Love In The Palace

Winter

Chapter 36.

Recap: In the previous chapter, Jade lost her child, and found out that Crown Prince punished Autumn severely. It came as a thunder to her and she began to feel doubts. Meanwhile, Prince's Consort Chisa was announced pregnant and Consort Shine became wary of her scheming nature.

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Those years, those years full of darkened blood and repeating nightmares, how can I ever forget them? Who will ever understand the pain in my heart? No one. There is no one by my side anymore, all of them are gone. I am left alone, with only memories to keep them alive in my mind. How much I wish to forget, yet my subconscious mind remembers them for every single moment of my life. How much I wish to die, but there is one last promise that I must keep. A simple promise that tortures every single part of me for every single moment I live, especially my heart. - Jade, years to come.

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"Rowena..."

"Yes?"

Jade paces her way slowly into her drawer, pulling it open and reaching out for a red silk-wrapped bundle, her fingers dig deeply into the cloth with a heavy heart, for one last time.

"Burn these." Jade throws that bundle on the floor as she tries her best not to regret and not to look back anymore.

Of course Rowena recognizes that bundle of clothes, its small size implies that all the content inside are of small sizes as well. Inside are all the clothes she and Jade made for Jade's baby, when he or she is born. Who knows, that the numbers of hours and months of sweat they have put into them are now all in vain. The only thing remaining of the baby are those clothes. For Jade to be hard on herself enough to burn them, it must have taken her long enough to make up her mind. To burn her hard work and rid of every single traces of her baby, she wants to forget it all.

"Y-yes." No, Rowena desperately wants to say that, but what position is she in for her to voice her opinion so freely? Jade is the mother of the dead unborn child, of course her wish comes first before anyone else.

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Winter has come. Its coldness freezes Jade's once warm heart towards Crown Prince. The whiteness of snow serenades the death of their unborn baby. The number of times Crown Prince tries to visit her, eat at her place, Jade's lips remain sealed, her eyes hollow. There are so many confusions conflicting within her, should she talk to Crown Prince? Or should she not? When will the time ever heal her heart's wounds?

She looks at the wooden doors, their carvings have become much darkened due to how long they have been kept away from the sun, how long they have been shut. She has never paid attention to it before. What exactly is the shape of the doors? The room is so dark that she cannot make out a shape out of the carvings. Then, all of a sudden, they creak open. The sunlight busting into the room, returning it with life, or maybe only for a moment. The sudden flash of light blinds Jade as she covers and squints her eyes, trying to figure out who is the owner of the silhouette. Moments later, her eyes finally make out that the one standing in front of her, who is wearing orange and red dresses with her hair dolled up in a gorgeous style fastened with her usual golden pins, Empress.

Immediately Jade rushes up and curtsies in a hurried way while trying her best to keep her composure.

"Mother Empress..." She is still not used to calling her Mother Empress, though that is what she must do, for her husband does the same.

"Sit down." Says Empress when she herself has taken the seat behind the low wooden table. She never looks at Jade, as though she has not acknowledged her. But her attitude towards Jade has changed. She no longer throws her her look of disgust whenever she calls her Mother Empress. Jade heeds Empress' words and sit on the cushion to the left of Empress, keeping her eyes down.