Quarter to end of Chou Hour* (1AM-3AM)
Dong-Er's Imperial City
From a labyrinth of inner courtyards separating the royal abodes of Daqing Palace, echoes of running feet could be heard over the cries of cicadas.
At the same time, shrill shouts could be heard over the scuttled footsteps and insects' trills as they pierced the frosty night's atmosphere.
The noise combination moved briskly in the crisp quiescent air. Before long, reaching the furthest place on the vast palace's compound; the derelic Jingzu Pavilion. The latter was also evidently the smallest and remotest residence on the imperial harem complex.
It belonged to the high consort of the Emperor of Dong-Er kingdom.
Her name was Tul Lai.
On this unseasonably cold night, the named consort was kneeling before her young daughter, deftly dressing the girl with a set of winter apparels. Presently, her gentle face was pulled into a cheerless grimace as her shaky fingers fumbled over the outer layer of her child's clothe. In the dimly lit bedchamber, even her usually kind eyes looked solemn and deep as they strained over the task at hand.
The child attended to by Tul Lai was indeed a very beautiful girl of eleven years. Her bright peach-blossom eyes were of those never-seen-before, dark turquoise jades. Such eye colour was considered rare but not uncommon amongst the desert people of Bei-Nim kingdom. Which was the indigenous land of her ancestors and country of her mother's birth. In the Tul family, this eye genetic had been known to skip a few generations between each manifestation.
Being awakened so prematurely from sleep, the girl was deeply puzzled. She rubbed her eyes several times to erase sleep, then blinked some to refocus her vision. Once visually adjusted to her shadowy surroundings, she stood immobilized watching her mother's nimble fingers dressing her.
"Imperial mother," said the bemused girl, her voice filled with sleepiness as she stifled a yawn. "Are we going out somewhere?"
"En, that's right, my baby." Tul Lai swiftly replied, a faint smile on her pale lips. In the same breath, she tugged gently at her child's outer robe's belt to hold down a knot before finishing up.
"But, it's still dark outside. Where would we go?"
The girl queried. In her heart, she was unconvinced that they would be going out to play since it was still nighttime. However, she didn't reveal her doubts instead, ventured her next question.
"Either way, may we invite Xien-er to come along with us?" Xier-er was her companion maid, the youngest in the harem compound.
"I'm sorry, my love. But, Xien-er can't come with us tonight. You see, we are visiting distant relatives in a faraway location in a hurry. Perhaps next time, we will ask her along? What do you think?"
Then, without turning away from her child, Tul Lai urgently threw an order at her maid;
"Xiao Rong, quickly bring me the phoenix box!"
At the same time that she shouted her command at Xiao Rong, Tul Lai's eyes held deep melancholy as she watched her child's beautiful face pulled into a deep contemplation.
As for the young girl, after seeing her mother's glum expression, replied;
"Oh, all right. But, for our next outing, could we go during daytime? Xien-er is afraid of the dark, hence it isn't good for her if we are going places at night. Imperial mother, would it be all right with you? If the next time we go out to visit our distant relatives, we would do so in daytime, so that Xien-er may come too?"
YOU ARE READING
ROHLP (🔞)
Romance*Return Of His Lost Phoenix* She is the sole survivor of the fallen Xun Dynasty's royal bloodline. Half a decade ago, her entire clan was massacred with her barely escaped with life. Now safe within the borders of her mother's desert homeland, she v...
