So What If He's the Crown Prince? I'll Gladly Take Him

[A two-faced palace maid who adapts to whoever holds power vs. a ruthless, no-good crown prince]

In the eleventh year of the Shuo Ming era, Consort Shen led a young palace attendant named Wen Yao into Chenghe Palace, cold and desolate for many years. She taught her to study, observe etiquette, and write essays on statecraft. In the fifteenth year of Shuo Ming, Wen Yao stole her mistress’s jade token, climbed into the imperial bed, and spent the night in the emperor’s arms.

Chenghe Palace was a tomb. It had seen off Consort Ning, the late emperor’s consort, and imprisoned Consort Shen. It had also taught Wen Yao how to say whatever suited the occasion. She could deceive everyone except the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, who was impervious to flattery. Xiao Musheng was curious: why were those upturned almond eyes filled with nothing but calculation?

As the two clashed and crossed swords, a tragedy set in motion more than a decade earlier began to reach its conclusion, entangling everyone’s fate. At the Observatory, after consulting the six lines of the I Ching, the crown prince defied fate to change her destiny. He took Wen Yao’s hand and asked if she would flee the imperial city with him and spend their lives together. Wen Yao gave a bitter smile. “Xiao Musheng, we can’t escape.”

When everyone thinks someone is good, and you alone see the darkness in them, which of you will become the mad one?

Wen Yao rarely saw Consort Shen smile. She would only stare blankly out the window, like a wolf cub from her home village whose claws had been worn down, forced to await the king’s favor. Wen Yao thought her mistress must have angered the emperor, and that all she had to do was help her win back his heart. So the little eunuch Sanfu was the first to die, and Aunt Lanzhao was the last. At last, Wen Yao saw Consort Shen smile brightly. Then an imperial decree arrived: Wen Yao and her newborn daughter were confined to Chenghe Palace, never to leave for the rest of their lives.

She could not understand why, but the baby was crying.