Princess In The Palace

3. Her New Name

"And you must not let anyone know that your previous name was Yì Róng, understand?"

"Okay."

---

Who knew, that in just the blink of an eye, four years had passed. The little Yì Rán had grown again, her height had now almost reached the height of her aunt. Most importantly, her features were developing. Not in a blessed way, but in a cursed way. People could easily see that she was beautiful, dangerously beautiful as anyone would be easily smitten by the charcoal-black hair that was long and straight and it fluttered in the presence of gentle breeze. With a wide hat on her head at all times, her skin was shaded from the damaging sun rays and they were white, though probably a few red bug bites could not hide themselves for she still worked in an environment with wild grasses growing every single day, which she in turn had to weed.

As the graveyard was out of the palace, she still retained the freedom she used to have. Just like a bird, a beautiful one, flying around the world, roaming freely and chirping with a voice more pleasant than the heaven's music.

"Aunt, sister, I will go first." Yì Rán said as she tied her pack of coins onto her sash and lifted the basket filled with beautifully-embroidered cloths while Pī Yáng carefully placed a hat on top of her simple hairdo. She pulled the translucent white veil down from the top and thus no one would be able to recognise the face behind the veil. It might be difficult to walk behind it, but it was worth the safety, because a woman's beauty was a dagger that would one day stab back at the owner.

"Take care, do not take too long." Ān Yú replied in between her needlework.

The trip to the Capital City was a long one, however she had a horse. A horse which one day just appeared in front of their hut. It was clearly a gift from someone, however that person had never appeared, for perhaps he was not supposed to appear in front of them. The horse was a beautiful white horse, a colour so pure, white and untainted, unlike human's heart.

So despite her frail body, Ān Yù still taught Yì Rán how to ride a horse. Now, it proved to come in handy. So she mounted the horse and left, all while Pī Yáng looked on and on, until she disappeared as she turned around the corner.

"Aunt...you are right..." Pī Yáng turned around and picked up the threads scattered around the floor and crumpled them up into a ball before she threw them out of the house.

"What?" Ān Yù stopped and looked up at her. She caught how Pī Yáng looked worried, her colours were fading.

"Yì Rán...she is growing to look more...and more like her..."

"..."

"Is this a coincidence? This cannot be...this irony..."

"No...It is not. There were some Empresses from both families in the past. So they should at least share a little bit of blood and ancestry after all. It is just...really...really...why she has to look like her of all people?"

---

The endless chatterings filled in the space as people bustled around, coming into and out of the city. The pair of father and son were still selling their famous roasted pork in front of the herbal store. The old lady with fully-white hair was still selling her usual sparkling jewelries all spread out on a piece of cloth. The mother of a toddler was still selling her vegetables all placed perfectly in the most desirable and nicest way possible. Yì Rán entered the city without encountering any trouble. Her veil was still let down, not allowing people to see through the thin piece of soft cloth. After dismounting her horse, she held onto the lead rope, gently caressing her horse as she led the way into the busy market of the city. She loved being there, being in the middle of business of the city, feeling the liveliness of the city that the graveyard obviously lacked. She would have to visit the Capital City about two times a week and she loved them most. She always wanted to live in the city, to blend into the lives of commoners and had friends like normal girls her age would. However, she knew she could not.

So she took most of her opportunities observing the city from behind her veil. It was unclear but it was enough. She looked on again at the people passing by as she walked through the business. Then, she finally exited the busiest part of the market into the heart of the city, where the restaurants, the inns and brothels were located. It was less crowded now as less people were passing through the area. She headed straight to a crowded restaurant located next to an inn, called the Fragrant Success. She was tying the lead rope of her horse to the wooden pole at the side of the restaurant when she suddenly heard a faint sound of horse trotting. The faint sound grew louder and louder and she looked up, through her veil. It was extremely unclear and she could only squint her eyes while trying her best to make out the silhouette before a gush of wind blew up her veil and hat so suddenly that she gasped and almost fell down.

Her heart was racing as fast as it could ever be while she gripped tightly to her chest. Blinking a few times, she looked around, finding a person, a man, dismounting his horse. His servant was at the side tying the lead rope to another pole. She looked down to see her hat and veil being stepped on by the horse, but no one said anything.

Rude, she thought to herself as she proceeded to again tie the lead rope to the pole tightly, before she picked up her dresses and turned around, taking a few steps to reach her hat and veil on the ground.

"Excuse me. Could I trouble you to move away your horse?"

That was her first words ever to him.

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Hi again at the end of chapter 3! Please do check out the summary chapter as I've just added a little bit more of the summary into the chapter! Thank you!

By the way, how is the new cover?! Please do tell me which one is nicer! Thankssssss! See you in the next chapter!