The Last Dahlia

005

"I wonder who lives here," she remarked to her feathered friend. "A concubine perhaps?" It was odd though, that there was not a single guard to be seen. The Dahai royal family seemed to be less concerned about palace security than some of the other kingdoms she had been to.

The interior of the building was elegantly designed, with the subtle scent of roses floating in the air. Even before she entered, Yuehwa already knew that the owner of these quarters loved roses. There were roses of all shades and colours planted in the garden outside, and there were little pots of roses placed at various parts of the room that she was standing in right now.

It was also obvious that whoever these quarters belonged to, she was very much in the king's favour. After all, Dahai hardly had the appropriate climate for growing roses given that it was exposed to the harsh, salty winds from the open sea. The amount of effort that was required to ensure that these roses were able to bloom was no mean feat.

As though in response to her question, the soft sounds of someone crying suddenly drifted into her ears.

Oh no, just turn around and walk away, Ember thought to himself, searching for the nearest exit. Any sane person who was breaking and entering would know to run away from strange noises, but his owner definitely qualified for the "not sane" category. Just as he was about to fly out through an open window, he caught sight of Yuehwa inching closer and closer towards the source of the crying.

Poking her head around an open doorway, she saw a girl crouched in one corner of the room, head buried against her knees as she sobbed to herself.

"Strange isn't it, that there's not a single soul in this entire place except that girl over there," Yuehwa whispered to Ember.

As if you care. Ember rolled his eyes.

He was right of course, she didn't care. Even if there was an obvious death trap lying within, Yuehwa would still have gone in simply because curiosity got the better of her.

Clearing her throat, she walked slowly into the room. "Are you alright?" she asked, a tinge of concern in her voice. Even though she was the fearsome Phoenix who could end a person's life without even blinking an eye, there was still some heart in her left. She especially didn't like seeing someone else cry, because it surfaced a sense of injustice within her that made her want to put an arrow through the person who brought about those tears.

"Who are you?" the crying girl suddenly looked up, alarmed that there was someone else in the room. She quickly wiped the tears from her face, as if afraid of being caught. "I thought I said no one was allowed to enter!"

The moment the girl lifted her head, Yuehwa's jaw dropped in awe.

Even though she had been crying, her tear-stained cheeks did nothing to dampen the beauty of her youth. Instead, her flushed countenance only served to emphasise her delicate features, reminiscent of the roses that were in bloom at all corners of the compound.

Such beauty does not belong on this earth, Yuehwa mused.

The girl scowled when she realised that Yuehwa was just staring. "I asked you a question!" she demanded. "What are you doing in here without permission? Are you new?"

The king of Dahai had fifteen children, a sizeable number compared to the other kingdoms, yet out of the fifteen he only had one daughter. Being the only rose among the thorns, the princess of Dahai—Naying—was the apple of her father and brothers' eyes, most treasured and carefully protected throughout the seventeen years of her life. That she was a rare beauty, unparalleled across the five kingdoms, only served to make her more precious to all of Dahai and earned her the nickname of the "Rose Princess".