A/n: So sorry for the lateness, but it is what it is! It's real life about I can do nothing about it🥺

But I make up to you with a long update.🥰

"You're all free for the rest of the day. As you know, the prince of Rose is missing, and I am not in the mood to eat alone. Besides, I'm not hungry at all, a nice tea would be plenty enough for me.", princess Yang Zi surprised the staff members responsible with the cooking of the royal dishes when she barged into the palace's kitchen.

"What tea would your Royal Highness prefer?", the headmaster chef asked, bowing before the princess.

"No  need for that, you can go, too. I want to prepare the tea with my own hands, this time.
A friend of mine gave me these special herbs, and she asked me to not let anyone else but me touch them.
Oh, and tell my bodyguard waiting outside, to not wait for me anymore. He is free for the rest of the day, too.
After preparing the tea, I might take a long walk in the garden, where I don't see his presence to be needed.
Have a nice free day, now go, go! All of you!", Andy replied, dismissing the happy employees with a "shoo" hand gesture.

After taking out the small bag of herbs  hidden in her waist purse, she excitedly boiled them, following Long Da Ni's recipe and indications.
"Cheer! Cheer to the rightful queen of Peony and to the future queen of Rose!
Don't worry Beauty, Yang Zi will make you a king! The king of the biggest and the strongest kingdom that China had ever heard of!
Long live the powerful King Xiao Zhan!
And long live Yang Zi, his beautiful and smart queen!
Beauty, just wait for me! Yang Zi is brave enough to go by herself to the mountain palace and serve you this magical potion!", she shouted, clinking a cup of steamy tea against a bottle filled with the rest of the tea.

But she started to cough, almost choking to death with the last gulp of liquid, at the loud thump. The kitchen door was knocked  to the ground by an unfamiliar man who was pointing a long knife in her direction.

"Help!
Guards!
Guards!
Help!", the terrified princess  screamed, forgetting that she dismissed the bodyguard responsible for her protection.

"Who are you and how dare you?
Put that knife down!
Do you realize that you will be hanged for threatening  a royalty?
What do you want? Food, are you hungry?
Look there is some bread on there, you can take it and leave right away!
I might forget that this has ever happened, only because Yang Zi is a merciful queen...well, a future queen! ", Andy shouted, trying to intimidate the man that was probably just a poor, hungry peasant.

"Shut the fu*k up!
Your voice is giving me a headache!
A queen my , ha ha! You are just a stupid cook. Queens don't stay in the kitchen!
Now tell me where his room is!
Hurry, or else I will cut your throat!", the thug grabbed Andy by her arm and  placed the knife under her chin to make his point.

"His room?
King Wang Yibo is not here, in this palace, he is at his dead mother's palace, you should go there to look for him!", Andy whispered, scared to death by now.

"Not him, you dumb cook!
We look for that ugly, stupid Xiao!
Hurry and tell us where he is, we lost enough time with the stupid you!", the thug screamed, starting to push the knife blade against the princess' delicate skin.

"Tell us?
You are more than one?", Andy asked, her curious nature winning over her fright.

"Yes, we are more!
And I am everyone and everything!
Now speak!
Where is that scum?
And why are you alone here?", another man cockily stepped over the broken door lying on the ground, followed closely by three more thugs.
He was probably the  leader of the gang, judging from the arrogance with which he was  rolling his eyes at the scared woman.

"I was just making tea for...
Prince Xiao Zhan is not here, I swear I'm telling the truth.
Please don't kill me!", Andy mumbled, trembling like a leaf while tears ran down her cheeks.

"What tea? You're lying, I see no tea!
This cup is empty!", the  villain screamed, breaking the cup  onto the wall behind Andy's head to scare her even more.

"There, there, in that bottle!
You can check it out, it's still hot!", Andy hurried to explain.
"No! No! Don't drink it!", she yelled...but it was too late, as the thug gulped the whole content of the bottle in one go.

The four thugs got shocked when their leader dropped onto his knees before the cook and started to chant:
"I love you, I love you!
God, you're beautiful!
I will make you a queen!
My queen!
I will make you the mother of my children!"

He shouted at the other four men:
"Get out, all of you!
And look out for any intruders!
We'll be busy for the next few minutes!"

Then he stood up and  plastered his cheek onto Andy's :
"Oh, your heart is beating for me.
I can feel how much you love me.
Come, my queen!
Let's start with giving me a nice, sweet kiss!
Then we will procreate our first heir!"

Yang Zi's foggy brain could still understand why she was not able to fight against the odd attraction she was feeling to that dirty thug, and why she was not able to protest against the ual aggression  that might happen to her. 

That's why Long Da Ni warned her that the tea must not be touched by anyone other than her and the targeted lover. The magic of the potion couldn't be undone.
 

But maybe...maybe...there is a chance that the thug is not a thug after all, but a prince.  A  Prince Charming!  A future king!

What if?

There might be a positive side in all this mess...

"You promise to make me a queen?", she whispered, while scrunching her nose at the disgusting scent of the thug's greasy hair tickling her cheek.

Hmm,  that smelly head crown was not even that disgusting, for some strange reason.
A queen, huh?

~Meanwhile in the forest~


"...
Wang Yibo...
Wang Yibo?
What in the world, is that you?", Xiao Zhan halted his constant self- rambling at the shocking view displayed before his eyes: a trembling man was  lying  on the freezing ground, curled into  the fetal position.

He quickly undressed his winter coat and wrapped the shivering  body in it, then pulled him into his lap, while  removing the rest of his own clothes.

"Don't worry, you will get warmer soon. This sweater is very thick, it's made from a special wool.
I'm sorry that the pants are ripped, thanks to a mean Snowflake, though.
You have probably caught just a mild cold, nothing serious. I will make a nice tea for you and everything will be just alright.", Beauty kept rambling while  struggling to dress the frozen man  without  having to remove him from his lap.

"Your father was so right.", the man weakly whispered.

"Oh, my goodness, you're conscious!", Beauty squealed  in happiness and leant to kiss his cold forehead.
"But what did you say?"

"I said that your father was right  to tell you that you talk too much.
I missed your rambling so much. ", Yibo smiled, savoring the hot breath ghosting his forehead,  with his eyes still closed.

"I missed you, too, so so much.", Beauty murmured while showering his whole face with delicate kisses.
"But now, let's get you up from  this frozen leaves pile! At least it seems like the snowing will stop soon.", he stood up, pulling Yibo up, then wrapping the woolen comforter around his neck.

"Oh, my goodness gracious!
You're  only in your underwear and tank top!", Yibo shouted, pushing Zhan away, so as to be able to quickly rip off the coat from his body.

"Stop, don't remove that,  it was a lot of effort to get you dressed, you know?
And don't worry about me, my blood is very hot, it will keep me warm enough!
Besides, I have fur to keep me warm, my legs are hairy, unlike yours, ha, ha.", Beauty laughed, trying to calm down Yibo's worry with his laughter, even though his teeth were rattling while speaking and his lips were already blue.
 

They both jumped in fright at the thunder shouts:
"Stop!
Your Highness!
ZhanZhan!
Yibao!
Stop!"

"Oh my god, ChiangCheng! I'm so happy that you're alright!
I was just coming to get you free  from the net, I swear that I don't lie to you, not this time! But I had to take care of him , first, he was...", Beauty started to explain while hugging his best friend who popped up out of nowhere.

"What the?!
What in the world, ZhanZhan?! You are , what the hell!
In this cold weather!
Is it another stupid prank joke of yours or what?", Wang ZhuoCheng screamed in horror, pushing the prince away so as to  rip off his own coat.

 "Wait, Cheng Di!
No need to undress! Did you forget that I got prince Xiao Zhan's luggage, too, not only yours?
Look here, I already opened it and grabbed something.", Liu HaiKuan jumped down from the horse and hurried to hand a couple of clothing pieces to ZhuoCheng.

Then HaiKuan turned to Wang Yibo, who looked like a lost, guilty stray puppy:
"And you, my King!
What is wrong with you, people?!
Why did you leave the palace?
Did you forget about your sickness?
Did you forget that you shouldn't interact or not even be seen by anyone?
How long has it passed since the crisis started, anyway?
Did you forget that an hour lasts an hour, no more, no less?!" 

"I know...I'm sorry...But I have a legit explanation, I will tell you everything that happened or almost happened...", Yibo looked on the ground like he was not the king, but a guilty child, scolded  for his naughtiness...

Liu HaiKuan felt regretful  for tormenting his beloved friend, like he was not in enough suffering, thus  he bowed before his king:
"I apologize for my rudeness, please forgive me, Your Highness!
It's just that you made me very worried.
Actually I must admit that it's my own fault, too, because I was late.
I have a good explanation for that, too.
On my way home, I got the scare of my life when I saw  lord Wang ZhuoCheng trapped in a net hanging from a tree branch...again...same as it happened to both of us before. In short, it took a bit of time until I managed to release him, that's why I was  late.
Anyways, we should  hurry back home!
Don't forget that you are sick!"

"Yes, you're very right about everything.
Prince of Rose and lord Wang ZhuoCheng should ride the horse.
And you will accompany me, as I feel like taking a walk back to the palace.
We should all get going.
On different routes, though.
I am a sick person and I don't want to get them sick too.", Wang Yibo patted his loyal friend on his back before starting to walk away from the other two men.

But Beauty jumped in front of them and clenched tightly a hand on Yibo's sleeve:
"Wait!
It's too late for that!
I am already sick, look, ahem, ahem, I'm coughing and...I feel ill, the same as you do!
Therefore you should take me with you to live with you in the palace.
I promise to take good care of  both of us!
Lord Wang ZhuoCheng probably caught the disease, too, when I hugged him...I'm sorry ChianCheng for that!
But I think that you would be much safer if you come living with us in the palace. The possible enemies will be afraid of catching the virus from  us and they will leave us alone."

Wang Yibo couldn't refrain himself from smiling at Beauty's endearing cuteness and tireless determination, but he  fought his inner feelings and  composed himself. Even though it was really hard to do so, with Beauty's face plastered against his chest.

Wang ZhuoCheng unclenched Beauty's hand from the Peony's King's arm and pulled him away from his close proximity:
"Oh, Your Royal Highness, cut it off!
Maybe we didn't catch it, though.
Why do you have to always give me such a hard time?
Why don't you ever behave?
Don't you see that we are not welcome to live there with them?
You said that you would try finding the cure of this strange, unknown  disease. So, if we are sick indeed, I count on you to try finding the antidote while living in that separate building. "

Liu HaiKuan butted in:
"It's not like we don't want you to live with us in the palace.
But we  just wish to keep you safe and away from this dangerous virus.
Yes, there is a big chance that you didn't get the disease.
Let me explain. I was sick from this when I was a child. The doctor who treated me was the only one who had knowledge about this virus, but his studies were never found after his death.
Anyways, from the little I remember, the doctor said that it's transmissible only through body liquids contact, I suppose that he was talking about blood.
But don't t