The God of Love looked at Jinde’s covered appearance. He had certainly never seen something like this when a couple came to get married. But then, it didn’t matter either. He turned to the young couple instead, a faint smile adorning his wrinkled face.

Living in the capital city of the Nine Heavens and even working in the Palace of Love where most people were very interested in any stories about love and romance, he had naturally heard all about the dragon king’s pursuit of their crown prince. He even felt that he himself had played a very small part in this specific story. After all, the crown prince had once come to him and asked him not to tie the red thread for his life during the trial. Seeing such a relationship succeed to the point of marriage … it naturally made him happy.

He felt eager to start but seeing as one of them wasn’t a trueborn god, he held back his enthusiasm and turned to the dragon king with a questioning look. “Is Longjun familiar with this custom?”

Qiu Ling nodded. “Yes, my mother-in-law explained already.”

“Then I won’t waste any time talking. I am sure you are eager to go ahead so I won’t be in the way.” At this moment, he didn’t have anything to do himself yet. Thus, he stepped aside to give the couple the space in front of the Tree of Love.

Qiu Ling happily grasped his beloved’s hands, holding them up and interlacing their fingers. This part of the rituals was only for the two of them. It was meant to be an oath, a confession of their feelings, and a promise to be with each other for eternity. Needless to say, this was the kind of thing Qiu Ling excelled at and even after all these years, he had never tired of saying sweet words to his beloved.

Gazing into his eyes, the words came to him without the slightest hesitation. “You know that I am not one to hold back from expressing my feelings. As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I will let you know. I always have and I always will. So I have told you more than once: I love you.

“I have since I saw you for the first time, stepping onto the square in front of your father’s palace on that evening a millennium ago. I have since your voice cut through the chatter and noise, calming my restless heart and turning it restless again for a whole different reason.

“At that moment, I knew that you were the one for me, my fated other half. I have not doubted it even once in all of these years, even though I did sometimes doubt whether I could make this fate come true and one day call you mine.

“During these years … much has happened. Some of it was to be expected but a lot of it surpassed my imagination by far. I suppose with me being older by so many years, I should have been there for you as a quiet reassurance, as someone who could help you learn and grow and become a better version of yourself. But the truth is that, from the very beginning, it has been the other way around.

“You helped me regain the people I thought I had lost and you also helped me form a new understanding of those already by my side, letting me trust them in a way I never could before and helping them to connect with me in a way that was impossible before. You have allowed me to trust myself, something I … could not do for a long time.”

He looked at him deeply and a smile lit up his otherwise solemn expression. “Getting to know you and following you on this trial you had to take on made me learn many new things and I believe that I have become a better person on the way. This change … I will use it to help you in the days to come so that we can grow together, both as people and as a couple.

“I want us to never stop striving for a better tomorrow because I know that … even though I am happy with you in a way I hardly thought I’d ever achieve … we can be even more than this and the joy of seeing you go further will be even greater than looking back and seeing how far I myself have come.”

The dragons didn’t share this custom with the gods so Jing He had not known what to expect of Qiu Ling. Hearing his gentle words, his gaze softened. He stepped closer and pulled his hands out of Qiu Ling’s, wrapping his arms around the waist of his soon-to-be-husband instead. He wanted to be close to him, to feel his warmth and share this intimate moment without distraction.

Qiu Ling smiled and reached up, cupping his cheeks. “I suppose there is nothing else left for me to say, other than that I look forward to finally officially being your husband.”

Jing He nodded. “I am looking forward to that day as well. I know … it can’t have been easy with me. To have to wait for me to fall in love with you, to realize my own feelings and admit to them as well, and then to wait again for my trial to come and pass … All these years, you had to persist with little reassurance from my side.

“I … am very glad that you did. You don’t know just how much happiness you have brought me.” He reached up as well, brushing Qiu Ling’s cheek with his fingertips. He rarely found the courage to speak his mind out loud, even though he had often thought about his relationship with Qiu Ling. Today was different though. At this moment, even he should lay bare his heart to let Qiu Ling know everything it contained.

“I knew nothing of love when I met you. I … had my dreams and my hopes but I actually never knew how it could be if it happened for real. When it did … I didn’t even realize at first. By the time I could put a name to it, that feeling already had me tightly in its grasp.”

Qiu Ling forced himself to smile quietly and wait, so as not to disturb his beloved. But then, he had waited so long for this, words might be unable to express what this meant to him. Oh, to hear his beloved say sweet love words to him, to acknowledge the heartache he had felt throughout the years … this was special in ways he couldn’t explain.

Jing He took in Qiu Ling’s gentle gaze, his own heart fluttering. “I am … indecisive and … most likely too timid. I know this well and I also know that you have had to suffer due to this. But because of this, I want you to know that all these years, you have given me strength. I might not always have made the best use of it but knowing that you are there, silently supporting me even when I couldn’t do anything for you, has kept my heart calm in the worst of times and given me hope when I thought that there was no way out.

“I want to be yours more than anything else in life. I … have for a while even if I did not dare to say it.” He couldn’t look at Qiu Ling as he said this and lowered his gaze instead. Even his hand was retracted before he hesitatingly reached out anew to touch Qiu Ling’s chest. The strong heartbeat beneath was all too familiar to him, giving him the strength he had just spoken of.

“In the future … I will be at your side and follow your lead, supporting you in whatever way you need as long as you tell me. I … can’t do much. I lack your strength, your conviction, your experience, and wisdom. But I do love you and I will never stray from this path.” He raised his head again, his gaze determined. “I will always love you. I hope you never doubt that.”

Qiu Ling’s heart squeezed in pain as he looked at him and he finally couldn’t hold back. He leaned in and kissed Jing He on the lips. “You are much better than you give yourself credit for, my love. After we have gotten married and you don’t need to fear all the things that may go wrong, I will slowly show you.”

Jing He nodded with a smile.

Meanwhile, Qiu Ling wrapped his arms around his lover’s waist, pulling him even closer against his chest. “The things you expect of me, I will do all of them. The things you don’t expect but want or need, I will do them as well. I promise you this.”

Jing He continued to smile and leaned further forward until his cheek touched Qiu Ling’s chest. He had never doubted that Qiu Ling would do this. After all, wasn’t this what had happened since the very beginning? Needless to say, with his fiance’s personality, this would only be more pronounced after their wedding. There was no doubt about that.