The Tales of Palace

"Princess, what's that place? Doesn't anybody live there?" Bai Yu Yan pointed towards a desolate courtyard which did not seem like it was usually tended to. It was quite unusual to see such a place inside the royal palace where everything was luxurious and grand.

Princess Li Ling and Bai Yu Yan were sitting in the gazebo of a beautiful garden which was right beside Li Ling's courtyard. The princes and princess were assigned their own place as soon as they grew up so even though Li Ling was not eighteen yet, she already had a place of her own and didn't have to live with Consort Shu.

Li Ling raised her head to look at the place and replied, "That used to be Consort Ning's palace when she was still alive. But it was many years ago, I was not even born at that time."

"You mean she has already passed away?" asked Bai Yu Yan with surprise. She then remembered Fan Li Wei's words that he had come for Consort Ning's death anniversary.

"Umm. It was very long ago." Li Ling scanned her eyes around to see if there was anything nearby and inched closer to Bai Yu Yan. Her voice was lowered as she said, "Do you know how she died?... She burned to death."

Bai Yu Yan turned to look at Li Ling to see if the girl was trying to scare her. But looking at her face, it didn't seem to be the case.

Apart from her voice, the only other sound was that of the breeze rustling the leaves as she said, "I heard the servants say that there was a big fire in Consort Ning's courtyard. She was pregnant at that time and it was on the same day she gave birth. Don't you think it's scary? Father Emperor was not in the palace that day. When he came back, Consort Ning's body was already charred and was beyond recognition but Father Emperor could still identify her body. They say that when he saw the small child's burnt body beside Consort Ning's, he nearly went crazy and killed everyone present there. It was the former Prime Minister who controlled him that day. Otherwise, no one who was around there would be alive today."

Bai Yu Yan's stomach unconsciously churned hearing it. She grabbed the nearby cup and drank a mouthful of tea to wet her lips. Her eyes darted towards the place where the grim-looking walls were surrounding the courtyard. Through the rusty gate, she could see the untended grass and pale pillars where the whitewash had already faded and the veins of cracks ran through the walls.

In the sparkly palace, the gloomy courtyard looked out of place that no one could believe it was a part of the palace unless they saw it firsthand.

"How did the fire start? Wasn't the matter investigated?" asked Bai Yu Yan, dragging her gaze away from the place. Generally, she would not have cared about the fire that took place so many years ago but after looking at the place, she strangely wanted to know more about it.

"Father Emperor had the incident investigated. All the servants who made it alive were locked in the cell or were almost beaten to death. But no matter how much they were tortured, they denied having any knowledge about it. Later, it was found that one of the maids was careless when lighting the lanterns which resulted in the fire. But she was severely burnt at that time and could not be saved," recounted Li Ling from what she had heard.

Bai Yu Yan nodded her head and inquired, "But shouldn't this place be renovated or destroyed? Why is it left this way?"

With a shrug, Li Ling said, "Father Emperor does not allow anyone to touch this place. He neither comes here himself nor does he let anyone inside. You might now know this but Mother said that Consort Ning was dearly loved by Father Emperor. Although he treated everyone in his harem equally everyone in the palace knew that the only person who was in his heart was Consort Ning. He could not get over this incident for a long time. Even the imperial court was said to have been a mess during those days. But a few months later, the First Princess was born and only after that he could let go of the matter and move on."

Hearing that, Bai Yu Yan could imagine what kind of blessing Xin An Rou had been considered for the royal family and the whole nation. It seems her birth had practically saved the entire nation by bringing the Emperor out of that state.

But she wondered why Li Ling's courtyard was near Consort Ning's burnt palace. Since the emperor never walked the way to Consort Ning's palace, it meant that he also didn't visit Li Ling's place. Although she thought about it, she didn't voice it out.

The two stayed in the gazebo for the whole afternoon where Li Ling told Bai Yu Yan different tales of the palace and Bai Yu Yan sipped on the cold sorbet while listening to her. In reality, she was waiting for the right chance to encounter someone.

Fortunately, not too long later, her eyes detected a familiar person coming to their direction from a distance.

Bai Yu Yan casually took out a roll of papers and a charcoal stick she usually carried with her so that she could draw designs whenever she had the inspiration.

Seeing this, Li Ling furrowed her brows. "Don't tell me you are going to draw here as well. How boring!"

"Princess, with this beautiful scenery around me, how can I sit still? This one does not have the luxury to do interesting things when I have the orders of the clients to fulfil."

"Princess, it's time for your medicine," said a maid respectfully.

Shaking her head towards Bai Yu Yan, Li Ling rose to her feet. "Alright, you do that for some time. It's time for my medication. When I come back, you cannot do that anymore," warned Li Ling and went off towards her courtyard with a few maids in tow.

As soon as she was gone, Bai Yu Yan took out a blank sheet of paper from the roll. Placing it on the table-like wooden structure, her fingers held the charcoal stick and moved on the surface of the paper.

Before long, a sketch of a flower with huge petals was formed on the blank sheet. Due to years of practice in drawing, her fingers deftly drew a life-like flower where each curve and stroke were smooth and lucid. With her hand still moving along the drawing, Bai Yu Yan turned to look if the man had already arrived very close but it seemed he was stopped on the way by someone else. Seeing that he was talking, she hurriedly shaded it to make sure that the flower could be identified just from looking at the picture and put down the charcoal stick when she was finally satisfied with it.

"Xiao Fan!" whispered Bai Yu Yan and pulled her maid towards a tall bush in the garden.

Confused, Xiao Fan tilted her head and let her Miss pull her by the hand.

Soon under the cover of decorative plants, Bai Yu Yan and Xiao Fan crouched with their head lowered as if they were hiding from someone. With their backs leaning on the low fence, Bai Yu Yan covered the mouth of her maid before she could ask anything.

Right after that, they heard hurried but light footsteps coming in their direction. Holding their breath, they quietly listened to it coming closer.