2 Chapter 1

5 years on…

“Your majesty! Why did you go out?” Wang Eumeh pulled the girl back inside the palace.

Cai Ruolan lowered her head as her tears fell freely from her eyes, she sniffed as she cleaned her face with the edge of her hanfu’s beautiful sleeve.

She was tired of staying in the lotus palace all day doing nothing.

“Answer me your majesty! I had warned you countlessly not to leave this palace, if you want to play, then play within the garden, play with the flowers. Now look what you’ve caused” -

Cai Ruolan looked up sharply at her nanny, “But it isn’t my fault Wang Mama, Cai Tianai slapped me first then pulled out my hair. Look she even destroyed my hairpin” she showed the broken silver hairpin to her nanny.

“Your majesty, you shouldn’t have left this palace. If not for the fact that I showed up on time, her highness would have punished you” Wang Eumeh continued.

She never understood why the five year old princess loved to sneak out of her palace to play with her step sisters.

But her step sisters were extremely rude and curt despite their young age. They hated the little girl and would look for one reason or the other to hurt her.

Few months after empress Yang Jiaying’s death, emperor Cai Huateng remarried another girl.

His new wife Hu Meilien is the third princess of southern Kong, she was very beautiful and talented so the emperor took her as his new bride.

A year after their wedding, the new empress Hu Meilien gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who looked exactly like the emperor.

The new baby got no grey colored eyes or mysterious white hair like the first princess, and the emperor was glad that his wife was alive.

The girl was named Cai Tianai and she grew up well known as the first princess of Zhangqian empire. The daughter of the late empress was totally forgotten about.

Cai Ruolan grew up in the lotus palace located at the back of the emperor’s main palace.

The lotus palace was also very beautiful, it got pretty colorful flowers planted at the corridor.

She grew up in the great and motherly care of Wang Eumeh.

Cai Ruolan would try not to sneak out of her palace, but she wouldn’t be able to help herself.

As a young kid, she longed for someone to play with. Wang Eumeh couldn’t help because she was the one going to the market to buy the things needed for her upkeep, and once she returns, she would start crocheting.

She grew up alone, and sometimes whenever Wang Eumeh had left for the market, she would cry to herself till she returned back.

Wang Eumeh looked at the little child, she looked very angelic in her blue embroidered hanfu, her long jet black hair were beautified with silver hairpins. One would never realize the fact that Cai Ruolan’s hair was originally white, and it only changed color because she was cursed.

Whenever Wang Eumeh looked at Cai Ruolan, she would feel nothing but pity for her. At such a young age, she was cursed by her own father. She wished in her heart that someone should help break the curse so that she could be free one day.

But who?

It would have been better if the emperor never added that her benefactors would also die tragically if they helped her.

Wang Eumeh knew and hoped that one day the innocent girl would be free from the vicious curse.

Wang Eumeh carried her in arms. “To prevent her highness from punishing you, you have to stop going out there” she instructed. She felt bad for shouting at her in the first place.

“I promise I wouldn’t go out next time” Cai Ruolan flashed her cute smile at her nanny.

Wang Eumeh dropped her out of her arm and walked upstairs, she returned shortly with many colorful hanfus on her hand.

“Are these for me?” Cai Ruolan asked, her face gleaming with happiness. She loved her nanny for all the goodies she always bought for her whenever she was returning from the market.

“Yes, I even bought tanghulus for you” [1] Wang Eumeh added as she pulled Cai Ruolan to her lap.

Cai Ruolan took a look at the dresses one by one. “They’re very pretty. Thank you very much Wang mama” she beamed as she reached for the tanghulus her nanny had brought for her.

Wang Eumeh felt that the little girl was also a part of the royal family even if she wasn’t recognized as the first princess just as Cai Tianai was. As a matter of fact, she always made sure to get the prettiest and expensive things for her whenever she went to the market.

“Thank you very much Wang mama “ she grinned with her mouth full of tanghulus.

Wang Eumeh patted her head and smiled.

She bought all those for the princess with her earning. She earns not less than 500 gold every month, since feeding wasn’t a problem for both of them, she uses the money to get clothes and sweets for the princess.

Wang Eumeh also made sure that the princess learnt lot’s of things even if she was forbidded from going outside .

Cai Ruolan learnt archery with Wang Eumeh’s younger brother Wang Muchen who was also residing with the other archers in the imperial palace.

She also learnt martial arts from him, while she learnt dancing, calligraphy and singing from Wang Eumeh.

Wang Eumeh was always surprised by her level of intelligence despite her young age, she is only five years old. And she could write her calligraphy pretty well, she can also perform different dance moves. And if not for the fact that she was forbade to go out of her palace, Wang Eumeh would have wanted the princess to participate in the singing contest hosted by the emperor for young girls annually.

But it was quite obvious that even if Cai Ruolan was the best dancer in the entire empire, she can’t and will never participate.

After eating the tanghulus, Cai Ruolan returned to her room, it was a little bit spacious, with beautiful girlish stuff filling it.

The four poster bed was beautifully made by Wang Eumeh, and there was a small brown table near the window where her inks, brushes, and papers were kept for calligraphy.

Blue colored lotus flowers were arranged neatly on a white vase and kept on top the center table.

Even Wang Eumeh herself never knew the reason why the little princess loved white colors a lot. Whenever a festival was coming up, Wang Eumeh would ask her what color of hanfu she wanted.

Without much consideration, the little girl would say “White”

She was always drawn to white colored things.

She took out a book to read while she waited patiently for Wang Eumeh to prepare dinner.

She barely read the first page when she heard her archery teacher’s voice.

Cai Ruolan dropped her book and ran out of her room to meet him.

“Uncle Muchen you’re here” she hugged him tightly.

“Good evening princess, I brought this for you” he gave her a white colored fan.

“It’s pretty, thank you very much”

Cai Ruolan collected the white and gold colored wooden fan from him then returned to her room to continue reading.

As a little child, she had never thought about why her father abandoned her, or why her step mother despised her.

In fact, she only knew that Wang Eumeh isn’t her biological mother.

Wang Eumeh would point to the twinkling stars at the sky whenever the night falls.

“Look, your mum is waving at you, she said she will always be with you. She will send an angel to save you”

Cai Ruolan would remain curious. What was her mother going to save her from?

“Wang mama, what will she save me from?” she’ll ask, looking directly into Wang Eumeh’s eyes.

Wang Eumeh would start crying. “I can’t tell you now dear, I will tell you by and by”

And that evening after dinner, the little girl listened to the bedtime story Wang Eumeh told her, she loved to hear stories of dragons, and many other magical creatures.

She thought she is living a beautiful life with Wang Eumeh, and whenever Wang Eumeh asked her to make a wish, she would say. “I wish it would be like this all the time”

And Wang mama would start crying again, if only Cai Ruolan knew that she was cursed, she wouldn’t be able to live a happy life like other girls.

The little girl obviously don’t know what her future holds.

Tanghulu [1] a Chinese dessert.