The Blood-Stained Empress

C6: A Distant Memory's Autumn Leaves

*
The room is dimly lit; the only light comes from the lanterns by the guards' posts outside the cell. There's a musty smell in the air that seems to come from the rotting wood underneath, and even in spring, the night is chilly. Li Meixing and Li Shaomei are sleeping in the corner of the cell, the two of them just barely covered by a worn-out blanket and the dried tears staining their cheeks.

"Prince Huang Siming, this is Li Meixing, my daughter." A young and fresh-faced Li Meixing stared unblinkingly at the scrawny-looking boy in front of her. He seemed to be just above her height despite being two years older, and he was dressed head-to-toe in completely unremarkable clothing. Eh? This was the person her father wanted her to meet? He didn't look like a prince at all. His brother was much more impressive. Her mother gently nudged her to indicate her to speak up.

"Greetings to Your Royal Highness," Li Meixing said with a curtsy. "It is a pleasure to meet you." She raised her eyes to meet his, curious of what kind of expression he would show. There was no emotion in his gaze. For a moment she found herself lost in the void of his pupils.

Huang Siming's lips abruptly curved into a gentle smile. "Greetings to Li da xiaojie. Prime Minister Li has told me much about you."

"Really?" Li Meixing glanced dubiously at her father before pouting. "I haven't heard that much about Your Highness, though. All I know is that Your Highness is supposedly smart." Though naturally there was no way he would be smarter than Li Huoxin. Li Meixing's mother sucked in a breath, and Li Meixing realized that she was supposed to entertain the prince, not poke at him. "Would Your Highness like a seat?" she hurriedly asked.

"Sure. What does Li da xiaojie want to know about me?" he asked, clearly amused, while seating himself down onto a chair brought to him.

"Eh?" Li Meixing was caught off guard by his sudden easygoing attitude. "Mmm... What does Your Highness like to do in the palace?"

"I enjoy playing chess. It's entertaining once you understand the rules and strategies." He glanced sideways at the tea served to him but declined to touch it. "It's rare to find time to play a couple of rounds, though, as most of the time I'm studying. Your father is helping me with the second part."

"Teaching?"

"Well, no, not quite. Planning."

Li Meixing nodded in response, not quite understanding what he meant but knowing that it wasn't good to pry. At a loss of what else to ask him, she scrambled around internally for possible conversation topics before arriving at an idea. "Would Your Highness like a tour of our garden?"

"Sure." She led him through elaborate pathways and happily pointed out the various trees and flowers that were planted. There was even a small plant that she herself had started to grow, much to her mother's dismay, and she eagerly showed off the small bean sprout to Huang Siming. The corner of his lips raised up, and her cheeks became flushed with pride.

They spent the rest of the morning together in the Li fu, surrounded by vivid autumn leaves and the faint fragrance of blooming chrysanthemums.

A loud rattling noise from the cell door startles Li Meixing into waking up. She instinctively wraps an arm around Li Shaomei and turns her back toward the guard, unwilling to let anyone see her in her most fragile state. Overwhelmed with emotions after revisiting an old memory in her sleep, her legs curl up to her chest, and she lets her head sink from the edge of the wall onto the floor. Where did she go wrong? She thought they were both happy, both ready to become emperor and empress... so why? Why did everything turn out this way?

"Get in," the guard roughly demands before swinging the cell door back shut. Something heavy falls to the floor with a thud.

"Xingxing?" a low voice asks. His voice is weak and quivers unsteadily but still carries an air of nobility.

Li Meixing abruptly turns around and widens her eyes. "Huoxin? They took you too?" She reaches out to touch his forehead and sucks in a breath when the tip of her finger turns red. "I... why did this..." Tears trickle down her cheek. "I'm sorry, Huoxin... I'm sorry... if only I didn't get involved with him. If only I didn't—"

Li Huoxin (Li Meixing's elder brother) takes her into his embrace. "—It's alright, Xingxing, it's alright. This isn't your fault. The emperor had been planning this for a long time, and nothing that we could have done would have predicted it."

Li Meixing leans her cheek against him and relishes in the momentary feeling of comfort. Huoxin and herself were full siblings and, since young, have been extremely close. When Meixing is with Shaomei, her friends, or the general public, she's forced to act mature and tuck away all of her insecurities. With Huoxin, however, she can truly be herself; whenever she's upset, he has always been the one to comfort her, and only he knows just how much she loved Huang Siming.

"What happened?" Li Meixing softly asks. Huoxin had been sent to Tangwei by Prime Minister Li, and she hoped that he would be safe there so long as he heard about the news of what happened at the banquet before the emperor's forces found him.

"I was staying at an inn with a couple of our guards. The emperor's men came at night and stormed into my room with swords drawn. Someone had leaked my location." He laughs bitterly. "Even the guards that I had with me weren't ours; they had been bribed by the emperor many years ago to keep track of me. This is why I said that you had no way of knowing; his plan had begun to form long before you fell in love with him." He gazes at Li Shaomei, still asleep with a blanket wrapped over her small figure, and lowers his head. "But I had been his friend for so many years. Up until several hours ago, I thought that we were inseparable; he a great emperor and I his loyal general. I should have known." He hesitates before asking, "How were things at your end?"

Li Meixing sags her arms and slumps against him. "The banquet was going well. There were beautiful dancers, musicians from everywhere across the country, and all the major families were there. Then when Huang Siming had just finished his toast, the imperial guards came into the main hall with a group of captured assassins. One of them said that he was sent by Father. We were sent into here right afterward. Father and Concubine Wei Wuqi are in a separate cell."

Her voice is flat, and the two fall into a hushed silence. Their fate is known; the image of the executioner's swift swing and the silver scythe of death plagues their minds. The light in the guard's lantern is distinguished, and the darkness of night consumes them as they close their eyes and imagine how things could have been. Li Meixing shudders in the cold and unconsciously reaches out to Huoxin, with only one thought ringing through her head: if only she had acted differently back then.