Sunlight streaming through the window woke Murong Jin. She opened her eyes to silver bed-curtains and a sandalwood vanity.
A jolt of alarm went through her. She sat up, her head pounding. So much for drowning her sorrows. How much had she drunk last night? She couldn't remember a thing.
"You're awake?" Xue Liulan's voice came from behind a screen. He stretched, setting down a brush. "I thought you might sleep until tomorrow morning. Your tolerance is impressive, Murong Jin. Most men couldn't keep up with you."
"Where am I?" she asked, her voice hoarse as she surveyed the room.
He walked around the screen. "My residence. You passed out last night, so I brought you back."
"Oh." She answered numbly. An awkward silence fell between them. They truly had nothing to say to each other.
Xue Liulan didn't seem to mind. He walked to the vanity and picked up a jade rouge box. "This is the finest rouge from the south, a tribute from the state of Jin. I hear it's made from the juice of flowers. Its name is…"
"Huaying," Murong Jin finished for him, walking over. She took the box from his hand. A delicate fragrance filled the air as she opened it. "Only the Yang family of the south can make it. This one is from jasmine petals. Elegant, but not for this season."
She set the box down, her eyes scanning the vanity before stopping on a simple wooden box at the very end.
"Spring is here," she said, picking it up. "This one is more fitting."
Xue Liulan stared, utterly dumbfounded. Wasn't she a general, raised on the frontier? A woman who never wore gowns? How could she know so much about cosmetics? Even Die Man wasn't this familiar with Huaying.
Sensing his shock, Murong Jin turned. "Is it so strange?"
"Frankly, yes. I assumed a woman like you would scorn such things."
A faint smile touched her lips, but her eyes darkened. "What woman doesn't want to be beautiful in the prime of her life? It's just… I never had the choice."
"Because your father only has one daughter?"
She shook her head. "And because my future was never going to be as free as my past."
She put the box down and sat at a table, pouring a cup of tea. "Xue Liulan, my father was preparing me for the 'Empress from Murong' tradition from the day I was born. I learned all of this as a child."
"But you weren't the one betrothed to the Crown Prince."
"Because I had a cousin willing to take my place. I thought I had escaped. But destiny has a way of circling back." The Crown Prince was dying. Her family's generational duty had fallen back onto her shoulders after all.
Xue Liulan watched her, and for a moment, he was back in the darkness of the carriage the night before. The faint scent of wine, and the raw words she'd whispered against his shoulder, too broken to forget. You've destroyed my freedom.
He understood. Her life as a soldier was a desperate grasp at freedom, knowing one day her wings would be clipped. She flew as hard as she could, for as long as she could.
"So that's why you said yesterday was the last time," he said softly.
"The last time I act on my own will. You can rest easy, Xue Liulan. In the future, I will not disgrace you. My father had me tutored in all the proper etiquette. I just… need time to get used to it again."
His back stiffened. "I don't want to lose my freedom either," he said, his voice quiet. "Don't you think your Murong family is forcing this fate on me as well?"
Her head snapped up. "What did you say?"
"Your father wants to preserve the glory of the Murong name. If he just needed an empress, he could have married you to the Seventh Prince." Xue Liulan sat across from her, his lips curling into that familiar, roguish smile. "He's the favored one right now. Wouldn't that have been a safer bet?"
Murong Jin bit her lip, silent. She didn't understand it either. Why choose a degenerate like Xue Liulan? Just because he was the late Empress's youngest son? The dynasty had a history of choosing worthy heirs over elder sons. The path with Xue Liulan was destined to be a hard one.
"I don't know my father's reasons," she said finally. "But since he has chosen, I will obey."
"Murong Jin, why chain yourself to such a duty?" he mocked, leaning back so his eyes were lost in shadow.
She didn't answer, simply finishing her tea. She rose and turned to him. "May I borrow your sword?"
"What for?" he asked, suddenly wary.
"To practice," she said, and catching her own reflection in a bronze mirror, she offered herself a faint, sad smile.
The Seventh Prince, Xue Feiyan, sat by the pond in his residence, a fishing rod resting untouched on the railing. He wasn't in any hurry.
"It's been half a day and still no bite?" A woman's cheerful voice approached, her long skirts swaying.
"The fish aren't going anywhere. Why rush?" Xue Feiyan said, turning to her. "Shouldn't you be visiting your aunt at the palace? Did you come with your grandfather?"
"Just me. I came to see you," the young woman said, crouching before him with a bright smile. "Brother Feiyan, will you take me out for a walk in the spring air?"
Xue Feiyan nodded. "Of course. If the great Lady Deng asks for me personally, how could I refuse?"
"Hmph, you're teasing me again," she pouted, but her eyes danced with joy.
She was Deng Qinyu, Prime Minister Deng's youngest granddaughter and the current Empress's favorite niece. They called her the First Beauty of Jindu.
They went to a dense forest outside the city, where a winding stream cut through the trees. It was the site of the capital's spring festival, a lively gathering of nobles. The sight of the two of them together turned heads—half for her beauty, half for his grace.
They sat in a pavilion by the stream. "Look, Brother Feiyan, isn't it lovely?" Deng Qinyu said, showing off a flower wreath she'd just bought.
"Beautiful. It matches your gown perfectly," he nodded, but as he looked past her, his gaze froze.
Not far away, another couple walked side by side. A man in pale violet and a woman in a peach-colored dress. They looked as if they had stepped out of a painting.
"A cup of wine for a poem. What do you say?" Xue Liulan asked, pointing to the wine cups floating down the stream.
Murong Jin smiled. "Such elegant games are not for me."
"Really?"
"Haven't you heard? A woman's virtue is in her lack of talent," she said, giving him a sideways glance.
"Don't give me that. I remember the tales of my mother's genius."
And that genius is why she was chosen, Murong Jin thought, but said nothing, her gaze distant.
"Seventh Brother? What a coincidence." Xue Liulan had spotted them. He took Murong Jin's hand and led her up to the pavilion.
"Fifth Brother," Xue Feiyan said, rising to bow. He then gave a slight nod to Murong Jin.
"Your Highness," Murong Jin said, executing a perfect Jindu curtsy.
A flicker of surprise crossed Xue Feiyan's eyes. He returned the bow. "Fifth Sister-in-law, you are too formal."
"Exactly," Xue Liulan said, his arm sliding around Murong Jin's waist. "We're all family here."
"Brother Feiyan," Deng Qinyu said, returning with her wreath. She paused, seeing the newcomers. "Fifth Prince?"
"It's been a while, Lady Deng," Xue Liulan said with a smile, then turned to Murong Jin. "This is Deng Qinyu, the Prime Minister's granddaughter."
Murong Jin nodded coolly, but did not move. Deng Qinyu had not curtsied to her.
Xue Feiyan understood at once. Deng Qinyu was a high-ranking lady, but Murong Jin was the Lord of Yuling, a ruler in her own right. Protocol dictated that Deng Qinyu should greet her first.
"Qinyu, come and pay your respects to the Lord of Yuling."
"Lord of Yuling?" Deng Qinyu looked Murong Jin up and down with a scornful eye. "So you're the famed general they say no man dares to wed?"
Murong Jin's brow twitched, but she remained silent. One more insult, she thought, her hand tightening into a fist beneath her sleeve. Just one more, and I break my promise to endure.
"Qinyu, be polite," Xue Feiyan chided gently.
"But it's true," she muttered. "It's not like I'm the one who said it."
"Perhaps not," Xue Liulan's voice cut in, his smile dangerously pleasant as he looked at Deng Qinyu. "But you can be the one to pass on a message. Tell whoever started that rumor… Murong Jin is taken."