Flower In the Palace

Chapter 5: Prince Jai

ZIHAN 756 AD

“Your Highness!"

“Your Highness!"

“Prince Jai!"

“Again?" The serving maid entered the bedchamber in the midst of the search.

“Yes, and we're only now getting over the embarrassment of his last escapade. Young Prince Jai where are you?" The head eunuch called out once more.

“Search his quarters again. The banquet will soon begin and his royal highness will head to the dais. How can we tell him we've lost the prince again?"

I watched my attendants led by my head eunuch as they searched around my private chamber from my hiding place high above them.

I held my body still and didn't make a sound as they looked beneath the bed and in every corner, muttering their grievances beneath their breath when their search proved fruitless.

Luckily I am old enough to have learned how to control my laughter or I would've given myself away. As it is I was barely keeping myself contained.

I waited until they left, calling out for me as they went, before climbing down from my hiding place and hurriedly continued getting dressed.

Instead of the coronet crown, I donned a nobleman's scarf on my head and changed my long princely robes of royal blue, to the short colorful sapphire blue robe and pale pink braes worn by the young sons of the nobility.

It was thanks to my brother that I'd procured these items in secret. I have to remember to thank him later if all goes well. Because of him, I have to be extra careful as well. He's already in enough trouble without this added on.

As my older brother by four years, he should've been the one in line for the throne. But because his mother was a concubine and I am the only son of the Crown Princess Consort, the law dictates that I must be the heir as the only legitimate son.

I love my brother more than my own life, but ever since I came of age, the political factions in the imperial court have been fighting to oust him from the palace, under the claim that he is a threat to me.

Prince Javan, my beloved. The one who has watched over me for as long as I can remember was now supposed to be treated as an enemy.

I can't and won't do it. So these men who only think of power and had no care for the love between two brothers, sought daily to tear us apart.

So as excited as I am to set out on my adventure, I have to be sure not to get caught for his sake. Lately, my every mistake has been blamed on Prince Javan whether he was at fault or not.

Maybe it was because of the closeness we shared. That and the fact that he was allowed more freedom than I. Not only because of his age but because as the heir my movements were greatly restricted.

I long for the days when things had been simpler. When I could slip by without much notice. It was mostly due to my grandfather's failing health that things had become so dire of late.

With my grandfather ailing, all eyes were on my father who was set to ascend the throne upon his death. That left me as his only true heir in the position I now find myself in.

But after years of enjoying relative freedom at the heels of my brother who taught me all I know about life, it was hard to curtail my actions to please the stuffy old men of the court.

Almost overnight Prince Javan had been sent out of the palace to live in one of the imperial palaces in town, effectively separating us and removing his influence.

Instead of days spent following my brother around I was now stuck in the classroom with my tutors or on the training field learning to wield a sword at my father's behest.

Not that I hadn't done that before, but at least I had the comfort of my brother's presence to break up the monotony of my everyday life.

In that respect, my brother certainly had it easier than I. No one bothered overly much about how he wiled away his days. In fact, he was treated little better than a servant once I came of age. Something I've long resented my father for.

But it was my brother who had explained that father had to distance himself from him in order to keep him safe.

That if he dared show any kind of favor for his own flesh and blood, those same men would stop at nothing to destroy the boy. It was my first harsh lesson in the politics of the palace.

Even as the future ruler of our nation, my father was not free to love his firstborn son as he would his heir, for by doing so, he could cause a rift between the leading factions and those men who would seek to pit one of us against the other.

The story of just such a thing taking place between my father and uncle was still new though it had happened years ago. And not many had forgotten the unrest that had occurred following that catastrophe.

Though it was obvious that those two never shared the love and closeness that Prince Javan and I do, it made no difference to those who would seek any advantage to cause strife and usurp the throne.

My poor brother was paying the price for their greed. He was being made to pay for the circumstances of his birth which were no fault of his own. Something I promised myself to rectify the first chance I get.

But it was looking more and more like that chance won't come until I take the throne, which hopefully was many years to come yet. I was in no hurry to see my father and grandfather die so that I could reign.

Thinking of Prince Javan always leaves me with a touch of sadness these days because I was powerless to do anything to change his fate. All that I had gained from this experience was a new dislike for the ministers and their cunning.

No matter, I still had to be wary of them at least for the next few years. Unbeknownst to them, I've started keeping tabs on those I would eliminate from service as soon as I take the throne. Them, or their children, whomever is in that seat when I start my reign.

I've secretly, along with my head eunuch, been gathering damaging information to strike at the most opportune time, no matter how far in the future that day might be.

I refuse to be tied down the way my father and grandfather have been. Though it was rumored that my father when he does take the throne would be a more effective monarch than his sire. It is my goal when the time comes to surpass both of them.

It was Prince Javan who had taught me to keep my head down and never show my hand. Father too had cautioned me as his heir to be more circumspect in my behavior.

Still, I can't help being who I am. At seventeen, with the weight of the throne resting heavily on my shoulders, those days were a good distance ahead. I still had a bit of the child in me, and that's where my adventurous spirit comes in.