Uncertainties

Not long afterwards he ascended the throne, Emperor Taizong was informed of a great threat in the Empire. Beyond the sea a thousand ships were sailing with an army of a hundred thousand armoured soldiers to conquer the country, kill its Emperor and set up Prince Jangryol, son of exiled Emperor Changzou, as the true heir to the throne.

Under Imperial orders, Great Generals Cui and Jōkoto, the Captain of the Royal Escort, the Peacekeepers corps, the Dragon's Army and the Right Cavalry were preparing to mobilise their troops around the borders.

Meanwhile the Emperor anxiously awaited intelligence from the Mohist Network. Let it be known that it was a shadow agency in charge of gathering and investigating secrets and unattainable informations of military and political value. And the news of the attack was dispatched rapidly across the Mohist Network, a complicated and vast nexus of spies outspread like constellations throughout the empire.

At last, an express messenger was sent forth to the throne room and was the bearer of good tidings. Yes, the report of an invasion turned out to be an elaborate pretence of an attack not fabricated in haste.

How, or by what means, the Wongarasu* clan was connected with this great hoax he did not know, but Taizong did not doubt that connection for a moment, and it certainly foreshadowed bad things to come.

If Taizong passed a many mornings her shutters, it were because he wished to apologise for all the weeks of neglect since she was in mourning. Would Emika understand that it wasn't his wish but the urgency of imperial duties calling him away from her?

However, he felt unsettled by the workings of his heart and always retreated. He decided he'd wait until Emika send word requesting his visit. It was better that way for he didn't want to be bound to anyone nor owe anything to anyone—people's weaknesses are people.

But that day, he was sorely troubled when the imperial physicians reported that his bride-to-be would still refuse to leave the confines of her bedroom, and at once he felt the urge to call upon her.

He had given special orders to the servants to nurse her carefully and to wait upon her with diligence, but in spite of all the nurses' assiduous care and the medicine that the physicians prescribed, she showed no signs of recovery, but her gloominess of heart grew daily worse.

When she appeared before him he was greatly startled to see her so dreadfully distressed. She seemed so ethereal and thin that she had the appearance of a wraith from the other world. He felt his heart throbbed with a nervousness he could not easily contain. What if she should die, he thought, then he should be less powerful? The youthful years he had invested in her would then come to an absolute waste.

Meanwhile, returning from Shufeng's palatial residence, poor Emika was in a state of the greatest anxiety. Her distress became exceedingly pitiful; and when she emerged from her daze, upon identifying the figure standing before her as the Emperor, the sight of him so magnificent made her conscious of her own dishevelled appearance.

They were sitting on the swinging bench near the brazier. With a brilliant blue sky overhead and the crisp sun shining around them, it was difficult to believe that life contained such terrors and grief as those which had overwhelmed them nearly a couple of months ago.

She leaned closely against his warm body, that throbbing pillar of solace, with her cheek resting on his shoulder.

At the edge of the dove grey cloud her gaze spotted a brilliant white patch like a turning page catching the sun. A soothing thought flashed through her mind: if the first brother had been hell, this one would definitely be heaven.

Emika lowered her head towards the edge of his chest. While listening to the powerful and comforting beats of his heart, her fatigued body relaxed and she began to drowse.

Whereas his mind was still stuck in the moment he saw her furtively hid the jade hairpin in her breast within the folds of her gown. And one thought had occupied him—he wanted to know what that meant.

In fact there were many unanswered questions about the nature of her relationship with his brother. It was quite maddening. Taizong chanced to look down at his feet, and behold, her silken red shoes were jammed into his boots.

He wanted to kick her feet away.

Useless cruelty of love as if she was the only woman he had ever met!

'Forget her,' said his head now taking over his heart. After all, he had many women by his side.

Unconsciously he shifted his body. At this sudden movement her drowsy head jerked away from his chest and she regained wakefulness.

His gaze into her dozy eyes burned with a strange fire and surprised her. Then his coal-black eyes had returned to normal as if what she had noticed a minute ago was just in her imagination.

Taizong plastered on a soft smile. "Dearest, where did your stroll take you to?"

She was gazing intently and fixedly at whatever her eyes chanced to fall on—the fallen leaves, the puffy clouds, the crow in the cypress tree, the red embers in the brazier; saying: "I wandered in an aimless kind of way here and there…"

Taizong raised a brow as if she had said something silly. Then he lifted up his head towards the sky. Emika thought he stared into a void-like yet his eyes weren't vacant. It was not clear what he was thinking about.

Then he lengthened his query: "Nai Nai was quite worried since you were gone for several hours." His eyes hungrily enveloped the dainty hand that moments ago hid the jade hairpin. "Did you get lost again or did you go to some place of interest and lost all sense of time?" Taizong was squeezing her hand as if he needed to check she was really there with him.

She nodded with a "Hmmm…" and her gaze was like a grasshopper skipping across the garden from one blade of grass to another.

A faint smile played on his lips, his dimples appeared and disappearing. "Dearest, which one is it? Did you get lost or you stopped by some place interesting?"

Now, his fingers clenched around her wrist could sense the feel of a pulse quickened against the soft flesh of her skin.

A second's hesitation. Her heart thumped a little wild.