Atropa Belladonna

~~~二~~~

That, paired with the struggles she knew she would face as the head of the Imperial Harem once she was Empress just had her praying that the twenty-year-old would break the agreement on his own; but as the years went on since their childboods, he never did such a thing.

Even with his obvious distaste for her at the beginning, Long Zhang never complained about the arrangement and just dealt with the female's strange personality and the eccentric people she surrounded herself with until he eventually grew used to all of jt and began opening up to her little by little.

Of course the same could be said about the woman as even if she seemed like an open and friendly person, she still held many secrets known only by him and the two other assassins in her clan that were her sworn sisters.

Hēisè Lǎohǔ was a female who was taken into the clan after being found in the woods of the northern mountains when she was a young girl, accepted as a deciple of their blade master and brother of the clan leader, Bai Měilì.

Chìhóng Kōngtóu was taken into the clan after she was found being sold by her original family on the streets of the slums, accepted as a disciple of the famed sharpshooter and brother of Madam Bai, Shu Tong.

Since the two children were about the same age as the clan leader's youngest child, they started their basics training and academic studies together and bonded.

Over time, they became one of the most successful teams within the clan, even if they were also the most questionable.

Most of their missions went smoothly with no problems; however, when something went wrong in their plans, it went wrong.

Luckily, they always used aliases during their missions, but everyone in the clan always knew of their shenanigans and would joke about it over a few rounds of alcohol during celebrations and banquets.

'Man, how I wish that we were all twelve again,' the ravenette thought as she absent-mindedly raised a piece of meat to her lips, 'Just running around that orchard of peach trees without a care for our futures.'

"How about it, Young Lady Bai?" came the voice of the emperor, snapping the young woman out of her thoughts as her head snapped up.

"Apologies, Your Majesty, but I was day dreaming for a few moments, could you repeat that?" she requested, while looking up at the male.

"His Majesty was just suggesting that we hear your magnificent xiao playing, but it seems that you're tired," the empress spoke as her eyebrows knitted together.

"I had heard from Xiu Ying that you had been busy with missions all month," she continued, "Maybe you should retire for now, we can hear you play next time."

"Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty," the female in black said as she got up and saluted to the royal couple before the elder woman alled for one of the maids to bring her to one of the guest rooms in her palace.

"Then, I'll be taking my leave now. I wish you all a good night," she continued, giving one last bow to everyone before the followed the maid and eunuch out of the main hall.

Walking through the familiar pathways of the Imperial Palace, the ravenette was reminded of the first time she was brought there, the first time she met the man who was to be her future husband.

At the time she was seven while the prince was eight, she was extremely terrified to meet the boy as she had heard he was a prodigy but never showed kindness to anyone, but after meeting him the child thought that he was decent, just quiet.

While he wasn't outwardly rude to her, the ravenette could tell that he didn't exactly enjoy her presence, so whenever her parents took her to visit the capital she just stayed off to the side and tried not to speak.