Golden Lantern Joy

Unofficial histories record that on my wedding day, I burned incense and bowed three times at the Vermilion Bird Terrace. The official record, meanwhile, has only a few words: “Princess Kangle, fifteen years old, was married off to Melio to secure peace.”

Yet before the historians had put brush to page, I had already chosen my own path. At our first meeting, the song “Golden Lantern Dance” marked the beginning of my rewriting fate.

I secretly arranged to meet that foreign prince, wagering the rest of my life and swearing an alliance with him: “You will be king, and I will be your queen!”

When he placed a golden lantern flower hairpin in my hair, he told me, “Joined in marriage, we shall love each other and never doubt.” We were allies, and a devoted husband and wife...

Wait until the day the golden lantern flowers bloom. Their flames will spread like a prairie fire!