I Want Winter

Chapter 66

"My lady, are you okay?" She said, looking at me very concerned and lightly tapping my shoulders.

"Ahhh... umm...," I lost my voice and my throat went dry. I tried to swallow my saliva and open my mouth again. "Ahh... umm," as no voice came but just sounded, and I closed my mouth again. Lin tilted her head and looked at me. I reopen my mouth once more.
"Lo-v-ERS?...," my voice cracked.

"Yes?" Lin said, looking at me confused.

"Ahh.. so meeeee... and third Prince?" I said, still bewildered. "Ummm, I think I need more information," I said slowly, looking at her blankly.

Finally, we settled down in my room and Lin began to tell me the entire story just before the ceremony. "Well, my lady, when you were about the age of 7. You ran off on your own and got lost during the Mid-Autumn festival. Then you bump into the third Prince and that leads you two to become lovers over the years but you never knew he was the Third Prince until soon later you found out and you two always played this game of not knowing each other so no one will find out about you two. But then you began to.... um... change.... and wanted power," Lin seemed scared to upset me but continued.
"However, then you found that he was the Concubine's son and wouldn't become Emperor so you left the third Prince and started chasing after the 4th Prince. When the third Prince tried to confront you, you completely ignored him and acted as if you never met him before," she ended as each word entered my ears and I tried to process all the information with my mind blanking out.
Wait, what? This is becoming a mess? So this person and the 3rd Prince were lovers, but she dumped him to get a higher rank. Oh my goodness, my mind is going to explode.
"My lady?" Lin asks and touches my shoulders.

"Ummm, let's not think about it now cause we are going to be late for the ceremony." I tried to push back the information on hold.

Lin's face was shaken up as if she forgot about the ceremony. "Oh my goodness! The ceremony!" Lin screeched and quickly grabbed me and rushed to bathe me. Then she quickly threw on a light peach color on top of the hanfu and a sky blue dress with pink flowers at the bottom of the dress and a peach ribbon around my waist. She tied up my hair and then pinned it up; Lin shoved me out of the door and hurried to the ceremony. We entered the main court and I took a seat. Soon, the ceremony began as we all stood up and greeted the Emperor, "Long live the Emperor." We all praised the Emperor once he entered and took a seat in his throne. Everyone started chattering and drinking tea or wine and then the third Prince stood up in front of the Emperor which caused me to think about the lover thing. As I almost choked on my tea and tried to clear my throat.
"Your Highness, as a present for Mid-Autumn day I give you two gifts. I brought you China Pearl peaches for you to prosper for eternity," the 3rd Prince said as servants brought in a box of peaches. "And last your favorite tea, tienchi flower," He ended and handed a bag of tea to the Emperor as he bowed to him. The Emperor looked at the tea bag dearly but had sadness in his eyes.

" Well then, let's move on," said someone, urgently, as it was the 3rd Prince's mother and she clasped her hands together. "Let's see which Prince has the most skills as we have competitions on archery," she continued and sounded slightly nervous as one person agreed and soon others agreed.

Soon, servants and guards set up an area for archery and getting the equipment. All the Prince stood up and stood side by side with each other; they pulled the bow and shot the arrow. They all hit the bullseye except for the 5th Prince who was slightly off by a centimeter, so he was out and 4 princes were left. Now, it was time for them to shoot the arrow up in the sky and land on the bullseye. 1.. 2.. 3 as they angled the bow upwards and let go. And this time the 2nd Prince slightly miss the mark. Then the next move was to hit the bullseye on a tight angle. They shot their arrows in the air and it looked like the 4th Prince was going to be slightly off as I held my breath and clasp my hands together tightly. However, he made it and I almost yelped in excitement, but I contained myself. Although the 4th Prince made it, the 1st Prince was off by a centimeter. Now it's between the 4th Prince and the 3rd Prince.

"I think for the last round someone should hold an apple on top of the head and the prince has to hit right in the middle of the apple and the bullseye to become the winner," said someone in a sassy tone, who was Consort Qingyuan. "I nominate Concubine Liling," she said and pointed at me.

I smile at her as well, "Alright, I will represent myself, but I also nominate you, Consort Qingyuan. It's only fair because it's your idea," I said as others agreed.