"Sister, why are you still kneeling? Father has left already." Her voice was as pure as a mountain stream, untouched by the horrors of reality.
As she approached, the sweet scent of peony drifted through the air, matching her rosy makeup. She offered me her hand, her eyes sparkling as she towered above me. Though she was about my height, from my angle, she appeared as a goddess framed by all the riches in the world.
I set my hand on hers. "Oh!" She immediately recoiled, taking a few steps back as if I had pricked her. Her voice suddenly went up an octave. "Sister, why is your hand so... coarse! Maid, come cleanse my hand and reapply some peony balm."
During this process, I had already helped myself up from the floor, only almost tripping once due to the unfamiliar texture of the carpeted ground. Now standing up, I recollected my senses and observed my new sister. Was there a sense of hostility? Her actions all pointed in that direction, but her eyes betrayed no discernible sense of malice.
"Let me show you around the garden!" she chirped as if nothing had happened. Or maybe the balms had just brought her second life. "It'll be surely a different sight from what you're used to seeing when you work in the fields!" She began walking out, multiple servants and maids trailing carefully behind her.
But I dashed forward and stopped her by the door. "Working in the fields?"
"Oh, don't worry about hiding it. Everyone knows by now!" She gestured toward the small crowd trailing behind her, and each person in turn nodded. "That's why Father is so hesitant towards marrying you off. The Palace is no place for ... what do you call it again? Sowing the weeds?"
Her words cut into my heart. Before I could even retort, she was talking again. "Come on, let me show you around!" She pulled on the sleeve of my dress, and oddly enough, she didn't react to the bad quality of the cloth. Its texture was surely rougher than the calluses on my hands.
A carefully-painted tea set was already prepared and set in the intricately-designed pagoda. All around, flowers were blooming, fighting to show their beauty to the world. Around the pagoda was a ring of peach blossoms, their petals coating the ground in a heavenly gown of white and pink. It was paradise.
As we sat down, per habit and courtesy, I motioned to pour her a cup of tea. Instead, she exclaimed that it was no work for a princess.
"I think I would like my wedding procession to take place on a street lined by peach blossoms," she sighed dreamily without any context. "Father has already promised that I could pick my own husband by holding a fun little competition. Sister, you must help me think of some questions to ask before you leave!"
Her careless words deepened my invisible wounds, and I could feel my body gradually tense up. She cast a casual sideways glance at me and smiled as if she was pleased with my reaction.
In such a time, even commoner's daughters could not risk marrying for the sake of love and had to consider familial alliances. Yet she, a princess who should give back to the nation and its citizens, could wed as she pleased.
It suddenly dawned on me. I was summoned back only because the emperor took pity on her and didn't want to force her to wed. A twisted smile crawled up my lips, but I hid it in time. However, her words only further confirmed my suspicions.
"But I'm truly jealous of you. Your future husband, the Prince of Jin, is said to be so excruciatingly handsome and talented!" She feigned swooning over, but her eyes carefully followed any slight change in my displayed emotions. "I only wish Father wouldn't be so doting on me and allow me to wed in place of you! I had begged him to let me help the state of the kingdom, but it was all to no avail!"
YOU ARE READING
Crocodile Tears
Historical Fiction"Let us meet again in hell." Before she became the infamous seductress. Before he was the most hated tyrant. Before it all fell apart... Born a curse, she was cast away from the royal family. But when the kingdom needed an alliance, she was the one...
