Once Tara had accepted the Vajra Crown of the Achiever of Truth, her name, “Princess Zenyora,” was spontaneously etched onto the inside of the crown. Beside her name was a Sanskrit inscription, “Om Tare Tuttare Ture Svaha.”
The day of her investiture had finally arrived. Early in the morning, Tara went to the Imperial Dragon Bath House for a water cleansing ceremony. The Imperial Dragon Bath House had a large natural waterfall that flowed into a large, natural hot spring. With the guidance and assistance of three Imperial ladies-in-waiting, she took a brief shower at the cold waterfall as a symbol that she had cleansed all of her past obscurations. Then she soaked inside the intense heat of the natural hot spring as a symbol that her body was healed and ready to become a princess. Lastly, her whole body was anointed with the essential oil of the dragon flower. This purification process was a rite of passage. It marked the transition from an ordinary human to an extraordinary human with golden dragon lineage.
Next, she attended an Imperial Fire Ritual at the Dragon Flower Dome, presided by Venerable Wenshu, as a symbolistic rite that eradicated and purified her past unwholesome impediments in preparation for her change in status. They burned the leaves of the Dragon Flower Tree, a process known as smudging, as part of the ritual. Chanting, burning of dragon flowers barks with prayers written on it, beating of Taiko drums, and blowing the horagai conch made it an eventful tradition. The Imperial Fire Ritual was quite similar to the Goma Fire Ritual of Shingon Buddhism in Japan.
Lastly, the formal Princess Investiture was held at the Heavenly Imperial Crystal Palace in the sky. The Heavenly Imperial Crystal Palace did not seem large from the outside, but the space inside the palace was immeasurable; it could accommodate innumerable guests. The Dragon King and Dragon Queen, all sixteen sons and their immediate family members, Tara’s father Patrick, her relatives such as Auntie Siew Lan and Virginia, and her friends such as Mayreen, as well as the Dragon Kings and Queens of the eight directions and their immediate family members were all invited to attend the Princess Investiture. The total guests were numbered more than one hundred and eight thousand.
Once the auspicious hour had arrived, Tara walked along the long aisle in the Main Hall of the Heavenly Imperial Crystal Palace until she stood in front of the Dragon King and Dragon Queen. Wearing a bright red, richly embellished and intricately embroidered Hanfu with a glittering long train behind her, Tara looked magnificently resplendent, elegant, and regal.
The investiture began with a Dharma sermon by Venerable Wenshu, followed by a crowning and oath taking ceremony where Tara received Vajra Crown of the Achiever of Truth from the Dragon King of Sagara. She was also bestowed a palace known as the Emerald Palace which was located next to Prince Chen’s Sapphire Palace.
After the ceremony was over, Princess Zenyora joined the Investiture Dinner with all the attendees. As she walked around the tables meeting the guests, she saw something odd. A man who was seated a few rows ahead of Tara’s family had a red birthmark on the back of his neck, similar to the one that her late husband, Prakash, had.
“Prince Chen, do you know who that person over there is? The one in blue Hanfu?” asked Tara, staring at Prakash.
Prince Chen followed her gaze and said, “He is Prince Prakash. He just recently married Princess Miro, the youngest daughter of the West Dragon King.”
Her gut lurched in a somersault flip when she heard the name Prakash. She was hurt, confused, and felt dejected. More importantly, she was curious. Prakash is still alive and he is in the west dragon region?
“Prince Chen, I need a favor from you. Can I trouble you to help me arrange a short private meeting with Prince Prakash in a secluded place? He looks like someone I know whom I thought was long dead.”
“Princess Zenyora, today is your red-letter day. It is not appropriate for you to meet Prince Prakash, a married prince from another dragon kingdom in private.”
“Please…there must be a way. I really need to meet him in private to have a word with him,” implored Tara, her watery eyes filled with worry. “Please…I beg you….Prince Chen…”
“No.” Prince Chen shook his head, unmoved.
Then, an idea struck her. She wrapped her arms seductively around his neck and gave him a peck on his cheek. As expected, Tara’s sudden effusion of intimacy toward him lit his face up with exuberant glee.
“Nice, I like it! How about this cheek?” he said, pointing to his other cheek. She reluctantly gave him another peck.
“Lovely! How about here?” He pointed to his lip brazenly.
Tara was annoyed by his cheeky suggestion. “How dare you bully me!” she cried, turning back and planning to leave.
Prince Chen quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her willowy waist toward him with an impertinent smile.
“I enjoy teasing you, don’t be mad at me, alright? As a reward for seducing me with your alluring charm, I’m left no choice but to lend a helping hand. You can meet him at the pavilion; the one behind the arched stone bridge at the Imperial Dragon Garden. Happy with the arrangement, my darling?” said Prince Chen with his jaunty smile that seemed to plaster on his face most of the time.
“Yes, thanks a million for your help!” said Tara with a smile of great relief.
“Darling, now that you’ve received what you want, may I have what I desire as well?” asked Prince Chen sensually, gazing at her lips.
Tara could no longer find an excuse to turn him down again. As she slowly closed her eyes, Prince Chen embraced her more tightly, lowered his head, and kissed her on the lips for the first time.
After Prince Chen had arranged the private meeting, he brought Tara to the pavilion at the Imperial Dragon Garden to meet Prince Prakash.
“Remember, you’ve only ten minutes to meet Prince Prakash. Princess Miro will go looking for him once she realizes he is not around in the Main Hall. I’ll be on the lookout behind. When the time’s up, I’ll come looking for you at the pavilion,” Prince Chen cautioned.
The Imperial Dragon Garden was dimly lit and quiet at night. It was secluded and deserted, perfect for a private meeting.
Prince Chen walked Tara to the pavilion. When they reached the arched stone bridge, Prince Chen said, “He’s there at the pavilion. Whatever you need to say, just keep it short and sweet.”
As Tara crossed the arched stone bridge toward the pavilion, she saw a man’s silhouette standing inside the pavilion. It was only when she reached the pavilion that she was able to see Prince Prakash more clearly with the help of the light emitted from the stone lantern.
“Prakash?” Tara was overwhelmed with turbulent emotions the moment she saw him.
Turning his head, Prince Prakash was surprised to see Princess Zenyora. He thought he would be meeting his wife Princess Miro.
“Princess Zenyora, congratulations on your investiture as the Emeritus Princess,” said Prince Prakash, giving her a slight bow.
“Prakash, it’s me Tara. Remember?” said Tara, tears were welling up in her eyes. “I miss you very much.” Prakash still looked so charming with his gentle and kind demeanor.
“I’m sorry, have we met before?” asked Prince Prakash, a little puzzled.
“Would you mind showing me your palms up please?” requested Tara, wanting to confirm whether or not the prince was her Prakash.
When Prince Prakash showed her his palms, she caught sight of the two moles on his right palm. He is indeed Prakash.
“Prakash, I heard you married Princess Miro from the West Dragon King. Would you mind sharing with me what happened? I’m sure this is not your true intention,” said Tara, holding both his hands.
Tara’s memories drifted back to the time when she had the Indian traditional marriage ceremony with Prakash in Singapore. On the first day, they had the Ganesh Puja, and Tara donned a gorgeous teal Lehenga while Prakash wore a traditional white Sherwani. On the second day, they held the Pithi ceremony, Mehendi ceremony (henna hand painting), and the Sangeet ceremony where she enjoyed dancing with Prakash and the gue
sts. The third day was the actual wedding ceremony which was held at the Mandap. Tara donned a gorgeous red saree and gold jewelry, and Prakash wore a cream Kurta and Pyjama and a red turban and a matching scarf. To seal their marriage bond in a traditional way, they sat behind a sacred fire called the Agni, which is believed to be the divine witness, while the priest chanted various mantras. Then, they completed the Saptapadi ceremony where Tara and Prakash took the seven sacred steps together for a blissful married life.
Meanwhile, Prince Chen was observing Tara from afar. He felt uneasy watching her hold the hands of another married man.
Princess Miro had been searching high and low for Prince Prakash. She asked around and found out that Prince Prakash was walking toward the Imperial Dragon Garden. Her dragon eyes were sharp, and she could see clearly once she reached the bridge. When she spotted Princess Zenyora holding Prince Prakash’s hands from afar, she flew into a rage. Mumbling a dragon magic incantation, she cast a spell to control Prince Prakash’s thoughts and communications.
Suddenly, Prakash’s gentle eyes became insolent and contemptuous. “Tara, you’re too naïve to believe that I’ve fallen in love with you. No, I have never loved you. All I wanted was to use your beauty, your money, and your connection for my own personal benefit,” said Prince Prakash with a sneer, letting go of Tara’s hands harshly.
Tara was taken aback by his sudden change of disposition. “Prakash, are you alright?”
“You’re a fool, a simpleton, who is gullible enough to be easily manipulated by my sweet-talk and empty promises. You’ve only yourself to blame, Princess Zenyora,” laughed Prince Prakash derisively.
“Shameless!” Tara was so indignant that she slapped him across his face and stormed off furiously. Her aching sadness mingled with constricting fury resulted in her laborious breathing.
Tara’s abrupt reaction made Prince Chen notice something was amiss. Sensing a movement, he caught sight of Princess Miro who was preparing to cast a spell to hurt Tara. Without hesitation, he quickly responded with a counterspell to thwart Princess Miro in the nick of time. Knowing that someone had just attacked her with a spell, Princess Miro slunk off into the shadows.
CHAPTER 30
MARRIAGE PROPOSAL
The dark, gloomy clouds above started to give way to torrential rain. With an umbrella in hand, Prince Chen went to look for Tara and found her crouching and cowering under a gigantic Dragon Flower Tree in the Imperial Dragon Garden. She was sobbing and weeping miserably. He passed her a handkerchief and held his umbrella above her.
“What have I done wrong? Why can’t I find true love? Why do people always break my heart?” sobbed Tara uncontrollably.
Quietly standing beside her, Prince Chen gave her space and time to cry it out. After releasing her pent-up grief and pain, Tara felt slightly better and her sobbing slowly subsided. As she became calmer, she was ready to share with him more about her past.
The rain had also slowly subsided too. He decided to sit down beside her under the Dragon Flower Tree.
“Prakash was my husband back in the human world. Everything went well until the wedding day on a yacht. His body was never found, and we all thought he had passed on. It was only today that I found out he is still alive in the dragon world, and he has already married another dragon princess. It was devastating for me to find out that he had never loved me,” said Tara despondently.
“Tara, Prince Prakash was under a spell when he was speaking harshly to you.”
“No wonder his disposition and expressions were not his usual self. He did not seem to recognize me at all. Thank you for enlightening me. I feel much better now.” She felt regretful for slapping Prakash in the heat of anger.
“I think he is probably under the love spell of the dragon princess who managed to lure him into a marriage with her.”
That made complete sense to Tara. On the day of their wedding, Prakash must have been transported to the dragon world with their friends and relatives. She remembered how Bo was cursed for not accepting a marriage proposal, and she assumed that Prakash was ensnared in the same manner. Poor Prakash! He was being played like a puppet.
Her ruminations were interrupted when Prince Chen extended his hand to hold hers. He looked into her eyes and asked, “Tara, I love you for who you are, flaws and all, and I do hope to share my life with you as husband and wife, having children and building a family together. You are the pillar of my life and the anchor of my happiness. I’m wondering if, perhaps, you’re ready for us to move on to the next level?”
Prince Chen’s sincerity moved Tara. Yet her conflicted heart was telling her otherwise. She wanted to go back to the human world, and she did not want to hurt Prince Chen by agreeing to be his wife when she knew she would leave him eventually.
“Prince Chen, thank you for loving me. I’m touched by your sincerity. I do love you and I find myself unable to resist your charm and persistence. I adore children and I look forward to the day of having children with you. However, I’m nervous and fearful. You know, love has never been easy for me. Out of three marriages, my father divorced twice. My mother never had much marital felicity after she found out about my father’s infidelity. Rather than divorcing my father, she endured all my father’s verbal abuse and violent streak. Eventually, she succumbed to breast cancer that took her life. Having witnessed my mother’s unhappy marriage, I decided to become an independent woman and a lawyer who upholds justice for the disadvantaged ones.”
“As a lawyer, I came across innumerable disputes, divorces, and death on a daily basis. Handling acrimonious divorce cases was a heart-wrenching experience for me. Seeing the breakup of a family and the suffering of the children just pained my heart. It dawns on me that in reality, marriage is not the passport to happiness; it’s certainly not a Cinderella fairytale of ‘Happily Ever After.’ Just having faith in the power of love is not enough. The feeling of love is fleeting and transient. Setting up a family involves two people who have the maturity, empathy, and resilience to overcome life challenges in the most constructive way. They must also have absolute commitment to a married life.”
“Prince Chen, I love you, but I don’t wish to see myself repeating my past life as Zhen. Neither do I wish to follow the footsteps of my mother. Besides, I’m still determined to go back home to fulfill my dreams. Now that you know everything about me, will you still want to marry me?”
For a moment, Prince Chen was speechless. His mind was in a state of turmoil pondering the phrase: ‘I’m still determined to go back home to fulfill my dreams.’ Nevertheless, regardless of what was in store for him in the future, he was absolutely convinced that Tara was the right lady for him. He loved her deeply and his greatest dream in life was to marry her.
Using his magic spells, he started plucking some red-orange leaves of the Dragon Flowers Tree shaped like four-leaf clovers with heart-shaped petals. The leaves flew down magically, arranged into a bouquet, and landed perfectly on his palms.
“Yes, I still wish to marry you. My love for you is indisputable; I adore not just your outer appearance, but your heart and your inner beauty. I accept you for who you are, and I respect your aspirations. It’s no coincidence that we’ve been husband and wife countless times in the past, and it’s no coincidence that I still choose you as my wife in this lifetime. I know perfectly well that you are the one for me; you are the Solitaire of my Life. True love is an absence of judgments and commandments; there is no Judgment Day in True Love. Please have absolute faith and confidence in me, for I am the Hero of your World. Tara, will you marry me?” said Prince Chen sincerely, holding the bouquet of dragon flower leaves in both his hands.
Moved by Prince Chen’s words, all of the memories with him came flooding back to her.
When Prince Chen held the bouquet of dragon flowers, his hand was not fully covered by his long sleeve, revealing some red scars that caught the attention of her sharp eyes.
“What happened to your hand?” asked Tara with a concerne
d voice, pulling both his hands closer for her to examine them. She pulled up the long sleeves to check both his arms; there were five red scars on each of his arms, making ten scars in total for both arms. “How did you get hurt? Why are there ten red scars on your hand?”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine,” said Prince Chen with a wry smile.
Tara suddenly thought of the ten dragon scales being extracted from his dragon body. She could not forget what she saw in the light channel: how he desperately implored his father to lend him the Cintamani Pearl to save her life, and how he had to endure excruciating pain having ten of his dragon scales extracted from his dragon body.
“Be honest with me. Did you sacrifice your dragon scales in exchange for the Cintamani Pearl to save my life?”
He was silent for a while before nodding his head.
Knowing that he did this out of his profound love for her, she was deeply touched, and yet remorseful. Her heart was aching seeing his red scars. He must have suffered tremendous pain having his dragon scales extracted.
“It must have been incredibly painful for you. You shouldn’t have done that,” said Tara, caressing both his hands and feeling sorry for him.
Prince Chen gazed tenderly into her eyes and said, “I’m willing to suffer for the sake of saving your life. It was worth it because you’re still alive. The fact that you’re still alive means you’re indeed a lady of virtue.”
“A lady of virtue?”
“The Cintamani Pearl only resurrects the Virtuous One. This means that you need to have a positive Balancing Scale in the Life Assessment for the Cintamani Pearl to work its miracle.”
Tara remembered how she initially had a negative Balancing Scale before tipping over to the positive Balancing Scale after she uttered her aspiration of bringing her loved ones to their true home via Qibaota.
With overflowing remorsefulness and gratitude for him, Tara’s affections toward him were cemented at this moment. For all the sacrifices he had made for her, she was unable to deny his sincere proposal. Her heart overflowing with profound gratitude convincing her to agree to the marriage proposal.
Tara Zenyora : and the Seven-Jeweled Lighthouse Page 21
