Chapter 1: The two princesses!

As she walks through the corridor that leads to the west wing of the palace, the second princess continuously murmurs a song learned in one of the nearest villages. This keeps up for a long time, but her behaviour is unnoticed by the maids who are accompanying her. The poor servants are worried to death because of their master's crisis and no one notices what really happens behind them. After a long walk between the cramped cold walls of the corridor, they make a detour through a open space that allows you to see the beautiful flowers from the gardens, and finally enter the west side of the massive residence. What home can be more pompous and luxuriant than a royal palace from a small and rich kingdom? The views definitely don't disappoint the traveler's eye!

In a short time, they arrive in front of Ah-Xua's locked dormitory and the maids announce the presence of the second princess .

"Please excuse us, princess, your sister pays you a visit today! She's been waiting in front of the doors for a long time! We have told her that you don't want to be disturbed, but she insists to speak with you. What should we do?"

No one answers and the entire room is buried in silence. The servants do not dare to ask twice the same question, so they look at the second princess with begging eyes.

Suddenly, a maid whispers to Xilan: "Please help us second princess!"

Xilan lets out a deep sigh and heads toward the door of her sister's dormitory. Here, the girl stops in front of it, takes a even deeper breath inside her lungs, closes her eyes in sign of meditation and slowly knocks on it. Once, twice, even a third time but no one answers. The second princess opens her eyes and looks at the locked door for some time until she starts speaking: "Jiejie, it's me, Xilan! Please open the door and let me in! I have come to play our favorite game: "hide and seek"...she says.

Soon after her words, the reply from her big sister comes: "I said I don't want to see anyone!"

"Not even me?"...asks Xilan.

"No one!"...yells Ah-Xua.

The servants of the first princess become more and more panicked after seeing that not even the little sister's presence does not help and they start running from place to place like some tiny scared mouses.

Instead, Xilan ignores all the bustle around her and continues to talk with her pampered sister.

"Jiejie, I know that you are upset right now, but, please let me in! I really want to talk to you!"....implores the second princess.

After this, Ah-Xua slowly opens the door, drags her sister inside in a hurried manner and fastly closes the door back so that no servant can come inside.

Xilan can't even realize what has just happened and her breath is unstable. She says to her sister: "Jiejie, lower you grip, or I will suffocate soon!" Even though Ah-Xua wasn't a strong person, it was really hard to breathe because of her sister's arm wrapped around her neck. At that moment, the first princess looks at her arm and the way she is holding her own sister. Only then, Ah-Xua realizes that she is just focusing on locking the door back and is not paying attention at her sister's body at all. She starts apologizing: "Xilan, forgive me! I pulled you so fast that I did not see how I grabbed you. Are you alright now?"

The second princess straightens her back and arranges the ruffled clothes while murmuring to her sister: "I am fine, jiejie!"

The both girls, holding hands, walk through the living room and enter the dormitory. They head toward the massive bed and sit down on the soft and floral printed linen. A peony fragrance refreshes the entire bedroom. In a corner, parallel with the bed is placed a small table full of jewels and powder boxes, and also a huge mirror fixed on the wall. Also, in the center of the room is placed a large vase with white roses. A bit further, in a different corner is placed a voluptuous wardrobe engraved with the beautiful pattern of two flying cranes.

Ah-Xua who is still holding her sister's hands into hers, affectionately looks into Xilan's blue like the water eyes. She studies her little sister's brown hair and notices the hairpin gifted by their father at the birth of the second princess.

"You're still wearing it?"...laughs Ah-Xua.

"Of course I am wearing it! It's a gift from our father, the king!"...says Xilan.

"You also have one identical with mine, jiejie!"...continues the second princess.

"Yes. I also have one but I am not wearing it all the time. I have so many hairpins that I don't know which one to wear anymore!"...laughs the first princess.

For a few minutes, their conversation stops and the room becomes silent and boring like a huge expanse of sand. There are so many things to say but no one dares to say a word. The silence is painful, but somehow, Xilan finds the courage to speak again.

"Jiejie, look at yourself now, your skin is so pale! I have heard that you haven't eaten anything since the announcement of the royal edict. You can't go on like this!"...says Xilan while brushing her sister's tangled hair with her fingers.

Probably the first princess hasn't done that for some time. Xilan gets up from the bed and fetches a white jade comb from the table.

"Let me comb your hair, Ah-Xua! I haven't done that since I was small. You remember how we were using to fix each other's hairstyles in the past?"...says Xilan.

"I remember. And my mother was so angry because you were pulling out too much hair from my head!"...laughs Ah-Xua.

"Jiejie, that was not my fault! Your hair is simply too fragile and it falls so easily! This is why you have to take care of yourself more!"...murmurs the second princess.

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