This is a special chapter and can be read separately without reading the whole 'Love In The Palace'. This special chapter reveals about Emperor's past.
If you come only to read this special chapter, and turned out to like it, please do read the whole series of Love In The Palace as well! Thank you! :)
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"Your Highness. The Emperor has been visiting our palace lately. Your Highness clearly has gained His Majesty's favour again! Our palace has become much livelier recently." A woman with dress and hairstyle more elaborate slowly bowed down, whispering to her master in glee, smiling from ears to ears. Consort Para's expression only softened, negatively. Her eyes held no happiness, but more of suspicions and some sorrow. She sighed in her heart, as she was afraid of the days that might come. There was only one matter that she was scared of, and as days passed by, her nightmare seemed to be realising more and more. It was the first time that she felt unhappiness whenever the Emperor visited.
"I do not know...whether to await his arrival...or dread it."
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"Where is His Majesty?" It was a voice filled with contempt. The owner of the voice did have an admirable beauty. Her skin was flawless and charcoal-black hair was incomparable. Her hairdo required hours of sitting before the mirror to be done perfectly. Her dresses all required many hands and many months to be completed.
"His Majesty...is at Consort Para's palace." Jane answered almost in a whispering tone.
"Very well. His Majesty suddenly has been visiting Consort Para's palace. There must be a reason behind this." She spoke with contempt. After she was sent into a wave of deep thoughts, she hurriedly went into her bedchamber.
"I am going to Consort Para's palace. Help me change!"
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Author's POV:
The palace had regained its admirable glory after a whole year of being left in imaginary winter. A group of guards and servants was left standing-by outside the palace, none of them dared to slack without the presence of their Emperor.
"This fish is amazing." His Majesty smiled as he, using chopsticks, held a part of the flesh and placed it on his bowl of warm and fluffy white rice. Consort Para could only smile and silently chew her rice, trying her best not to accidentally bite her tongue in anxiety. Of course she was happy to be having dinner together with the Emperor, however it was not only the two of them and the children. The Emperor personally invited Magnolia as well, and she could see through it.
"Aunt personally cooked all these for Your Majesty." Magnolia commented timidly carried on eating. Even under the candle lights at night, she looked mysteriously beautiful. Even Consort Para was aware of how unusually gorgeous her niece was. However certainly the most beautiful woman she had ever seen was Consort Shine, whose grace was second to none. Seeing the current condition of her palace, she could only bite her lips and close one eye.
However it was not a compliment which she received from the Emperor, but only a smile. During the silent dinner, Consort Para at times caught the Emperor stealing glances at Magnolia. She started regretting having brought Magnolia into the palace.
"Greetings, Your Majesty." A woman appeared from the entrance, curtsying with many other servants following behind her. Their attention was diverted from their bowl of rice to the woman. Instantly, Consort Para rose from her seat and curtsied as well.
"Greetings, Sister."
Magnolia who knew not of her identity only rose and curtsied without uttering a single word. She stole glances at the Emperor at times out of curiosity. But when she saw him looking intently at her as well, she blinked her eyes and looked away, embarrassed and also scared.
"All of you, rise." They all rose as the Emperor allowed them to. A servant automatically took one more chair for Consort Shine to sit on. As they all were settled back onto their seats, Emperor put down the chopsticks and without looking at Consort Shine, asked her.
"Why are you suddenly here today?"
"I heard that Your Majesty is having dinner here today. So I thought that maybe I should come and join too. If Your Majesty is not happy, I would go back." As Consort Shine was preparing to stand up from her seat, Emperor's hand grabbed her arm, lowering her back to the chair. Only a smile from him was enough for her to understand what he meant. Consort Para hurriedly signalled for a servant to bring another bowl of rice from the kitchen.
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"The culprit has been caught." She raised her arm, her fingers reached for her hairpin and pulled it our. As another pin was pulled out again, her hair fell onto the floors, amazingly graceful even when being released off the hairdo.
"Your Highness means..." Jane helped her master to undo her hairdo, preparing her to rest for the night.
"The culprit who makes Emperor visit Consort Para's palace everyday."
"Is it that...Magnolia Wane?"
"Is there anyone else on the dinner table? It is impossible to be Consort Para, who is so useless, that she cannot even give birth to a son."
"Ye-yes..." Jane removed the last hair decoration from Consort Shine's hair, allowing her black-charcoal straight hair to fall onto the floors. Then, Consort Shine pushed herself up against the floors, standing up and lifting her arms slightly. Jane began to undo the knots and undressed her master off her outfit, down to the last two paint yellow silk dresses.
"General Wane's name has only risen recently, ridding the spotlight off my Shine family. We Shines have produced so many talents, be it ministers, generals or strategists. Our position in the Court is second to none. Not to forget we founded the Empire together with the First Emperor. How could we lose our spotlight to a mere general from the Wane family?"
"Yo-Your Highness is right. No family has been able to compete with the glory of Shine family. Not even Empress', the Harv family." Jane straightened the creases that had formed on her master's dress, then stood up, making sure that her master was ready to turn in for the night.
"Summon my Uncle tomorrow. It is time to return the spotlight of the Court to Shine family."
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Author's POV:
"Emperor has arrived!" The shrieking sound of a eunuch surprised everyone in the palace. All servants spontaneously halted their chores and curtsied or knelt, greeting their ruler. He did not care for them but went straight into the palace, in his mind there was only one person he was looking for.
He looked around the palace and could only find servants kneeling. He sighed secretly, thinking that perhaps the person he was eager to see had gone with her aunt somewhere. When he was going to leave the palace, he caught the glimpse of a pale yellow dress running out of a chamber, hurriedly curtsying and greeting him.
"Greetings, Your Majesty." When he squinted his eyes at the person, he was jumping for joy in his heart as she indeed was the person he wanted to see.
"Rise." Everyone rose and returned to their chores, while he advanced towards the girl, busying his mind with finding a topic to talk about. He knew that she was still afraid of him, but that fear was not something easy to get rid of, for he was the Emperor, a word that would leave anyone shivering out of fear.
"Where is your Aunt?"
"A-Aunt brought Seventh Princess to visit Empress Dowager." He did not really mind where her aunt might be, and just strolled towards the cushioned chair and threw himself on it. When he looked up, he saw her personally pouring tea into a porcelain teacup, then gently carrying it towards him.
"Thank you." His subconscious mind said the word for him, and when he realised it, he was shocked as well. He had never said the word thank you, and that was the first time. His eyes dared not leave the floors for he felt too awkward in the room, unusually.
"When will your Aunt return?"
"Soon, maybe." And they fell into silence again. He mustered up enough courage to look at her face, it was the first time he needed courage to look at someone, other than his deceased Father Emperor. He never thought that a mere girl could make his heart beating so rapidly and unusually, for he had never felt so before.
"Why are you standing? Sit." Magnolia heeded his order and took slow little steps towards the chair. When she sat, she herself could feel her back being abnormally straight and her hands were placed on her lap, a position she was not really used to.
"You are seventeen this year." Her heartbeat spiked whenever he spoke, but this sentence from him made her heart raced even more.
"Yes."
"Already at the age of marrying." His next sentence seemed to act like a thousand of daggers piercing through her heart. It was weird that his words, though carried the same meaning as what her aunt had mentioned before, made even more pain towards her heart.
"Magnolia will not marry. Unless it is someone I like, I will not marry." Her words somehow acted as a spark of light in the darkness for him. He felt like there was hope. He knew he could never marry her. Thus, he wanted her to never marry anyone. He would rather to see her being a spinster for life, than to see her in the embrace of another man, smiling with their children.
"Then...do you have anyone you like now?"
"Now...no." Her answer made him drop his hope, which shattered into thousands of pieces. She liked no one, thus she did not like him as well. That was not an answer he was looking for. He could only bite his tongue and clenched his fists without her knowing. He knew they were different. He wore the golden dragon robe, she wore simple pale yellow dress that fluttered like a butterfly under strong winds.
"I have some state matters to attend to. Tell your Aunt that I stopped by." He almost looked as though he jumped off the seat and took quick steps out of the palace. She never even had the chance to send him off, and just looked at his back-view as he strode away, out of the palace and disappeared from her view completely as he turned left. When she looked unfocused on the wooden table, she saw that the cup of tea was still full, but the content had turned cold, just like how her heart had become.
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Author's POV:
"Aunt...."
"What happened Magnolia? Has something be bothering you?" Magnolia never answered her Aunt. She just stared at her beloved Aunt, and tears started to build up on her lids. Her Aunt knew that something was wrong with her. Consort Para gently pulled Magnolia into her embrace, caressing and patting her head.
"Aunt knows. I know what you are sad about." Consort Para began to tear up too. She rested her chin on her niece's head, her tears silently sliding down her cheeks. The tears she let out could not ease the pain in her heart. She knew that her niece was crying too.
"Aunt loves you, Magnolia. You have always been an obedient and good child, you are like my own child. I would help you with anything. But... Only this matter... Your Aunt is unable to do anything." Magnolia was shocked that her Aunt knew about the feelings she harboured for the Emperor. It was true that she never really talked a lot with the Emperor. However, she felt something at the first time they met. Something indescribable with words. It was as though they knew each other from a thousand of years ago, as though they were destined by the Heavens.
"Aunt, forgive me..."
"No. It is not your fault. If anything were to be blame, it would be our lives."
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Author's POV:
"Your Highness! Your Highness! Lady Magnolia! This is horrible! This is horrible!" Consort Para's lady-in-waiting barged in from the entrance, already losing her composure and calmness. She had broken so many rules but she could care no more. She fell on her knees and knelt, kowtowing as her forehead touched the grounds. The sight of her crying and kneeling helplessly gave an uneasy feelings to both Consort Para and Magnolia who were practising the art of flower arrangement.
"What is wrong? Why are you behaving this way? Quick, get up and talk." Magnolia pulled her up. She could feel her trembling and sweating, it was cold sweat. When the lady-in-waiting saw Magnolia, she burst into tears, crying harder and dropped to her knees again, begging for forgiveness before speaking.
"Quick, tell us what happened." Consort Para had already put down the flowers in her hands, feeling unrest in her seat as she was praying in her heart.
"This morning, at the Court... I heard that... That.... General Wane had committed treason!"
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