~Xiao Zhan’s POV:

I can’t see or hear anything from what is going on around, but I can feel that something important is happening.

That imbecile, Wen Chao, stuffed my ears with dried herbs or something, and blindfolded me , too, when he kidnapped me. And didn't remove the stuff when he chained me up to a rock, probably to prevent me from figuring out his criminal plans.
God, I hope that he didn’t harm in any way Baba (A/n: Dad in Chinese)!
My Father, my king! Please forgive me for giving priority to my stupid obsessive love, over your well being and over Rose’s interests! I pray and hope for you and the kingdom to be out of danger, and I pray to escape alive from this sh!tty situation, so as to be able to come home and fight for Rose!

What is this? Am I shaking so badly from hunger and thirst…or is it an earthquake?

“What the?!
Wen Chao, is this your smart plan? Did you kidnap me, chain me and starve me, only for feeding me to the wild animals?”, I scream when I feel furry and claws touching my skin.
I am able to scream, because Wen Chao  left my mouth free, probably  in the hope that I would enchant him with my begs to spare my life, or maybe  to divulge who knows what secrets.

And I’m really starting to scream, freaked out at the strong animal lifting me and throwing me on its shoulders:
“Oh, no, no! Please, I love animals, I was never your enemy! 
Please, Mister Animal, please don’t eat me! I’m not even tasty, I lost some pretty much weight lately! Heeelp!!!!!” 

I’m sorry for not being brave enough, but I must admit that I am terrified, especially when feeling  the cold wind pinching my face. So, the animal took me outside the cave, maybe to share the prey with its pack buddies.
Ugh, what a sad way of dying!
“Goodbye life!! Goodbye, I loved you all!”, I scream one last time, and inhale deeply, ready to accept my horrible  fate.

I swallow down my scream when I feel the terrifying claws on my cheeks…Will he start with tearing off my face?
The claws run upper and instead of ripping my head off my neck, they tear the blindfold off my eyes and start scooping the dirty tuft out my ears, after I am seated down on something that it’s moving. Probably a smaller animal.

I try squinting , but  I am still blind and see nothing, except some blurry  shadows, after such a long time of darkness.

“Shhh, you are safe now.
Please, don’t panic, we are here to save you, not to eat you, even though your sweet cuteness is very inviting in eating you, ha, ha.”, a voice coming directly from hell growled.

I can finally  distinguish the surroundings, after rubbing my eyes, but I instantly regret that I can see!
The owner of the growling voice is a huge furry monster! And the monster is talking like a human!!!!!!!!!

“What in the world?!!!”, I slap my face hard.
“Am I dreaming?
Am I unconscious?
Am I already dead and in hell?”

The monster crouches down and grabs my hands ready to apply another round of slaps on my cheeks:
“Neither of those. 
Beauty, don’t panic, we are not here to harm you.
We saved you from Wen Chao’s criminal hands and now we will take you to a safe place.
Don’t be scared that we can talk, we are  just a bit different from other animals.
Well, we can say that only he is an animal, a fawn, while I am a beast.
But, I promise you that we are both on your side and will protect you.”

“Only now I notice the other animal that the monster is talking-growling  about.
As I assumed before, I am sitting on a smaller animal’s back. It’s a delicate fawn that must be a very strong fawn, considering that he is supporting my weight like a strong horse in its saddle.

“A fawn, just an animal? It’s sparkling, what the heck!”, I shout, preparing to slap myself again and to jump down from the weird creature’s back.

“Stay still, don’t move so much, if you want to help me in  carrying you.
You’re not such a small load, you know?
But you are too weak to walk, that’s why I’m carrying you.
And we must hurry, the dawn is almost here!”, the fawn says…

The fawn says…

The fawn SAYS???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“You can talk like a human, too?, I talk-scream.
"Same as Mister Monster? I mean, Mister Beast?
This is not real!
This is not happening!
But, but,  where is Mister Monster?”

I am silenced by a horrifying howl coming from the forest nearby. A howl that sounds familiar to me somehow. 
It’s the same creepy howl that I heard all those nights spent in the castle bedroom.
And now that I think about it, it’s the same howl that crept me and Chiang Cheng out before, and not only once, but twice.

“Keep your eyes ahead!    
Don’t look over there!
You are safe, please listen to me, and don’t look!”

I don’t listen anymore to the sparkling fawn and start running towards the forest that seems like it's on fire.

But the fawn was right, I am too weak to run. I just  stumble upon my own feet and fall down in the snow, hitting the side of my head onto a log.

I don’t know if I am losing my consciousness and hallucinating  or what I see it’s real.
Nothing seems real anyway what is happening to me, from the very start.

So maybe what I see right now is the same as everything from before,  only a hallucination!
I see Mister Beast howling and twisting in pain like his body is burning the same as the forest.
I shut my eyes tightly, as I don’t want to watch him burning to death…After all he  is my savior.
I don’t want him to die, even though he is a scary monster who might change his mind later and find my sweet cuteness too appetizing to refrain himself from eating me.

I try to crawl, maybe I could save him somehow, but I am like drained from any slight power.
I feel so useless and helpless! Damn! And now I’m bleeding, too!

“Mister Beast, please don’t die!", I weakly shout  and look one last time towards my savior.

Mister Beast is no more there! Instead of him, Snowflake is howling to the moon, now!
“But of course that I am hallucinating.’’, I murmur, before losing my consciousness.

“Oh, my head is hurting like hell! I feel like it is weighing a ton!
I can’t even open my eyes!
And my stomach is growling, I have never felt so hungry…”, I whine, while trying to find my head between the soft pillows.

I snap my eyes open at a hand touching my cheek and at the voice startling me like hell:
“Hi, good to have you back!
It’s hurting because you knock your head on a log when falling down.
And it’s natural to feel hungry after two days of not eating, but we will fix that right away.
We could only sneak some water in your mouth, as you could have choked with food in your state of unconsciousness.
But you can eat, now!
For now, just some fresh fruits and bread, it’s all I could grab in the big hurry to leave the palace.
We don’t know yet how many of them they are and where they are.
But you are safe here…”

First thing my heart does is to melt at the beautiful face that I adore so much, now filled with concern and love.
 

But, wait, what rubbish am I thinking about? He doesn’t love me! He hates me!

“Wang Yibo!
Stop talking about unimportant nonsense and explain to me what the hell is happening?
So, it was not a dream?
Did I go crazy? Am I under some drugs, am I…but where am I, even?
How did you know that I fell down and hit my head on a log?
And why are you even here?
Wen Chao!
Snowflake…Mister Monster…Sparkling and talking  fawn!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tell me the truth! I am  mentally ill! I’ve gone crazy, isn’t it?
You know what? Go away, you hate me! I don’t want you here!”, I shout, trying to rise onto my to push him away, but the dizziness is taking me over and I fall back in the pillows.

“Yeah, maybe it could be better to let ZhuoCheng explain everything to you, at least what he knows. 
I have only one request before leaving, please, Beauty, eat. 
Eat as much as you can and drink a lot of water.
I must leave now, an hour is close to coming to an end, but I will come visit you whenever I can.
And Beauty, I have never hated you.”

“Oh Chiang Cheng, I am so happy to see you’re alright!
I was so worried that Wen Chao…”, I start sobbing, finally letting my repressed  tears burst out my eyes and my soul.
“It’s you? Is it really you? Give me your hand and let me touch you! I don’t know anymore what is real and what is my sick imagination!
I’ve gone crazy, isn’t it? Don’t lie to me, I ask you as a friend, but, also, I order you as the prince of Rose, to tell me the truth!
And, please, don’t hate me, you too!”
And I cry even harder, while trying to pull the coverlet over my head, ashamed of my non-prince-like weakness.
 

Chiang Cheng pulls me into a bone crushing hug:
“Don’t cry my dearest ZhanZhan! Of course that I don’t hate you, nobody hates you, except maybe that scumbag Wen Chao.
We all  love you! Ah, you break my heart with your crying!
I was so worried, but thank god that you are safe now.
I will make my life goal from making him pay!
No, my sweet, sweetheart, you’re not crazy! As much as it’s hard to believe, everything that you saw or heard was real! 
I will tell you everything, but first let me feed you.”

“But, Chian Cheng, you don’t understand! The monster that we both though it’s a bad guy, saved my life! And he was talking in a human voice!
And I rode his friend! His friend who is a fawn! A sparkling fawn, Chiang Cheng!
And the fawn was talking in human language, too!”, I speak everything in one breath, while Chiang Cheng keeps trying to shove food into my mouth. 

“I know, I know!
Now, please calm down a bit and eat!
I promise that we will talk after that.", my friend says while finally shutting me up with a huge piece of bread.

After finally getting rid of the eating task, Chiang Cheng fluffed the pillows and helped me to sit more comfortably, saying:
“I think it’s better for you to start, and tell me everything about what you’ve gone through.
Then, I will tell you everything I know, after that.”
 

I start with telling him about how Wen Chao and his thugs caught me in the palace garden while I was searching for Snowflake.

"I didn’t know where they brought me, as I was blindfolded and deafed.
I was somehow surprised that not only that they didn’t kill me,  but not even hit me or something. They only starved and didn’t give me not even a drop of water.
Anyways, when I started losing any hope, the monster I was telling you about saved me for some reason. He even called me by my name, he called me Beauty! Hmm, I am really confused with this monster! First I thought that he wanted to eat me, but…Why should he save me, with what purpose?
And that’s not all!
The sparkling and talking fawn…"

And so I tell him everything about the weird animals who saved my life, Mister Monster and the strong like a horse, sparkling fawn.

“But wait, I forgot to tell you that I saw Snowflake at some point, but that must have been a hallucination, for sure! It was right before fainting out, that’s why it happened, for sure.
After that I gained my consciousness, twice I think, finding myself still riding on the sparkling fawn’s back. 
But I was still hallucinating! Everything around was sparkling,not only the fawn, but the snowy road, the stars in the sky even though it was dawn already, the trees, I probably sparkled, too.
And Snowflake was running ahead of us, like he was guiding us!”

Chiang Cheng gives me another glass of water to drink, before letting me tell further, while holding my hand in  his.
It’s so good to feel someone’s care and love.

“What is weird is that Snowflake was still there in my hallucination when I woke up the second time.
Only that this time, Snowflake was talking, too!
He said…in a human voice: ‘This is the house! Bring him there, to the bigger house, then come meet me at the smaller house. They are waiting for him,  everything will be alright, they will take care of him. Thank you so much my friend, for helping me in saving him!’

Then I must have fainted again, dammit!

And I woke up with Wang Yibo’s voice and his god damn gorgeous face bent over mine!
I can’t tell for sure if it was real or just another hallucination, though!”

“I’m so happy to have you again, safe in my arms! I love you, ZhanZhan! And it’s not only me loving you. Look, even that beast loves you, and his strange fawn friend, I will forever be grateful to them for doing what I couldn’t: to save you. I’m sorry for not properly protecting you, as I should have done!
You shouldn’t worry about your mental state, though. Maybe those animals, including Snowflake, talked in their animal language, and you understood them, not because they ta