Chapter 4: Beneath the Painted Silence
It arrived in a porcelain teacup.
Set gently before her by a new servant — eyes too still, bow too perfect. Meilan entered a breath too late, catching the moment.
The scent was wrong.
Subtle. Floral.
Too floral.
Meilan's hand darted forward, knocking the cup to the floor.
It shattered.
“Forgive me, Princess Consort,” Meilan said quickly.
The girl who brought the tea had already slipped away.
No one asked for her name.
No one came to clean the shards.
The meaning was clear.
That evening, an imperial summons arrived.
Li Xue was to accompany the Zhao Wuxia to the Festival of Bright Wind — a yearly event held in the Lotus Courtyard, where nobles watched lanterns float across the water.
“It’s a performance,” Meilan whispered. “They want to show peace… unity.”
The princess said nothing, She only chose a robe of silver and black. No red. No gold.
Let them try to erase her colors — she would become shadow and steel instead.
The courtyard overflowed with nobles and officials, all dressed in fine silk. Lanterns drifted in the ponds, glowing softly in the evening haze.
Li Xue stood beside the Zhao Wuxia, silent. He spoke only when needed, his tone clipped.
From behind her fan, a noblewoman — one of the Zhoa Wuxia’s father’s, concubines — leaned towards her.
> “Your Highness looks so lovely tonight… It's almost easy to forget where you came from.”
> “And how quickly your kingdom fell.”
The princess turned slowly, smiled behind her own fan, and said:
> “Thank you. I suppose it’s easier to forget where one came from… than where one stands now.”
> “After all, I stand beside the future emperor. And you… still wait behind curtains.”
A few ladies gasped. Even the musicians faltered.
The prince’s gaze flicked sideways — not quite amusement, but close.
Later, as the lanterns rose into the sky, he spoke to her in private for the second time since the wedding.
“You play a dangerous game,” he said.
She looked at the floating lights. “You don’t think I know that?”
“You have no allies here.”
She met his eyes. Calm. Defiant.
> “I had no allies in my kingdom when it fell. I am not afraid to be alone again.”
Zhao Wuxia studied Li Xue for a moment longer than necessary.
Then, almost too quietly:
> “You should be.”
Zhao Wuxia turned and walked away.
But the princess saw it — the hesitation in his step, the silent war in his mind.
He had expected her to bow in fear infront of them.
Instead, she stood in his shadow than most did in sunlight.
She remembered how weak she used to be in her kingdom she would crying at little things but the war changed everything even in the enemy kingdom she survived—Maybe it was her enemy's favor to not harm her or perhaps her bravery for not letting her kingdom get forgotten.
End of Chapter four: Beneath the Pained Silence
[*To be continu**ed*]
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