Story: Bao's First Love

Another story. This time, it's about a prince and his first love.

!complete!

!Warning!
This story includes the following; Crude words, mentions of polygamy,

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In a far away land, long ago. There was a king with many beautiful wives. The king had 20 princes and 50 princesses. This story is about one of the princes. Bao was a quiet man, who was studious and had a passion for arts. He was of age, but had not taken a wife yet. He saw the king's many wives fight and plot against each other for the king's love and was saddened by this. He vowed to only take one wife.
His family would often drag him to banquets to meet eligible young women, but he would leave early making excuses. He felt they wanted to marry him because he was a prince, and not want to know him for who he was.
One New Year's Banquet the king had held, the king had asked if he had someone in his heart. Bao replied with a simple "no." The king sighed and told him he had waited long enough and was time he took a wife. The queen smiles at the king and "Didn't one of your trusted ministers have a daughter ready for marriage?" The king smiled at this and agreed and he would arrange for marriage between the two. Bao could only hide his frown at this turn of events. There were many meetings between the families before the wedding, but he made excuses every time and never attended them. Too soon for Bao, the night of the wedding came. He went through the motions, but his heart was elsewhere. He never removed his bride's veil, and never went to visit her that night. And for the next few months, he kept busy with his studies and training and didn't give his new wife any time.
One day, he was in the gardens of his mother's palace on his way to visit her. He walked in the garden admiring the beautiful scenery. He suddenly stops his step. He sees a beautiful woman wearing a soft green dress and raven hair. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. Then a voice calls his name. He turns around and sees his mother. She asks when she'll be seeing grandchildren, and he replies with a hum. He turns to look at the beauty he saw just a moment ago, but she was nowhere in sight.
A year has passed since the wedding. He still hasn't visited his wife's chambers and hadn't seen her. He stayed in his study and kept drawing the woman he saw over and over. He couldn't stop thinking about her even if he's only seen her once. He sighs and wonders if he had dreamt that day. A strong gust of wind blew in an open window and picks up his latest drawing. He tries to grab it from flying out the window, but it slips through his fingers. He rushes out of the room and chases after it. It glides through his garden and falls near a silhouette. The silhouette picks up the drawing and slowly walks towards him. His eyes widen in shock. The silhouette belonged to the beautiful woman he had fallen in love with at first sight. "It's beautiful." She says handing him the drawing. "You're beautiful." He says an blushes at his own words. She smiles shyly. "... What is your name? Why are you here?" She laughs softly. "Have you forgotten your wife's name?" He mentally kicks himself for avoiding all those meetings and not visiting her sooner. "It's getting cold." She says and takes his hands. He nods and lets her lead him back to his room.
Many moons later, Bao's brother is visiting for a drink. "So, you're telling me... You fell in love with your own wife and didn't know?!" "I hadn't visited my wife before then." His brother laughs. "You're an idiot." Bao glares at his brother, but soon joins the laughter.
"That I am." He looks at his wife holding his child in her arms and smiles.

-Fin.