Phoenix Rising

034

The Han opera troupe was the most famous performing troupe in the kingdom, renowned even to those from Hua and Shon. Hearing that Princess Sana was a big fan of the opera, the king had ordered the troupe to enter the capital just to perform at the royal wedding celebration, in hope that it would be able to bring a smile to the princess's face. Since the troupe was in town, the queen had arranged for them to deliver a private performance of their latest showing, "Blossoms of Spring", in the imperial garden for the emperor's harem and selected noble ladies to enjoy. The astute would realise that the queen's action was a direct snub to the king, a showing of her displeasure towards the king's treatment of the Shon princess.

Zi-ning entered the palace early that morning together with Meiyan, accompanied by one maidservant each. The queen had only invited a select few young ladies this time, almost all of whom Zi-ning recognised. Her good friend Zhenzhu had been excluded from the invitations, which meant that she would likely not have anyone to speak to on this occasion. As expected, the other young ladies such as Ouyang Sangya and Song Lanfang, avoided her completely and treated her as if she was invisible.

Unperturbed by any of this, Zi-ning took her seat near the back since the seats in the front few rows were reserved for the ladies of the king's harem and other members of the royal family. She looked around, carefully observing the different ladies that were congregating in groups and engaging in delighted chatter. In her previous life she had not been given this opportunity, since she was cast out of any shortlist the queen might have had, so she was entering the palace blind today. From her experience, she knew that the palace was far from the glittering, glorious place that people believed it to be. Behind the façade lay numerous scheming minds and hidden plots, and one wrong step would send the unsuspecting individual to her doom. She scanned the smiling faces of the king's concubines, seemingly cordial and friendly to one another. Only they knew how much innocent blood stained their hands in their attempts to scale the ranks of the harem.

Sighing, she swirled the tea in her cup, raising it to her lips. Is it not tiring? Having to put up such an act all the time? The one thing about herself that she had been proud of in her previous life was how she had always been true to herself. She had been lied to and tricked by Lady Min and Meiyan, and later betrayed by the man she had given her heart to, but till the very end she had not compromised her true nature. She said what she wanted to say, behaved the way she wanted to, even chased brazenly after Ru-an just because her heart told her to—despite knowing that she would be judged and condemned for her actions.

Now, I'm just like all of them. The irony.

"Her Majesty, the queen, will be arriving shortly," Lady Ru announced, and the ladies present immediately rose to their feet to await the queen's arrival.

The queen entered the imperial gardens decked in her regal gold and maroon silk robes, accompanied by a young lady who looked around sixteen or seventeen, dressed equally elegantly in rose pink. Zi-ning knew who that girl was—Princess Xuan—the ninth princess and only daughter of Consort Song, Ru-an's mother. Although she was Consort Song's daughter, the princess often spent time at the queen's palace keeping her company ever since the queen's own daughters were married and left the palace, and she was very much favoured by the king and queen for her jovial nature.

In the past, Zi-ning had gone to great lengths to please the princess, in hope that the princess would put in a few good words about her in front of Ru-an. Seeing the girl again brought all those awful memories back into Zi-ning's mind, memories of how she had been mocked and shamed by the princess, made to feel like she was nothing but a worthless piece of trash. Her fingers tightened around her porcelain cup as she watched the princess make her entrance.

"Please rise," the queen said, gesturing to the congregation. "It is indeed a rare opportunity that we get to enjoy a performance by the Han opera troupe. Were it not for the upcoming royal wedding," the queen's voice tensed slightly, "perhaps we might not have the honour. The troupe has prepared a new show for the spring season. I trust we will all enjoy the performance they have for us today." She waved her hand, asking everyone to take their seats. The queen herself took her seat in the centre of the front row, with Princess Xuan sitting down beside her.