Empress Khione: Her Revenge

One Year Later

The months went by with Princess Electra training Khione day in and day out, without barely any breaks in between. Eventually, twelve months went by and Khione's nineteenth birthday came by. It had been exactly one whole year since Khione's whole life had changed and turned into a living hell overnight. And now, one year later, she felt the best she ever did. She was stronger, smarter and more mature. She wished those who rejected her would see her now but she knew she still had so much left to achieve so she needed to be patient. She knew the time would eventually come. 

'BANG' the sound of her fist hitting the roguish wolf echoed throughout the mountain. The wolf fell to the ground right in front of Princess Electra, lifelessly. 

The Princess's eyes followed the wolf she created and ever so slowly, a grin grew on her face. 

"I think you are ready," she said more to herself than to Khione. 

In the past year, Princess Electra had been training Khione without any restraints. She had taught her everything she needed to know and Khione had excelled in her training. Of course, she couldn't know for a fact whether her Qi had finally accepted Khione but according to Khione, the burning sensation of the Qi's rejection had subsided long ago. It was still there but it just was not strong enough. The Princess had even thought that it might just be something that stays with her for life. It might not ever be able to accept a wolf as it's master unless Khione does something commendable however, she was sure that it wouldn't attack her unless everything the princess taught her was in vain. With Khione's current strength, Princess Electra was positive it was time to move on to the next stage of their plan. 

"Excuse me?" Khione asked, feeling shocked upon hearing such words leave the princess's mouth. She had been working so hard to hear such words but she never imagined that she would ever hear it. 

"You're ready to proceed on to the next stage of the plan," Princess Electra informed Khione, making a bubble of excitement grow in her chest. 

Khione wanted to scream and dance out in happiness but she also knew that the princess wasn't particularly a fan of such behaviours so she kept it to herself. 

"So my training is over for good?" she asked, feeling completely hopeful. 

"Not for good," the princess said. "You still have to practice daily to cultivate your Qi."

Despite hearing that, Khione still felt really happy. 

"What is the next stage of the plan then?" she asked the princess. 

All she knew so far was that the final goal was to become the Empress but in order to do that, she needed to marry the heir of the throne. However, marrying a royal prince was no easy feat so Khione was sure the princess had a detailed plan prepared in order for Khione to be able to gain the Prince's attention and rise in ranks. 

"You will join the mating ceremony as a contender," the Princess told her, looking as serious as ever. 

"The mating ceremony?" Khione had never heard such a thing. "What is that?" 

The princess looked pretty shocked that Khione was not familiar with the mating ceremony. She assumed every young she-wolf's dream would be to attend the ceremony with the hopes of becoming the future bride of the handsome, young prince. 

"The ceremony the royals hold in hopes of finding a future Luna Queen..." the princess trailed off. "How have you never heard of this? They hold one every few decades and it's literally the biggest event in the werewolf community." 

Khione racked her brain, searching for even the tiniest hint of knowledge about such an event but she came short. She was absolutely positive that she had never heard of such an event before.

"What happens in this event? Also, doesn't the Alpha Prince already have a mate? I heard he married last year."

She knew that couldn't have been a false piece of knowledge because the Luna Princess was actually one of the Red Stone Packs heiresses. She remembered her father being livid when the new princess was announced. He believed that she would make sure to sabotage their pack's reputation and the royal family would eventually disband their pack. At the time, she had felt worried and scared but thinking back now, she couldn't help but realise how ridiculous her father was being. Even if the Prince's bride was the daughter of their rival pack's alpha, and even if she spoke ill of them to the royal family, it would not result in the disbandment of the pack unless they had committed an unforgivable crime. 

"Basically, all of the major packs will send in their strongest and most talented she-wolves and the prince will pick the one he wants as his bride."

"What if she has a mate already?" Khione cut off the princess before she could continue talking. 

"Once the prince picks a bride, her mate link will dissipate. The prince is considered the future of the werewolf livelihood and he picks a she-wolf based on her prowess and instinct. If he has picked someone, it's because he believes that she will be able to navigate and lead the entire race in his absence. Something like a mate is insignificant and once she is picked by the prince, she will belong to him only." 

Khione still could not believe that she had never heard of such an event in her whole entire life. Although she had never seen him before, she was aware that he current heir to the throne was only a few years older than her and thus a topic of interest amongst all the young she-wolves. A ceremony like this would have been the topic of interest for all the young and hopeful romantics in her school. Yet somehow the news of a mating ceremony was completely unheard of in her pack.

"And yes, the prince is married," Princess Electra added on, much to Khione's surprised. "He is married to Hera Cuthwulf of the Red Stone Pack."

So what Khione knew was true. He was married to Atlas's younger sister. 

"Then why are they holding another mating ceremony?"

It didn't really make sense to be holding one when he already picked out his future empress. Khione felt a growing pit of anger and jealousy in her stomach. Although the position didn't belong to her in any way or form, Khione felt as if something was stolen from her and she didn't like the feeling at all. 

"The royal family has managed to stay strong for all of these years because they have never had a void position in their family ever since the beginning of time. They have had deaths in their family but they have always had someone else to take over the position. The position of the Empress is only second to the Emperor. Because the Emperor is away on pack related tasks for most of the year, the empress governs state and internal affairs and takes over the emperor's position until he returns. Her job is the most important job in the kingdom. 

"However, the royals aren't immune to death and having both the emperor and empress's seats empty can be catastrophic. Therefore, Royal Alphas follow the Ancient Asian system of the humans. They have their consort, who is their first wife and future Luna, and then they have their concubines who will take over if anything were to happen to the consort." 

"So you want me to join the palace as a concubine," Khione asked, feeling slightly flabbergasted. 

She most definitely wanted to enter the palace but her goal was to become the empress, not the second wife who will never be as good as the first wife. It felt degrading and offensive especially considering all the training she had been doing. It felt like a waste of time.

Princess Electra sighed upon hearing Khione's train of thoughts. 

"You will enter as a concubine, yes, however, you will not stay a concubine your whole life. That's merely the next stage of our plan as we have no other way to get you into the palace." 

"And what if I can't proceed? What if I stay a concubine forever?" 

"I have been training you for this past year so you can endure the worst of situations. It won't be an easy task but I am confident that you will be able to achieve anything as long as you put your mind to it. You just need to endure and be patient." 

Khione still had doubts in her mind but she trusted the princess so she did not say anything in response.

"The hardest part of our plan is actually getting in to the palace. Once you achieve that, you can achieve anything. Removing a lady in position should not be hard so just focus on being chosen by the prince first." 

"He's not going to just pick us based on looks is he?" 

"No, there will be a series of competitions. There will be a fighting competition in which you will prove your physical strength and then you will show off a special talent. Although they like to act as if they're picking a bride based on her physical capabilities, the woman who manages to win the Prince's favour during the talent segment will get chosen even if she's the weakest of the pack."

Khione tried to think of a talent she had that could be interesting enough to gain a prince's attention but truth be told, he had none. 

"What will my talent be?" she found herself asking her mentor. She felt ridiculous for asking such a question but somehow the words just came out without her control. 

But despite it being a strange question, the princess had an answer for that as well. Suddenly a wooden object that looked very much like a flute appeared in front of Khione.

"What's this?"

"A dizi."

Khione stared at the princess with a confused expression on her face. She had absolutely no idea what that was.

"It's a bamboo flute," the princess explained. "The prince's late mother used to play one and my sources tell me that the prince is looking for someone to teach his wife how to play one but without any success. There are very few wolves that play ancient instruments and only his mother played the dizi. If you can learn it, then even if you don't get in as his concubine on first try, you might be able to continue frequenting the palace as a tutor. We can then work on our plan from there." 

Khione couldn't help but feel impressed with the princess's ability to think ten steps in advance. She really had a plan prepared for every possibility out there. 

"When is the mating ceremony?" 

"In two weeks."

"You want me to learn to play a whole instrument in only two weeks?" Khione gasped. 

"You have learnt how to endure the most brutal of pains and fight the most dangerous of creatures, what's so hard about learning to play a flute?" the princess refuted, leaving Khione speechless. When Khione continued to stare at her with an open mouth, the princess added on, "You have two weeks only. I suggest you start practicing as soon as possible. You only have one chance to get in, don't mess it up."

Khione scoffed and shook her head. 

"No pressure, none at all," she sarcastically said before she picked up the instrument and and began playing. 

The moment the sound erupted from the flute, the princess looked as if all life escaped from her body. The sound was absolutely horrid and after hearing it, she deeply regretted picking the dizi for Khione to learn. 

It was going to be a very long two weeks.