Aftermath (A series of ELOD one-shots)

VIII. Staking Claims (Side Story)

A/N: If I haven't yet, please let me offer my sincerest thanks to everyone who have read, voted, and commented on this story. I hope this series continue to entertain you as much as it did me when I was writing it. You guys rock!

All Jiuchongtian rules mentioned in this one-shot are products of my imagination, as always.

Disclaimer: Lovely artwork not mine (I can only write, not draw, sigh).

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All that troublesome business about aspirants vying to be the "secondary mistress" of Taichen Palace actually began shortly after Fengjiu was formally conferred as Dihou, following their much-celebrated 200-day wedding ceremony.

Her first clue came a month after the wedding, when Zhonglin presented her with a lineup of fairy maids for selection.

"How come there are so many?" She asked, gazing with wide, perplexed eyes at the rows of fairies gathered before her, all proper and pristine in their pink uniforms.

"Taichen Palace has been given the first option to choose, in view of the recent increase in our domestic requirements," Zhonglin explained, euphemistically referring to her and Gungun's recent entry to Donghua Dijun's household.

"I see." Fengjiu is a pretty good judge of character, so she patiently went through the lineup and chose five fairies, who appeared able to handle the various tasks that Zhonglin had explained to her earlier. She heard the quiet squeals of those chosen and the sigh of disappointment of the two dozen others who were not, found them amusing, and thought none of it again.

Until a few months later, when Zhonglin came to her with a maid in tow, dragged along by two Taichen guards.

"What happened?" She asked, setting aside the memorials she had been poring over and gesturing for the guards to let the sobbing fairy go.

The girl dropped onto her knees at once and begged for mercy, knocking her forehead to the ground. "Forgive my disrespect, Your Majesty! Please spare my life, I beg of you!"

"Dihou," Zhonglin intervened, in reply to Fengjiu's questioning gaze, "this fairy maid was caught entering the imperial bedchambers without permission, and attempting to tamper with the bedside incense of her own volition."

Fengjiu's blood froze. Entering the inner rooms, while forbidden, is generally a light offense and may be punished by mere chastisement or transfer to another palace. But changing the incense implies a motive, which may either be innocent or sinister, and could be a serious transgression depending on the intent.

"What was in the incense?" She asked, studying the fairy's features and trying to place it her memory. Isn't she among those who were recently hired?

Zhonglin took the incense from one of the guards and placed it on Fengjiu's desk. Fengjiu was hardly an expert in herbs, but the smallest whiff of the familiar concoction inside had her eyebrows rising.

"Lovesick potion?" She could tell what this was about, now. Apparently, the story of her serving Taichen Palace as a maid in a bid to move Dijun's heart had become some sort of urban legend, and is now being emulated by infatuated fairies all over. They have even gotten so bold as to attempt to seduce her husband, with a spiked incense of all things (as if that would work on Donghua)!