Princess In The Palace

1. Prologue

This story is a sequel to Love In The Palace. I'm so sorry for the long wait! You can read this story as a stand alone, but I suggest you to read Love In The Palace first (it consists of main 50 chapters btw) to understand more of what's going on.

Chapter 1.

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The coldness of the night was embraced by the gradual warmth of the dawn, slowly seeping away from the corners of the earth as the sun brightened up every crooks of this world. The morning air was fresh, it was a beautiful day with dewy air that smelled fresh to the servants in the palace who woke up early.

They would all wash up then hurriedly report to their posts, mostly the Emperor's Palace, for he was already lying on his deathbed. It was a repeated cycle that lasted weeks when he collapsed. He was barely conscious but survived through his torturous breathing. She, his most-beloved consort according to many, was always by his side caring for him. She was from the most powerful noble family in the Empire, second only to the Imperial Family. Consort Xīn was what they called her.

In another part of the palace, close to Emperor's, was a palace that seemed to carry a prevailing winter breeze that froze still despite the warmth. He was there, in his chamber, drowning in alcohol and melancholy after his Mother Empress and beloved Mistress left him. Moments passed by, and when the sun hit past noon, it was heard. The loud screaming of eunuchs, running around the palace, shouting, "The Emperor has departed!"

He heard it. It was faint, but he heard it. He could not believe it but he did. He slowly climbed up and stumbled out of his dark chambers, passing by the servants who were all dropping onto their knees in the Emperor's palace's direction, sobbing, weeping.

She came out of her quarters and their eyes met. They never uttered a single word to each other, and he just left her without saying anything, rushing out of his palace, his heart beating rapidly in uneasiness. Why is the world so cruel? Everyone I love is leaving me one by one. Why?

However, it was not meant to be a beautiful day after all. He was just running when he heard a thunderous sound coming from somewhere but not the clear sky. He kept running, for there was only one thing in his mind. He ran and ran, but abruptly halted when the thunderous sound did not stop and instead got louder and louder. It was then he decided to look around and he saw them. Coming in his direction, in the speed of light.

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"Crown Princess! Where is Crown Princess?! This is bad! Your Highness!" Her servant was frantically running about in her long dresses which she lifted for they were in the way. She barged into Crown Princess' chamber where she was seen being helped by other servants changing into her white dresses for mourning. Immediately the servant dropped to her knees and held her legs, trembling in fear.

"The Xīn family has made a move! Crown Prince has been captured! Your Highness! Your Highness must run!"

"What?!" It took the Crown Princess a moment to digest her servant's words before she collapsed. In her mind, there was only one thing she could think of. "N-no... I must not escape...I must stay with Crown Prince... even if I managed to escape, they will definitely hunt me down..."

"Yì Róng! Yì Róng!" She ran to the side of her baby princess, who was still sleeping soundly in the midst of the calamity. Her tears dropped onto her child as she looked at her for the one last time again.

"Take her away, Xiǎo Rù! Take Yì Róng away! Bring Yì Róng to her! You and I both know where she is!"

"He-Her?" For a moment, her servant hesitated at the thought of bringing the princess to that woman. After all, she was supposed to hate them, for the nature of the palace.