Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I had seen my share of beautiful people in this life, but never anyone like him. His skin glowed like pristine snow, his amber eyes were clear and bright, and every feature seemed personally carved by heaven. Though a monk, he possessed a beauty that bordered on the uncanny.

He was only seventeen or eighteen, yet carried himself with uncommon composure. Pressing his palms together, he said softly, “This humble monk is called Naihe. At my master’s command, I have come to present Her Majesty with a birthday gift.”

The guard beside him looked troubled. “He is the envoy from Southern Xu. He asked to see Your Majesty and has refused to leave this spot. Since he is a man of the cloth, we did not dare use force.”

“Why did no one tell me the Southern Xu envoy was a monk?” I tilted my head and studied him. “With a face like that, you must be either a Buddha or a demon.”

The guards did not dare answer. He merely kept looking at me, his eyes like unfathomable lakes.

I had a guard retrieve the kitten from his arms, then said lazily, “You wished to see me, young master. Now that you have, you may go.”

“Your Majesty, my master instructed me that this gift is exceedingly precious and must be opened in his messenger’s presence. I dare not disobey my master.”

He remained on his knees, stubbornly immovable.

I sighed.

Over the years, northerners had often presented treasures they considered priceless, eager to see greed and awe overwhelm me. In truth, the finest treasure I had received throughout all my years as Northern Qian’s empress was no better than the inferior trinkets I used to bestow upon servants when I was a princess.

It was with that same carelessness that I opened the box.

One glance.

That was all it took.

The past came roaring back.

Inside was a white porcelain vase painted with two little rabbits.

“They say white porcelain rings like shattering jade when it breaks. Why don’t we smash it and listen?”

“Destroying something is easy, but making it is difficult. So Xihe must not treat other people’s painstaking work as a toy to be broken. Do you understand?”

…Once, I had carried it carefree along the road home, holding in my other hand the person I loved most: Zhiqiu.

Those were my little rabbits. The little rabbits I had worked so hard to fire.

I snapped the lid shut. “Who is your master? What is his name?”

My expression terrified everyone. People dropped to their knees all around us. Only the young monk calmly lifted his face to me. “My master’s monastic name is Sukong. In secular life, he was called He Sulong.”

I slowly closed my hands around the box, as if gathering up a piece of the past.

On the day fate divided my path, when I had meant to leave Nancheng, I had considered seeking General He Sulong. Chance had instead brought me to where I stood now. So many years had passed without news of him that I had not even known he had joined the remnant court in the west.

“Is your master… in good health?” My voice trembled. Only then did I realize the young monk had never taken his eyes off me. His gaze was limpid and did not waver even when it met mine. “My master suffered old injuries in his early years. They have grown considerably worse of late. That is why he insisted I place the gift into Your Majesty’s hands myself.”

After Southern Xu fell, the Northern Qian soldiers burned the palace. They said the fire raged for seven days and seven nights. Long ago, I accepted that everything I had ever owned had vanished in those flames.

Yet He Sulong had somehow found my little rabbits. It was strange. As an official outside the inner court, how could he have known which object I treasured as a girl? And after going to such lengths to send me a relic of Southern Xu, what did he want from me?

“It is a fine gift. But I am no longer young enough to love little rabbits.” I smiled and handed the box back to Naihe.

The remnant court in the west had accepted my elder cousin as its sovereign. Though I was a woman, my claim to the imperial bloodline was more direct than his. Now I was also empress of their enemy state. That was not a place to which I could ever return.

Besides, hidden currents churned throughout Northern Qian and loyalties were shifting. If my identity as Princess Xihe of Southern Xu truly became known to the world, there might be no place left for me anywhere.

Whatever happened, I could not cooperate with them.

Naihe silently accepted the box. He was an impossibly beautiful boy. Even beneath the fierce sun, his skin gleamed like flawless carved jade.

Surrounded by palace attendants, I sighed and smiled at him. “Ten years ago, I met your master once at His Majesty’s banquet. Perhaps that is why he found a piece of my family’s white porcelain to send me. The Zhou white kilns are gone; every surviving piece is unique. It was thoughtful of him.”
“But no matter what we do, the Zhou white kilns will never return. Keeping the vase would only make me grieve for what is gone. Take it back, and thank him for me.”

“But Your Majesty, I have something to tell you…”

Just then, Youchun arrived. “Your Majesty, Dengxin’er has left. You still need to review the arrangements for tonight’s birthday banquet.”

I smiled at him and turned to go – only to see Chen Dong standing at the palace gate, watching me with a frown.

My heart lurched. Forcing a smile, I greeted him. “The First Prince usually refuses to enter the palace. What brings you here today?”

He approached, looked Naihe over, and said, “Is Her Majesty holding a private audience with an envoy inside the palace? A Southern slave, no less?”

By then I had regained my composure. I cocked my head. “And if I am? Does the First Prince now intend to set the palace rules in His Majesty’s stead?”

The familiar tension sprang taut between us. It had been this way every time we met for years.

Chen Dong said coldly, “What is that supposed to mean? This concerns a foreign envoy. Am I not even permitted to ask a question?”

I walked close and breathed two words into his ear. “Northern dog.”

His expression changed at once.

I smiled. “If those were the words constantly on my lips, would the First Prince show me any courtesy?”

“Your Majesty may keep provoking me if you wish, but I will have an answer.”

He moved me aside and looked back at Naihe. “The envoys are all waiting in the Garden of Purity for tonight’s banquet. Why are you here? What did you intend to tell the empress?”

Naihe pressed his palms together and answered with great earnestness. “This humble monk wished to persuade Her Majesty to spread the Buddhist teachings in Nancheng and thereby acquire immeasurable merit.”

Southern Xu had a long tradition of revering Buddhism, while Northern Qian held firmly to the gelu faith. Though signs of cultural blending had emerged over the years, Nancheng, as the northern capital, did not have a single Buddhist temple.

Chen Dong seemed to find the idea absurd. He shook his head with a scoff, then looked at Naihe without expression. “Did your Buddha also tell you that you will not leave Nancheng alive?”

“Chen Dong!” I snapped.

“Having met Her Majesty, I would die without regret. What comes afterward is merely cause and consequence.”

Naihe still regarded him serenely. For one absurd moment, it seemed I was not looking at a general who had slaughtered countless men and a young monk, but at the Buddha lowering his eyes to gaze dispassionately upon all living things.

Chen Dong narrowed his eyes. For no discernible reason, no one dared speak. No one even dared breathe.

I abruptly raised my voice. “When did the First Prince enter the palace?”

An attendant answered, “Two hours ago, Your Majesty.”

“Palace law states that unless special dispensation is granted for a ceremony, the heir apparent may not remain within the palace longer than two hours. To do so is considered treason.” Holding his gaze, I asked, “Will the First Prince leave of his own accord, or shall I have the imperial guard escort you out?”

“This is Northern Qian territory and my father’s palace. You would drive me out?”

“As mistress of the inner palace, I could issue a special dispensation and allow the First Prince to stay longer,” I said. “Unfortunately, after all these years, you still have not learned how to speak to your imperial mother.”

We faced each other for a long time. In the end, he left. Before going, he swept Naihe with a cold, searching gaze.

I released a long breath. My back was soaked through.

He had wanted to kill someone.

For three years, we had maintained a delicate balance. Aside from that confrontation in my sleeping chamber three years earlier, I had never felt such intense killing intent from him.

I looked at Naihe. From every angle, he appeared harmless, clean, and obedient. What about him had awakened Chen Dong’s urge to kill?

“If you meet the First Prince again – or any northerner – you will answer only yes or no. Do you understand?” I rebuked him in a low voice.

“I understand.” He acknowledged me, still staring without blinking.

I frowned. “And stop looking at me like that. It is presumptuous.”

The palace guard answered to me, but the moment he left the palace, he would certainly die. On the pretext that Danchi wished to promote Buddhism, I arranged for Naihe to remain inside. With the celebration imminent, I spent half the day handling trivial matters before it occurred to me to ask, “Why did Chen Dong come to the palace today?”

Youchun was checking the register of officials and answered without looking up. “To bring you a birthday gift, Princess. He delivers it himself every year.”

Oh. So that was why.