Facades

'The Heavens aren't on my side!' That was the phrase that Huan Meirong had been screaming in her heart every now and then for the past two weeks. Her scream wasn't because of despair but anger instead; moreover, she had been containing it all along within her as she maintained a rather tense and overwhelmed facade.

Her acting skills weren't bad but she felt her performance was on the edge of collapsing at any time due to the situation she was at. Usually, the maiden's family would be the ones taking care of the bride's preparation but in her case things took a twist and six maidservants of Cui Palace had been left behind to serve her. It was strange and she couldn't have possibly been more baffled at that time as such an action might be taken as an offence. However, none of Huan Family's high-rank members voiced a word of complaint.

It was something to be expected, though. Right now, the Huan Family had not the rights of doing it as they weren't as high standing and mighty as the Imperial Decree had said they were; they had also heard the rumours about Cui Wang and his peculiar conducts of not behaving like a member of the Imperial Family so an abnormal extravagance and out-of-place doings were normal when it came from him. But that hadn't been all, despite being clueless about many things, a City Lord is still a City Lord, he had smelled something fishy going on so he had decided to let everything proceed the smoother he could.

His way of handling the matter had let Huan Meirong rather displeased as she needed more ruckus to make more accurate conjectures about the odd development things had taken. Hence, whenever her annoyance ignited anger, her arranged assumptions got a throughout revision but all of them bared no change, making her irritation almost touch her breaking point. The occurrences of the past two weeks had really been gruelling the spoiled temper of her past teenager years; it had been exhausting and this new week was already proving to be no better.

The first day of the third week since the Imperial Decree had been announced began with her waking up annoyed; she had had an unappealing dream. She had dreamed about how to deal with her current situation which it was pretty disappointing from her point of view as it seemed as though she was unconsciously getting worked up because she still had no idea of how to avoid it.

"Has My Lady awoken?" a charming voice asked courteous, adding fuel to Huan Meirong's already awful morning as most of her dilemma was due to the six maidservants left by Cui Palace and this charming voice belonged to one of them, Xian Feng, who had been assessed by her as an easy going person.

"Mmh," Huan Meirong nodded with a faked startled movement, thinking as she slowly sat on the bed, 'Yet again steps that I'm supposed not to be able to hear.' Since the beginning she knew those six maidservants were no normal palace maids as she had felt their presences watching her before they formally presented themselves; thanks to it, the fishiness around the Imperial Decree wasn't only a feeling like with the City Lord but a fact to Huan Meirong. Therefore, she gave extra attention to her behaviour; if they hadn't seen her before, she would have adopted the most unreasonable and silliest of temperaments or a more scaredy-cat like one to play around.

"It's earlier than usual. Feng'er asks My Lady for forgiveness, the water for My Lady's morning grooming will be ready in three minutes," the charming Xian Feng said with a smile drawn on her reddish lips as she walked past the bed to open the closed windows of the bedchamber.

"Ah, mmh." Huan Meirong's replies to the palace maids weren't diverse but she always had many thoughts going through her mind, 'Earlier than usual… Tsk, and whose fault is it? I haven't been able to cultivate and I feel my patience running out with each passing second…'

"Apologises for the delay, the bath is ready, My Lady," two voices rang in unison, taking Huan Meirong out of her silent ponder disguised by some drowsiness.

She didn't mutter a sound and just nodded after a shaky motion. The two that had come were another two of the six palace maids, Xian Shui and Xian Hei; from Huan Meirong's perspective, the former gave off a gentle air while the latter had frivolous undertones resounding within her merry voice.

"Shui, I'm counting on you to choose the best of the best today," Xian Feng said while turning around after having knotted beautifully an azure silk curtain.

"Absolutely," Xian Shui replied with a soft smile.

"Then, Feng'er retires to oversee the meal's preparation, My Lady." With just those words, Xian Feng left the bedchamber without waiting for any form of reply from Huan Meirong's part.

Xian Shui proceeded to select the outfit as usual while Xian Hei helped Huan Meirong with her morning grooming. Such carefree attitudes did really rub Huan Meirong the wrong way; apart from the air feeling as though they owned the place, she was troubled by not knowing how to accurately judge them as they were clearly putting up a false front, too.

'Just… what kind of man is that Cui Wang…?' she couldn't help but ask herself this question whenever the discomfort towards the six palace maids passed from a troubled feeling to an unpleasant one. The person who had such unreadable and skilled maidservants couldn't be the wannabe of a prince the gossiping she had been hearing said.