"No! Please stop!"

There were screams reverberating around the cells, voice filled with agony.

"It was me! It was me-- please! Stop!"

The First Consort had her fingers placed in between wooden sticks, two burly prison officials at her side, pulling onto the strings which crushed her fingers. She kicked and struggled, but the immense pain of the physical torture was too much to bear for a princess like her.

"N-No--!"

A harsh slap was delivered to the face, with her flying back and hitting the wall with exhaustion. She was fully dressed in a white robe, material far inferior from what she was used to.

"How dare you lay your fingers on Imperial Noble Consort Huang! The Emperor has been generous enough to forgive your atrocious deed! You deserve a far worse punishment than this!" the eunuch bellowed, only to squawk at the prison officials, "Continue with the punishment! This diabolical creature will only be let out at dawn, and shall be sent off to the Cold Palace to serve her time in there. She may be let off at the time of yin."

"No-- How can the Emperor do this to me? I'm Modu Esen, Princess of Xiongnu!" she shouted, "My father will hear of this-- a-and I will be set free. A war will come due to the Emperor's doing!"

"Shut up!" Eunuch Liu sent another bout of slaps across her face.

"Watch after this wretched girl. Do not go easy on the punishment or you will get it instead. I will be here with Eunuch He, Eunuch Qing and the maids at the crack of mao."

"Yes!"





"Your Majesty, the First Consort has been subjected to punishment in the prison, and will be banished to the Cold Palace tomorrow at dawn."

"Noted." he said.

"I will now take my leave." and the eunuch bowed once more, before retreating back to his duties.

The door was gently shut, breeze stopped blowing into the studies and the shuffling of feet faded as the servants hurried away.

The Emperor had been this close from tearing up.

Everyone had the image of him as the almighty Emperor, but they were missing out on the most important factor.

No matter what, the Emperor was just a human being madly in love with a woman -- his woman -- and even if he was able to win against the biggest war, he was still Li Jia Heng.

"Why is the heavens playing a game with me?" he whispered.

Li Jia Heng was merely a chess piece to his father. To take over the throne and continue the royal bloodline for him. Growing up, he saw the way his father treated woman -- with disrespect and shame for they were just toys to him.

He had always been the good one. Listening to the tutors and practicing his archery at all times. The first time he had held onto a sword, was when General Gu had one forged with his name engraved at both the sheath and one side of the blade.

"Does this really belong to me now?" he wondered.

"Ah, I apologize for the mistake. The sword was for a Li Jia Heng, and not the Crown Prince." General Gu reached out to grab onto the handle of the sword.

"Noooo! I am Li Jia Heng!" 

The Emperor smiled at the fond memories, the sword has been a treasure to him ever since General Gu died in a war while going against the Xiongnu Empire.

"Someday, the sword is going to bag you a good female worthy of you, Crown Prince." General Gu said, patting the young prince's shoulder.

"And it did, General. It really did. Her name is-- was Huang Zi Yu. I found her when I lost in a duel to Lord Ma, Duke of Guozheng. She brought me back single-handedly when I had lost consciousness on the streets -- imagine how embarrassed I was when I woke up in a strange commoner's home. I saw my sword lying on the stool, without the sheath and so I panicked. It was raining rather heavily then, the lightning was striking often and the thunder was loud. I was extremely exhausted but I had insisted on going out to find the sheath."

He sighed, gripping onto the edge of his table while gritting his teeth.

"I had so many bandages around my body, and I could hardly move -- each slight movement caused me to hurt. Yes, Lord Ma really did me in during that time. Before I could even step out of the room, I had once again lost consciousness. When I woke up, I saw the sheath on top of a washcloth, being dried by a female who had been completely soaked with the rain. I fell for a silly girl who had forgotten to bring an umbrella out on a rainy day."

A lonesome tear escaped his eyes as he grasped onto the piece of jade even tighter, fingers turning white with the force he was exerting.

Li Jia Heng was crying.

"I was perfectly happy with what I had."

The outside sky roared with thunder, and the rain started falling like a opened water tap.

The sky was crying too.



The funeral was a grand but quiet one. Zi Yu came in without a proper marriage, and I will not make her leave without a proper ceremony as well. Imperial Noble Consort Huang had been buried in a plot behind the late Empress Dowager's tombstone, where blood peonies had been planted all around. Beside Consort Zi Yu was a empty spot, specially reserved for the Emperor.

He had taken a firm stand, saying that no one could ever replace Imperial Noble Consort Huang.

Who would have known, he was right.

His second chance in love never did came. Despite having a baby with the next consort (who had been a beautiful, intelligent woman by the name of Chen Fei), sparks did not fly between them, and the love within them had never been reciprocated by the Emperor.

Zi Yu had a unique smile he had known, and the most beautiful laughter the Emperor had ever heard. She would laugh till embarrassment kicks in, gently covering her cherry lips with the back of her hand. Her eyes would turn into crescents when she smiled, and they would disappear as her smile ascends into a laughing fit. The Emperor did not find a need to replace her in his heart, for there was no replacement for the girl with the biggest heart around.



Imperial Noble Consort Huang had been adored by many of the maids and eunuchs around, for she did not treat them like mere slaves unlike the First Consort. Consort Zi Yu was not arrogant, and was the only female around who had a personality of the Sun. Whenever there was food, Consort Zi Yu would sneakily feed the maids. Whenever there was a downpour, Consort Zi Yu would be the first to grab an umbrella, running around to check if anyone had been trapped in the rain. Most importantly, the way the Emperor would look at Consort Zi Yu with loving eyes not only made them feel the rare warmth being exuded from him, but also because it reminded them that the Emperor was also a mere being, just like them -- he had feelings too.

During the time of her pregnancy, her appetite had been voracious. Imperial Noble Consort Huang had managed to finish an entire meal meant for four, and also had weird cravings for food like crocodile meat or plates and plates of lemon. She had also taken a quick liking for the color red, and became more restless as time passed. It was then rumored that Imperial Noble Consort Huang Zi Yu was carrying the Imperial Crown Prince of China.

Alas, all fairytales had to end -- and it was more than just a tragedy when the maids had found Consort Zi Yu to be dead, being stabbed to her death on the back by the First Consort.

The old maid was on her last round of duty when she saw the happening, quickly rushing to push the First Consort away and to the side of the already-dead Noble Consort. She had been surprised to see the silk robes of the dead consort dam with water.

Her water had broken due to the shock of her fall from her untimely death.

The baby was crowning.










"Zi...Tao?"

"W-What?"

"Nothing. I mean, we've been standing here for two minutes or so without speaking and it just feels awkward." Kris said, shoulders shrugging off the tension.

"I am... sorry. I just-- You-- H-How--"

Kris was in an utter state of confusion.

"Hey, slow down there. We've still got time before classes start, you don't have to rush."

"H-How do you know about Huang Zi Yu? Why are you passing the same heirloom down like mine? I- I meant... The jade... The paper and the name... W-Who are you?"

The Chinese-Canadian was surprised. How did Zi Tao know her full name even though all he had mentioned was her last name? What in the world was he talking about? "You know about her? And I'm Kris."

"She is my--!" the younger instantly covered his mouth, realizing that the tone of his voice was a little too loud, "She is my ancestor..."

"Oh. Could it be just a coincidence? I bet there's like a thousand other Huang Zi Yus out there in the world." Kris lamented.

"Even so? Look, I do not wish to come across weird or something, but I have the exact items being passed down in my family. This jade, and the red piece of paper. The only differences would be the words. My jade says heng, and the paper says tao. It also came in a red silken pouch. How is it a mere coincidence that the name Zi Yu is being spelt with both your paper and jade?" Zi Tao groaned, eyes hardening at the sight of Kris.

Zi Yu was his ancestor. Who does this foreign exchange student think he's talking about? 'Weird dream'?

"Could I ask of you to respect her name, and to not piece any vulgarities together in a sentence with it? It is not only degrading, but it is also very ill-mannered of you to do so. I know that somehow being attracted to you does not help in this situation, but disrespect my family, and I will not let you off as easily.

"I think you should go, have your lunch before classes start. The cafeteria is two flights of stairs down the right exit. I suppose your disrespecting-self will be able to find Lu Han and Yi Xing."

All Kris had really wanted was to talk to Zi Tao. There was just this feeling the cute little chinese boy held which compelled him to strike up a conversation with him. He really just can't hold up a conversation with someone who has just admitted that he was sort of attracted to hi- woah.

"You're attracted to me?" Kris mused, asking for reassurance since it might've just been his ears playing a trick on him, or the younger boy has indeed said that.

Either way, judging from how the other boy looked, Kris was pretty sure it was the latter. His eyes were really beautiful... They shone with the reflection of the lighting, and Kris could literally see himself within the other's irises. His eyebags seemed adorable, accented with the widening of his eyes -- and his lips -- was that tinted lip balm or did his lips just looked that reddish and kissable?

Aww damn, was Kris really turning gay now? In China?

"You should really go now!" Zi Tao shouted, hands gripping onto Kris's shoulders and spun him around, pushing him towards the right exit.

"B-But--!" Kris yelped.

"G-Go!"

How in the name of the Wu family am I supposed to get to know you better in like, twelve days if all you're going to do is push me away when we talk? Damn it!

--

In case anyone was wondering about the timings, I'm following the ancient counting for time, it's called the Earthly Branches if anyone is interested. 'Yin' is from 3am to 5am, and 'Mao' is from 5am to 7am. The ancient people counted the branches with every two hours.

Also, the torture method mentioned in the beginning is a legit torturing method originally made for females, as it did not break the skin and disfigure them. However, it caught on with the males as time passed in the kingdom.