Chereads / A Caged Phoenix / Chapter 2 - The Fleet-Footed Princess: :2

Chapter 2 - The Fleet-Footed Princess: :2

She'd seen illustrations, read description and reports. She'd memorized the layout of the city and the constellations in the night sky by the detailed maps her tutors had shown her.

She knew how to get out. The four gates opened onto the four main thoroughfares of the city, where the majority of shops, inns, and restaurants resided. This Eastern portion of the city was mostly residential neighborhoods, and the main road was lined with schools and management agencies. The Censor Bureau headquarters was there, along with the Judicial Branch's recruitment office. Meihua passed both as she hurried- slipped along.

All she had to do was get out of the city and then she would be free.

Then she could breathe and rest.

The feast would go on until dawn, maybe longer if the rain didn't let up and the wine held out. The water was getting deeper with every block, halfway up her shins now. She'd given up trying to hold up the hems of her robes, there wasn't a part of her that was dry now. She could even feel mud seeping through her slippers and between her toes. It made her gag, but thankfully, she didn't have anything left to throw up.

There would be alarms soon, the great bells that hung in the watchtowers could be heard all the way in the Inner Palace on a clear afternoon. They'd ring for the flooding when it rose another few inches, but Meihua had no doubt that as soon as the bells rung someone would check her room and realize she was gone.

And then she'd be running from hunters and not just chains.

Punishment wouldn't be a simple lecture and confinement. There was no way she could explain her midnight flight from her own wedding feast and crossing the Seventh Wall, let alone the first six.

It was a slight to all parties, including the powerful Li clan that had shown up in force to celebrate Li Jie's wedding.

Also, possibly treason. Depending on how angry her parents and the ministers were.

But going back meant going back to a husband in love with someone else. A husband whose family was one of the most influential in the empire. The Li's oversaw the Second Imperial Army that protected the Southern Borderlands. The clan had funded her father's rebellion against her grandfather, the 56th Emperor of All Under Heaven Mao Wudu, and supplied nearly a quarter of the five hundred thousand men and horses that took part in the rebellion. The Southern Borderlands were the largest municipality in the Empire, stretching thousands of li along the Blue River and the border of the ancient Kingdom of Tinling.

Since the borderland of both kingdoms were mostly occupied by nomadic tribes that refused to accept any leadership outside of their own, they were constantly in conflict and the Li Clan and the Second Imperial Army were considered the most experienced and discipled martial force in the Empire of Xi.

The Li Clan, despite supporting Lao Wudu, rarely visited the capitol. She'd only met his parents and brothers the morning of the wedding. All but his oldest brother, who'd remained in the south to oversee everything while the rest were gone.

When they were young, he'd been the one covering for Meihua's escapades, sharing her enthusiasm to learn about the world, but somewhere around fourteen, the happy, curious often bewildered boy she knew had turned serious and quiet, focused on duty and responsibility. He'd stopped being amused by her and started to parrot the words of her parents and teachers, constantly reminding her to think of the empire, to think of the palace, to think of the people.

Her arguments about knowing nothing but the walls of the Inner Palace fell on deaf ears.

She'd still been terribly fond of him. She'd been sure that love could blossom in time. That they could have a marriage, a kingdom, and love, even though everyone insisted no one got it all.

Her parents had it all. They were still so terribly in love after thirty years of marriage that there were ballads about them sung in the streets. Her mother was too proper to show much affection in public, but neither had ever taken a concubine or lover outside the marriage. They had dinner together every night and her father lived in the Empress' Moon Palace instead of the separate Emperor's Sun Palace.

It drove Meihua mad when people said she couldn't have the same. When it had come time to find her a husband, the search had been long and arduous and punctuated by screaming fights when important people fell in and out of favor. It had taken three years for her mother to settle on Li Jie as an acceptable candidate and Meihua had been so relieved it was him that she hadn't put up much of a fight when her mother had allowed her very little say in any of the planning for her own wedding.

There was so much ceremony to follow, so many steps that had to completed in just the right order, people to be honored, that Meihua had really only been looking forward to the feast.

And to the wedding night.

Li Jie hadn't been interested in any aspect of the planning and had grown increasingly withdrawn in the months leading up to the wedding. She should have realized something was wrong then. She'd realized he wasn't excited about the marriage, but any time she'd asked, he'd said that he was okay with it.

They had been friends for so long. Surely there were worse things to start a marriage from?

And then, on her wedding night, she'd found him in the arms of a woman she'd considered a sister.

Sui Jiang had been appointed by Kang Su as Meihua's first lady-in-waiting. Despite only being a few years older, when they'd met she'd seemed like an experienced world traveler. She'd had hundreds of stories of the Jeweled Capitols and the cities in the South. About her childhood in her father's bookstore. He was a famous poet who'd been censored and tortured by Mao Wudu for speaking out against him prior to Lao Wudu's rebellion. Sui Jiang and Li Jia had always liked talking about the stands their families had taken against Mao Wudu.

And they'd loved the few times Meihua had convinced her father to share his own stories.

Almost as much as they loved each other, apparently.

She passed the main crossroads on the Eastern Road. That put her halfway down the hill now. The rain hadn't let up, blocking the fireworks that had beeb planned for the end of the feast.

She only had another hour or so before someone would check her room so she picked up the pace as best she could.

They locked her in her room when she'd founded Li Jie and Sui Jiang together.

She'd gone looking for him after the ceremony, hoping to steal her first kiss before they attended the feast. She snuck down the hall to the rooms he'd been given for the wedding and burst in expecting to surprise him.

She had, for sure.

But he hadn't been the only one.

Sui Jiang had been in his arms, her lip stick on his mouth.

They'd looked so scared when she'd flung the doors open.

And Meihua had been so stunned that she hadn't realized what was happening at first.

And then the guards had realized what happened and summoned her parents and it had all gone…

Well, she still couldn't make sense of how it had gone.

Li Jie had gone silent and stiff, defiant.

Sui Jiang had been in tears, frightened but unwilling to apologize.

Lao Wudu had been disappointed.

Kang Su had been annoyed.

Meihua had been the only one surprised.

"This is the way our marriages work," Kang Su had said, "It is traditional for noble men to have concubines."

It had been part of the marriage negotiations apparently.

Her father had been angry that no one had warned Meihua before the actual wedding, but he'd also insisted that Li Jie was allowed to keep Sui Jiang.

Pointing out again that it was common practice. Meihua's favorite general, a boisterous man who was always happy and had tutored her in military theory, had his noble wife and six concubines and the only reason he only had six was because there were seven nights in the week and any more made the math too complicated.

It had not amused Meihua, who started yelling because they'd lied to her.

"Little sister, please-"

"Don't you dare call me that!"

Sui Jiang had shrunk away like a wilted flower, hands shaking as she kept trying to justify it all. "We couldn't tell you. When it started, we didn't think it was going to last very long. It was just…friends and it became more before we'd realized it."

"So, hid it for years? I trusted you and you lied to my face."

Sui Jiang had backed away then. "You don't understand."

"What? What don't I understand? You called me sister, is this how you treat a sister?"

"No! We didn't mean to-"

"If you didn't mean to, why were you doing it on my wedding day? You helped me put on my wedding robes."

Kang Su had broken in at that point, "Meihua, calm down."

And Meihua had yelled at her mother for the first time her life, "You! How could you not tell me? How long have you known?"

Her mother had slapped her then, so hard Meihua's ears had rung. "Enough. You are acting like a child, not a princess. You have a role, remember that."

Sui Jiang had grabbed her arm then, trying to pull her away from the Empress, but Meihua had been so angry that she'd wrenched her arm away and struck Sui Jiang, sending her to the floor.

Then Li Jie had started yelling and her father and the guards had rushed in, only to be sent right back out by Kang Su.

"We couldn't risk telling you," Sui Jiang had cried, holding her red cheek as Li Jie helped her up. "We couldn't risk making you angry."

"Why not? What did you think I would do? Send you away? You have just gone to live with Jie then."

"We thought you would kill us." Sui Jiang said quietly. "You're temper…"

"My temper?" Meihua still couldn't understand how they thought her temper was so bad they'd feared for their lives, but Sui Jiang had been insistent, so Meihua had turned on Li Jie. "And you, why didn't you tell me? We've known each other most of our lives. You could have just said you didn't want to marry me."

"Neither of us have a choice in this marriage," Li Jie had said.

"We could have refused!" Meihua insisted.

"This marriage was carefully planned and negotiated." Kang Su had snapped, "This marriage will hold no matter what happens."

"Is this a joke? You think I'm going to honor this marriage?"

"You will do what is expected of you. You will fulfil your role, Meihua. This marriage is for the good of the nation. You can take a lover later, once the marriage is consummated." Her father had tried to be soothing, but realizing he'd been in on it all too, had only made her angrier.

"He's never touching me!" She'd shrieked. "And she's banished from my space!"

"That's fine," Kang Su had rolled her eyes, "We'll get you another lady-in-waiting."

Sui Jiang had looked hurt by that, but a look from the Empress had kept her silent.

"No, I don't want another one."

"Stop being a child."

"No. I'm not honoring this marriage. I'm not taking another lady-in-waiting. If you were so worried about my temper, you should have thought about that before you all lied to me for years!"

Sui Jiang had reached out again, "Meihua, you don't understand-"

"Stop calling me that. In fact, don't ever address me so familiarly again. Go be Jie's concubine and find someone else to stab in the back."

"Meihua, calm down."

She'd never heard her father speak that loudly before.

"Calm- Why should I? How is any of this okay?" She teared up then, "How could you do this?"

Lao Wudu had been the only one that actually looked sorry. "The situation is not that simple, Meihua. We, our blood, there must be protections in place. You need a strong husband…just in case."

"Just in case what? What is it you think I'm going to do? All I ever wanted to do was be a good Empress. I'm not greedy. I work hard. I listen and I learn what you tell me to learn. Why do you think I'm so horrible?"

"We don't think you're horrible, Meihua." And Lao Wudu had looked very tired and very old. "It's just a precaution."

Her voice had gone shrill even to her own ears, "For what? You want me to live in a loveless marriage the rest of my life? To rule alone?"

"You won't be ruling alone," Kang Su had far less patience than her husband.

"I'm not sharing my rule with someone who won't even uphold marriage vows. How would someone like that ever be trustworthy?"

"This marriage is not for love, Meihua."

"Why not? Why do I get stuck with this? You married for love!"

"I happened to love someone fitting."

"Then I'll find someone fitting that will love me."

"No," Kang Su intervened glancing at the clock. "Enough of this, the feast needs to start. This marriage stands, Meihua. You will fulfil your duty, and we will have no more discussion of this. After the feast you will both enter the wedding chamber and consummate the marriage. There can be no question of its legitimacy."

Li Jie had looked just as pleased as Meihua at that point, but he'd stayed silent.

Meihua had not, getting louder and louder the more her mother refused to listen. When her father and Sui Jiang had attempted to reach out to her, she'd pushed them both away. Kang Su had eventually called the guards when Meihua had made it clear she wouldn't be playing along, and they dragged her back to room and locked the door from the outside.

"Once the feast is over, they will return to escort you to the wedding chamber. Use this time to reflect on your actions."

Meihua hadn't actually believed they'd locked the door until she'd tried to open it.

And then the confusion and hurt and anger had become rage.

She'd notice the beautiful vases her mother had insisted on decorating the room with and then forbidden her to touch and she'd just lost it.

She'd smashed each one in a fury. Then she started on anything else of value, tearing the rooms apart until there was nothing left. Not even a decorative pillow escaped her wrath.

And then she'd cried.

And the only reason she'd kept crying on the floor was because she'd realized if she was still there when she came back, nothing would change.

~ tbc