind that blew away the burning flames of a forlorn candle, I moved my lips away from the emperor's and stepped back. So just like that, I broke off the kiss with unnoticeable reflexes while standing still in a stupefied demeanor.

With the sudden realization of my act of utter foolishness, I facepalmed myself and closed my eyes. 

I didn't dare to open my eyelids because of the embarrassment simmering in my heart. 

My heart kept hammering against my chest while blood rushed to my cheeks panically.

"I shouldn't have kissed," I whispered almost to myself. Shudders of anxiety kept running through my body continuously.

"But you did kiss me back. So now open your eyes," emperor Meilin said in a calm considerate manner. His voice somehow seemed so distant and nonchalant. This was the first time the cold king acted with such heartsease. 

Panic was still rising in my chest but I decided to face my deepest fear: obeying the emperor no matter what.

 I didn't want to be the victim of his mood swings today as well.

So I opened my eyes and braced myself to face whatever fate was in store for me. Although I prepared myself to face the chaotic world of people and weird phenomena and also the emperor who I might have pissed off, what I didn't expect to see was an orchard of peach blossoms.

Why did everything just keep growing weirder and weirder?

 I opened my eyes to find myself standing in a forest of peach blossoms. My eyes widened with surprise. The once scarlet and eerie night had been replaced with a field of colors. Standing beneath the outstretched branches, the sweet fragrance of peach blossoms swept away the bitter fear in my heart.

Hold up for a second! How did I end up in an orchard of flowers? What happened to the banquet! Now I was really starting to panic!

"Don't look so bewildered. I teleported us away from the banquet. If we stayed at the banquet any longer, things could have gone crazy," the emperor had a stoic expression pasted across his face. He looked as if he was fighting with some sort of annoyance. It was obvious that he was annoyed because of me. Maybe it's because I'm always confused and he has to explain himself when something comes up. 

Well, what can I say?... I'm the innocent victim who was pulled into the world of magic without any warning. I will no longer be able to live a silent normal life.

"Then where are we? What is this place?" I kept my inner thoughts aside and asked with a weak voice.

"I brought us to the Spring Manor. It's the only place I  thought would make you feel at ease. Sorry if my acts startled you," his dark eyes looked straight into mine in a sentimental manner.

Maybe he meant well and he really did care for me... in a good way, I mean. I hoped so. I never want to see the emperor's inconsistent side again! That was a pledge I forced my soul to take on behalf of my better future.

"So then what happened to me? How did the..." I stopped midsentence and searched for the moon in the haunting sky. The moon wasn't red anymore. But it still had a light pink shade enveloped around its surface. One had to agree that the pink moon did resemble the beauty of the peach blossom forest. 

I subconsciously examined my hands because of the sudden flashback of the bizarre turn of events. My hands didn't have gilded creepers of light flowing around them. Nor was there any source of strange light revolving around my body. 

"My fingers are not covered by glittering sparks anymore," I said while observing my fingers with close inspection. 

"What happened to me? What's wrong with me? And why did the moon turn red? Have I really gone crazy or did all of it really happen?" I asked breathlessly while fighting the urge to get answers to all my questions. 

"You haven't gone crazy. And yes everything really did happen and it wasn't a weird dream. As for the red moon, it was an eclipse. In the cultivation world, it's referred to as the blood moon. If such an eclipse does take place, it means that someone special has performed some sort of powerful ritual. So you seem to be having a powerful spiritual core Ziyi. You're so mysterious and amusing.  

Our every encounter sparks something new. Does it not?" the emperor gave me that signature devilish smile of his and leaned forward so that both our faces were merely inches away. I could even feel his warm breath caressing my face in a teasing manner.

He was still smiling and something about that smile made me feel so small and so uneasy.

"You impressed me today Ziyi. Actually, I have a hunch of what you might really be."

"And what may that be?" I asked with a fear-stricken voice. But I stood straight and didn't move away so that the emperor knew he wasn't intimidating me with his close proximity.

"You'll know soon enough. But first, I need to clarify something," he said with a glint in his black opal eyes. 

What was it that he wanted to clarify? This made me really nervous because I could never guess what the emperor was thinking. He was the most unpredictable person I have ever met and the most unruly man I have ever encountered.

"You didn't reject my kiss. Does that mean you liked it? Or are you really starting to fall for me?" Emperor Meilin had this hedonistic smile spreading across his lips. 

 The haunting light that reflected off his black and silver hanfu together with his vicious smile only made him look more like a sinister demon prince. 

He was a demon prince playing with my emotions and messing with my head. I was so angry that I wanted to yell at him and say "I did reject your kiss in the end! It was a mistake!" 

But my mind went blank and my lips didn't utter a word. Instead, I looked at his flawless face and thought of what it felt like to be kissed by him.

Did I really hate it or did I actually accept the kiss?