Chapter 2
By the time I returned, the family meal had ended.
His Majesty was gone.
The heir’s wife supported the Duchess of Qing as they walked toward the doors. Both women wore the same lost, terrified look.
Her Ladyship clutched the Fourth Prince to her chest without a word.
I went to her and called softly several times before she seemed to come back to herself. Smiling, she said, “His Majesty is impatient. He would not wait and left. Share the extra dishes among the palace servants.”
I agreed and was about to withdraw when she warned me never to breathe a word about what had happened that day.
I promised her I would not.
Perhaps I was simply too young. At the time, I did not understand that on that ordinary afternoon, the fates of Her Ladyship and the entire House of Qing had been turned upside down.
His Majesty continued to visit Zhilan Palace every day. He played with the little prince, ate and drank with Her Ladyship, and let the days pass in seeming peace.
Only I knew how much new sorrow weighed on her.
She took greater care with her appearance than before and devoted herself even more diligently to pleasing His Majesty. There was a deliberate, almost pleading quality even to her smile.
Alas, all her efforts were in vain.
Three months later, the Sumo tribes from the bitter northeastern frontier marched south and clashed with our army beside the Liao River. Countless men died, and cries of mourning rose from both banks.
His Majesty flew into a rage. He ordered the battle-hardened Marquis Who Guards the North to lead an army of one hundred thousand, with Xue Di—the heir to the Duke of Qing—as his vanguard commander. They were to annihilate the invaders.
Xue Di, heir to the Duke of Qing, was Her Ladyship’s only full brother and her sole sibling.
The Duke and Duchess of Qing were deeply devoted to each other. The duke kept no concubines, and they had only one son and one daughter.
Xue Di was a scholar who knew neither martial arts nor military strategy.
Sending him to war was no different from ordering him to lead the soldiers of Jing to their deaths.
In the Golden Throne Hall, the Duke of Qing begged permission to go in his son’s place.
His Majesty refused on the grounds that the duke was too old.
Several strong, experienced generals volunteered. His Majesty refused them all.
In Zhilan Palace, Her Ladyship knelt before His Majesty with the Fourth Prince in her arms, her face bare and her hair unbound, and pleaded with him desperately.
His Majesty’s expression darkened. His voice was slow and heavy. “Rong’er, the women of the inner palace may not meddle in affairs of state.”
Her Ladyship raised her tear-streaked face and gazed at him in anguish. “My brother may long to serve his country, but he is too weak even to truss a chicken. On the battlefield, he would be no help—only a burden to the marquis. I beg Your Majesty to rescind the order and appoint a strong, seasoned warrior as vanguard commander. Only then can victory be assured!”
His Majesty’s eyes were cold, as if filled with shards of ice. He lifted her chin and spoke cruel words in a voice so tender it chilled the blood. “All beneath heaven’s shores are subjects of the sovereign. How many common families lose their sons and grandsons in war? Would you have the realm curse me for favoritism, for protecting the kin of one beloved concubine while everyone else’s children die?”
“Xue Rong, would you have the whole world point at your brother’s back and call him a coward? Would you destroy the House of Qing’s generations-old reputation for loyalty to the throne and devotion to the realm?”
He straightened. “He will fight this war whether he wishes to or not!”
Her Ladyship slowly stopped weeping. She held the Fourth Prince so tightly that she hurt him, and the child began to wail.
Amid those piercing cries, her lips moved. “Xue Rong obeys.”