The Lotus Of East Palace
Chapter 26 (Yeon-Hwa)

"With this I declare that Lee Yeon-Hwa of the Lee Clan will soon become an honorary concubine as soon as the wedding ceremony is held. Signed, Emperor Orient. May the blessings of the Dragons come with it."

In the end, I managed to defeat hundreds of girls from all corners of the world who participated in the selection of this Concubine. I will soon officially become the Emperor's Concubine tomorrow morning. My wedding ceremony with Haru will be held tomorrow morning.

But before that, there are more important things I have to do.

The night is still not late, but I have no other chance than now. Sae-Byeok's men might hurt Abuela and her father again if I don't hurry. I did make a deal with the Queen Mother, but one thing I learned from this life, never trust anyone. I should always have a backup plan in case the Queen Mother doesn't keep her word. After making sure no one was following me, I immediately sneaked into the dungeon room to free my father and Abuela.

During the selection of this concubine I did not meet Kaze at all. When I was reunited with the Queen Mother it was the last time I saw Kaze. I dare not imagine what happened to him. So far I have not seen the Torakkas busy, they are often seen relaxing in the gardens of the Palace or practicing a match with the soldiers, which means they are not actively working. It only had two meanings, Kaze was still alive so Torakka was not looking for a new Wind Dragon, or Kaze was still cooped up somewhere in a helpless state. I can only hope that, wherever he is, he is doing well.

I can't ask Kaze for help. I need to be able to solve my own problems.

Living in the Jade Palace made me memorize the plans of this Palace out of my head. I even know some secret passageways that the servants and guards did not cross. I turned towards the central garden that connected the concubine room with the main building. In the central garden, I did not walk straight towards the main building, but towards a large tree. Behind the tree, there were bushes that were allowed to grow densely. And there is a secret door to the dungeon. I didn't find it, Sae-Byeok told me. As a guarantee that I will be able to see father and Abuela at any time.

I went down the steep stairs to the underground passageway. The darkness is not playing. But I couldn't draw attention with a lighting device, so I walked down that pitch-black underground passageway with only my hands and feet groping the rough surface of the ground.

Turn right twice, turn left once. I remember the sign from Sae-Byeok. And not far from where I stand right now, I can see the light from the lanterns that illuminate the dungeon. I hastened my steps. My heart raced fast. I should be able to free them now.

But how shocked I was to find their cage empty.

Father and Abuela are not there.

I panicked, of course. But at the same time I need to be calm and think clearly. Maybe Sae-Byeok transferred them to another cell. Perhaps the Queen Mother had indeed kept her promise and had already released them. Maybe they managed to escape somehow. They can't die. It's impossible, right?

As I walked with shaky steps back towards my room, I heard the voices of some of the soldiers and their commanders. I sharpened my hearing, trying to catch the contents of the conversation.

"...Two people."

"The woman is old."

"People Westeria.... With a man."

"...The Empress' secret order."

"Quick search!"

The pieces of the conversation I did not fully understand, but from the few words I could catch, it seemed like they had orders from Sae-Byeok to find father and Abuela. That means that both father and Abuela managed to escape somehow without Sae-Byeok's knowledge. Is it possible that the Queen Mother helped free them? But the Queen Mother promised to release them as soon as I officially became the Emperor's concubine. It should be tomorrow, not tonight. So what exactly happened?

"Lady Lee Yeon - Hwa." Call someone.

I immediately turned my head and found young general Xing who was the elder brother of Torakka Yi-Zhuo. I know because of their uncanny resemblance, and because everyone's talking about it. He probably had a level of popularity comparable to that of General Leon in Schiereiland.

Young general Xing bowed to me. "The emperor wants to meet you." Said.

"Emperor? Now then? But it's late."

"Ruler of the Emperor. Please come with me."

In the end I couldn't resist. I followed young general Xing towards the Emperor's room in the Jade Palace.

Haru usually did not occupy this Palace. As Emperor, he should be in the Emperor Palace in the center of Jungdo. But since our wedding will be held tomorrow morning in the main hall of Jade Palace, then this afternoon he came to this Palace.

When I entered her room, she was drinking tea while facing the window. I could see the silent middle garden from that window. Young General Xing immediately withdrew, leaving me alone with Haru in this room. I moved to automatically close my coat even though the air tonight wasn't cold.

"I know." Said. His voice was crystal clear. Haru turned her attention from the garden outside her window to me. The corner of his lips lifted up displaying an understating half smile. "You want to run away, don't you?"

I'm silent.

He's not entirely wrong. I really want to escape. But he's not right either. I want to free my father and Abuela first before I run away. I don't even know if I can escape or not. Escape is now ranked second in my priorities. The first stage is to make sure father and Abuela are free and safe.

"Who? Tell me quickly who threatened you. Is that Sae-Byeok? Or the Queen Mother?" He walked quickly towards me because I still had not answered him. Shortened the distance between us until his face was only a few inches from me. I can smell the rice wine from him. It turned out that what he drank was not tea but rice wine. He shakes his head, watches me. "I didn't know my future concubine couldn't talk."

"I don't understand what you mean, Your Majesty. Please explain what you mean." I answered while continuing to lower my gaze.

He laughed cynically, then took a few steps back, giving me the space I needed. "You think I would believe Sae-Byeok's story of the last Lee Clan princess who was alive other than her? You're not Lee Yun's daughter. You don't look like him at all." I dare to look at him. His smile made my whole body tremble. He knows. "You are the only daughter of Princess Lee Seo-Hwa and Commander Wu Yi-Xing. You were sent by King Xavier to spy on me."

I try not to tremble, but it's hard. This finally? I've been found out. The Orient Emperor already knows who I am. He would probably directly attack Nordhalbinsel knowing that King Xavier was sending spies to the empire.

I laughed in my heart. I am in danger, I am most at risk of dying right now, but I may worry about a kingdom that is not even my homeland. A cold and cruel kingdom, which once made me feel abandoned years ago before I became a Montreux warrior, who did not accept the presence of the eastern girl who had nothing.

No. gabe. Not his cruel kingdom. The people there are cruel. But not everything is so. There was Natasha, my coworker, my gossipy friend who never bothered about my citizenship. There was also General Arianne who was always kind to me and treated me like her own daughter. And there's Elias. Elias who knows where he is now. Elias, who knows why, has been nice to me lately. But I haven't seen him in a long time. I might have missed him.

"Tell me I'm wrong." Indict her. His words felt like a knife ready to slit my throat at any moment.

"You're wrong." I answered while braving to look at him. But my trembling hands cannot lie. And Haru saw it.

"Yeon-Hwa... I never meant to scare you. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you." He said softly as if he were talking to a child. "So, what kind of information did you tell him?"

"I'm not King Xavier's envoy spy." My answer. Not entirely a lie because the one who assigned me was actually Anna.

Haru looked at me up close. Looking for the lies I hid in my eyes. I'm filling my head. But he won't find anything. I was trained for this.

But his gaze softened. That gaze did not radiate the anger of an Emperor, it was more like a man who missed his lover. Did he see my mother's face when he looked at me?

Haru turned around, turned back to me. He then walked further and further away from me, towards where he had been sitting while drinking rice wine. He drank another glass. And again. Until he finally finished a pitcher. And I just kept watching. If he's drunk, I might be able to escape safely from here. If he wasn't drunk, I might have to fight him to save myself. I might have to kill him before he kills me. I should probably kill him now.

I circled my gaze around me, to the rest of this room. Haru must have kept a gun in his room. He was an Emperor, he needed to protect himself even though the dozens of bodyguards in this Palace were definitely ready to protect him. He may sleep by keeping a knife under his pillow or a katana under his bed. No. gabe. I can't look for things that don't exist. I need to be able to use anything to save myself. I might have to break one of the expensive jars in one corner of his room and use the shards to sever the veins around his neck to kill him.

"Do you know how old your mother was when she escaped to Westeria with your father?" suddenly, he dropped the murder plot in my head.

I didn't anticipate that question. So I just kept quiet without being able to answer anything because I really didn't know the answer. And I don't know which way this conversation is going.

Haru continued, "He was younger than you are now. Eighteen years. I was fifteen at the time. We were only three years apart, but she was going to be married to my father to be one of his concubines. Of course I'm not willing. She was my first love. So that night I saw him running away with Commander Wu, even if it meant I had to lie forever to my father, I let him go and made sure he actually left this empire safely."

Haru turned her head towards me who was still standing stiffly by the door. "Sit down here."

And I obeyed him too. I might have been really scared to death so it became very submissive.

"I know where they've lived all this time. I also know when they get married. And I knew when you were born. If it's not wrong then I'm twenty-two years old. I've been watching you ever since. I sent a spy to Westeria to report everything about Seo-Hwa and about you. I've sent my men to make sure you don't get hurt and not found by anyone. Until I finally got word that you disappeared after Seo-Hwa's death. I really panicked because I was so scared that you were dead too. You can't be traced at all until I start to lose hope."

That must have been when I ran away from home and went to Nordhalbinsel. Maybe the people Haru sent couldn't go to Nordhalbinsel to look for me. Or maybe I'm too good at running away.

Haru paused for a moment to look at me. Then she continued, "If I could be honest, since you were born, I have not cared about marrying anyone, I don't care if I don't have a successor, I will give up the throne to you. The legitimate heir of this empire is you. Not my father, not Yi, and not me, but you."

"I'm not—“

My words were cut off as he suddenly knelt before me and tightly grasped both of my hands. I could only remain silent in my seat while inevitably being caught in the gaze of eyes that were as dark as that night. Haru said, more like begging me, though,

"So don't run away, Yeon-Hwa. Marry me and be a Maharani. Not because of anyone's threat, not because of force, not because of me, but because this is your destiny. This is your real way of life."

Whatisthis? This is beyond my expectations. Shouldn't Haru be angry from being spied on? Wasn't Haru supposed to think of me as a threat to the throne he had been defending all along? But why would he want to give up his throne to me?

Haru's hand was cool and smooth, unlike mine's callus hand because he often practiced swords while in Montreux. Haru smiled at me, "Don't worry about anything. We'll only marry for formality, to make you Maharani. I won't touch you at all, if that's what you're considering."

I didn't respond to his proposal. Whatever my answer is, don't I have to marry her tomorrow?

The silence we both made the night feel even quieter. I can even hear the sound of night bugs from the direction of the central garden. I sharpened my hearing to look for other sounds I knew. If I had listened better, I might have been able to hear the voice of the person coming who would have been able to take me away from here. But there's no sound. No one came to help me.

Because seeing me still silent—because so confused by the current situation—Haru let go of both my hands in disappointment. He then sat back down in his place and continued, "I feel guilty for Sae-Byeok. He did that to you because he felt threatened. You pies don't know. No one knows. Sae-Byeok can't have kids, but I don't want to touch them at all." I noticed Haru's blank gaze looking forward towards the middle garden while talking about his wife. I now listen carefully, "Before Sae-Byeok, I was married to a Jungian woman. We're our age. She used to be my friend, so even if it was an arranged marriage, we got along quite well. Our relationship is harmonious, and so are our family relationships. But when she was pregnant with our child, someone killed her. The killer killed himself as soon as he was caught and didn't tell him who told him to. I remarried shortly afterwards to retain my position as Crown Prince. This time with the only daughter of the finance minister. She was from the Ilbon tribe, the same tribe as my mother. She is a kind and obedient woman and has absolutely no objection to being betrothed. He demands nothing and only wants to be devoted to his parents so that he does not reject the match. But the same fate befalls him. She was murdered while pregnant."

Everything he marries, containing his heir will be killed. Because he's the heir to the throne. Because they don't want him sitting on the throne. But Haru eventually managed to become Emperor even without having a successor. Whether because my heart is easily touched or because the story is painful, I feel sorry for him.

Haru continues his story, "So when the teenage Sae-Byeok came to the Palace to marry me, I swore to myself that I would not let him be killed. So that I can keep my distance from him as much as possible. Because I don't want him to die like the others."

I kept silent for a long time thinking about his words. Haru maintained his position as Crown Prince all this time, despite having lost several wives and children in the womb of the women, he survived only to give up this empire to me. On the only daughter of her first love who marries someone else. Does that make sense? Is there anyone who can really sacrifice everything like that just in the name of love? If this was all just a lie, what did he really want? Why tell me all that?

If I accept his offer, if I marry him and become Empress, and I don't have to give him offspring, then to whom will he give up his throne after we die?

Why should I even think about all that. I don't want this wedding at all. I don't want to be a Maharani either. All I want right now is to get out of this palace and find Abuela and her father.

"You don't talk much?" He said then after a long time we just kept quiet while staring at the park. "It seems your nature is more akin to Commander Wu, because Seo-Hwa never runs out of things to say."

"So I really don't have to carry out my duties as a wife."

Holy hooch! Why would I say that?

Haru smiled in response, "Absolutely unnecessary. Our marriage is only to make you the Empress."

"Then what about you? Do you have no vision for this Empire? Why should I be the Empress? And if there is no successor, what is the fate of the Orient going forward? Who will lead the empire after me and you die?"

Holy hooch! Why can't my mouth shut up!

Haru blinked a few times, looking puzzled for a moment due to the sudden barrage of questions that came up from me. I was surprised, so I told him. But then he laughed. It seems like this is the first time I've seen him laugh like that. All this time I thought that there was an unwritten rule that the Emperor should not be seen laughing because he never laughed.

"Cut my previous words. You look a lot like your mother." He said after his laughter had died down. "Did you know? Since long ago your mother and I had the same vision of Orient in the future."

"What's that?" My toot.

"Changing the Orient Empire into the Orient Republic. Stop this hereditary legacy. We both dream of a country where the people have a voice. People can be leaders. People can choose their own leaders. Absolute power is in the hands of the people."

"That's crazy." But brilliant! I didn't say it out loud.

"I'm the one you also want to see an Orient like that."  Said me. I didn't admit it right away, but I think it's true. "The seizure of the throne by killing each other's brothers, killing wives and children just to get a position as a ruler, all of it seems to have become a hereditary tradition. I'm sick of it. After all, as Emperor, I myself am quite certain that I am not the best person who deserves to sit on the throne. And it was not only because my father was the illegitimate son of the previous Emperor and got his position in a cunning and cruel manner. There are still many things I do not know about this world. When compared to the great masters, the science that had been mastered could be said to be only a drop of water in the vast ocean."

"And what makes you sure that there are others, from among the common people, who have a broader insight from you, a science that is more than you, a science that is more than you, who would be more deserving to lead this country than you?"

Haru did not answer me directly. This time he stood up and walked back and forth by the window while still staring out the window. I noticed that it was his habit while thinking.

"I'm not sure." Said. "That's why I still have so many flaws. But did you know? There is no perfect leader. And we can never satisfy everyone. We cannot be fair to all people. Because we are just ordinary people. If so, doesn't that mean we're all the same? We are all equally human, so what makes the descendants of the Emperor privileged over ordinary people who may have the same vision regarding the fate of the empire in the future?

"opportunity. Choices. Ascendancy. Treasures. You guys have all that." My answer.

Haru smiled cynically. "You talk like you're not part of us, Yeon-Hwa. You have the blood of the first emperor purer than anyone else in this Palace. You certainly know that my father was not a descendant of the Emperor. My father was the bastard son of your grandfather's concubine."

"really. But that doesn't change the fact that you have everything you can to be a ruler."

"Then why don't we share all of that fairly with all the people? Give them a chance to get the same education that the aristocrats gave them. Established a school where nobles and commoners could study together without social inequality. Give them a chance to run for leadership. Give them a chance to get a decent job, a chance to develop themselves, a chance to change fate. Yeon-Hwa.I imagine all humans have the same chance. Justice for all the people. Freedom of opinion and choosing leaders. That's the kind of country that was in my vision and your mother's first."

Haru's words sounded like a sweet dream. But he is the Emperor. He's the only person who can make all of that happen. No. gabe. Not just him. I might as well be able to make that dream country a reality. I may be able to continue my mother's vision of wanting to change this empire for the better.

And maybe, if I really become Empress, I can stop the assault on Nordhalbinsel. I might be able to persuade Haru not to go to war with Nordhalbinsel. I can save the Ice Country.

If I become Empress, father and Abuela will definitely be safe. No one would dare to hurt them no matter where they were.

"If I agree to be Empress... Can I lead with you too? Not only as a companion, but also be able to decide everything with you? What will my voice be heard in state meetings?"

Haru looked very happy, as if I was not just asking but answering her proposal. I might indeed accept his proposal if it meant that I could save everyone. "You are indeed the one who will lead the Orient, Yeon-Hwa. And we will end this empire. Together we will create a new era. We're gonna build the Orient Republic."

Heaven, please give me a sign that this is not my path. But if it is my destiny to become an Orient Empress, then I will accept Haru's proposal. That way Nordhalbinsel will be safe from the threat of Orient attacks. That way father and Abuela will live a quiet life without ever being harassed by anyone again.

"All right." I started my words, "I—“

My sentence came to a halt as suddenly a horse-sized wolf with a thick snow-white fur appeared in this room, between me and Haru.

My heart almost stopped when I saw him.

Elias.

For a few short seconds Haru and I were both shocked to the point of not being able to do anything or say anything.

Yeon-Hwa quickly ascend!

That voice was like it was echoing in my head. That's Elias' voice. But the wolf did not open its mouth at all.

Yeon-Hwa! Hurry up we don't have much time!

Being so surprised, because I did not know what to do, because Elias said so, then I hurriedly climbed onto the back of the big Wolf. I thought it would be hard like trying to ride a saddleless horse, but my guess was wrong. The snow wolf lowered its head, letting me ride it. Then we together disappeared from Haru's sight.

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