Only Manni remained in the tent, and she stood out of earshot at the entrance.
ili sighed heavily, "once again, Bai Li, I must thank you for saving my life. I haven’t seen you since that day on Purple Mountain, so please allow to formally thank you for coming to my rescue, again. It’s beco such a habit that I could never repay you, even if we had three lifetis together."
"I hope we’ll have many more lifetis than that together, i ili," he couldn’t resist replying. "And you can more than repay in this lifeti," his eyes took on a devilish glint, and she ducked her head, not rising to the bait as she usually would.
"i ili," he said softly, looking her directly in the eye, "has sothing happened at the palace? What aren’t you telling ?"
She quickly turned her face from him. "N...no. N...nothing," she stamred. "It’s nothing Bai Li, please don’t worry about any more than you already do. With what you have to be concerned about, I really don’t want you worrying about my trifling concerns."
She stood up with forced brightness and turned her back on him as she felt his concern for her cause her eyes to well with tears.
The last thing she wanted was to add to his worries with her trivial life dramas, which she could handle perfectly well on her own. Maybe not ’perfectly well’, but at least, ’handle’...
He stood up and strode over to her, gripping her by the shoulders and turning her back around to face him, where he imdiately saw the tears threatening to spill from her lashes.
"i ili," he growled, "you must tell what’s going on this instant. I don’t care how trifling it is. I’ll be the judge of that."
She tried to smile up at him as though there was nothing wrong, but her lower lip threatened to betray her as she felt it quiver, and she blinked rapidly, trying to stem the gathering tide of tears.
"N...no Bai Li. It’s really n...nothing," her voice quavered, making a liar of her.
Bai Li pursed his lips and lowered his brows threateningly at her, "i ili..." he said in a low voice.
"How could I possibly trouble you with my insignificant girlish worries while you have the future of this Country resting on your shoulders? No, please don’t ask again. Manni and I must go now. The Emperor has spared for longer than he wanted, and I know you have many pressing matters to deal with."
She tried to remove his hands from her shoulders and free herself to leave his tent.
"i ili," he said seriously, "if you think I’m letting you go now without telling what’s troubling you, then you have less sense than I credit you with. Sit back down at once and please put out of my misery imdiately by telling what has happened. I know you well enough to know it’s not insignificant when it’s written so deeply on your face. Anyway, I’ll be more worried not knowing what it is now, so you have to tell ," he said with satisfaction at his logic.
He called to Manni, "Manni, bring us so tea and rock sugar please".
"Yes Commander, right away," she rushed off, leaving them all alone.
"Now, i ili, sit down and tell what has happened to make you so sad."
He lead her across to his comfortable seating and sat her in a chair, pulling his own up alongside her.
"Bai Li," she wiped her eyes and looked at him, "I didn’t co here to add to your burdens by sharing my own. I can manage this problem myself. I really don’t need your help. It would give peace of mind if you can let it go and trust that I’ll certainly tell you anything you need to know, at the right ti."
"No," he said implacably. "I can’t let it go, and you will tell . I’m sure you would wish to do the sa. Think how I’ll be up at night worrying instead of getting my much-needed sleep if you don’t tell ," he gave her his best puppy dog eyes.
They weren’t very good, him being completely unused to making such an expression, but she understood his intent.
She sighed in resignation. "Alright Bai Li, but you must promise not to act on what I tell you, and to leave the worrying to !"
He raised a single eyebrow at her, pushing her to continue. She failed to notice that he hadn’t promised her anything at all.
"Unexpectedly, the Second Prince asked to et with ," she paused while she considered how best to explain what had taken place without making Bai Li angry.
Bai Li had a feeling he knew where this was going...
"Well, you know he’s under enormous pressure because he has agreed to marry Li Fengfeng, and it’s happening so soon," she tried to excuse the prince’s actions. "The poor man really hasn’t had ti to adjust to this bad news, even though he has agreed to it because he, in truth, had no other choice..."
"Go on, i ili. You don’t need to try and justify whatever his actions have been," Bai Li’s face was growing more and more thunderous.
"Sohow as the date for his wedding approaches," she hurried on, "he has managed to convince himself that he’s... he’s... Oh, this is ridiculous. I said so at the ti," she looked away, placing her hand across her mouth.
Bai Li shifted his head around to place his face in front of hers, his eyebrows raised.
"He told that he loved ," she blurted out.
She laughed nervously.
"I know it sounds laughable, but there it is. I believe he has confused our friendship with feelings of romantic love... though he denies it," she admitted. "He seeks so comfort as he must leave for Gu with Li Fengfeng, and he wants to take with him. Like a little piece of ho."
She looked anxiously at Bai Li now that she’d said what she had to say.
"It’s not laughable that a man might love you, i ili," Bai Li said gently, although he was shaking with anger and jealousy in equal asure.
"In what capacity did he ask you to go with him? What would your status be?"
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