A/n: A very, very long update... over 4,5k words

Three days had passed and Beauty was already feeling alright, with Wang ZhuoCheng’s attentive care of course.
Wang ZhuoCheng was living in the other small house, so it was easy to supervise and take care of the prince of Rose.

“ChiangCheng,  he promised to visit me again, why did he never come again?”, Beauty whined while his friend was giving him a nice bath in the wooden cask bathtub.

“I’m sure it’s because he is afraid that he could be followed by Wen Chao’s  thugs and they could discover this hidden place.
But he always sends lord Liu HaiKuan, not only with food or hygienic  supplies, but to collect news about you, Your Royal Highness.
Now, hold your nose, as I’m gonna dip your head under the water.”, ZhuoCheng smiled at the  pouty prince.

“So, you are on good terms now with Lord HaiKuan? I am glad to hear that. Next time he comes, I want to meet him, too.
And ask him to bring Snowflake with him, I miss him and want to thank for his help. Maybe Snowflake  doesn’t hate me anymore.
I can do that by myself, thank you ChiangCheng, for everything.”, Beauty took the towel from his friend who started to dry his hair.

“Actually, he will come this evening for… But let’s eat first and I will explain to you something that I was planning since yesterday to tell you.”

Like never before, Beauty ate everything that ZhuoCheng shoved under his nose, impatient for what he was going to tell him.

“Look, I didn’t intend to keep secrets away from you, but I wanted to present to you a completely  elaborated plan at which me and KuanKuan had been working for these three days while you were still recovering.
King Wang Yibo had already approved our plan, he even signed the royal documents and the letter to the Rose King
Wait, I’m going to explain everything to you.
As I’ve already told you, a handful of traitor nobles are planning to illegally remove King Wang Yibo from the Peony’s throne and install a puppet king whom they would be able to manipulate as they want. And they found the perfect character for this, the stupid and greedy Wen Chao!
Anyways, we’ve tried to send King Xiao a message to inform him about the whole situation, through a soldier who was still loyal to King Wang Yibo, but sadly he was caught at the border and killed.
That’s why we decided to go personally, me and KuanKuan! Not together, but each of us on a different route, so as if one of us wouldn’t make it, the other one might succeed.  
King Wang Yibo wrote a letter to your father to ask for Rose army’s help in protecting the Peony kingdom. He explained that his health is not allowing to function at his best as the King of Peony, thus he needs Rose’s help.
And…”

“His health?
So that’s why he didn’t come to see me again!
What, what is wrong with him? Tell me the whole truth!”, Beauty shook his friend’s shoulders like trying to shake the information out of him.

“Calm down, ZhanZhan, he is alright, except for that disease you already know about.
That strange disease is keeping him from fighting for his throne and for his kingdom.
But at the same time,  somehow that disease is his lucky card, because it protects him from Wen Chao’s thugs, who are scared to come after him, afraid that they could catch the virus.”

Prince Xiao Zhan stood up like ready  for war and shouted:
“I want to go home to Rose!
I want to fight and protect  our kingdom that might be in danger, too, not only Peony!
And from there I could help Peony, as well, by organizing and leading an army to come back here to Peony and fight against the rebel faction along with the nobles and the army still loyal to King Wang Yibo!
When are we going?
Please, ChiangCheng, don’t try to stop me! 
When will Lord HaiKuan come again? I want to talk with him!”

“I wouldn’t stop you, Your Royal Highness is entitled to take whatever decision you want, I am just a humble servant! But please allow me to give you my own opinion! You are not an ordinary individual, you are  the future head of Rose, the single heir of King Xiao! You are needed alive, not only by your father, by me, your best friend, or by  the King of Peony, but by the Rose’s people! Your father is not getting younger, anything could happen any moment, who would protect  and lead our nation in case you would be killed, God forbid?
Living here in this humble house it's the safest way to be helpful to both kingdoms. At least until me and KuanKuan would come back with the Rose’s army. And at that point of course that, you,  Your Royal Highness,  would take over the army’s leadership.
Now, please, take some rest, it’s already pretty late and you are not perfectly recovered yet. At least until KuanKuan will arrive,  in two hours or so.
I promise that I will announce it to you when he’ll be here.”, Wang ZhuoCheng tried his best to deal with  his stubborn prince.

After he made sure that Beauty had fallen asleep,  he carefully tiptoed out of the house and hurried to his own place  to wait  for Liu HaiKuan.

But he forgot that the prince was a very talented pretender, and let himself be tricked by his soft snoring.

Beauty waited for a few minutes, then he got dressed and packed the few clothes he had. And especially he took the only weapon he  possessed, his old bow with a few arrows.

Then he sneaked to the house where ChiangCheng was  living. He knew that his friend would do anything to stop him from leaving the hiding place, and that’s why he badly needed to talk with Lord Liu HaiKuan. He must go  home, he feels useless here! 
He couldn’t allow a fool like Wen Chao to destroy two great kingdoms! He must go home and fight for Rose and for Peony, too!

It was already a pretty late hour, the darkness of the night  helping him to reach easier to the small house’s lighted up window, where he peeked through the shutter. But he quickly squatted down when ascertaining that ChiangCheng and Lord HaiKuan were standing right  there, behind the slightly  opened window.

“Hmm, why is Liu HaiKuan holding a flower in his hand? I wonder from where did he pick that pink huge peony now in  the middle of winter, though?
And why does it look like he is about to give the peony to ChiangCheng?”

Beauty muted his inner thoughts to eavesdrop on the two men’s conversation, even though he knew that it was not a very right thing to do. But the curiosity won over his guilty conscience.

“No, Ah-Cheng, you’re wrong! He not only doesn't hate him, but he is  so sickly in love with him, that this love is borderline insanity. It’s just that he is forced to pretend and hide his true feelings, and this is only to protect His Royal Highness Prince Xiao Zhan, believe me.
You have no idea, and I can’t tell you,  about what my poor beloved King  is going through!
And I’m not talking here only about the danger of losing the throne of Peony!
Ah-Cheng, I’m begging you to stop hating me because I am loyal to King Wang Yibo! I admit that I am not loyal only as his subject, but I am loyal as a friend, who loves him and admires him very much!
Please, Ah-Cheng, please don’t hate me, because…Because I am in love with you!
Yes, I love you, I loved you from the first moment we met!”

This was a too intimate moment shared by  the two men and it would have been too rude of Beauty to keep eavesdropping. Therefore , he didn’t wait anymore for ChiangCheng’s answer to HaiKuan’s love confession, but hurried out of the house’s yard. He could guess the answer, anyways. He had a suspicion that his friend was in love with HaiKuan, since a long time ago, that’s why he was confused as to why they were on bad terms at some point.
But now he found out the reason. Because ChiangCheng got mad at King Wang Yibo for hurting his dear friend and prince.

So, his heart was not wrong, assuming that Wang Yibo loves him back! But why does he think that he protects him by pretending to hate him?
No, he must let him know that he doesn't need this kind of protection!
This is the right moment to…

Beauty was so overwhelmed with all the information spilled by HaiKuan, that his legs got jelly and he  needed to sit down on a rock.

“This is the right moment to go see him!
He is alone, as HaiKuan will  be busy here for a while.
But I don’t know how to reach the palace, I have no idea where I am here, dammit!”, Beauty spoke in a loud voice, reaching out to kick in annoyance at the big bush next to the rock.

“Oh, good heavens, what the!”, he shouted in fright when the bush started to talk and to…Spark?!

“Don’t be scared, it’s me! I am  glad that I found  you alone!
I was worried about how to reach out to you without Wang ZhuoCheng’s knowledge.
But, we have no time to chat more, we must hurry!
Our friend needs help urgently , and I didn’t know whose help  to ask, except for yours.
Let’s go!”, the sparkling fawn said while squatting to be mounted by the still dumbfounded prince.

Beauty didn’t ask any questions, assuming that the friend the fawn was talking about was Wang Yibo. Who else could it be, anyway? He had no other friends except CiangCheng.
He only prayed in his mind for the  reason he needed help  to not be something extremely serious.
He just said:
“No need to carry me, I can walk now, I am not unconscious like the other time!”

“I know that you can walk, but it would take a longer time and we are in  a big hurry now!
If you’re worried that I am too fragile to carry you, then don’t! Even though I look like a delicate fawn, I am not the usual, regular fawn you have probably learned about, I am much stronger and…Now, hop on, we can’t waste any more time! ”, the fawn said, urging Beauty with a light hoof kick in his shin.

“You are not the usual, regular fawn, ha, ha! Well, no !
I would have never figured it  out if you wouldn’t have told me !
I repeat, TOLD me!
A fawn speaking while sparkling on top of that!
Ha, ha, ha!”, Beauty laughed, laughing even harder when the fawn rolled its eyes at him , like a regular human.
“Sorry, sorry, it was too funny! Besides, I needed to laugh. I sometimes laugh like a stupid when I am stressed out or emotional.
I will hop on and promise to just be quiet, let’s go!”

But Beauty’s curiosity was stronger than his willingness to keep his promise to stay quiet.
“I assume that the friend you talk about is King Wang Yibo! I hope that he is not in a very great danger.
But I wonder why did you think about  looking for me, and not for his loyal assistant and best friend, Liu HaiKuan?” 

“I looked for him first, but as he was nowhere to be found, I hurried to your place.”, the fawn replied.

“Liu HaiKuan is with Wang ZhuoCheng in the other house.
Oh, so it is about Wang Yibo!”, Beauty grinned in satisfaction  that he tricked the fawn to slip out the information he was looking for. 
But his grin immediately changed into worry, even panic! What kind of danger was he in?
 

The fawn was right, their ride was  way, way faster than if the prince would have walked.
Beauty felt like the fawn was  rather flying than running.

When they arrived to the well known palace, Beauty tried to ask something more, but the fawn shushed him:
“Shhh, don’t make any noise while we will sneak inside. 
When I left, there was only one bandit who was guarding him while sipping from a bottle. Using that bow you have should easily annihilate him, as he might be completely drunk already.
I will lead the way, just follow me. They are in the basement.”

“Probably in the library, I know that room.
Shh, I am mute!”, Beauty whispered, then pinched his lips.

He almost fainted from the huge fright and shock when a sinister howl shook the ground under his feet.
“Oh, my goodness! I know that howl!
Mister Beast is the one trying to harm Wang Yibo?
There is no way, I don’t think that  Mister Beast is a bandit, after all he saved my life!”, Beauty forgot to be quiet.

“Who’s there?”, a man shouted  from behind the library’s door. It was an unfamiliar voice, not Wang Yibo’s voice for sure.

“It’s me, Master sent me to bring you some food…and some more alcohol. Open the door and come out to  get the packs! My hands are full and I can’t open the door!”, the fawn spoke, pushing the prince behind a statue from the lobby and muttering to him to get his bow ready.

“Master?
Since when we’re calling him Master, ha, ha, ha!”, the bandit wobbled outside the room while hollering in laughter.

But his laughter abruptly died, along with his whole being. He dropped dead to the ground from Xiao Zhan’s arrows, one stuck right into his heart and one into his skull,right between his eyes.

“Wow, you’re skillful!”, the fawn exclaimed, but its voice was covered by another scary howl.

Beauty ran into the library, shouting : ”Please Mister Beast, don’t harm Yibo, he is lovely and…”, but  he froze into the spot from the huge shock!
There was no Wang Yibo anywhere in sight.
The only alive being was The Beast who was fighting to free himself from the thick chains. 
The creature was howling and writhing in pain at the sharp, big blades attached to the chains that were cutting deeply into his throat and whole body.
 

“Oh, Mister Beast! It’s over, you’re safe now!
You saved my life, now it was my turn to save yours. And I am happy I could do it!
Now stay  still, you harm yourself worse if you move. I can  take care of your wounds, I have medical training.
But I also have to look for something to cut the chains. I have no idea where to find  it, though, but it must be something  somewhere in this huge castle of Wang Yibo!
By the way of Wang Yibo , is he safe? Where is he? Do you have any idea?”, the prince kept talking while trying to stop a massive  blood flow with a tourniquet improvised from a shirt the fawn  kicked to him, found on the sofa probably. 

“There is a tool chamber at the end of the hall, you can find a bolt cutter there, it might work.”, the creature growled between hisses of pain.

“Of course that you talk, same as the sparkling fawn! I am certainly not hallucinating! ChiangCheng will not gonna believe me again when I’m gonna tell him.”, Beauty mumbled while hurrying out of the library to search for the tool chamber.

“I found it!”, he shouted victoriously, showing the huge tool to the fawn who followed him in the lobby.

“But, don’t get me wrong for asking, Mister Beast, how the hell did you know about that chamber, and about a specific tool on top of that?”, Beauty asked while struggling to cut the thick iron chains.

“Nothing extraordinary!
I noticed that tool , once, when I came to see the King and he was in the middle of cleaning that chamber.
Me and the king are good friends, that’s why!”, the creature explained.

“Yeah, nothing extraordinary!”, Beauty rolled his eyes and started to check out the deep cuts from all over the creature’s body.
“So, that is how you saved me! Being friends with Wang Yibo, he had probably asked you to save me. I found out earlier that he doesn’t hate me, after all.
I bet that it was Wen Chao who chained you, to take revenge that you saved me from his hands. I will forever be grateful to you, Thank you Mister Beast, thank you Mister Fawn! And I want to meet you, King Wang Yibo, to thank you, too!
Lie on the sofa, and I will try to stop your bleeding and bandage your wounds.
Do you know, by any chance, if I could find somewhere the first aid stuff, like bandages, ointments and meds?”

Beauty stopped getting surprised by now that the creature pointed out the exact cabinet where he could find the said things.
Somehow he was feeling envious that a wild animal, a beast, was closer to Wang Yibo than he is.

“Alright, let’s pretend that it’s not strange that some wild animals are talking like humans! Let’s pretend that it’s normal that you, a beast, no offense though, are friends with the King of Peony!
But, still, one thing I can’t call it explainable! And it’s really bothering me!
How in the world do you live here in Peony, but you were in Rose, too, at some point?
Because I am pretty sure that it was you scaring the out of me and ChiangCheng in the woods of Rose, during the hunting session organized by my father.
I started to learn the sound of your creepy howling!
And now I am positive that you saved my life, then, too, not tried to kill me , as ChiangCheng thought.
And this pair of eyes of yours…Hmm, strangely reminding me of Yibo’s eyes…Very, very strange indeed…”, Beauty murmured while looking intensely into the beast’s eyes.

The Beast avoided his stare, Beauty having the impression that the scary animal was looking at the fawn like asking for help. But it was probably just an impression.

“We should hurry and get going. Here it’s not safe anymore. They could come anytime to check on their prey.”, the fawn said, like coming to the Beast’s rescue, indeed.

“By the way, where do you live, both of you? Do you randomly live in the woods or do you have a den or something?”, the curious Beauty didn’t spare them with his troublesome questions.

“Oh, my, did you hear?
I think that someone is coming!
Follow me there, it’s a secret hiding place that nobody knows except the King and his assistant!”, the beast abruptly stood up from the sofa and pushed a button in the wall that parted a bookshelf in two.
After Beauty and the fawn entered the small room opened, the beast told them:
“I will close the bookshelf now, please don’t try to leave by any means, here you’ll be the safest, until I will be back.”

“But, where are you going?
It’s you whom they are looking for, you should better hide here with us!”, Beauty tried to stop the creature from leaving.

“I will be back soon, I will take care,I promise!
But I must go check on the King. I might bring him with me when I come back after you. It depends on..but now I really must go!
Take care of him and keep him here at all costs!”, the beast said to the fawn, his human voice starting to fade into a sound like an angry growl.
Then he hastily closed the bookshelf to Beauty’s confusion who was wondering why did the beast become angry or hostile out of the blue.
He could hear his howls and growls drifting away, same as he used to hear them during his sleepless nights spent here in the neighboring building.

It passed around ten minutes, or maybe even less, when the hiding room was unexpectedly opened, startling Beauty and the fawn.

“Oh, my god, Wang Yibo! It’s you! It’s really you!
Thank goodness that you're safe!”, Beauty shouted, jumping to hug the man who opened the bookshelf.

But he halted in worry at  the king’s suppressed moan of pain:
“What, what? Are you hurt? Did they do something to you, too, not only to Mister Beast? “, Beauty started to agitatedly check out  for the King’s possible injuries, but Wang Yibo stopped him by enveloping him in his embrace.

“And why the hell are you wearing only this thin sweater? It’s a full winter for god’s sake! At least you have a shawl around your neck, jeez!
I am so sorry, it’s only my own fault! It’s me who brought all this trouble over your kingdom, over you, over your friends! When my father ordered me to leave The Rose, he chose a different country for me to go to, but I stubbornly chose to come here in Peony! And look what happened to all of you! 
Your friend, Mister Beast, had almost been killed!
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