Wuxia Tale: Hua in Bloom

Selfish

(PRINCE GUO)

"But you cannot be separated from her or Han's position will be in peril. All our hardwork will be undone," I said to our sire when the Emperor told us about the Empress' demand.

My mother is being difficult, I cannot understand her anymore. I thought she was only greedy for power like my grandfather but it looks like that my mother's plans are a bit more complicated than that.

Prince Jin sighed, "Should I talk to her, your Majesty?" My older brother bravely volunteered.

The Emperor shook his head, "If you don't want the Empress to stick all our heads in a spike and display it at the entrance's gate, I suggest leaving her alone."

I frowned, "Maybe I should talk to her. I am her son," I said to my father and brother.

The Emperor winced at me, "I don't doubt that she loves you but her listening to you is farfetched."

I watched as the Emperor massaged a hand on his forehead.

"Are you feeling well, Baba?" I asked him in concern.

My concern is mirrored on Prince Jin's face. "You look pale, your Majesty. Have you been sleeping?"

"I can't," the Emperor sighed. "The Empress is constantly on my mind." He gazed at me and my brother. "If I will impart one golden nugget of knowledge to the two of you, it's to always pay attention to your wife. I went through my marriage life not overly concern about my Empress except in the political sense, she is an efficient manager of the Palace and an attentive mother, more so to one child than the other, that is true, but you are all alive and well and mostly turned out fine. The Empress is not perfect but she is efficient and dependable."

"She tried killing Prince Jin," I pointed out.

"Prince Guo!" My father and brother both shouted at me and gave me censoring looks.

The Emperor waved his hand, "Yes, thst is one character flaw of the Empress. But she is vital to me and to us all. She had tried and became a great support for me even though she has her  moments misgivings,"

"And now, she wants to leave you..." I said. Prince Jin elbowed me. He frowned at me. "When did you become so tactless?" He whispered to me before focusing on our sire again. "I promised to be attentive to Wang Hua, your Majesty."

"Do that," the Emperor gave Prince Jin a nod of approval.

After a while, me and my brother left our father's chamber. While walking the hallway, Prince Jin turned to me, "What do you plan to do?" He asked.

"I want to talk to her Majesty," I said.

"But Baba said it will be futile," he reminded me.

I nodded, "I understand. But I still want to try. Maybe I can talk her out of wanting to dissolve her union to the Emperor."

"Best of luck to you then," Prince Jin patted my shoulder. "I will talk to the Palace attendants to see if things are running smoothly here in the Palace. I don't know much about home management but I have observed Master Dayu at Wang Estate. Maybe I can employ his ideas here."

"Be careful. Wang Estate is different to the Palace. We have our rules here," I cautioned my brother.

"I will," Prince Jin nodded. "Be careful on your words while talking to the Empress. Be mindful, okay? We are in a delicate situation and we all need to be gentle in our words and movement as to not add more strain to our current predicament."