Love In The Forbidden City (Completed)

Chapter XXIII - Lv Wu's Lost (Revised)

Ice Face didn't allow me to roam freely in the palace. My movement was restricted and I could only stroll to the extent, around the Royal Garden. But I did hear stuff, stuff that was too gory that made me shiver in coldness though the sun was glaring high in the sky.

Once in a while, I heard the servants whispering about how he punished the persons who ill-treated him. Remember the ambassador who spread the rumour that had caused Die Hard Thirteen to be grounded in the Queen Bee Forest, and resulted in Ice Face losing his father's love? Ice Face demanded his limbs and head to be tied to five horses' feet. Five executers sat on the horseback, and without mercy, they lashed the horses. Due to the sudden impulse and shock, the horses galloped in a frenzy way, tearing the ambassador's head and limbs apart. He died without a complete body, which in the Chinese's belief, wouldn't be able to reincarnate.

The news that devastated me the most was Herald Lee's death.

Due to the fact that Ice Face's mother kept investigating who was the real emperor that was supposed to inherit the throne with Herald Lee's help, Ice Face had ordered Herald Lee to drink a glass of strong poisoned wine. Herald Lee's death was quick and it relieved Ice Face. He even threatened his mother not to mess around in the matter, if he wanted the Fourteenth Prince to return from war safely. He put an emphasis on safely.

I knew he struggled to climb up to that Dragon Seat, but could his perseverance serve as an excuse for me to forgive him? From today onwards, I had to be meticulous in whatever expression I wore on my face and whatever words I delivered. Was this love worthwhile?

One day, when we were having dinner together, I couldn't contain my curiosity anymore.

"The dead eagle was sent by you?" I asked.

"How did you know about that?"

"How did you persuade the Eighth Bei'Le's men to risk this?"

"Every man has a prominent weakness -- greed."

"Then why would they all commit suicide? I believe they will have great wealth now."

Ice Face filled my rice bowl with a spoonful of scrambled egg. "Eat more. Do not burden yourself with news in the palace. You will hurt yourself with unwanted depression. You cooked for me tonight, so let's not let the food go wasted. Eat more."

Ice Face was filling my rice bowl with another spoonful of steamed vegetables when a servant approached us. "Your Majesty, Miss Yu Tan is here. What would you like her to do?"

I was almost choked by the rice, trying to resist from laughing at Ice Face's baffled expression. "It's my mistake. I asked for your permission to send Yu Tan here to serve me yesterday. You just simply said 'en' in your sleep, and I took that as a sign of agreement."

Ice Face nodded and said to the servant, "Ask her to serve us tea."

When the servant left to call after Yu Tan, I apologized. "I shouldn't have overridden you."

"There is no such word as 'overridden' between you and I." He smiled and placed his hand on mine. Looking into his compassionate eyes, all of my suspicion towards him resolved.

However, more misfortunes happened in the palace ever since Ice Face ascended the throne. Miss Lv Wu was found missing, as she refused to be Die Hard Thirteen's concubine. She mentioned in a letter that she didn't enjoy the luxurious life in the palace, and asked Die Hard Thirteen not to look for her. We spent a day and a night looking for her but to no avail. I had a feeling that we would never find her again. One day, Ice Face came to me.

"Thirteenth Brother did not attend the morning meeting. The other princes and ambassadors all wear a malevolent expression as if they are bearing an evil child in their mind. They pretend their respect but secretly planning ploys over me. I could not trust anyone now except you and Thirteenth Brother. Now I can finally understand that the Son of Heaven is always lonely."

I held his hands, trying to comfort him when an ambassador came to bring the news about Miss Lv Wu. I quickly hid behind a partition as I didn't want the servants to spread any gossip.

"Your Majesty, we found a female corpse by the river of a fishing village. Even though it has scratches all over her face and body, we can still determine the features. The Jade bangle it wears on its wrist also looks similar to the portrait Your Majesty had given me."

"Who else knows about this news?" Ice Face asked.

"Only Your Majesty and the search crew."

"Do not let the other parties learn about this news, especially the Thirteenth Prince. Keep searching. The corpse might not belong to her. She might be still alive."

I came out from the partition once the ambassador left. "How could she be so selfish? How could she let the Thirteenth Prince and Cheng Huan experience the pain of loss by themselves?"

Ice Face couldn't find words to console me. For hours, we sat in each other's embrace, hand in hand. Months passed and I was certain that Miss Lv Wu's death was a fact. I went to visit Die Hard Thirteen in his residence. A stench of ale assailed my nostrils the moment I pushed open the door of his study. Spiders scattered around the walls. Portraits of Miss Lv Wu littered the floor. Some with her holding plum flowers, some with her baking cookies.

Die Hard Thirteen's hair was as tousled. His chin was filled with studs of hair. Pointed at the piles of portraits, he said, "We drew these on our wedding day. I could not give her anything, except the promise of my unwithered love to her." A tear fell and dropped on one of the portraits.

I took a step forward and comforted him. "I didn't have a deep acquaintance with her as I only met her several times. As far as I remember, she always frowned, as if locking lots of woes in between her brows. But I could see that she was extremely merry, from the way her eyes smiled through these portraits."

"Why did she treat me like this? She had only left me a letter and disappeared just like that. Why... Could she forget the moments we spent together? Ten years of memory. Ten years. Did she ever think of Cheng Huan?" He smashed a bottle on the floor in anger.

I walked to his table and picked up a half-empty ale bottle. I drank the spirit in order to make myself braver. He might hit me as he wasn't quite sober now, but I still need to voice out my opinion. "She's gone now. You should think of your other concubines. They had waited for you for ten years too. When you were grounded, they helped bring up Cheng Huan. You should treat them fairly. If you love Miss Lv Wu, you should let her have a good journey. Let her go."

Edited by YvonneKindle