Imperial Consort Lan returned to the Imperial Palace with the Emperor after the case with Fei Qing closed. She believes that Princess Yu knows how to handle the punishments and her primary job was to expose that wolf under the sheep's clothing. With that done, she has gained a strong ally in the Imperial Harem. The Empress Dowager would surely favor her even more and this would ensure her family and her survival.
The Emperor eyed Imperial Consort Lan with a tender gaze. He now understands why Lord Lan was so protective of his daughter. Such a clever person, if misled, could be misused by others. But then again, Lan Xuan Yi has married him. It is the duty of a wife to support her husband. It would not be a bad decision to make her Empress.
But that will have to wait. The Emperor frowns as he remembered that the Empress Dowager will bring the concubines to the temple outside the capital to pray for an heir in a week's time. The Emperor sighed as he continued to gaze at his beloved Imperial Consort who will be away for 3 days during that trip.
Imperial Consort Lan sensed his gaze but did not react. She pretended to sleep as she ignored the Emperor whose gaze could burn a hole through her head. She is also informed of the upcoming visit to the temple for prayer and it is a compulsory event that has to be attended by all concubines. Unless you want your head to roll, you have to be there.
Imperial Consort Lan sighed as she remembered how her previous trips were pretty peaceful but with her current status, the peace is bound to be broken. Imperial Consort Lan sighed at her bleak future internally.
No matter how much she worries, she still has to go and this time, Xue is accompanying her as her guard. Imperial Consort Lan had asked for permission from the Empress Dowager and explained that Xue is a personal bodyguard that has followed her from young and the Empress Dowager was quite accepting of a bodyguard following her.
As the women gathered, the servants hustled around to ready their departure. The Emperor made time from his busy schedule to send them off. After wishing his Imperial Mother a safe journey, he went towards Imperial Consort Lan, wanting to recharge before having to miss her for the next 3 days but Imperial Consort Lan threw him a cold look.
"If you come here, I am never talking to you again." Was what her glare implied and the Emperor got the meaning loud and clear. He wanted to pout a little at the cold treatment but it would be unbefitting for an Emperor to pout so he endured.
Imperial Consort Su quickly made her way to the Emperor before he could take a step nearer to Imperial Consort Lan and with a sad, pitiful face, she told the Emperor how she will pray with a sincere heart and that she will miss him when she is not in the Imperial Palace. The Emperor nodded blankly at her words, not registering them.
The Empress Dowager snorted at the act Imperial Consort Su was putting on and gestured to depart. The women all went into their carriages and slowly, the women of the Palace departed for the temple.
Imperial Consort Lan ate, read and slept on her way there. It is a long road and takes about a day to reach the temple. It is said that the temple is famous and many people would take the arduous journey to the temple just to pray for luck, health, and riches. The Imperial Family will also visit the temple every few years to pray and this tradition has lasted for the past few generations. Imperial Consort Lan does not hold a strong belief in the gods. She had always believed in herself when doing things and never relied on others but she does hold a small interest in the gods. Just a small curiosity that budded when she read a greek mythology book found in her father's library.
Being merchants, the Lan family's library is quite impressive with rare books from other parts of the world. Imperial Consort Lan always liked reading books and she immersed herself in the library most of her time. Once, she happened to chance upon a book of Zeus and other gods of Greek mythology and she found their stories pretty interesting. This made her wonder how the gods of her culture live their immortal lives.
She let her thoughts wander as they slowly made their way up the mountain. When they finally reached, Imperial Consort Lan had finished reading quite a mountain of books. Her maidservant, who was used to her mistress's habits quickly packed up the books in the carriage and prepared for their stay in the temple.
The Empress Dowager said a few words before dismissing everyone to their respective rooms. Imperial Consort Lan bowed along with the other concubines until the Empress Dowager had left before leaving for her room with her maidservant.
Is was because she left too early that she was unaware of all the vicious stares thrown by the other concubines of the harem.
"Who does she think she is?"
"Just now this concubine saw that the Emperor wanted to talk to Imperial Consort Lan but she just glared at him coldly. How can she treat him like this?"
"Is the Lan family that powerful in the capital?"
"No? The Lan family is only a second-ranked household with most of its children becoming merchants."
"How dare mere merchants act in such a brazen manner?"
"Don't you think so, Imperial Consort Su?"
Imperial Consort Su hid her frown of disapproval before she replied with a vague sound. She quickly made an excuse to leave the gathering and went towards her room with a belly full of anger.
Upon reaching her room, she turned around and asked her maidservant.
"Is it ready?" The maidservant nodded her head nervously in reply and Imperial Consort Su smirked. That is right, how dare a daughter of a mere merchant gets the Emperor's favor?
It is time to put her in her place.
The women of the Imperial Palace rested for the night before waking up early the next day to get ready for prayer. The breakfast was bland and they were not supposed to wear any clothing or accessories that are too bright or luxurious. Everyone got ready to pray after breakfast and they kneeled on the soft cushions prepared for them.
They were supposed to kneel for the entire morning till afternoon and then recite the prayer with monks before they bathe in the pure spring. Nothing was out of the ordinary throughout the day as the Empress Dowager was present. Also, everyone was seriously praying so that if heavens bestow a son in the Imperial Harem, they want it for themselves.
It was when Imperial Consort Lan prepared for the bathing session, she was late as her maidservant tripped on their way back to their room to retrieve clothes to change into after bathing. She could not abandon her maidservant after seeing how badly scraped her hand was and so she bought her maidservant back to their room and gently spread the medicine onto her hand.
"Mistress, there is no need to use the medicine only reserved for nobles on this lowly servant." The maidservant, Ah-Lin, fidgeted uncomfortably.
"You are my maidservant that followed me from day one. Although this Consort does not say much, it does not mean I am unfeeling. I appreciate you and hopes that one day, you will marry a good man and live a good life. If you do not treat this properly, it will leave a scar. Although it is extremely distasteful to say this but men do look at appearances despite what they all claim."
Imperial Consort Lan's words touched Ah-Lin's heart and tears dripped down her eyes as she thanked her mistress. Thank the gods that she had such a good mistress who treats servants as her family and not as slaves.
"Mistress, this servant is willing to give up her life for Mistress!" Ah-Lin declared.
Imperial Consort Lan snorted, "this Imperial Consort doesn't need you to give up your life. If it is a life and death situation, abandon me and save yourself. That is an order, you hear me?"
Ah-Lin bit her lips and refused to answer. Deep down in her heart, she swore to disobey this order of her mistress should there be such a day.
After treating the leg, they went to the pure spring as directed by the monks and Xue decided to stay near enough to protect but far enough to not see anything.
The monks called it a cold spring but it is actually a river that has been fenced up for the temple's uses. The water has been blessed and it is said to clear one's mind after bathing in it.
As she spent quite some time tending to Ah-Lin's wound, all the concubines have already finished washing up and only Imperial Consort Lan and Ah-Lin are at the spring. As she prepares to bathe, a sudden movement in the shadows made her alert.
Pulling Ah-Lin nearer to her, she backed away from the entrance of the spring hastily. However, a strong arm grabbed her slender shoulders and pulled her towards its owner. Imperial Consort Lan was about to scream but her mouth was covered by another hand. Trying to remain calm, she grabbed the silver needles hidden in her waist stash and threw them accurately at the neck, killing the man who was holding her. When she was finally free, she turned and saw that the man was not alone. A group of men in black blocked her exit and Imperial Consort Lan sensed the strong killing intent coming from their eyes.
Ah-Lin was shivering in fear when Imperial Consort Lan made the decision to run away from the entrance where she came from. Between the spring and the temple is a forest. If she could run and find somewhere to hide, Xue will be able to find her later. Or she will settle them one by one using her needles.
Imperial Consort Lan ran quickly as she pulled Ah-Lin with her towards the forest. The men chased quickly and Imperial Consort Lan managed to keep some of them at bay with her needles but one of them came near and managed to graze her cheek with a sharp knife.
The pain was instant, the skin around the wound started to burn and turn angry red but Imperial Consort Lan did not falter. Jabbing her needles into his vitals, she pushed his corpse away and continued running. She noticed the burning sensation where her wound is at and gritted her teeth.
Poison.
But she does not have the time to treat it. This poison is meant to slow and paralyze the opponent and she will not give them the chance to catch up. Grabbing her last needle, she stabbed it in her temple and the effect was immediate. The burning sensation as replaced by numbness and Imperial Consort Lan knew she only has an hour before the poison starts working again. She needs to lose them and find a hiding place, need to keep Ah-Lin safe-
Before she could continue her thoughts, an arrow flew at Ah-Lin. Without hesitation, Imperial Consort Lan pulled her maidservant to the side and safely avoided that arrow. However, both of them fell into the water due to the momentum.
Imperial Consort Lan swarm to the surface but found difficulty in swimming towards the direction she wanted due to the strong currents. It seems like they are at the mouth of the river where the currents are strong and pushing them out to the main river. Alarms started ringing in her head as she heard loud roaring behind her.
There are different ways a small river will merge with a big river. Hearing the loud pouring of water behind her, it finally registered in her mind what method of merging this river uses.
Damn, of all things it has to be a waterfall.
Judging by the sound, it seems like the height is quite high and Imperial Consort Lan could not even differentiate if the water below is a small water body or a big water body.
If it is small, she might survive but if it is big…
But that is if she survives the waterfall first. Leaving her fate to the heavens, she closed her eyes and flowed with the currents and slowly lost her consciousness.