The Last Dahlia

005

Deciding to play along, Yuehwa nodded. "I'm sorry for intruding, Your Highness, I did not realise it was you!" she exclaimed in mock surprise. "My name is Yuehwa. Lady Kang sent me because she thought that you might need additional assistance in preparation for the annual sparring tournament."

Princess Naying frowned. "You're lying. Lady Kang would do no such thing. Who exactly are you?"

Yuehwa threw her head back and laughed, noting that the princess was a much sharper needle than she had expected. It was common knowledge that Lady Kang, the king's favourite concubine, had been taking charge of all matters in the palace ever since the queen passed on a few years back. The estranged relationship between the king's concubine and his favourite daughter was the lesser known fact.

"Just a passer-by who decided to drop in for a visit," she replied casually.

"Guar—"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." In the blink of an eye, Yuehwa was squatting right in front of the princess, placing a firm finger upon her lips to shut her up. "I'm not an enemy, though if you decide to start screaming, I don't guarantee that I'll remain friendly," she said with a wink.

The princess's eyes widened, staring suspiciously at the girl in front of her. As indignant as she was, she kept quiet.

"That's a good girl," Yuehwa said, straightening herself up. Walking over to an empty chair, she sat herself down and began fiddling with the ceramic teacups that were on the side table. "Now, why don't you tell me why the famous Rose Princess is crying all alone? Got cold feet before the royal wedding?" Everyone knew that the king intended to choose a suitable husband for his beloved daughter through the upcoming sparring tournament. As much as he couldn't bear to let his daughter leave his side, the princess would turn eighteen the following year and it was unimaginable that she should still be unmarried by then.

At the mention of the impending wedding to a groom that had not yet been identified, the tears began to well up in Naying's eyes once more and her fists clenched in indignation. "There is no royal wedding. I am not getting married to anyone!" she said.

To the rest of the world, the king was a doting father who wanted nothing but the best for his daughter, but before he was her father, he was first and foremost the king of Dahai. Her father had already made it clear to her that there were only two candidates she was allowed to consider, namely the crown princes of Gi and Feng, both of whom had much to inherit in the near future. What the king wanted was more than a son-in-law; he wanted an alliance, one that would be strong enough to help fulfil his ambitions of uniting the five kingdoms under one banner.

"Ah, a marriage of convenience. After all, with the most beautiful woman across the five kingdoms as bait, the king will have no difficulty getting whichever son-in-law he fancies," Yuehwa quipped after listening to Naying's story. "What's wrong with the crown princes of Gi and Feng?" she asked. "I've heard many good things about them, especially the prince of Gi." She chuckled as she thought of Maroo and the stories he told that made the crown prince of Gi sound more like a god than a human being.

"There's nothing wrong with either of them," Naying sniffled, "but I refuse to marry someone who only views me as an asset that can be used in exchange for power! Father promised me that he would let me choose the man that I would marry, yet now he tells me that I have to make a choice between these two regardless of whether I like them or not."

"Want me to give you a hand?"

Naying's eyes lit up. She picked herself off the ground and ran over to Yuehwa's side, eagerly tugging at her sleeve. "You have a solution? Is there a way for me not to marry any of them?"

"When there is a will, there is always a way. Except... it won't come cheap," she glanced sideways at Naying and said.

There she goes again, meddling in someone else's matters. The day she walks away and decides not to poke her nose into things is the day the world will end, Ember thought. Shaking his head, he lifted his wings and flew out of the window, unwilling to witness what nonsense would spew out of Yuehwa's mouth next.

"I'll give you anything you want! Any price, as long as you help me get out of this," Naying said eagerly.

"Even that jade pendant?" Yuehwa pointed at the pendant that was hanging from the princess's neck. She had noticed it ever since she stepped in, and immediately she was reminded of something that she had just seen not too long ago.

The pendant was made of white jade, carved into the intricate design of a snowflake. Just looking at it from afar, Yuehwa couldn't be sure whether or not the design was identical, but it sure looked similar to the symbol she had seen on the tapestry in the fabric store.

At the mention of her pendant, Princess Naying hesitated, her hand instinctively reaching up to grasp onto it. "This was given to me by my mother... Can't I give you something else in exchange?" She ran and brought back with her a sandalwood jewellery box, emptying its contents onto the table in front of Yuehwa. There were necklaces made of pearls, earrings made of red coral, hairpins of precious stones, and the princess was offering them all to a rather smug-looking Phoenix.

"I was only joking." Yuehwa laughed, although her gaze still remained fixed upon the snowflake pendant. "We can talk about payment later, when I've actually got the job done."

"What are you intending to do?"

"I don't know, maybe do away with the crown princes of Gi and Feng? Wouldn't that solve your problem?" Yuehwa replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. She watched in amusement as the blood suddenly drained from the princess's face, the girl's eyes enlarging in shock. "Just kidding. I'm not really in a mood for that sort of thing these days. Must be getting old. I'll tell you what you need to do when the time comes. In the meantime, don't tell anyone else about me. If someone asks, I'm a new palace maid that has been sent to wait upon you, alright?"

"Aren't you going to tell me who you actually are?" the princess asked, suddenly a little suspicious of this helpful intruder.

Yuehwa laughed as she walked towards the open door. Reaching into her sleeve, she retrieved a single red dahlia and tossed it backwards towards the princess. "Don't worry, like I said, I'm not an enemy." With that, she slipped out of the room and vanished from view.

Holding the dahlia in her trembling hand, the princess collapsed back into her seat. Everyone in the five kingdoms knew what the red dahlia meant and who it belonged to. If she hadn't realised it earlier, then she only had herself to blame. After all, how many random strangers were able to freely enter the grounds of the Dahai palace without triggering a single alarm? Her mysterious appearance, her debonair attitude and the way she spoke freely about matters concerning the various kingdoms, all of it had pointed towards her true identity, yet it took a red dahlia to make Naying realise who Yuehwa actually was.

Now, the princess of Dahai had now officially joined the ranks of a mere handful who had seen the Phoenix for what she actually looked like—and that could be both a blessing and a curse.