Love In The Palace

Ambiguous

This chapter is longer than usual but shorter than the previous one! Please do enjoy! Chapter 17.

---

Author's POV:

"What did you say?!" She questions in surprise as she is carefully putting on her ruby earrings. Due to that, she is scratched a little on her ears and winces at the slight pain, before her facial expression returns to the normal her.

"Emperor visited Consort Para's palace." Jane repeats, tipping her head down. She knows that her master will be enraged upon receiving this news. It is expected, of course.

"After more than ten years, why did he suddenly visit her palace?!"

"Yo-your humble servant does not know..." Jane's answer only made her master annoyed even more.

"Useless." She curses and hastily stands up, walking back and forth as she ponders about the matter.

"Lady Wane has already died. Consort Para is gone too. That palace is nothing but an empty, deserted and dirty place. What is there to see in that damned palace?!" Her word is thunderously dangerous. She cannot let the Emperor to fall back into those times again. She wants the Emperor all for herself, she wants to monopolise him.

"However... His Majesty did order the palace to be sealed forever. This is something that rarely happens even during the reign of previous Emperors." Jane adds.

"Of course. Thanks to Lady Wane, many thought that Consort Para gained his favour. After her death, he no longer visited Consort Para's palace. Whenever I remember how His Majesty was the one who ordered the execution of entire Wane family, I cannot help but feel so much satisfaction." Consort Shine laughs, her laugh is filled with darkness as though she herself is the darkness.

"Definitely he was the one who chose the Empire over a woman. It was expected. He is just another selfish man. Despicable." As she finishes speaking, Consort Shine bites her lips and her finger nails dig into her flesh, causing a red mark. Her eyes turn glassy for a moment before she blinks it away. Then, she calms herself down and leaves her palace to take a stroll at her palace's garden.

---

Jade's POV:

This is horrible. The Phoenix Garden is too big for me to be able to find Crown Prince. I was accompanying him as he needed as break from looking through government books. However, once we have just reached the garden, he asks me to return to his palace to retrieve his bamboo flute.

Now that I am back with his music instrument, I seem to have lost him in the midst of this garden. The pathway in this garden branches and branches again, seemingly to form a maze surrounded by bushes, trees and flowers. There would be servants or guards occasionally passing by. Though I want to ask about Crown Prince's whereabouts to them, no voice seems to be able to escape my throat.

"Oh? This person seems familiar to me." A voice has me stop in my tracks. A familiar feelings of rapidly beating heartbeat instills fear within me, as though my body has memorised this kind of moments. I dare not look around, for fear of the worse that may come. As I never turn around, I hear stomping of feet approaching me and all of a sudden, a hand grabs my shoulder strongly and pull me around to face her.

"How insolent! You have met me and yet you are not on your knees!" Instantly my body falls onto my knees as usual, trembling slightly out of fear.

"Mi-Missy.." My voice comes out shaky and almost whispering. My throat suddenly turns dry and sweat rolls down my forehead and temples.