Chapter 34
A za is surprised she makes it through the night without a nightmare, and heads to meet Zhou and the King with a smile. They greet her warmly as she enters and takes her seat.
“I trust you slept well and enjoyed your breakfast?” Zhou asks.
“Yes, thank you.”
“Princess Amiaza, it is my hope that we can eventually agree on a mutually beneficial alliance through marriage. I have only spoken with your father briefly. If you would, please enlighten us on what your kingdom is looking for in this alliance.”
“In all honesty—food. As you can imagine, constant heat and miles of sand aren’t ideal conditions for growing crops or maintaining livestock.
We do have some villages that have more favorable lands for growing and raising, but we need our seeds and livestock to come from somewhere, and we need a constant supply of food to fill in the gaps of what we cannot grow and maintain. ”
“I see. I can imagine this is a hard feat for your kingdom.”
“It has proved to be a challenge, but nothing we are not willing to overcome. Where we may lack in some areas, we have a plethora of valuable goods to exchange. Please tell me what it is you would like to receive from an alliance.”
“For starters, I want my son to have a wife when the throne is passed to him. After that, he will need an heir to continue on the family line.”
“Father, that is not something we have to discuss at the moment. I am sure Princess Aza is aware of what comes later in a marriage. Let’s instead speak of what the Kingdom needs and what her kingdom can provide.”
Aza gives him a small smile, thanking him for changing the direction of the conversation. Although King Yuanjun had been nothing but pleasant to her, men speaking about her body and purpose made her extremely uncomfortable. Zhou, fortunately, could tell and put a stop to it.
The King looks at his son with what may have been a slightly irritated look, but then returns his attention to Aza, “My apologies. I hope I didn’t cross a line.”
“It is quite all right, Sire.”
“Good. As for our kingdom, we are in need of metals. Our population is growing rapidly. We need to improve and expand our villages and our infrastructure for crops and livestock. Unfortunately, we have hardly any mines to obtain such materials. We have relied heavily on lumber, but it has not been withstanding as well as we need it to.”
“On the contrary, we have an abundance of mines and supplies of various metals, as well as other materials that can be used in building. We could offer you gold, silver, iron, and copper, as well as limestone and granite. Would that be satisfactory?”
“Yes, my dear. We could work with all of those. We would require amounts that equal at least one thousand more homes and two hundred infrastructure units. In return, every quarter I will offer twenty percent of our livestock yield, twenty five percent of our crop yield, and twenty five percent of our seed supply. And if you find yourself in a position where food is low again, we can easily send an emergency supply. Does that sound like it could be arranged?”
“I think that is a very generous offer. I will, however, have to discuss with my father and get his approval.”
“Of course. How about I draft up a letter to send to your father, aligning what we have discussed and the offer I have?”
“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea.”
“I will do that today. Is there anything else you require? Or anything else we can do to make your transition easier?”
“I would need to have my personal guard be granted citizenship and stay on as my personal guard. He has been trusted with my life for many years, and has never failed at keeping me safe.”
“Done.”
Aza looks over to Zhou who grins,.
“I would also like to be able to visit my home and father as well.”
“We have plenty of ships that we can arrange for travel for you.”
“Thank you. As of right now, I cannot think of anything further I will require.”
“Very well. If you do require something further, please let me know, and we will do our best to accommodate.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” She bows her head.
“It is my pleasure. Now I will leave you two to enjoy your day together.” He stands and leaves the room.
“Want to grab some snacks from the kitchens and go explore more of the castle? And then I can take you to see some of our villages, and you can meet some of my people.”
“I like the sound of that.”
He grins and jumps out of his chair, coming to grab Aza’s hand and dragging her with him to the kitchens, making her laugh along the way.
When they are done raiding the pantry, Zhou takes her on a proper tour, showing her the important parts of the castle and explaining how various things work around it. Aza listens intently and smiles every time he introduces a staff member or guard by name.
After the castle tour is complete, he takes her to the closest village to the castle.
It is bustling with people doing all kinds of tasks.
Aza sees women doing laundry, caring for babies, reading, and an abundance of other activities.
Men dressed in farming outfits walk around the town.
Some are carrying farm tools, wood, and other materials.
Children run past, laughing. The farther they head into the village, the more people there are.
Groups converse together. And even further, there seems to be a market that is getting flocked to.
The villagers bow as they pass. Zhou always returns with a head nod or a small bow himself.
When they reach the market, Aza sees endless booths of unique items. The first one they stop at is a jeweler.
There are endless options from bracelets to necklaces to rings.
A pure-gold ring that resembles what looks like a sun and a flower catches Aza’s eye, and she goes to look more closely.
A gorgeous diamond sits in the middle, and other diamonds are placed in an intricate metal design, giving it the look of a shining sun and flower mixed together.
“This one is absolutely gorgeous.”
“Try it on, dear.”
“Oh, I don’t want to impose. Unfortunately, I can not buy anything at the moment.”
“Just try it on.” Zhou encourages, coming up behind her.
“Yes, dear. You can just try it on. No pressure to buy.”
“Alright.”
Aza takes the ring from the woman. She begins to try to slip it onto her first finger, but Zhou stops her instead, pointing to her ring finger and wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Aza slips the ring on her finger and is surprised to find a perfect fit.
She turns around quickly to find Jahar to show him.
When she looks at his face, he looks solemn.
But his face quickly softens when Aza shows him how excited she is about the ring.
He steps closer to her and takes her hand gently, looking at the ring on her finger, “It looks beautiful on you.”
Aza smiles up at him. Something shifts in his expression, and he lets go of her hand, stepping backwards. Her smile falters. She slips the ring off quickly.
She hands it back to the woman and thanks her, reminding her again of how beautiful it is before continuing down the path of booths. She stops at more, taking a keen interest in the flower booths. Zhou ends up buying her five different flowers to take home.
They spend the rest of the day traveling to various villages.
Zhou introduces her to his people, and they are overjoyed with the prospect of a new queen.
They all praise her and give her gifts. She feels so welcomed here, and she can barely contain her emotions.
Aza can see how much the people love their prince and how truly he cares for them and their well-being, and it eases something in her.
They decide to eventually turn in for dinner.
Where Zhou and Aza can’t hide their smiles at the table.
Li joins them and continues to roll his eyes at them.
Aza invited Jahar and Bennu to sit and eat with them.
Bennu hesitantly accepted the offer. Jahar, on the other hand, said he wasn’t hungry, and he stayed plastered to the wall.
Aza doesn’t understand him. She’s doing exactly what he told her to do: move on from him and fulfill her duty as the Princess.
Aza tried to stay optimistic despite the sadness she felt over Jahar.
Zhou took Aza up to the roof again after dinner to see the sunset.
This time, she invited Jahar to join them again, but he refused, and this time, Bennu stayed with him.
Despite the aches in her chest, she enjoyed watching the sunset with Zhou.
His land was beautiful, and the setting of the sun only highlighted that.
It feels perfect, and Aza was thankful that he shared it with her.
After the sun set, they snuck into the wine cellar again and grabbed another bottle. They brought it back to her room. Aza and Zhou sat on her bed, taking turns drinking down the liquid, asking each other far too personal and inappropriate questions.
Zhou talked about how upset Li was when he found out he had spilled their secret, and how Li moaned that night when he gave Zhou the perfect punishment. Aza couldn’t help the burning blush that entered her cheeks. Zhou loved making fun of her for that.
The more drunk Aza got, the more secrets and fantasies she had about Jahar slipped out. He seemed to be the only thing she could think of and talk about.
“I wisssh there wasss a way you be with Li Li and I be with Jahar,” she hiccups between words, “We deserve them.”
Aza’s words slowly stop making sense as she lays back in bed, Zhou rolling off the bed and onto the floor. She tried to get up to check on him, but sleep pulled her in.
Despite being drunk and drowsy, Aza swears she sees Jahar. A sheet? A blanket? He’s grunting. Is he angry? She couldn’t focus or keep her eyes open. Maybe she’s dreaming. Sleep enveloped her again.
“Aza! Aza bean! Wake up!”