Chapter 4
Chapter 4
I went to the Eastern Palace.
My brother was always occupied with affairs of state. He never showed joy or anger and allowed no one to glimpse his thoughts or preferences.
Aside from the cats, I might have been the only person who knew how much he valued Ink Pearl.
He was coming out of the garden when I arrived.
“Little Nine?”
“I heard Ink Pearl was injured.”
His expression did not change. “A few cats had a fight. The veterinarian is treating him.”
“Ink Pearl is a good boy. He often visits my Beauty.”
The Crown Prince looked surprised.
Then I saw envy flicker across his face.
Ink Pearl had told me that his owner privately said things like, “I envy Little Nine and Little Ten for being able to play with cats whenever they please.”
I had never believed him. Apparently it was true.
“You’re a young girl…” My brother tried to sound stern. “Go see him, then.”
His voice, however, had gone noticeably soft and high.
I apologized to Ink Pearl.
“I never meant for you to get hurt.”
That was true. I had not expected Jade Lion to be dishonorable enough to lead a mob attack.
High-ranking toms usually fought one-on-one to establish status. Jade Lion had learned the worst habits from humans.
Ink Pearl licked one paw.
“It’s all right. Beauty got away.”
Honestly, his nobility moved me to tears.
I examined his wounds. They were brutal.
He remained impassive. “Only scratches. I kept them from doing worse.”
I could not resist showering him with praise.
“You’re incredible. You fought more than ten cats alone.”
Embarrassed, Ink Pearl produced two meaningless little sounds.
“Mew. Mew.”
As I kept saying, cat affairs were trivial affairs.
Fifth Sister did not even come to apologize.
The Crown Prince was nevertheless angry.
At the next morning audience in the inner palace, the Crown Princess brought Lady Su with her.
Lady Su understood her assignment perfectly. The moment she arrived, she began behaving outrageously.
“Fifth Princess, your cat is so fierce. He doesn’t attack people too, does he?”
Fifth Sister looked down her nose at her, unwilling to engage with a mere consort. She carried all the pride of the Empress’s legitimate daughter.
The Crown Princess lightly rebuked her companion. “Wan’er, what nonsense.”
Lady Su looked innocent. “Your Highness, didn’t that cat nearly scratch the Crown Prince the other night?”
Fifth Sister’s face stiffened.
The Empress was forced to speak. “Did that happen?”
The Crown Princess rose. “Mother Empress, it was nothing worth mentioning.”
Only then did Fifth Sister’s expression ease.
“I knew the Crown Prince wouldn’t hold it against me.”
Lady Su smiled. “Your Highness, naturally you possess a generous spirit. I’m petty by comparison. I simply blurt out whatever I’m thinking.”
“Wan’er,” the Crown Princess said helplessly.
Lady Su pretended not to hear.
“I only thought that cat sounded terribly vicious. I heard he recently attacked the cats belonging to the Ninth and Tenth Princesses too. He goes everywhere looking for trouble.”
The Crown Princess did not lift her eyes. “What a way to speak of a cat.”
“I have no tact. I only worry for the Crown Prince. How many enemies has that cat made in the palace? Now he even dares create trouble at the Eastern Palace.”
Lady Su turned to us.
“Ninth Princess, Tenth Princess, am I wrong?”
Tenth Sister and I were delighted by the performance. We shook our heads like rattles, although neither of us could quite suppress our grins.
“It was nothing.”
“Only cat business.”
“The two princesses are generous,” Lady Su said. “But there are always narrow-minded people in the world. People like me. I hold grudges.”
“Wan’er, what are you saying?” the Crown Princess murmured without looking up.
Anyone could see the arrangement. One played the villain, the other the gracious mistress.
“I merely hope the princess will restrain her cat,” Lady Su finished. “After all, he’s only a cat. It isn’t a serious matter.”
The Crown Princess had no reason to bring Lady Su to the morning audience. Yet she had done so, and no one could punish Lady Su for causing a scene except her own mistress, who could simply take her home for “discipline.”
Fifth Sister was furious afterward.
“He is only a cat. I could beat him to death and throw him away. But how dare a lowly consort lecture me? The world has turned upside down!”
The Empress naturally sided with her daughter.
The Crown Prince was her political ally, not her biological son. Fifth Sister was her only child.
“It is merely a cat,” the Empress said. “Do not be angry.”
She too was enraged. In private, she cursed the Crown Prince as ungrateful. Had she not helped raise him to the position of heir? Yet he humiliated her precious daughter over a cat.
Fengyi, a cat from the Empress’s palace, told me all of this.
With an owner like that, how could one expect her cat to have manners?
Beauty vanished again over the next few days.
Jade Lion had resumed visiting my residence to spray urine. Soon he was bringing his followers along to do the same.
My maids were furious, but they could do nothing against those little ancestors.
It was courtship behavior. Supposedly, the more a tom’s urine stank, the more attractive he was to females.
What I did not understand was that Beauty was no longer in heat.
How did she keep the toms this crazed?
I wanted to catch her and inspect her, but she had become impossible to find.