Phoenix Rising

027

When all the guests were seated, the king's chief steward struck a gong and announced the arrival of the royal family. King Shunde walked in moments later, accompanied by Queen Ci Yuanji and his mother, the queen dowager, as well Crown Prince Ru-quan. After accepting everyone's greetings, the king gestured for everyone to be seated, taking his place on his throne.

"This time each year brings me great joy because we come together to celebrate the peace and stability that we enjoy between the three kingdoms, and to honour the deep friendship between us," the king said, smiling jovially as he addressed the envoys and the rest of the court. "Tonight we shall feast and celebrate in honour of our friends who have come all this way to our kingdom, and we shall remind ourselves of the importance of such bonds that will continue to grow in the years to come. A toast," he raised his goblet into the air, "to our everlasting friendship and brotherhood."

"A toast to friendship and brotherhood," the hall echoed as goblets were raised high in the air.

Just as everyone was drinking to the toast, the doors of the great hall creaked open and a figure in flaming red walked in accompanied by two other men, taking confident strides towards the front of the hall. When he reached the front, he bowed respectfully and said, "My apologies for being late, Your Majesty. There were some matters that I had to settle before coming here. I hope you will not take offense for my tardiness."

"Prince Zhiren," the king said, nodding his head in acknowledgement. "Of course not, better late than never. It is a pity you have missed our first toast, but there will be more to come as the night progresses of course. We are honoured to have you visit our kingdom—your father is very generous to have sent you."

Typically the envoys sent by the kingdoms comprised of court officials and occasionally a lesser royal, but to have the crown prince himself being part of the entourage was certainly a first in the history of the three kingdoms. Despite the "peace" across the land, no king would ever be confident enough to send his heir deep within the territories of another kingdom. And doing so was deeply suspicious.

"I asked to come along," the prince replied. "I have long heard about the affluence and culture of Huangcheng and thought it would be a good opportunity to learn from your good practices." Although he sounded as if he was praising the kingdom, there was an arrogance in his tone of voice that immediately garnered the dislike from many of the Duan court officials.

Crown Prince Situ Zhiren was a larger-than-life presence, not only because of the flamboyant outfit and devilish good looks, but also because of his aura of confidence and hubris. In contrast, Ru-quan seemed like a much more subdued presence, even though he was already considered one of the more outgoing personalities among the princes.

Without waiting for anyone to give him an instruction, Prince Zhiren walked over to the empty table between one of his emissaries and Ru-quan, sitting himself down comfortably as if he were in his own home. "Carry on," he said casually, "there's no need to stop the programme for my sake."

The king's expression darkened slightly as he watched the younger man sit himself down and pick up his goblet for a drink of wine. The queen placed her hand over her husband's, shaking her head gently. The crown prince of Hua was arrogant and conceited, but they still had to treat him with respect because he was a distinguished guest tonight.

Zhenghuan had been watching this entire exchange from his seat in the first row on the opposite side of the hall, beside Prince Ru-wen. He caught the slight smirk that Zhiren gave to Ru-quan as he sat down, as well as the glower coming from the latter. He wasn't interested in the petty power plays between the princes—what he was more interested in was observing the other officials to see if any one of them was paying particularly close attention to the prince from Hua. Someone in this hall was in cahoots with Zhiren and the Eagle Warrior of the southern tribes and eventually he would dig out who it was.