Valiant Princess

Six: Changes and memories

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Princess Long Hua

(Zanilia Zhao)

As she walks, more and more, the pressure on both of her hands' increases. More and more blood sips out from her wounds. But she ignores the pain. She grips harder as times have gone by... General Bing Xiaji saw how she put her injured palm on top of her other hand. He saw how hard she grips her both hands while she walks out of the banquet hall. Her small hands are getting paler by the seconds due to the very pressure. Some blood seems to drip onto her pristine white dress as well. Automatically, he stands up and walks toward her. She stops and turns her small body to look at him. He cannot see her face because she is wearing a veil, but she is smiling with this sudden move made by him. He took her small hand and check on her wounded hand. Suddenly, he can feel that her hand suddenly becomes as cold as ice when he holds onto it.

"What are you doing, General?" Her voice sounds so cold and distant.

She no longer acts childish and giddy as she has done in the past. He somehow hated it, "Your hand is injured, Your Royal Highness. You should let the imperial doctor check on it."

She slowly pulls her hand out of his hand and said, "We are fine. Huli will check on it later. You should not worry about this silly princess, General. You have other significant things to worry about and, this princess is not one of it and does not wish to be one of it. Ever. Thanks for your concern anyway."

He flinched when he heard her venomous words, "Forgive me for acting out of line, Your Royal Highness. After all, you are my fiancée now. I do not wish for you to get hurt in any way."

"Really? Are you sure? General Bing Xiaji, you hate us. You do not wish to be in the same place as us. Do not force yourself to worry about us. Our relationship is a mere political relationship. So be it. Your loyalty lies with the Emperor and the Kingdom itself. That's that. 5 years might be a long time for you to wait for this princess to be your wife. We allow you to choose your beloved to be with you as your concubine. We will tell imperial father to allow you to take a concubine while we are gone."

She turns her body abruptly; her bloody sleeve softly passes through his hand in the process. General Bing Xiaji is shocked beyond words. She knows about his childhood sweetheart. He also has a dreadful feeling that she knows more. Did she somehow discover his plan? He dismisses his suspicion as he is sure that a young girl like her would not be that sharp. After all, he is not a sloppy person. His plan is safely guarded by him and his entourage. He just stands in the middle of the hall and stares at the back of the princess while she calmly walks out of the hall with her beautiful maidservants.

The Emperor and Empress saw their interactions and feels that their daughter is no longer acting like a fool towards the General. She even coldly dismissed his effort to show that he is a caring fiancé. They are worried but they are helpless as well, the General is gaining more and more military power lately. The marriage must happen so that a family bond can be formed between the Longs and the Bings for the sake of the Kingdom itself. Sadly, this means that their older daughter will have to bear that heavy responsibility on her shoulder. All they can hope is that the political marriage will be a lovable marriage as well. Like theirs. Both look at each other and smiles.

Imperial Noble Consort Mei saw them both smiling at each other, she smiles too. To be honest, the one that she loves most is Empress Huihuang. When she met the Empress 20 years ago, the Empress was a lively teenager who roamed around the Kingdom by wearing a man outfit. She met the Empress then and thought that she was indeed a man, a dashing and charismatic young man. That is when she fell in love for the very first time. They have studied together in the same school. All those times, the Empress acted as a young man. She found out that she acted that way because the Empress do not want the Emperor, who was studying at the same school, to know who she was. The Empress even have a plan to run away back then. Oh, the merry and hectic life when they are younger. The Emperor was having a hard time to capture back the Empress and convince her back then to settle down and marry him. He even asked for support from his in-laws, but they blatantly ignored him, they even told him that he must do it himself, they are not willing to waste their precious energy to look for their daughter. The Emperor was in love with her first before realizing that the Empress is his fated one. She, on the other hand, was in love with the Empress first before slowly accepting the Emperor as her husband. If she can be by the Empress side, she is willing to become an imperial concubine.

A decision that she never regretted, not even once. She lives a better life in the imperial palace, being a concubine's daughter as well, her past life is not a flower road for her to walk on. Since meeting the Emperor and the Empress, she has been treated much better in the imperial palace than in her paternal home. The Empress has even taught her family a well-deserved lesson for not treating her well by using her willing husband, the Emperor. They tried to use her as a pawn to gain more power and to topple the Empress, but the Emperor crushed their dream. All of them have been banished to the countryside as commoners. She smiled as she is reminiscing those golden days. Her Empress, over the years, has become a capable Empress along with the Emperor by her side. Imperial Noble Consort Mei is enjoying her life to its fullest in the imperial palace. Official matters of the back palace have been fully entrusted to her by the Empress. The Empress only intervened when she needed too (as in, something that needed to be done swiftly yet cruelly which she happy to do so occasionally).

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Example of the costume worn by Empress Huihuang during her heyday.

Yes, she loves to dress up as a male and broke a lot of maidens' heart in the process.

The Emperor is eating a lot of vinegar back then.

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Imperial Noble Consort Mei's outfit during her younger days.