The Crown Princess Consort
The poison suffocated her. It wrecked her body in agony as harshly as if the pain had been fueled.
She could hear the laughter, even in the semiconscious state, even with the poisonous ants and scorpions crawling over her body like grains of sand. The boisterous; the endless roars of cheers over music. It filled the gaps between her screaming.
A spacious room of crimson in the heart of a golden clad Imperial Palace, little more than a cage of superficial beauty amid the sea of gorgeous palatial structures. That’s where they had put her. Sealed her. In a wedding room built for some forgotten princess.
As she would likely be forgotten. It was better than the alternative; to be remembered for her cowardice. Her obedience. If there would be anyone left to remember her. If there would be anyone left at all.
She would not allow it. That obedience. That cowardice.
She would not give them what they desired.
No matter how often her screams drowned out the roaring laughter. No matter how often the scratch of her nails cleaved through the marble floors.
She had tried to keep track of the passing time. Hoping someone would notice her long absence.
But she did not know how long they had kept her in that crimson cage. How long the poison had clouded her mind, lulled her into delirium by the crawling insects they had poured in while she spasmed on the floor. Tortured in this abyss, this void of endless despair.
She did not know how long the gasps lasted between her screaming and pleading. Between the pain ending and starting anew.
Seconds, minutes, hours- they bled together as her own blood slithered over the marble floor and faded into the shadows of the crimson walls.
A Crown Princess Consort who was to reign over seven empires. Larger.
That had been her boon. It was now her bane.
A curse that had garnered her the extreme hatred and intense jealousy of the countless women chasing after the unattainable Crown Prince. Another curse to bear, as heavy as the one placed upon her long before her birth. To sacrifice her very existence to fight against an ancient darkness.
To pave the path to the glorious light of the heavens for the souls who had strayed into the darkness, become lost in it. And then ruled it.
She did not feel the warmth of the red liquid flowing down her body. She wondered if it was possible to remain alive when the last drop of her blood spilled. To still feel the heart-rending agony and endless torment.
Her divine blood did not look different from that of ordinary people, ordinary saints. So she knew it would be the end once it was all drained.
But she still kept her stubborn pride, refused to give them the obedience they sought.
As the moonlight spilled through the open window, her writhing figure was exposed; curled in a fetal position on the blood-soaked marble floor as tears of blood smeared across her fair cheeks.
“Once upon a time, in an empire long fraught with war, there lived a saint who loved her people.”
Words she had once spoken to the hungry, thin-bodied kids on the alleys of the impoverished streets. Words that now served to keep her sanity intact.
The dull sound of approaching footsteps entered her ringing ears, pulling back her fading conscious.
“Li Qing Yue, stop being stubborn. Do you think that if you delay long enough, someone will come to save you? In your dreams!” The yellow robes of a female paused a foot from her huddled form, swaying lightly in the red room perfumed with blood and anguish as she spat on her face.
Behind the yellow-robed female stood two maidens in pristine pink and blue robes, remaining silent spectators with their arms crossed over their chests and heads raised proudly.
“Will you sign the contract and elevate our status once you enter the Eternal Palace or not?” The yellow-robed female impatiently questioned.
A gust of wind rippled through the open window, fanning about the foul blood that leaked profusely from the unresponsive girl. As if deaf to the woman standing over her, she continued her quiet chant.
“Once upon a time, in an empire long fraught with war, there lived a saint who loved her people.”
Away she would drift, deep into the endless abyss, into the belly of darkness. Away so far that when the light chased, when the torch flared, she would not see it.
“Li Qing Yue! You are seeking death! Do you think I won’t dare to kill you just because you are about to marry him? Do you think I won’t dare to?”
“Sister Mu Yi, is she still not willing to sign? Should I go and inform the Lord?”
“We should immediately inform him! If we fail to complete this task, our path to the Imperial Palace will be closed forever!”
“Quiet! Just a Li Qing Yue, if I fail to manage her, then how will I gain the Lord’s trust? Li Qing Yue, you had better know what’s best for you and sign this contract! Otherwise...!”
“Once upon a time, in an empire long fraught with war, there lived a saint who loved her people.”
They were blurring. The red room and women and shadows. Clarity and the countless ants and scorpions crawling over her skin. The endless pain and torture experienced on the cold marble floor and the wet, sticky liquid from the numerous cuts, bites, stings, and lacerations.
It was all blurring, like an image in a dream.
“What is happening? Why is she not breathing? Check her pulse! Check her pulse!”
“Oh my goodness, her pulse is gone! Sister Mu Yi, she is dead! What are we going to do now?”
As her consciousness faded and darkness descended, she faintly heard a frightened shriek, followed by anxious shouts and hurried footsteps.
So she spoke the words in her mind. The light and the bright stone on her chest sang it, too, and she murmured back to them. Sprawled on the marble floor of that red cage located in an abandoned corner of the enormous Imperial Palace, the Crown Princess Consort spoke the words over and over again and allowed the poison to unleash its wrath inside her body.
“Once upon a time, in an empire long fraught with war, there lived a saint who loved her people.”
