by Fynn Chen
Deciding to spare Princess Yexuan the trouble of having to come up with more excuses, Wanwan said, “if Princess Yexuan is not feeling well today then she should use some rest. I can continue my training with the sword. Princess Yexuan, Princes, please excuse me.”
The princes let out sounds of disappointment but did nothing more. Perhaps the princes’ reaction had changed Princess Yexuan’s mind. Perhaps Princess Yexuan decided not to be so rude after all. Or perhaps, Princess Yexuan was feeling lonely. Just as Wanwan was about to turn to go, Princess Yexuan suddenly spoke.
“If you do not mind, come in for tea and desserts then. I can ask for them to be prepared in a while.”
Wanwan turned back slowly and pressed her lips together. Staring into Princess Yexuan’s eyes, those beautiful yet sombre-looking orbs, Wanwan asked. “Are you certain? I do not wish to impose on you if you are unwell.”
Princess Yexuan veered her eyes away but gave a firm nod of her head. “Come in. I am not a very good host so I hope you are not expecting much, Princess Zhenwan.”
The royal brothers had been quiet as they watched the princesses’ exchanges and grinned to each other.
“Congratulations Princess Wanwan, you have just become the first stranger to be invited into our Yexuan’s quarters.”
Wanwan gave an easy shrug of her shoulders before she smiled slightly. “It is my honour then. Thank you, Princess Yexuan.”
A semblance of blush showed across Princess Yexuan’s face and for just a second, Wanwan found the princess rather adorable. Blinking her eyes to refocus herself, Wanwan looked away as well.
The first thought that Wanwan had when she entered Princess Yexuan’s quarters was that it seemed excessively large, especially for a princess who lives alone. However, the place was decorated with a comfortable ambience and it boded well with Wanwan.
“Continue playing the zither. I believe Princess Wanwan must be yearning to hear you play too,” Prince Zhongtai urged and Wanwan shot him a glare.
Princess Yexuan looked slightly ill at ease as she seated herself before the instrument once more. Their eyes had connected again but they broke their contact almost immediately as the courtly princess let out a soft sigh before resuming to play the zither.
This new piece was a tune which reminded Wanwan of the green mountains and the blue skies. The music would have been fitting if only it was played in a courtyard and it suddenly struck Wanwan as to how ironic it was that Princess Yexuan was playing such a tune from the confines of her room. Wanwan nearly drifted away for a moment as she thought back to her homeland. Oddly enough, she could picture Princess Yexuan playing her zither there, at the height of the steppes, with the winds blowing gently to rouse her fine hair and take away her despair.
The next tune Princess Yexuan played was calmer and slower. As Wanwan watched the courtly princess, she felt almost hypnotised, by both Princess Yexuan’s young beauty and the music.
Tea and desserts came shortly after when Princess Yexuan had finished playing the second piece and Wanwan jerked back to attention with Prince Zhongtai and Zhongxiu’s sudden clapping.
“It seems that my music almost induced Princess Zhenwan to sleep,” Princess Yexuan said and Wanwan felt embarrassed.
The two princes broke out in fits of laughter and the impish grins remained on their faces as they consumed tea and desserts. Wanwan was mildly surprised at how tasteful Yexuan’s selections of desserts were or probably all the desserts in the palace tasted just as well. Wanwan would like to think that it was the latter.
The remainder of the time spent at Princess Yexuan’s quarters was rather lazy as the princes read while listening to the zither-playing.
Wanwan was uninterested in reading in the Pei language but could no longer sit still so she began pacing around the room. It was then that Wanwan realised that Princess Yexuan’s quarters, even though large, was fairly simple. There was a bathing room, a set of tea table and a study which was far larger than both the princes’ combined. As Wanwan perused through the numerous scrolls of paintings and calligraphy that Princess Yexuan as well as the volumes of books that were stacked neatly on the shelves, the Bo’er princess recognised just how much Princess Yexuan must have been favoured by the Emperor.
Wanwan was taught by Miying that the female people of Pei were often deprived of education, even amongst members of the royal blood. Even the possession of artworks was rare as women were being regarded as an object of art themselves. Yet, this Princess Yexuan seemed to not only be literate but was also a collector of fine arts.
Impressive.
Wanwan was later attracted to the bouquet of bright yellow dandelions in the flower vase that was sitting in a section on the lower shelf and started towards it. As Wanwan neared, she thought her sharp nose caught a whiff of something, something that reminded her of the bitter concoctions she used to drink when she fell ill. It came from the vase of dandelions and Wanwan furrowed her brows, narrowing her eyes as her suspicions began to germinate. The zither-playing had stopped simultaneously, catching Wanwan’s attention.
Their eyes met. The two young princesses had another stare off and in Princess Yexuan’s eyes, Wanwan thought she detected slight panic in them. The vase of dandelions… Wanwan threw a backward glance to the vase then looked back at the princess again. There was more controlled panic in Princess Yexuan’s eyes now.
“Is there something wrong, Yexuan? Do you feel unwell?” Prince Zhongxiu asked concernedly.
“N-No… I’m just taking a break,” Princess Yexuan replied, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
Donning a smirk, Wanwan walked back towards the trio. “The vase of dandelions is pretty, and they look very fresh. Do you change them daily?”
Princess Yexuan’s jaw was tightly clenched as she nodded. “Y-Yes, I do.”
“Personally?” Wanwan asked.
As if preserving the final vestiges of her pride, Yexuan craned her neck to the side and said, “yes. I change them personally, every single day.”
“Why is Princess Yexuan always so ill? Is she under some black magic?”
Wanwan had inadvertently gotten an answer to her earlier question then, and it was an answer that made her lose sleep that night.
That night, in bed, Wanwan began to ponder over things. Princess Yexuan had not been taking whatever medicine she was supposed to take and had thrown them into the vase instead. This was very likely the reason why Princess Yexuan was not recovering from her illness. Wanwan’s ten-year-old mind began to wonder why the maids had not realised that and it dawned upon her. Their noses must not have been as sharp as hers and that the vase was placed on a low shelf intentionally. The smell would have wafted into her nose easily at her height.
The doors to her quarters were pushed open carefully, as if afraid of rousing the occupant within. Yanyan had finally returned. Fearing that Yanyan would enquire too much about her day, Wanwan pretended to sleep but her pretence ended when her sharp ears picked up the sounds of sniffling.
“Yanyan, are you crying?” Wanwan asked immediately when she turned to face her sister.
Yanyan let out a muffled gasp in surprise. “You scared me!”
The little princess scrambled out of bed as quickly as she could and observed her sister more intently. “Yanyan, you are crying!” Wanwan exclaimed again.
Wiping her tears away, Yanyan shook her head. “It’s just… the wind blew dust into my eyes.”
“Don’t lie! There is barely any dust in this city, you don’t even bat an eyelid when we were at home and it was filled with dust. Sister, why did you cry?! You don’t cry easily!” Wanwan’s voice was anxious now.
More tears leaked out from her elder sister’s eyes as she heard those words. Wanwan wrecked her mind to think of the cause of her sister’s anguish. Yanyan had been in attendance of the discussion for the peace treaty earlier that day. Wanwan realised in the next instant.
“Sister, are they going to force you to marry the prince?” Wanwan asked in a
low voice.
Shutting her eyes, Yanyan looked away and breathed out a shuddering sigh which Wanwan took as confirmation. Wrapping her small arms around her sister’s waist, Wanwan tried to offer comfort.
“Sister, can’t you say no to it?”
Yanyan shook her head in regret at the same time as she returned her sister’s embrace. Wanwan felt her heart aching, as if someone were pricking it with a thousand needles and she held Yanyan tighter. Anger rose within her as she thought of the grievances her sister had suffered and would continue to suffer in future.
“Have you asked of father to offer another tribe’s princess?” Wanwan asked hopefully.
“It would not work. Our father is the Great Khan of Bo’er who would eventually unify all tribes across the steppes and glorify the Bo’er Empire. The Emperor Pei was cognisant of that fact and would not be pacified with a marriage between his eldest prince by his Empress with a princess of a lesser tribe.”
Wanwan ground her teeth in frustration at not being able to help her sister. She thought about how pitiful her sister and Miying would really be. An idea struck her.
“Sister, what about me? Aren’t I going to be a companion for their sick little princess? The marriage between the prince and you would not happen until you are older right? I will stay by your side and think of ways to help you out of this situation.”
Yanyan inhaled sharply and held her sister an arm’s length away.
“No, you are returning to our homelands. Father, and I, with the help of Miying, have done our very best to negotiate you out of the proposal.”
“Why, sister?! Why me but not you?!” Wanwan nearly screamed, unable to stomach the unfairness of their plights.
“Because… a marriage proposal cannot be so easily rejected. It breeds hostility between two countries,” her sister tried to reason in a hushed voice. “Wanwan, be quieter, Miying has warned that these palace walls have ears.”
“That does not make sense! I want to stay by your side, sister. I will think of ways to help you out of this!” Wanwan said stubbornly, unable to keep her volume down.
Yanyan gritted her teeth, she was beginning to lose patience with her younger sister’s outrageous words and stubbornness.
“You don’t understand, Wanwan! You are just a child! Things that even our father cannot achieve, what makes you think you can? Don’t be silly.”
“I cannot let you be alone here in the palace!” Wanwan argued again.
Yanyan was livid but Wanwan would not back down.
“Bo’er’ji’ji’te Zhenwan, you might be the most intelligent child across the plains but you cannot do everything! Don’t you see?! The Emperor wants me to wed his son so that our father can never make a move against him. I am being held hostage. Do you want to be held hostage here as well?”
Wanwan pushed her sister defiantly away. Of course she knew, she had become aware of such things known as politics since a long time ago.
“I don’t want to be a hostage. I will not be, and I will not let you be a hostage,” Wanwan said with scorching fury in her own eyes. One that had burnt so fiercely that Yanyan backed away, almost as if she had been scalded.
“No Wanwan, remember what you promised us. Don’t get into trouble.” Yanyan warned, with her grip firm on both of Wanwan’s shoulders.
Wanwan shrugged her sister’s hold from her shoulders violently. “Oh Yanyan, believe me, I won’t,” the fire in Wanwan’s eyes were replaced with an icy chilliness. One that chilled her elder sister to her bones and left her utterly dumbfounded.
I will never be held hostage.
Wanwan promised herself.
5 Impossibly Intertwined
Wanwan was already out of her bed by the time Yanyan had woken up. The elder princess had learnt from the maids that her younger sister had gone out to practice her sword moves once again and Yanyan did not bother concealing her sigh. The quarrel they had the night before had most definitely put a dent in their relationship. Yanyan wanted to cry as she remembered the events that had unfolded over the past few weeks. Of her meeting Prince Zhongxian at the banquet, of how he was also present during the peace treaty negotiations, of how he had tried to get closer to her on several occasions and Yanyan doing her best to shun him but to no avail. Her fate was sealed.
The eldest Bo’er princess was betrothed to Prince Zhongxian without a doubt. The Prince was certainly fair-looking and seemed to be of a good nature from the limited number of interactions they had. However, Yanyan did not want to marry him and be trapped in the palace of Pei, she merely wanted to live with Miying for the rest of their lives on the great plains. Why was it so difficult to fulfil this simple wish of hers?
Before she could further entertain thoughts of her ill fate, a knock came from the doors and Miying entered, her face as sombre as the day before. There were even dark eye circles under Miying’s eyes, and they were puffy. Miying too, was as heartbroken as she was over the proposal.
Miying had barely closed the doors behind her when Yanyan had thrown her arms around the young scholar and felt Miying backing against the door before she returned the same passionate embrace.
“Miying… Wanwan is incredibly intelligent, I am so afraid she might do things that would cause herself harm. S-She is always gone before dawn breaks and I do not know how to speak to her without either of us flaring up...” Princess Yanyan sobbed as she said.
Miying patted Yanyan’s back lightly to soothe her before removing her arms gently and guiding the princess to sit on the bed. As Miying looked at her with eyes that appeared so weary, Yanyan felt terrible for themselves again.
“Your younger sister is wise beyond her age. You have held her reigns well enough, she should know where the boundaries are,” Miying said calmly before adding, “now, it is you I worry about.”
Yanyan shook her head as more tears leaked out. “I don’t want to get married but there is no way this betrothal could be broken. You know better than me, don’t you?”
Drawing in a deep breath, Miying nodded slowly as if the world of regret was weighing down on her. “I know, but no matter what, I still would not give you up. I would love you for the rest of my life and hope for any chance that you might return.”
Yanyan felt her world crumbling to pieces at those words. There was no chance, none at all. Like what she had told Wanwan the night before, things that even her father Khan could not achieve, there was little hope that they could manage it. With an expression of pain, Yanyan concurred with a nod of her own, knowing in her heart that their dreams of living together forever in this lifetime could never be realised. Yet, they would safekeep this love they have for each other and age with it.
Quietness descended upon them as they locked themselves in an embrace once again. It was upon closer inspection that Yanyan realised Miying’s eyes were not just weary, they were red-rimmed. Feeling a stabbing pain in her heart, Yanyan brought a hand up to brush the corner of Miying’s eye. As if savouring the gentleness, Miying had shut her eyes and let out a soft sigh, as if berating the world of its cruelness. Each passing moment reminded Yanyan of just how little time they were left with each other. When Miying reopened her eyes, the sadness in them had melted away and Yanyan felt a lump form in her throat as she dread what Miying was about to tell her.
“When we return to Bo’er,” Miying began and stroked Yanyan’s cheeks with a tenderness that could quiet even the most unsettled soul, “I will be setting out to war camps with my father. I will learn the ropes of becoming a war adviser,” Miying said with a hardened expression.
There was a hitch of breath from Yanyan and then a long pause before Yanyan spoke again. “Nothing I say could dissuade you. Is that right?”
With a regretful shake of her head, Miying took Yanyan in her arms as renewed tears sprang from the princess’s eyes once more.
“I love you, but we each have to perform our respective duties. We will ensure the success of the Great Khan’s agenda.” Behind the beautiful smile that Miyi
ng wore, was a vast pool of regret and when Yanyan saw through the veil, she could only steel her heart as she listened on. “Your father would be the greatest Khan to lead the people and bring about prosperity upon all. Yanyan, you and I must aid him in it. You agree, don’t you?”
Peering into the depths of Miying’s eyes, Yanyan closed her eyes as the last of her tears rolled off her cheeks. With a final resolute nod, Yanyan promised Miying that she would not disappoint. How could she when she was of the Great Khan’s own blood?
May we reunite, sometime in future, if the heavens allow. I love you Miying, believe me I always will.
**
After forbidding any imperial maids from following her, Wanwan had found some alone time in a training courtyard and vented her anger during her training session for the following three days. Her sister’s forced betrothal to the prince of Pei had ignited her dormant emotions. It did not matter how many cuts or bruises she had on her body, all she could feel was the rage that seethed within her. Along with that rage, certain images flurried in her mind. Of black smog, whinnying horses, and her bloodied mother. It brought tears to Wanwan’s eyes.
The young princess let the tears flow and mix with her sweat as she continued to train harder in this vast courtyard. Then she finally felt something else, something that was stickier and more viscous than both sweat and tears. It was then that Wanwan realised she had torn the skin on her head, somehow, and blood was flowing down her temple. The little princess had performed so many training routines that she did not even know what had caused it. Was it the blade from the blunted sword? Was it the splinter of wood from the dummy? Or had she simply just cut herself against something while she rolled?
Shrugging, Wanwan wiped the blood away carelessly and tried to conceal her injury as she made her way back to her own room. However, before she managed to reach it, the two princes had intercepted her with usual playful grins on their faces.
Wanwan was not in the mood to entertain them and tried to wave them off but the princes were relentless and Wanwan had momentarily forgotten about her cut and accidentally let it show when she removed her hand. Blood was still seeping out from it. Both princes had frozen momentarily upon seeing the injury.
