[Inkitt] Forgotten

15 years later: Changes

It has been 15 years since then and, Empress Murong has surprisingly retreated into another province due to her ailing health. No one has ever heard from her or ever seen her ever since but, no one dares to ask the Emperor nor the Prime Minister of her whereabouts.

The back palace is under the control of Imperial Noble Consort Zhao for 15 years now and she is also the adopted mother of the First Prince Li Renci. The birth mother of the First Prince, the then Imperial Noble Consort Jing has been locked inside the Cold Palace by the Emperor for being responsible to cause harm towards Empress Murong.

But, just like the Empress, the current Imperial Noble Consort is as benevolent as she is. It is known by many that both the Empress and she are never favoured by the Emperor hence these two are quite close to one another and have a good relationship ever since they both entered the Crown Prince's manor. When the Empress moved out to another province without saying a single word, she is utterly devastated by this.

Learning from his mistakes, the Emperor treats his concubines without showing any kind of favouritism to any of them. This is also made possible by the Imperial Noble Consort who made a rooster so that all concubines will have equal visitations from the Emperor. She also made sure that all princes and princesses are being treated equally as well. The system where the princes will be separated from their mothers has been abolished too. This has made all the concubines especially those with sons feel happy and grateful at the same time. Hence, over the years, the back palace is quite peaceful without any incidents whatsoever.

Over the years, both the Emperor and the Prime Minister secretly working together to search for the missing Empress but to no avail. They have looked into every nook and cranny of every Kingdom stealthily but she was nowhere to be found including that of her birth mother. But, only one Kingdom has been left untouched by this secret search, Kingdom of Ni. Nothing much is known about this elusive Kingdom but, it was widely known that the Kingdom despite being closed down to outsiders, is said to be one of the most powerful and richest Kingdoms in the world. It is also known that the Kingdom is being ruled by a female emperor and women are considered to be superior to men. But, this Kingdom has been protected by a barrier and a portal can only be created during the 'Blood Moon'. The last 'Blood Moon' happened 15 years ago and with this information, both the Emperor and the Prime Minister concluded that both the Empress and her birth mother are hiding in the reclusive Kingdom.

Meanwhile, in the meeting hall, Emperor Li is listening to his ministers' reports and/or complaints about the matters of his Kingdom. He seems to be a bit off and not concentrating at all. Prime Minister Murong noticed this behaviour of his.

"Your Highness, are you alright? You seem to be not concentrating at all..."

Emperor Li turns his attention onto his Prime Minister and says, "I feel a slight uneasiness inside my heart for days now... As if something going to happen. That worries me."

Minister Zhao of the Treasury Bureau then says, "Is it related to the celebration banquet of His Highness, the First Prince?"

Emperor Li stares at him and says, "That might be it... General Mu, please tighten the security for tonight's welcoming banquet. What about the guests from other Kingdoms?"

Head Eunuch Gao then answers, "Replying to His Highness, the Supreme Imperial Concubine has already looked into the matter and take care of the honoured guests. Each Kingdom has been given their own courtyard to stay for the time being. Only Kingdom of Ni's envoy is still not arrived."

One of the ministers then says, "They had confirmed their attendance?"

Another minister further says, "If they really did, this will be the first time. That Kingdom never attended to any outside invitations."

Emperor Li listens to his ministers talking among themselves before he dismisses them for the day. He is definitely not in the mood for an official meeting for today. He intends to go to Imperial Noble Consort Zhao's palace to check out how will she prepare for tonight's banquet.

In the span of 15 years, 2 princes and 7 princesses have been born to him by his concubines. Imperial Noble Consort Zhao has given birth to the Second Prince and the First Princess. Noble Consort Mu has given birth to the Third Prince. Noble Consort Ya has given birth to the Second and Sixth Princesses. Consort Na has given birth to the Third and Fourth Princesses. Consort Feng has given birth to the Fifth Princess. And, Consort An has given birth to the Seventh Princess. Consort Bao is currently pregnant with his child. His five concubines are still without any children due to the fact that most of them have just entered the harem in less than 10 years, only Concubine Ulanara have been with him for almost 20 years as she is the first woman that he slept with. She is more like a 'teacher' for him when it comes to bedroom matters.

The recent ones are the Noble Ladies, First Attendants, Second Attendants and Ladies-in-waiting. These women are only graced by him occasionally. If they are graced by him, they will be given gifts by the Imperial Noble Consort but their statuses can only be elevated to as high as Noble Ladies only because the Concubines' ranks all six of them have been fully filled, including the banished Concubine Jing. Their only hope is to bear a 'dragon seed' so that they can gain more power despite not being able to gain higher rank than that of a Noble Lady.

The disfavoured Concubine Jing has been banished to the Cold Palace ever since he discovered that she has been poisoning his Empress ever since he was still a Crown Prince. She used to be so favoured by him and he even let her be his secondary wife then making her just second in power to his main wife, the then Crown Princess Murong. Fact, she has become so bold and overstepped her position as being only the secondary wife ever since but he pretended not to be aware of it.

He thought that his main wife will come running to him to report on the outrageous behaviour or even use her power as the main wife to punish Concubine Jing but she did not. She let Concubine Jing do what she wanted. His main wife is never the one to be in a center of any confrontation. She never stops Concubine Jing abusing her power. Instead, she uses whatever she could to make sure that the other concubines will not suffer under Concubine Jing. She never fought for his favour. She never abuses her power as the one and only rightful Empress of the Kingdom.

It might be due to the frustration that he decided to sleep with her for the first time in the moment of a drunken stupor. He never touched her even during her wedding night but he slept with her once 16 years ago and it resulted in her being pregnant. He remembered how empty her eyes looked at him when he did the deed. No passion... Not even anger. He wanted to kick himself for being so callous in his treatment to her. He knew that she has always been a strong woman despite her silence and nonchalant attitude towards him ever since she has become his main wife.

Where is she? Why there is not a single news from her ever since she has gone missing? Is it true according to what had been said by Imperial Physician Bao then? That she has been completely healed but, at the same time, becomes someone with an unfeeling heart. What about their child? Did that child lived?

"Greetings, Your Highness. Are you here to check on the preparations?"

Imperial Noble Concort Zhao greets him with respect and immediately instructed one of her maid servant to prepare hot tea for him. He just enters her palace in silence. Noble Lady Zhao, who happens to be the younger cousin of the Imperial Noble Consort stands up and greets him as well.