Third watch, in Zhang Yang Palace
Princess Zhao Yang is lying on a pear-wood bed with carved flowers, her face deathly pale and breathing barely perceptible. In just three days, this once shining, bright, and lively Little Princess has become a haggard, emaciated woman. What tortured her into this state was not the deprivation of food and water over three days, but her own foolish acts and grave mistakes.
She lies there in silence, her inner turmoil twisted with regret and guilt. Although her heart is still aching as if it’s been tossed into boiling oil, she no longer thrash and wail for death as she did when she first got back. Neither does she sob through the night as she did initially. She has quieted down and is able to think rationally now.
She was truly foolish. She had naively fallen into the dream woven for her by her nanny, a dream where a beauty is paired with a hero. For this illusory dream, she has committed so many unforgivable mistakes, including being incited to poison An Le, deceiving that beast into drinking the warming room wine, and losing her honor and reputation...
Yet these are not what cause her the most anguish. What is most painful to her is how her shameless conduct had led to her Imperial Mother being disliked and blamed by the Emperor, being put under house arrest, being stripped of management over the Imperial Harem, and becoming fully subordinate to Empress Jin Guifei. On top of this, because of her actions, her elder brother, Yi, will inevitably be implicated and shunned by the Emperor, making his path ahead even more difficult. Furthermore, her maternal relatives will also be wrongly implicated and disliked by the Emperor due to the disgraceful deeds she committed...
Those dearest to her have all been implicated due to her fault. Initially, she intended to atone with her death. She desperately sought out ways to end her life. But as she started to regain her composure, she gradually understood that her death would only cause her Imperial Mother more pain and her Brother even more difficulty while having no effect on those who plotted against her. It would only make them happier—it would bring pain to those she loved while bringing joy to her enemies. Thus, she couldn’t die. She had to live to exact vengeance. She knew exactly in her heart who bribed her nanny, causing her current predicament. Still, she couldn’t deal with them yet. All she could do now was endure humiliation, live on, and wait for the right opportunity.
However, even though she no longer desired to die, Destiny played a big joke on her—the Emperor ordered her to take the deceased An Le’s place and marry Saknu.
Saknu was no longer the hero, the sun of the steppes depicted by her nanny, but a complete devil, a beast. She’s finally aware that the rumors about him aren’t untrue. She finally understood how his previous women met their end. To marry him— even
if she doesn’t want to die, she no longer has any say in that. It would be better to die in her palace than to be brutally tortured to death by him.
Therefore, she wanted to die as soon as possible, to avoid being barbarically tortured to death by that beast. But she couldn’t commit suicide. Though she could bear the heinous crime of a Princess committing suicide, she couldn’t let her Imperial Mother shoulder the blame for her actions. She could only live resignedly under the mercy of destiny...
As the darkness deepened, the chilly Zhao Yang Palace fell into silence, only broken by the rhythmic footsteps of patrolling guards passing by. Occasionally, the sound of a nighttime eunuch, striking his wooden clapper and loudly reminding, "Dry and inflammable conditions—be careful with fires and candles—" could be heard.
As soon as the patrol eunuch left, two delicate figures emerged from a corner. One of them quickly looked around to check if anyone was present. Seeing no one, she signaled to the other, and they stealthily crept into Zhao Yang Palace.
Zhao Yang Palace was eerily quiet, totally deserted. The eunuchs and palace maids had all retired to bed, leaving no one on the night shift.
Princess Zhao Yang was no longer the once pampered, treasured daughter of Heaven. Who would bother much about a princess who’s fallen from grace and was about to be married off?