of mist and power

CHAPTER ONE,

SCREAMING WAS NEVER one of Myrina Mai's preferred activities, but it was one of the few things she felt like doing as she sat in her office at Crown Prince Ryan's Eastern Palace. The Eastern Palace was right beside the main Palace, where the Emperor and Empress resided, and had historically been the home of the heirs to the throne.

Of which Ryan Gu was the latest one.

But it wasn't the Prince who was making her frustrated. It was her relatives, and the latest missive she had received.

She'd returned from Arecia two months ago full of hope and energy. She wanted to come back and make things right. To finally get her relatives out of her estate, to get her brother back to Hong Cheng and to make her life more than simply tolerable.

So far she'd achieved none of those three goals.

The latest missive was from the erfang, the family of her eldest uncle and the younger brother of her father. Her er shu, as she called the uncle since he was the second oldest, was also the person most against her completely regaining control of her inheritance and forcing them all to move out.

She did not like him.

It said:

Niece,

I understand your frustration. However, no can do. We simply cannot leave the estate within such a short notice—a year or two's timing must be needed at the least. The erfang, sanfang all reside here. That is more than thirty people in total, and we'd have nowhere else to go.

Besides, Zihan has not yet returned from his studies. I think it is best for him to return before you make any brash decisions, my dearest niece. You are still young, and with your duties at court, you ought to leave the estate in our capable hands. We are your relatives, after all, and your closest family. This is what your father would want.

It would not be very filial of you to have us all removed from the estate. I am sure you understand. Perhaps in some time, we'd find a new place to relocate, but the estate is more than enough to house us and you in my opinion.

Your uncle.

The message was quite clear from the relatively short letter. Myrina gritted her teeth. Her uncles and their family would not move out. They did not trust her judgement and wanted her brother to return before making any decisions—an outright indication that they did not yet respect or accept her position as heir rather than her brother or any other male relative, that they would not be returning power over the estate (and thus any other real privilege that came with the title of Countess of Li Han) to her anytime soon, and that by suggesting this, she was being disrespectful to her late father and all the ancestors of the Mai family.

It was horrific.

Two months, and she still hadn't managed to solve this issue by the slightest. She remained exactly where she started. With her relatives unwilling to bulge, and her with nothing to do.

As things had been for the past seven or eight years of her life, ever since her father had died.

Sometimes she wished her father was still alive, or had died later so that he could have appointed someone who wanted to be heir. But he hadn't, and now she was stuck with the burden with nothing she could do about it.

Not to mention that she was now regularly serving under someone who disliked her to her very core.

Myrina was fine with it, really. Ryan had rarely been open about it ever since she'd started working directly under him, perhaps having realised how unprofessional that would be. But it still didn't mean Myrina didn't occasionally regret her decision to stay in the Scarlet Palace when she'd been offered the choice.