Rivals

The empress

The life for a woman within the huge walls of the Rear imperial palace was both a garden and a cage.
Beauty and lust laced with sorrow,longing..death.

Only the smartest and most beautiful women managed to survive and become influential, so influential that the emperor was but a mere vessel to them.
Powerful consorts have been ruling the empire from the shadows, using the naive emperors like marionettes without anyone outside their personal court even suspecting that for ages.
Until women completely took over and princes were no longer in line for the throne, princesses taking their place.

But rivalry between them was still huge, some using all kind of techniques so only one remains standing.
Some were battling for the love of the empress,some only for power.

So it was no surprise that empress Im's high consorts were not very fond of each other.

Vistuous Consort Sana, with her bright orange hair , like fire ,was known for her kind and cheerful personality, which the empress always loved about her besides her unique hair color and features, but angering her was something everyone avoided since the consort was set on getting revenge on anyone that wronged her or those who served her in any ways.
She sometimes acted without thinking and made a couple of mistakes, but her intelligence and good connections through the inner and outer court helped her get out of every trouble.

Precious Imperial Consort Tzu-yu and the empress's most cherished love was the complete opposite of Sana.
She ,unlike the other consort who was the daughter of a merchant , had noble blood.
Tzuyu was the Princess of a country vassal to the empire and was sent by her father at the request of the empress Im to become her imperial consort.
Tzuyu was known for her striking Beauty and elegance and her gentle personality.
But just like consort Sana , Tzuyu's intelligence was frightening and so was her anger, which she hardly ever showed, preferring to act in silence.

Given the twos opposing personalities they never got along, despite the empress insisting they burry their rivalry.

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"Have You heard what happened???" Momo whispered in Mina's ear, so no one could hear them, distracting the young maiden from dusting off the hardwood furniture with elegant gold accents that were adorning the living room of the Ruby pavilion.

"No, what?" The other girls asked quietly, full of curiosity.

"The empress is planning on sending Imperial Consort Tzuyu away from the crystal pavilion!" Momo whispered the scandalous rumour and Mina quickly covered her mouth in shock.
"Are you sure?" She asked, still unable to believe what she just heard.
"Yes! I heard the eunuchs talking about it! The whole palace is dying to know why."

"What is the palace dying to know Momo Chan?" The voice of their mistress made the two turn to face her and bow immediately.
"C-Consort Sana-"

"You know what I said about keeping secrets girls.." Sana scolded her maids who fiddled nervously with the long sleeves of their attire, not daring to raise their gaze towards their mistress upon being caught gossiping.
"We are very sorry mistress..what Momo was telling me is related to Precious Consort Tzuyu's sudden departure from the Crystal Pavilion." Mina said as she prepared the consort a cup of tea ,making Sana frown at the news.
"Departure? Where is she going?" Sana asked curiously before taking a seat on her chair.
"The cause is still unknown mistress.. perhaps a fall out of Her Majesty's favor.." Momo mumbled making Sana raise an eyebrow at her as she smirked.
"This will be much interesting."