Unconventional Love

The Sky Is..Beautiful

Gasping Zhao Lei shot up into an upright position. His eyes darting around the room, trying to pinpoint exactly what was going on. He finally lands on a mural on the far wall. It was old and tapered. A gift from the late king, his father, for his birthday a couple years ago. Simply gazing at it calms his breathing. He is in his bed. Which is in his room. In the Imperial palace. He must have been dreaming. Comforting himself by repeating these words, his heart beat gradually slows. And not a moment too soon, as just seconds later, there's a soft knock coming from the door. He, of course, recognizes this timid knock. He waits for the voice before he responds.

"His Majesty. Are you awake as of yet? I am waiting to eat breakfast with you.." Her soft hesitant voice slowly drifted off as if she were afraid that he really might still be asleep and did not want to risk waking him.

It is his newly appointed wife. She is awfully pretty but terribly shy. She barley speaks unless required which means that in reality it was his mother who was waiting to eat with him, not his Empress. She had obviously just been sent on an errand to fetch him.

He sighs. He really does not feel up to handling this right now. He had no energy to eat with her delicate little feelings nor his mothers list of endless complaints. Since he got married, it's like living on a tight line. Hanging a hundred miles in the air with no safety net behind him. Desperately trying to maintain a balance between not hurting or offending his new bride nor dismissing his mothers concerns and complaints about how he's managing his rule or his life. He found it was entirely too much effort this morning.

"Eat alone for now. Please arrange for the servants to bring my breakfast to me. I will eat in my bedchamber this morning!" He called to her through the door. Uncaring in this one second if he offended her by refusing to even open the door.

"Yes your Majesty"

Zhao Lei immediately rolls off the bed and hurriedly goes to pull on his robe. He knows his staff, that are always quick to do as he instructs. The hard knock comes just as he was going to open the door. He moves aside to let his breakfast be carried in and quietly watches as they set everything up so he could eat at his desk in the corner of the room facing the only window.

"Thank you. You may leave now."

He sits at his desk looking at the arrangement of food. He does not feel hungry, not even slightly peckish, but he does not want to hear his mother if he does not manage to eat something. Choosing the sliced fruits, he stares out the window. He looks out at his country and feels a bit .. well he does not know exactly what it is that he's feeling. He knows what its not though, it's definitely not happiness. Though objectively speaking the view from his window was incredibly beautiful, it seemed the beauty could not touch him. As if the cherry blossoms were a light grey instead of the blushing pink he knew they actually were. He sighs. Could there actually be any beauty in the world if one could not see it? As that thought crosses his mind, a flash of blue catches his eye. The sky. So blue. So .. familiar.

As he stands to get closer to the window, he does not blink, not even once. For the first time in he does not know how many years, he feels like the sky is beautiful. So clear and so blue. He smiles. Incredible. Happiness is not a word he uses or feels often but he suspects that's exactly what he is feeling in his chest at this moment. Happy. Looking at the sky is making him .. happy.

For a split second he sees a pair of eyes alight with amusement. He quickly rubs his eyes and when he reopens them, there is nothing. Imagination. That's all it was. After that strange dream last night of course his imagination is all revved up. He shakes his head, a smile of self mockery resting on his lips. He must be working too much. The stress was definetly getting to him. Just as he is moving away from the window a flash of movement catches his eye.

What was that? Quickly moving back to the window he sees the Empress riding a horse away from the palace. Where could she be going so early in the morning? Though the question lingers for a second, he dismisses it. It really would not serve any purpose to try to get involved in her affairs now. They have been married for almost two years now and he could not recall even one interesting fact about her.

She was shorter than he. She had long dark hair that she seemed to prefer wearing down her back. She was slim, incredibly so. He remembers making some remark about her wasting away when they first met, to which she did not find funny at all. Maybe she does not have a sense of humor? He does not think he will ever actually know. The only times they have talked to each other was at the table while eating or in the presence of others. They are two separate people. Just two strangers who are forever tied together, he muses. How incredibly depressing. With that last thought, he moves about his day, giving no more regard to the whereabouts of his Empress.

Maybe he should have spent a little more time pondering, a bit more time worrying. Though it probably would not have helped, fate is often unstoppable and unavoidable. Unbeknownst to the king, this would be the last time he would see his Empress. For when she returned from her little riding trip, she would not be the same woman who had left.