Addicted, GL

The wind sweeping over the palace walls sent willow fluff swirling past the eaves. Six-year-old Yuwen Yue stumbled after a kite with a snapped string and tumbled headfirst into the skirt embroidered with phoenixes. She lifted a grass-stained little face, her glassy eyes reflecting the pearl hairpin swaying in Jiang Lingyun’s hair. A bead of clear sweat still glistened on her nose. Her small palm rested on the nine-phoenix gold bracelet around Jiang Lingyun’s wrist. Her childish greeting was like a pebble dropped into a still pond, sending ripples through the Empress’s tranquil years.

From that day on, she turned the Imperial Garden’s dawns and dusks upside down. Three days later, Yuwen Yue ran into her after sneaking off to pick apricots, fell into her arms with a green apricot in hand, and fiercely protected the honeyed plums wrapped in oil paper beneath her clothes. “I saved these for Imperial Mother!” Jiang Lingyun smiled and plucked an apricot leaf from her hair. The moment her fingers brushed the cinnabar mole on the back of the girl’s neck, a damp little hand suddenly clasped her palm. “Imperial Mother smells like cedar. It’s nicer than the medicine at the Imperial Hospital.” The girl raised her face, dew still clinging to her lashes, her voice as sweet as honeyed plums.

And so she clung to her for ten whole years. A dewy wild rose would suddenly appear in Jiang Lingyun’s hair as she dressed in the morning. When she went to visit the Cold Palace, a hem would be tugged without warning. Yuwen Yue would hug a sachet embroidered with the words “Peace and Safety” and insist, “Imperial Mother is going to a place like that. You have to take Yue’er’s good-luck charm with you!” As dusk fell over the carved balustrades, a figure was always waiting on tiptoe beneath the gallery, clutching a broken piece of osmanthus cake and gazing at her eagerly. “These are the treats Yue’er saved up for three days. They’re really sweet!”

But the imperial decree of marriage cleaved through their peace like a blade, forcing their hidden feelings into a desperate corner. Yuwen Yue gripped Jiang Lingyun’s wrist, eyes red-rimmed. “Your daughter doesn’t want a prince consort or a fief. I only want Mother!” As their forbidden love was crushed beneath the shackles of propriety, the young woman turned and entered the vortex of power, maneuvering step by step through schemes and bloodshed.

Years later, the drums of the phoenix procession rang throughout the palace. Clad in a black-and-gold imperial robe, Yuwen Yue ascended the highest throne and gently laid Jiang Lingyun’s hand over the jade seal, symbol of imperial power. “You once said I was overstepping the bounds. Now, can this vast realm allow us to stay together?” The former Empress removed her phoenix crown and placed it on the new Empress’s head. The gilded phoenix and black dragon patterns shone together. A bond that began with the warmth of a hand in hers would ultimately overturn the world, crowning their forbidden love as a legend celebrated by all.

Theme: You and I were destined for each other