Phoenix Rising

029

Zi-ning was impressed. She had heard of many of such political marriages before and technically her own marriage to Ru-wen in her previous life had been one of sorts, but never had she seen someone outright reject an offer so bluntly, especially when the other party was a princess of another kingdom. Was he not afraid of angering the king by turning it down like this?

King Shunde was caught in a dilemma. If the envoy had not specified anyone then he could have easily betrothed the girl to one of his sons, or perhaps even keep her in his own harem, but now that the Shon ambassador had identified Zhenghuan as the man their king had chosen it made matters a little tricky.

"Princess Sana, Ambassador Caron," the king said, "perhaps we can discuss this further, after the banquet. It is a happy occasion tonight and I do not wish to see our moods turn sour because of a little disagreement. I am sure we will be able to work out something that will be satisfactory to both kingdoms."

There were plenty of surprised looks going around the hall now and even Zi-ning couldn't help but be a little astonished by the king's response. The rumours had been true when they said the king held the Shadow Lord in extremely high regard. If it had been any other person who had said such offensive words to the Shon princess and ambassador, the king would have clamped him down immediately and simply ordered him to marry the princess. However, the king's words suggested that he preferred an alternative solution and that he was in fact giving in to Zhenghuan's disagreement.

Who exactly is this man and why does the king favour him so? It was a puzzle that Zi-ning found rather intriguing. She had seen King Shunde several times before since she had married into the royal family in her previous life, and he had never come across as the sort of king who was a pushover. In fact, he could be said to be a stern and authoritarian figure who was harsh and strict even to his own sons.

Even someone as confident and self-assured as Ru-an often came up at the shorter end of the stick in any argument with his father, which was a big factor that had driven the prince to usurp the throne eventually. However, when it came to the Shadow Lord, the king seemed like a completely different man.

Regardless, the outcome of this political marriage didn't concern her. Even if Princess Sana was betrothed to the crown prince eventually, she was certain that the princess would not be made his first wife because the kingdom would never accept a foreign woman as their future queen. If she still hoped to use the crown prince as the route to achieving her goal, then that window would still be open. The prince could have a dozen concubines in his household—none of that would matter to her since she didn't care about winning his heart. All she needed was his political clout and his hand in helping her drag Ru-an down to hell.

She stood up quietly from her seat, slipping out through the side door to make a trip to the latrine. Shujin thought to follow behind her young mistress but Zi-ning insisted that she stay, choosing to get directions from one of the palace maids instead. If Shujin remained behind, she would be able to fill her in on anything she missed later.

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The palace was an extensive compound and the great hall itself covered substantial ground. The journey from the hall to the nearest latrine was an almost ten-minute walk through several winding corridors and it was only too easy for one to get lost along the way. When she was done, Zi-ning headed back in the direction she came in only to realise after ten minutes of walking that she might have taken a wrong turn because there was no sign of the banquet hall in sight.

"Excuse me," she called out to one of the palace attendants that was carrying a lantern and heading her way, "which is the way to the great hall?"

"If you keep walking down this way, you'll come to a fork in the path. Take the corridor on the left and it should lead you all the way back," the man replied, bowing politely.