Disclaimer: This story came from my imagination and not from someone else's work. I have no intention to copy anyone or plagiarise. If there is a story out there that is similar to this one in any way then that is purely coincidental. And also, please do not plagiarise :)

An entry for t h e f e e l s • a writing contest and prompted by this: 

2021 UPDATE: When I first wrote this story, I was very young and naive and in revisiting this story, I've decided to change it up and make it bigger and more extravagant and complicated than the five-chapter story I initially wrote. So strap in and get ready. This is going to the historical harem!au of your guilty pleasure dreams, drawing inspiration from:

• The magnificence that is Jiang Xin as Hua Fei in The Legend of Zhen Huan; 
• Sheren Tang being iconic in all of her period dramas but most especially 2004 TVB's War and Beauty;
• My undying love for Wang Kai as the Seventh Prince in Nirvana in Fire; 
• Eon and Eona, the Australian kids' book series that spoke to me in my youth;
• My appreciation of the asethetics of Tang concubines and consorts as seen in Curse of the Golden Flower, Beyond the Realm of Conscience and Can't Buy Me Love, and all the other big-budget Tang dynasty dramas that have ever existed; and
• The women who showed the patriarchy just how powerful they could be (shoutout to Wu Zetian); 
• How big the Grand Palace is in Thailand; and
• My interest for history #istudyit #igraduated

Credit to missbeautyyoong for the graphics.

Jen