The Lotus Of East Palace
Chapter 19 (Yeon-Hwa)

"King Ludwig will probably ask to negotiate with you for a truce." The voice of a man in the room. From his accent, I'm sure he's a Jungian.

"Prince." That calm and gentle cold voice belonged to the Crown Prince of Orient, the Emperor's first son, Prince Haru.

"I'm sorry?"

"He was Prince Ludwig, not King Ludwig. He is not yet King. She is the half-sister of the present King Nordhalbinsel." Haru said. I've been stealing this talk for about half an hour and they're both still not done. My feet are starting to feel sore and itchy. The night is getting late. The air is getting colder. Spring insects are flying all around me. I hate insects. But this is pretty interesting information. Prince Ludwig—who seems to be replacing King Xavier for a while somehow for what reason— will come to the Sun Palace tomorrow. I had to listen even more even though the insects were starting to bother me. "As long as King Xavier is alive, he is still a Prince. So whatever he did, whatever decision he took, could not be considered as the King's decision. We can't—who's there?"

Damnit. My leg was bitten by an insect so inevitably I moved it a little earlier. I didn't expect Haru's ears to catch such a small sound of movement.

The door opened, revealing a suspicious looking Haru. My brain quickly concocted a reasonable story.

I recall the existence of all the current members of the Emperor family. The Emperor was in the main hall, drinking tea with the Empress. Crown Princess Sae-Byeok was walking in the park enjoying the beautiful view of the moon with the ladies. Who can I make a scapegoat?

I put on a fearful look, lowered my head, made my own hands look trembling, and changed the tone of my voice, as soft as possible, as pampered as possible, "Have I, Your Majesty. I was summoned by the Third Prince. I seem to be lost."

Haru did not respond immediately. I heard he was smart, so I'm sure he won't be that easy to believe my words. I have to think of another story just in case.

"Third prince?" Ask, sure. As expected, he would not immediately believe it. "Why did Yuza call you these nights?"

"Sa-I don't know, Your Majesty." I answered, intentionally stammering. I still looked down, avoiding his gaze. He could definitely tell right away that I was lying if I looked at him.

From the corner of my eye I could see Haru watching me. His gaze was full of judgment. "You're the dancer, right?" He asked again like an interrogation. But this time his voice was softer. I'm nodding. "Yuza had just left the Sun Palace to return to Jungdo, a sudden order from the Emperor. Looks like you don't have to go see him tonight. You can go back to your room. It's late."

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty. I beg you to resign."

I immediately turned around to return to my room. As much as possible not to run even though I really want to get out of here as soon as possible.

Of course I knew Yuza had an order from the Emperor to return to Jungdo and deal with the problem of rebellion there— rebellion of the people arising from rumors spread by Elias on the orders of the King Xavier's. I observed the entire movements of the Emperor's family members daily and memorized them and reported them to Elias if he visited. That's how we worked together all this time. But lately it seems like Elias is very busy, he has not come to visit for a long time.

"Wait." Haru stopped my steps. My heart is beating fast. What else this time? "your name... Yeon-Hwa, right?"

I turned to face him and nodded. "I'm honored Your Majesty remembers my name." I said in a tone of voice that I deliberately made sound timid. I hate doing shows like this. I wanted to feel like I was banging my own head against the wall because of this lowly act, but I had to hold on.

"You look so much like someone, that's why I remember." Said.

Wh who? I just look like my mom.

Oh.

I look like my mother. I look like Princess Lee Seo-Hwa. I look like his father's half-sister.

How should I respond to this? How do I tell Haru not to find out about my background? How can I immediately disappear from before him right now?

"Vice Minister Jiang..." Haru called out to the man who was still in his room who had been talking to him since. What will Haru do? Why did he call Vice Minister Jiang? Maybe he suspects me?

The man came out. He looks older than his voice. His age may be the same as my father's, but he looks a lot older because he's bent down and my dad is still fresh and blind. Obviously, my father was a warlord.

"You're calling me, Your Majesty?"

"Vice Minister Jiang, for tomorrow night's event, is there a dancer already?" Haru asked without taking her gaze away from me. I kept avoiding his gaze.

"I'll find out—“

"If it exists, cancel it. Yeon-Hwa who will be the dancer for the show tomorrow night."

Surprised, I looked up at him. "I?"

Back then, when I finally really looked at him properly from a close distance, I came to believe the words of the people that the descendants of the Emperor had dragon blood in them so as to keep them young. If my calculations are not wrong, Haru should only be a few years younger than my mother, but she seems to be not far from me. Maybe Elias' age. Her white skin was perfect like expensive porcelain which made me so envious of her. My skin is like the skin of a female knight, without the typical care of nobles.

She smiled because it surprised me to forget my role as a shy dancer. "Oh, I just noticed it now. Your name and your way of speaking are like the Han people, but your eyes show that you're from the Jung tribe." I was silent, not really knowing what to answer. It would be much better if I didn't have to answer anything as long as he didn't ask me who my parents were. Haru shakes his head, seemingly judging. Then he asked again, "Why do you look surprised? You're not ready to dance tomorrow?"

Yep. I'm not ready. I'mtired. My body hurts all because I keep dancing.

But of course I didn't say it. "I—“

Haru cut my words, "Tomorrow will come guests from Nordhalbinsel. Prince Ludwig will come with his fiancee, Princess Anastasia of Schiereiland. The people of the north have never seen a beautiful dance, which is why I want you to dance, to show the culture and art of our beautiful and proud country. I like your dance. Show me the dance you showed me on that thousand-star night. I don't think that's a difficult request unless tomorrow night you have another event or come to the other prince's room."

I tried to hide my clenched hand. I cannot show my anger. Patience is the key to this job.

Wait a minute, he said...

Princess Anastasia? Anna is engaged to Prince Ludwig? Did I not hear wrong? Anna with Ludwig?

I looked up at Haru while smiling as sweetly as possible, "Of course I am willing to dance tomorrow, Your Majesty. It's a great honor for me to perform in front of overseas guests."

Haru smiled snobbishly. "of course. You can go now."

I looked down respectfully at him before turning around and leaving. I purposely slowed down my steps to hear the remnants of their conversation.

"Your Majesty, regarding tomorrow's preparations, is there a special request from Princess Anastasia? The royal ladies are usually more fussy about welcoming."

"Nothing special. Don't be so messy. I heard the Princess is mute."

"Then why would Prince Ludwig want to marry her?"

"Why again? The Princess is the older sister of King Schiereiland. Of course he married her to rule Schiereiland. That's Nordhalbinsel's ambition long ago." There was a short pause before she spoke again, I sharpened my hearing, "Doesn't that dancer's face remind you of someone?"

"She is indeed beautiful, but there are very many beautiful women in this country, who like that a lot in brothels, so I think—“

"That's not what I meant. He's like someone we know."

"Who do you mean, Your Majesty?"

"Seo-Hw. Lee Seo-Hwa's daughter."

...****************...

She's not Anna. Definitely not.

I should have known from the beginning that Anna would not have agreed to be engaged to Prince Ludwig. So there's no way she's engaged to Empress Selena's first son.

I managed to perform my dance well in front of everyone tonight. While dancing, I heard a conversation between all of them. Ludwig offered to cooperate with Haru. His main goal to Orient was not to negotiate a truce as Vice Minister Jiang had suspected, but rather to offer cooperation with the Crown Prince—not with the Emperor.

I heard something about Morta's poison. I'm not sure, but it looks like the poison is very deadly and made of magic. Ludwig claimed that he was the one who made the poison after years of research and experiments, then a witch named Luna took the results of her research and sold them to Maharani and Haru. Haru doesn't seem very trusting, but Ludwig promises to prove it. He said that he could make an antidote to the poison and give it away for free to Orient on condition that Orient did not attack Nordhalbinsel.

The offer was finally accepted by Haru after a fairly noisy discussion between the two of them throughout the duration of my dance. Not unconditional, of course. Haru gave Ludwig one month to create the antidote. But Ludwig said that in less than a month he would marry Princess Anastasia and could not focus on working on an antidote for her poison because of the wedding preparations. They later agreed that Louis had only two months to prepare the antidote for Morta.

I'll pass this information to Elias soon if he comes. For days he did not come. Something wrong must be happening.

But there's other business I have to do right now before thinking about the absence of my messenger.

I followed the fake Anna as she gave her permission to take a walk enjoying the park. The bodyguards followed him, but then he used sign language to have them all leave him. They did not bother to refuse him and immediately obeyed him.

The fake Anna turned around, she looked at me. His resemblance is incredible. This must be high-level magic.

But the smile is different. Anna is more friendly. This fake smile was cold and cunning. "We've met before. The time you don't remember? I deliberately asked Ludwig not to change my voice because I didn't have to speak to pretend to be his mute fiancee."

Of course I memorized that voice. "Grand Duch—“

"Ssttt..." He put his face in front of his lips. She's Grand Duchess Constanza Smirnoff. Cousin Anna. Prince Ludwig's former fiancee. "It's top-secret. Don't mention my real name, then the magic can be lost."

"But why? Why did you come here? Where is Anna? What the hell is going on?" There were actually more questions in my head that I wanted to ask right away, but in the meantime, that was enough.

Constanza looked confused. She was confused in Anna's face, making her look more like Anna. "You haven't been told?" He asked back.

"Told what?"

"The daughter of Anastasia is in this country even though I don't know exactly where. He's been in the Orient if not wrong since almost two months ago. I'm pretty sure you've met him. He's with King Nordhalbinsel it's in the Orient."

...****************...

At midnight and I was already quite asleep in my sleep, I heard a voice in my room. Though I was pretty sure I had locked the door of the room and closed my window tightly. So it's definitely not an ordinary person. I immediately opened my eyes to confirm my guess. And my guess turned out to be right. Elias's coming.

"Anna and King Xavier are in the Orient. You know that?" Ask directly. We decided that I should not use formal language on him as it would make it easier for us to work together. That's how it says. Of course, I agree.

Elias did not answer immediately, he handed him a cloth bag containing a stock box. I opened it right away. He brought me Lotus cake. The sweet aroma made my stomach rumble. I immediately ate it greedily, no matter if it was late at night and sweet foods can make me fat. I hungry.

I'm not short of food in the palace. But I don't know which foods are safe to eat. And I'm not a member of the Emperor's family so there won't be anyone tasting my food to make sure that no one puts weird things on the food I'm going to eat.

Elias leaned by the window after carefully observing my room—every crack of the wall, every piece of furniture and everything in this room. Last time he came, he managed to find one hole in the wall that seemed to be used by people—who's who—to peek at me. He's patched the hole, of course. But there can't be any other holes.

"That's what you said after almost a week I didn't come?" Said. "Eat slowly. I'm not gonna take it back." He took a glass of water and put it on the table beside my bed, then sat down on the edge of my bed.

I let my mouth go and swallowed, and drank the water. My stomach is rejoicing over this late-night snack. "How are you?"

Elias grunting. "How are you?"

"Jawab is my question. So you know what or not? And where have you been this week?"

"I just found out this afternoon."

"So Riz and Diana..."

"It's Xavier and Princess Anastasia—or should I call Queen Anastasia now. Is correct. That was them from the beginning."

"God..." So all this time... "Did you know that Raja learned how to cook and his cooking turned out to be really good?"

"Xavier's? Cooking?" From his surprised expression, I guess King Xavier is not usually like that. I've guessed. "I even dare guarantee he doesn't know how to cut vegetables. He was born and raised with the cuisine of the Palace Chefs. He only knew the end result, how did he know about how to make food?"

"I didn't expect the King to make it that way for Anna." I unconsciously smiled, so happy to think about how exciting they were. How happy they are.

Elias then looked at me long enough until I thought he was daydreaming. But then he asked, "Do you like men who can cook?"

I was at a loss as to how to answer that sudden strange question. "Any woman doesn't like food? Especially by a man who is liked. Ah, I almost forgot you're a noble, noble ladies don't have to get up so early to prepare food for her family. Women of ordinary folk like me, especially in the Orient, have to cook every day, three times a day, for the whole family, for a lifetime."

"Life time... That must be hard." Elias muses. "But you're not an ordinary person. You're the only one who won't admit that you're a descendant of the Emperor."

"I don't want to consider myself a part of them." I said. "But... Why weren't you told by the King? I mean, I understand if I wasn't told in the first place, because they still have to test whether I can be trusted or not as their spy messenger. But you... You're a friend of the King."

Elias looked confused before answering. I guess he doesn't know why either. "It looks like it's because I'm also hiding something from Xavier."

"Hide what exactly?"

Instead of answering, he asked back, "So what information do you want to report?"

"Prince Ludwig and his fiancee were here." I told him everything I knew and all the details. About Ludwig's plan to make an antidote to Morta's poison, about his deal with Haru, and about the fake Anna who turns out to be Constanza Smirnoff. Elias silently listened carefully.

"So... Ludwig can make an antidote to Morta's poison?"

I'm nodding. "He promised to be finished in two months."

"He may be lying. Maybe he's just stalling. Maybe he's up to something. We can't just trust Ludwig."

"Why? I know Prince Ludwig is a genius."

"I know the person who was exposed to the poison. He himself knew that there was no antidote. You know what that poison does?" I'm shaking. Elias took a deep breath before continuing his story. "The poison gets into the veins, eats your blood cells, multiplies and spreads until all your veins contain only the poison. Then the poison destroys you from the inside. Destroying all your organs, forcing you to vomit blood which is the result of the destruction of your body contents and finally making you die. Normally, this process happens in seconds. But for a stubborn man who insists on staying alive and not dying before making sure that the world and the woman he loves will be completely safe, the poison can miraculously survive in the body much longer. But it ultimately remains the same—death."

"You seem to be very close to the person who was exposed to the poison. Wh who? Is he alive today?"

"Don't ask. In essence, the poison was extremely deadly and there could be no antidote."

"Why so pessimistic? Who knows Prince Ludwig could indeed make an antidote. If it's true that he made the poison, isn't there a chance that he could make the antidote?"

"I really hope so too. But think about this... Why would Ludwig give the Orient the antidote? And why go through Haru? Why didn't he directly discuss with the Emperor? Don't you think this is suspicious?"

...****************...

Three days after Elias' arrival, the Palace announced the news of his grief. Emperor Qin died of a heart attack. Surprisingly, I had seen Qin's body before he was cremated, and his skin was very pale with prominent blood vessels in black. These are not signs of a person having a heart attack.

In a short time, Haru was made Emperor, and he made a complete overhaul of the entire empire. He filled important positions in the government with bright young men and women who passed the test. He was the first Orient Emperor to hold a system of examinations that could be followed by all civilians both rich and poor. He also arrested corrupt officials and sentenced them to hang in front of the entire people so that no more officials would dare to commit corruption.

Haru was revered as a just and wise Emperor. His intelligence is a valuable asset to Orient. Officials then began to arrive often asking him to immediately have children who would inherit his intelligence, they offered their daughters to be his concubines.

Although the age of her marriage to Sae-Byeok is eight years old, they are still not blessed by a child. This unsettled the Queen Mother. Finally the Queen Mother intervened directly to persuade Haru to hold a concubine election. After days of discussion, Haru finally agreed to the Queen Mother's plea on the condition that Maharani Sae-Byeok himself would be the jury for the selection of the concubine.

Once Jungdo is safe enough and the rebellion has subsided since Qin's death and Haru's coronation as Emperor, the entire family of Emperors living in the Sun Palace will eventually return to the capital. The Jungdo people prepare to welcome their new Emperor. Everyone seems happy. Me included. Because eventually, I'll be able to go back to Dong-gung.

I had already finished packing my belongings to immediately return to Dong-gung before the selection of concubines began and the Palace became more and more crowded, yet someone knocked on my room door.

I immediately opened the door and found a beautiful woman in front of me. I hurriedly bowed respectfully as I realized who that woman was.

The new Orient Empress. Lee Sae-Byeok's.

Without further ado, Sae-Byeok pushed me back into the room and shut the door. He looked at me coldly.

"Listen carefully, Dancers. I already know who you are." His voice sounded like the singing of goddesses. So sweet and charming. But his words made my whole body tremble in fear. "You are a spy sent by King Nordhalbinsel. And if you think you can get out of here, you're wrong. You're not going anywhere. I'll make sure you can't go anywhere."

Not likely. I can't possibly get caught. He can't possibly know who I am.

Sae-Byeok looks at me sharply before he continues his sentence. "You will be the Emperor's concubine and ensure my position as Empress remains secure."

...****************...