Chapter 34.
This chapter is extra longer than the previous ones.
Recap: in the previous chapter, Consort Lana who has bad intentions seemed to soften slowly as she empathises with Jade while Empress was confused about the Jade's child. As she quarrelled with General Wales, the latter seemed to have a change of heart in his feelings.
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"How many months has it been?" Crown Prince asks, his eyes are set on Jade's growing belly, his hands gently caressing her belly in hope that his child will be able to feel it. Being a father for the first time feels weird to him, but he is undoubtedly happy about it, because the mother of his child is Jade.
"Six months." Jade answers, resting her hand on top of Crown Prince's. He entangles their fingers together, gripping her small hand tightly.
"I am so glad we met." He looks out of the door, into nothing, reminiscing those years he was suffering in humiliation. Then one day, out of nowhere, a female servant just appeared in his palace. At first, he despised her. Slowly but surely, as he found out more secrets about her, the attraction would not stop. It was all too late when he wanted to repel the feelings away as they just grew stronger. How lucky he was when she agreed to be his Mistress, he thinks. At first, she was a little bit apprehensive. However, she has become more open towards him.
"Me too." A smile is plastered on her face, a sincere one, as she gently caresses her belly. They just stay silent in each other's presence, enjoying their tea in her quarters.
"Ah!" A movement in her belly surprised her, a feeling that she never has felt before. It is weird. Knowing that her baby is kicking inside her belly, but still unsure of it, she waits for another one.
"What happened?!" Crown Prince rushes to her side, putting both his hands on her arms gently, his expression carries a thousand of worries. The shocked expression of Jade only puts him in worse state of worrying.
"Jade?!" He asks again, this time his heartbeat picks up a rapid pace, clearly implying his protectiveness over his Mistress.
"The baby..."
"What? Is there something wrong with the baby?! We need to get the physician! Rowe-"
"No!" Jade grips back Crown Prince's arms, it is strong enough to reassure him that nothing is wrong with her. Jade places her hand back on her belly, as though she can feel her baby, as though her baby can respond back to her loving mother.
"Baby... The baby is moving..." A drop of crystal clear tear rolls down her cheek as her lips are unconsciously pulled up into a smile. Such warm love, such a warm feeling, it is her first time feeling it. The love of a mother even when her child is not yet born. It feels as though her life depends on the baby in her belly, as though her baby is her life.
"Jade..." Crown Prince carefully wraps his arms around her, his eyes slowly turning glassy when he knows that her baby is growing healthily inside of his love.
"I hope that it is a son. When he grows up, I can personally teach him swordsmanship, horseback-riding, archery and many more. I am very sure that he will be my pride, our pride." His words have her stunned. No matter how much parents want to see their children successful, and become honourable government officials, they still would not want their children to go through emotional complications, especially the mothers, especially so when Jade has seen how fierce the power struggle between Empress and Consort Shine. She does not want to go against Crown Princess, she does not have the ability to do so. Moreover, seeing how Crown Prince favours her over Crown Princess, she is even more afraid that the feud between Empress and Consort Shine will be repeated between her and Shana.
So, she secretly has been praying every night for her baby to be a girl, a princess.
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"Prince's Consort! Prince's Consort!" From the dark wood doors which have been opened wide since the sun rises from the east, steps in a servant dressed in white with simple sky blue embroideries at the edges, her steps loud enough to irritate her master.
"What?!" She slams the wooden roll of book onto her wooden table, accidentally toppling over the plate of grapes placed on a wooden platfrom, the fruits rolling all over the place on the floor, slowly coming to a stop.
"This... Prince's Consort...." Her servant timidly digs out a cloth doll from her sleeves, with needles poked onto it and a name written on it; Jade.
"What have you done?!" Prince's Consort suppresses her voice so as to not attract anyone's attention, her eyes are squinted at the sight of that doll, disgusted.
"No! This is not your servant's doing, Prince's Consort! Your servant found this under Autumn's mattress."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Your Highness! Your servant dares not lie to you."
"Perfect! My months of waiting and provoking her have finally fruited!" Her smile cannot be hidden, she is beyond delighted, as though her humanity has been completely erased. How can such a beautiful woman be so merciless in her actions at her golden young age?
No one should blame her for it, as she personally witnessed her father's mistress scheming to kill her mother while making everything look like an accident. Back then, she was barely ten years old, she knew that no one would trust a child's words. She knew that her father's mistress would not let her live if she were to spill the truth.
All she could do was weep bitterly as she swallowed the truth, while holding onto her five years old brother. Justice could not be done to her father's mistress, for her father would protect her, she was sure of it. Thus, she learned everything from the mistress, who throughout the years had managed to eliminate other mistresses and their children. One day, the mistress was found floating in the pond, dead, the same way her mother died.
There was fear within her when she watched that mistress struggling to her last breath, but it slowly subsided as her evil had taken over. To her, that was justice, that was karma.
Ever since then, she became the indisputable ruler of women in the Yang household, at a young age, with the support of Minister Yang's eldest son, her own brother. No mistress dared to offend her.
Cruel as she may be, but she has been forced to morph into such a monster, by the humans' greed.
Yes, no one should blame her. After all, she lost her mother at the age when she is most vulnerable, with no one to guide her, with no one to tell her the right from wrong. After all, we all humans are born an angel. And the hardest stains to clean ever, are the stains on our pure white hearts.
"Invite Crown Princess and Mistress Leanne in three more days to enjoy the opera at the...Autumn's Leaves Stage." And she snickers, together with her servant.
For that particular palace's stage is located just next to a big koi pond.
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The three young women, Shana, Jade and Chisa sits on their own cushions, with their own tables and snacks and cups of tea. The pavilion is located at the edge of the pond, facing a big and wide stage built majestically for a large group of opera dancers to perform on.
The three are chit-chatting comfortably as though there is no apparent grudge between their husbands, like they are simply friends.
"Mistress Leanne must be tired from all the talking. Should we enjoy another opera? This time, you will be the one choosing what you want to watch, since you are pregnant." Chisa places an emphasise on the word pregnant while taking a secret glance at Shana, another of her trick to turn the tables against Jade. She smiles her prettiest, to present her innocent looks which hide thousands of cunning schemes.
"Oh... N-no... Let sister choose what she wants to watch. I do not know much about operas." Jade passes the list of operas to Shana, who hesitates for few moments before taking it and passing it on to Chisa.
"It is better that you choose, Sister, since you are the host of this small gathering." Shana's tone is cold and she never bats an eye at Jade. Perhaps she has never been good with provocation, yet being the highest-ranking woman present makes her to have to uphold her virtue, to never be petty for she is the Crown Princess.
"Oh? Okay. Then I will have the honour for myself." Chisa replies with a faked high-pitched tone to show her joy. She indeed is overjoyed, for she is sure that her words have worked wonders.
Throughout the whole opera, the three have their time talking casually while sipping their tea and enjoying their snacks. For some reason, however, Shana is seek to have been avoiding conversation with Jade as much as possible, as though she does not want to talk to Jade. Jade does not know what she has done wrong. In fact she has done nothing wrong. But she just is not able to understand, how her pregnancy has indirectly done many people wrong, how the baby in her womb is hated by many.
She keeps looking towards Shana's direction, who seems to have noticed it but chooses to ignore it. Sighing is all she can do, for she does not want to cause unwanted quarrel in front of Chisa. Once again she looks towards Shana's direction, only to find a familiar glimpse of a woman passing the pavilion into another path.
Autumn. She is very sure that she is Autumn.
Immediately Jade excuses herself from her sisters and leaves the pavilion with Rowena.
They take the quickest steps they can, adjusting to Jade's for she still is carrying a weight on her stomach for the first time. Careful, that is what Crown Prince has been telling her the whole time.
"Autumn!" Jade whispers, trying to call out to Autumn when she is finally in her sight.
"Autumn!" Again she whispers, and Autumn finally turns around, her face dull at first but immediately shoots up a beam.
"Jade!" Autumn runs towards her, her eyes are set several times on the bulge on her stomach.
"Rowena, please help me watch out." Jade says, while taking Autumn to another place well-hidden by trees and bushes.
"How have you been? I have not seen you for months. I am so sorry, I should have gone to find you, but I cannot." Jade wipes off her tears of happiness, her smile cannot be hidden as she talks away on her own, never noticing the changing colours of Autumn's face.
If she really thinks of you as a friend, she would have come to find you. No one will ever say anything about it. She cannot forget those words that have been drilled into her mind that have clouded her thinkings. Her heart beats rapidly but still she smiles.
"I am very good. Prince's Consort has been very kind to me."
"If only I can take you with me, but I cannot. Both of us would have been very happy."
She can easily ask Crown Prince to take you to her palace, if she really has the heart to, if she really thinks of you as a friend. Even if she says she wants to, she is just trying to boast her life to you. Look at you, both of you entered the palace at the same time yet she is now a Mistress while you are still a low-ranking servant.
"I-it is okay. You do not have to." She smiles while biting her inner cheek, so hard that she feels a slight taste of blood, so she stops. The pain is not enough to overwhelm the pain of her heart.
"I will try to think of reasons to visit Third Prince's palace so that I can go to see you sometimes."
Have you seen how she has never visited you? Stop dreaming about how she will come and take you with her. Even if she does, all she will do is only to show off her status to you. You will forever be under her. She is after-all a woman who is only after wealth and status using her schemes, while you are her way of relieving her stress.
"I...am doing fine. It is okay."
"Are you sure? You do not look fine."
She does not care about you. It is all her facade to make her seem like a nice person in front of Crown Prince. Look, she is now pregnant. She will want to boast it all to you even more. You are nothing more than a mere servant. Remember that.
"I...am fine..."
"That is good. I have so many things that I want to tell you. Oh, you must have known about my pregnancy... I mean... It is so obvious now. It is due in about three months. This is my first time, I am so nervous."
Look, she is now pregnant. She will want to boast it to you even more.
I am sure that one day when the child in her womb grows up, he will also mock you for your status. You are different from Rowena. You can never hope to be Rowena. They both share the same experiences, they are closer. You only met Jade when you both entered the palace, then lost contact until she becomes Mistress. To her, you are just an outsider.
"E...nough..."
"What?"
"Enough... Enough already...." Autumn's fists are clenched so tightly that they whitens and her nails dig into her skin. The pain is unbearable but the tension inside her heart is even more unbearable. For months she has been receiving humiliation. Though she may not have experienced physical abuse, mental abuse is enough to drive her mad.
"What happened Autumn? Are you sick? You are sweating so much." Jade sticks out her arm to reach for her friend, which is brushed off by her. Coldly and hard. That is when she finally realises something is not right.
"Stop it. Stop faking to be nice to me. You are disgusting. You only want to boast your success to me, right?!" Shocked, surprised, stunned. Jade is lost for words, she is unable to say anything towards her friend, for she cannot fathom what is going on in her mind. Why is her friend thinking of her this way?
"Why are you so silent now? You were talking away, boasting your life to me just now. Why did you stop talking?" She advances towards Jade, who then takes her steps backwards. She can no longer recognise her friend, who has been taken over by the flames of jealousy and hatred.
"A..Autumn...I really want us to be friends..."
"Impossible! Look at what we are wearing! Your silk yellow dresses, your silver and gold hair pins... My pale blue dresses that have been worn for years. My one and only bronze hair pin, which broke into two but I tried to repair it by tying it together again. Look at the treasure in your womb. Will you be able to trade all of it with me? Will you?!"
"I... I..."
"You cannot, right?! If you really think that we are friends, you should be able to give all of yours to me!"
"Autumn? What happened to you?" That question remains unanswered. Autumn never looks at Jade in her eyes. She feels too disgusted to do so. She does not want to look at the face of the woman who treats her like trash. To her, it is a humiliation. So she looks over Jade. And she finds a beautiful pond with its waters so still that it reflects the trees, like a mirror. Too bad, the beauty will soon have to be stained by blood.
"You should just vanish." And with that, she pushes her friend, as strong as possible.
Jade rolls off the bank into the pond. The wind blows, the sound of the tree leaves rustling and falling is like a music that accompanies the friendship that is torn. Jade keeps struggling, but also because of that she is sinking. Her attempts to shout remains in vain, for she is slowly sinking. All the while, Autumn watches Jade, who keeps begging her to save her. She remains emotionless, not even a smile nor anger, not even sadness. It is as though she is an empty, hollow shell.
No one notices the sound of Jade falling into the water either, for the sound of the opera music is too loud. When everyone is enjoying, Jade is sinking, together with her baby.
It is when Rowena goes to check on Jade who is gone for too long, that she finally sees Autumn standing by the pond, watching a body which is floating on the pond.
And she screams, loud enough for everyone at the opera to hear. Strangely enough, Autumn seems to be unable to hear it. Even when people have arrived and started panicking. Even when she is taken away.
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Sorry for only updating now... I'm facing exams > < actually in 14 hours I have another exam. After next week is over, I can start focusing on this story again!
By the way, I always read ALL of your comments. Like not even a single one is left out. Sorry I cannot reply to all of them... I really love your comments! I will make sure I try to reply to all of it, after my exam is over. Meanwhile, feel free to message me! ^^
Okay. I wonder what will happen to Jade... Maybe the story will soon come to an end? I don't know~
See you in the next chapter!