The Eighth Prince (Rewriting) (Barely Updates)

2: Unloved child

Co-authored/edited by Relendria

Guang Chia-Hao had been born from the Emperor's most beloved consort but he had never been loved - why? Well, there were several reasons. To begin with, his mother had always been frail and the Imperial physicians had warned against her trying to bear a child. Guang Chia-Hao was never supposed to be born. During the 10 months that his mother carried him in her womb, her health suffered. She struggled to keep food down for most of the pregnancy, her lustrous hair grew dull and her face gaunt. Then during his birth, his mother's survival could only be explained as a miracle from heavens. Only her iron will and burning love for the child that had made her suffer had kept her from the gates of death.

After Guang Chia-Hao's birth, his mother never left him. She refused the services of a wet nurse and nursed him herself. She cared for his every need herself, leaving the nannies with nothing to do. She ignored everyone else, including the Emperor, which earned his jealousy and hurt his pride. His mother merely explained that Guang Chia-Hao needed her personal care. He cried endlessly when the wet nurse tried to feed him or a servant touched him. Even worse, he refused to look at anyone except his mother.

When he got older, he remained difficult. The list of foods he refused to eat or that made him vomit were as long as a big man's arm. His water had to be at just the right temperature - not too hot and not too cold. His clothes could only be silk or the finest linen and he refused to wear anything with green on it. He still screamed when others touched him and was often found sitting in a corner of his mother's room lining his carved figures of merchants, soldiers, farmers and animals into straight rows. He never looked at a person's face unless it was his mother - the one person who never spoke harshly to him.

As he grew he didn't get easier to like. He was his mother's shadow, following around like the tail on a dog. Even though he was seldom within touching distance, he was almost always in the same room or yard. He frequently touched things, sometimes with disastrous results. He broke several jade objects that the Emperor tried using to lure his mother's affections back. His mother, who loved him to the moon, refused to scold or reprimand him about it. She never raised her voice and only showered him with her love.

As he grew older, his tantrums decreased and his tolerance for different food and fabrics grew under his mother's careful guidance but the people around him still considered him "useless". Why? He refused to touch the sword, ignored his tutor, and refused to recite poems and the classics. He took apart the curious gadgets his Emperor father sent to woo his mother and, even though he put them back together again perfectly, the Emperor was still furious when he learned about it. However his mother excused him, as usual, and simply told the Emperor that the boy was curious. In her eyes her son was very intelligent and he could do no wrong. She saw potential in everything he did - from spending hours focusing on building elaborate constructions out of wooden blocks to focusing on a Xiangqi board and moving the pieces for hours. Her Guang Chia-Hao was a peculiar and curious child and she loved him just the way he was.

The Emperor, who had never been happy with this unwanted child, soon lost all affection for him. Eventually he couldn't hold back his hatred of the boy. Everything Guang Chia-Hao did disgusted him. Part of it was the jealousy he felt that his beloved consort had chosen the boy over him but part of it was the boy's reactions to him. Guang Chia-Hao never looked at him, flinched away whenever he tried to touch the boy, and would cover his ears and crouch on the ground if the Emperor raised his voice even a little. The Emperor felt that this child was a coward and a fool and he was embarrassed to claim Guang Chia-Hao as his own flesh and blood.

Guang Chia-Hao developed slowly in many respects. He could solve a five ring puzzle before he walked but he didn't speak until he was almost three years old. When he did speak his words were quiet and there were often long pauses between words. He also had a habit of repeating certain words over and over. Even worse, once he mastered speech he used it most often to correct people. He was usually right about whatever he was correcting but that only made the people he corrected angrier. The Emperor was often reduced to shouting at the boy which never failed to bring the consort over to protect him and scold the Emperor.

"Your Imperial Majesty, must you be so harsh? Haohao only corrects your mistakes in an effort to impress you!"

"Your Imperial Majesty, don't say such things to Haohao! He will be sad!"

"Your Imperial Majesty, shouting will not make him able to hold a sword correctly. You are only discouraging him with your harshness!"

His beloved consort never hesitated to scold the Emperor if he tried to guide the boy. Every time those angry words fell from her lips his dislike for Guang Chia-Hao only grew. He felt like the moment she birthed the child she desired so much that she had thrown his Imperial love for her to the wind. His feelings, his heart were nothing but ashes and dust to her.

So the Emperor hated the child. He blamed the boy for taking his place, stealing his love, and generally being detestable. He had even prayed for the child to die and when the boy's siblings taunted and bullied him, the Emperor never said a word and never interfered. His greatest regret was failing to give his beloved consort sterilisation medication when the physicians said she should never give birth. Even more, he regretted striving to give her the child she was not supposed to have. Most of all, he wished that Guang Chia-Hao didn't look so much like his consort mother - the woman the Emperor loved.

The Emperor granted his consort an elaborate funeral. Many people attended, crying as if she had been their favourite person even though most of them never tried to visit her during her life. The day she was entombed was grey and rainy, as though the world grieved her death. Guang Chia-Hao went through the funeral like a robot, his expressionless face hiding the tearing pain of losing his mother again.

A few days later, the Emperor summoned Guang Chia-Hao to his study. Guang Chia-Hao had been waiting and he followed the eunuch without a word.

Entering the study, Guang Chia-Hao bowed with flawless courtesy before the Emperor.

"You requested my presence, Your Imperial Majesty?"

Guang Chia-hao's voice held no emotion at all. There was no grief, no fear, and no respect. He was as cold and distant as a New Year's snowfall.

The Emperor ignored the boy's distance. He didn't care how Guang Chia-Hao spoke to him and there was no longer a reason to try to pretend to care. The only emotion he felt was an irritation that this child had chosen this time to finally learn how to speak like a normal human.

"Consort Rou, did she speak of me?" The Emperor's voice was indifferent but Guang Chia-Hao saw the white knuckles of his clenched hands.

Though the Emperor's voice was cold, he wanted to know what her final words were. Did she say she hated him? Did she regret her coldness towards him? Was he finally in her eyes before she died?

In his past life Guang Chia-Hao had tried to please him with lies - saying that the consort had missed him and regretted not calling for him. This had only angered the Emperor and resulted in him beating Guang Chia-Hao personally and brutally as he took out his years of frustration on Guang Chia-Hao's body. He had barely granted Guang Chia-Hao the time to heal the worst of his injuries before sending him directly to the battlefront.

"I'm sorry, Your Imperial Majesty, but Consort Mother left no words for you."

The Emperor's face lost all colour as those words sank in.

"No words?" He asked with hopeful disbelief.

"No words," Guang Chia-Hao repeated stoically.

The Emperor couldn't believe it. The consort he had loved so much didn't even leave 2 words for him? His disbelief quickly turned to anger and that anger was directed, as usual, at Guang Chia-Hao. It was his fault she had turned away from him and his fault she had failed to leave even a few words for him on her deathbed. He resolved to implement the plan he had constructed as soon as he learned that his consort would die before the month was out. She was no longer present to protect the boy and that bastard deserved to suffer!