He lost his heart. Shattered, torn apart by those who he loved... Those who he thought loved him. He gave up all hope of ever finding it again. Yet he did, but he would have never thought that he would have to go tens of thousands of years to the pa...
Three days went by in a flash, and before long, Quan was dressing me up for the victory party. I decided to wear the light blue clothing I had purchased. Although it appears to be simple, it has an elegant touch to it. Quan did my hair in a simple manner and used the sword hair stick and some other accessories that I gave her. Before I knew it, I was sitting in a carriage along with my two sisters.
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(A/N: Since her hair is blond, the flower color will be blue.)
Lien (kindly): Don't be too nervous, Sister, I will look out for you...
Me (smiling): Yǔ-er is grateful...
Juan just glared at me and sat in a corner in silence, with a smug look on her face. "What exactly is your plan, master?" asked Mael curiously as he settled himself on my shoulder (invisible). "Go with the flow; see what they're planning and pull them down." I responded simply, using a fan to cover my smirk.
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After a few hours, the carriage came to a halt in front of a gate, and we all stepped down and noticed that there were already many people of different statuses present. Father, grabbing a tight hold on my arm and pressing his nails into my skin, pulled me aside and spoke in a threatening voice, "Don't forget what I said; I will not tolerate it even if you step even one toe out of line...", before releasing me, leaving behind a red mark on his hand, and mingling with the crowd. I willed the atmospheric water to materialize, cover the wound, and heal it.
Just wait, Father; I'll have a good treat prepared for you.
-Inside the palace-
I followed Father and my sisters into the banquet hall and looked around, covering my face with the fan. The walls were decorated with paintings, and a vertical row of tables was fixed on either side, with a carpet running from one end to the other in the middle. Right in the front were two flights of stairs; above the first flight, seven tables were fixed (three on the right and four on the left), and above that was the second flight, where two tables were fixed. Each table had a small jug of non-alcoholic wine, a filled cup, an assortment of fruits, biscuits, meat, a bowl of rice, a dish of vegetables, etc.
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Everyone was shown to their seats by the palace maids, who lingered behind in case there was a need. I settled in my seat and looked to the left, where my sisters were seated, and in front of me (on the opposite side), where Father was seated. I was taken aback by how big and spacious the hall was, which included the space for the stairs. There were over a hundred tables (one table for one individual) on either side.
A few minutes later, the eunuch announced the arrival of the emperor and empress just as the entrance door opened, and in walked the two majestic rulers, clad in gold garments with their heads held high, who strolled confidently up the stairs and took their seats. "Long live the Emperor and Empress. May they live for millions of years!" everyone chanted in unison.
After their grand entrance, the eunuch announced the arrival of the princes. I sat up straight in my seat, excited to finally see the rumored third prince. They all walked in one by one and headed straight for their seats, followed by their servants, without so much as giving any of us a glance. "Long live the princes. May they live for thousands!" arose the chants a second time, although I didn't partake in this chant. I just stood there, my eyes widening, and my mouth parted in an 'O' at the familiar sight of the so-called rumored third prince.
The second I saw him, everything just clicked together—the name—how dense could I have been? Quan had told me his name from the start: Wang Lì, the third prince who went to war. It made sense now with the confused expression of Bai Ze and Bai Zou when I first mentioned him as the spy for the other country (now that thought ticked me off; I made a fool of myself and they didn't even bother correcting me!).
"Thank you all for attending this banquet hosted to celebrate my son's success in the war and his return from the battlefield. Let us all rejoice to the heavens that have blessed our country endlessly." spoke the emperor in a proud voice as he raised his cup, "To my son, Wang Lì..."
Lì was the third prince...
(A/N: From the entrance, Yǔ will be sitting on one of the seats on the right, while L will be sitting near the left end of the elevated platform (basically where the blue points are in the above picture).) Her sisters would be sitting towards Yǔ's left in the same row, while her father would be at the table opposite to hers. This is not important but just to give a general idea of where everyone is.)
For some reason, I wasn't too mad; I was just shocked but happy to see him. I didn't have the right to be mad at him since I never really revealed my identity to him either and have way more secrets than what he hid from me. And now that I think about it, none of them confirmed or denied the fact that he was a spy, I had assumed and they just went with it.
He didn't see me, not even when he took his seat, with Bai Zou and Bai Ze standing on either side of him; for that matter, he seemed somewhat detached, as though he didn't even care for the banquet or the people gathered. He just stared blankly ahead.
Bai Zou was the first to see me. He had been lazily gazing across the crowd when his line of sight reached me and froze for exactly thirty seconds. His facial expression turned from shock to confusion to worry. He gave me a small, awkward nod, which I returned with a slow-rising smirk before he nudged at Bai Ze, who stood beside him and motioned to me with his eyes, but Bai Ze didn't understand what his brother was trying to tell him. It took three whole tries and a sharp nudge before he finally turned to my direction and caught sight of me, and like his brother, he also froze; his face turned pale and his eyes seemed to scream, 'What the hell are you doing here', before moving forward and whispering into Lì's ears.
His face immediately whipped in my direction and our eyes locked as he stared at me in shock and pure mortification. My amused smirk slowly morphed into a wide grin.
