Consort

The Empress

SMASH!

The servants of the Empress held back their flinches as the ornamental teacup flew towards the wall and exploded into pieces.

"Pardoned? How could that be? Why can't any of those fools do their jobs right?"

The Empress paced around her room, a deep frown marring her otherwise bewitchingly beautiful face. She glared as one of her servants scurried toward the broken glass, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Announcing the arrival of His Majesty!"

The Empress whipped her head up and drew elegantly to her feet, heading for the entrance of her living quarters.

"The Empress Consort welcomes His Imperial Majesty."

The Emperor stepped into the room, fixing his eyes on the Empress. His eyes flitted to the servant in the corner of the room still trying to clean the mess without drawing attention to herself. Upon seeing the direction of his gaze, the Empress hurried to hide her blush.

"My apologies, Your Majesty. The Empress Consort was careless today and accidentally dropped that teacup. Please, come to my sitting room away from this unsightly mess."

The Emperor said nothing, but merely followed the Empress as she hurried to lead him toward the sitting room. 

"Your Majesty, to what may I owe the honour of this visit?"

"..."

"Your Majesty?"

"You know very well why We are here."

The Empress froze at the accusing tone of the Emperor. She lifted her head only to be struck speechless by the Emperor's piercing look. She faltered under his glare, but before she could open her mouth, the Emperor spoke again.

"My Empress, do you remember how our union came to be?"

The Empress was confused by his line of questioning. It was not at all what she expected him to say.

"My father served as Your Majesty's general for the Great War fifteen years ago. He gave his life for Your Majesty, and Your Majesty decided to take me as Empress to show favour to our Jing Province."

The Emperor listen to her, shook his head, then replied, "Our Empress, We think that you have misunderstood something. We took you as Empress not because We pitied you, but because during the Great War, your charitable efforts and skillful organisation of the civilians set you apart as one suitable to lead the country by Our side."

The Empress felt her breath hitch at the unexpected compliment from the Emperor. In all their years of marriage, she had never heard him so openly express praise for her. 

"What drew Us to you was your strong spirit, and kindness for people all around you. Alas, the years have eroded your kindness, leaving only your strong spirit to mete out harsh orders. You are no longer that kind, compassionate woman that We married. Your determination to have my Imperial Consort implicated in all manners of crime is worrying, and until you learn to reign yourself in, you will no longer be allowed to leave your quarters."

The Emperor stood up, and turned to leave. As he stepped out of the threshold, he paused, and added as an afterthought, "We will be reducing the amount of grain and money that your province will receive this year. It will not do to let your crime go unpunished." With that, he left, never looking back once.

Watching his retreating back, the Empress slowly sunk to her knees, and her handmaiden rushed over to help her to a nearby chair.

"WHY?" 

The Empress' cry of anguish echoed around the room. The handmaiden looked on uncertainly as the Empress sobbed. "Why have all of my efforts been for naught?"

When the Empress finally stopped crying, the handmaiden decided, with great hesitation, to ask the question that had been occupying her mind the whole time.

"Your Highness, may your humble servant ask a question?"

The Empress' listless look in her direction seemed to be an invitation for her to speak. 

"May your humble servant ask if the Imperial Consort is from the Tang Province? The province famous for producing brilliant tacticians?"

"..."

"Your humble servant apologises! Your humble servant did not mean to--"

"Yes."

The handmaiden's eyes widened in shock. The Empress gave a bitter smile when she show realisation dawning on the former's face.

"Shan Er, you're a smart girl. I'm sure you've figured out why I did what I did."

"Your humble servant does not dare to presume, Your Highness."

The Empress sighed, and explained, "As you know, my province is poor. The major source of sustenance for most of our people comes from the subsidies provided by the Imperial Court. To ensure that the provisions keep coming, I have to stay in His Majesty's favour. However, that Imperial Consort has been slowly diluting my power. She has captured His Majesty's heart, and I would not be surprised if she were the reason behind why His Majesty keeps visiting Consort Ma's place recently. After all, she is from Tang, and the people there are cunning."

"Then why does Your Highness not directly tell His Majesty all of these? Your humble servant is sure that His Majesty will be understanding of your worries."

The Empress gave a humourless laugh. 

"Oh, Shan Er, to be naive and innocent again! How I wish I had this luxury!" Her eyes hardened. "Shan Er, palace politics exist, and in this place, no one is your ally. In order to maintain my position, and to provide for my province, I have to make my moves from the shadows. Any misstep and that shrewd woman will take me down and replace me." The Empress turned to her handmaiden again. "I truly love His Majesty, and I believe that he still holds a positive opinion of me. I will definitely win his favour over that Imperial Consort."

The Empress stood, and glided gracefully to the balcony, where the bright light of the moon cast down.

"Shan Er, you are dismissed. I am tired, and wish to rest."

"Yes, Your Highness."

As the handmaiden took her leave, the Empress looked down at the ghostly reflection of the full moon on the pond below.

"Imperial Consort Hua. You have struck me down, and won this round. However, I will not stay down, and tomorrow, I will rise again, just like the Phoenix that rises from the ashes. But for now, I..."

The Empress' mumbled voice faded away as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's note:

Hello again, my dear readers! I hope you enjoyed this new part of the story. This part is significantly different from the previous ones, and the reason is because I would like to show how the Palace life is not always sunshine and rainbows. The story is also inspired by the song 曹操 (cao cao), by JJ Lin, a Singaporean singer. Here is a link to the song lyrics, as well as the explanation of it: http://www.chinesetolearn.com/jj-lin-%E6%9B%B9%E6%93%8D-cao-cao-hero-song/

Do you see the similarities between the lyrics and the story? :) In her own way, the Empress is the hero(ine) of her province, and as the song tells us, there are no heroes who do not experience loneliness. The more powerful one is, the more isolated one is from the people around them, don't you think? And it seems like the Imperial Consort is quite good at protecting herself! Have any of you seen this coming?

Like how the Emperor is referred to as a dragon, the Empress is referred to as a phoenix. With this fact in mind, and also the song lyrics in mind, won't you try reading the story again through fresh eyes (especially the Empress' last statements)? 

Until next time!