Chapter 20
Glass Castles
Yuanguang Spaceport, Tianjing
The shuttle would be boarding soon. Yasuko was there to see Yoon-hee off. She didn't want to go, but she wouldn't disobey an order. To help further put Yasuko's mind at ease, her mother was sending Jung-hwa as an escort. If anyone was going to try anything, they'd have a hard time getting through her.
"Well, this is it," Yasuko said.
"Must I go, Miss Yasuko?" Yoon-hee asked.
Did she think Yasuko would change her mind at the last minute? Yes, it was tempting, but, no, it wasn't going to happen.
"I don't want to see you go through anything like that again," Yasuko said. "You'll be safer in Liuyiyuan."
"But what about you, Miss Yasuko?"
"I can take care of myself. You'll just get in the way. I don't need any deadweight."
The old shoo the dog trick was so obvious that Yoon-hee didn't even show any signs of her feelings being hurt.
"If this is what you want, Miss Yasuko..."
"I want you to be safe."
"And I would gladly risk any danger to be with you, Miss Yasuko. It is my duty as your servant... and as... your friend."
"As my friend, you can give me one less person to worry about."
"One fewer, Miss Yasuko," Yoon-hee corrected her.
Yasuko smiled.
"Take care of yourself."
"And you also, Miss Yasuko."
Yoon-hee's reserve failed her and she started to cry as she hugged Yasuko tightly. Jung-hwa looked stunned at the unthinkable sight and was about to pull her off when Yasuko held up a hand to stop her. She returned the embrace and held her for a few moments before saying, "Alright, come on, knock it off. You're makin' a scene. Besides, all that cryin'll ruin that cute face a' yours."
Yoon-hee laughed a little as she let go and wiped away her tears with her sleeve.
"See that she gets to Liuyiyuan safe," Yasuko told Jung-hwa.
"Yes, young mistress," Jung-hwa replied with a stiff bow.
Yoon-hee looked back over her shoulder one last time before boarding the shuttle. Yasuko stood there until the shuttle was taxied out of the hangar. While she was standing there, she could sense an overwhelming presence looming over her that could only be Prince Sturla.
"What is it they say? 'If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it's yours forever. If not, it never was.' Or something like that."
"What are you doing here?" Yasuko asked annoyedly.
"Why, I'm here to see you, Yasuko dear," the Prince replied.
She would have asked what exactly his business was, but she figured he would get to that when he felt like it.
"You know, I gave you the girl as a reward for your performance the other day. I thought she would be good for you, get you to loosen up a bit. But you had to go and play the love martyr. Very romantic, but it gets lonely."
"You'll leave her alone?"
"If she doesn't talk about what she's seen, she and her descendants can enjoy long and productive lives serving your family."
"She won't talk."
"I'm quite sure of that, but I'll be watching all the same."
"You don't seem that broken up about Hongxia."
"The woman was deranged. It was impacting her work."
"You arranged it. She wouldn't've gotten to Yoon-hee unless you let her."
Sturla shrugged.
"It was going to happen sooner or later, Yasuko. I simply set the conditions to make it more entertaining."
His answer didn't surprise her. It was what she was expecting. It didn't make it any less galling.
"One big cockfight for your amusement," she grumbled.
"If Hongxia won, it would be the end of her silly little grudge and she could focus on her work again. If you won, I would be rid of a troublesome employee and you would be that much stronger for it. I was betting on you, just so you know."
His vote of confidence didn't count for much even if he was sincere about it.
"So when you're done with me, you'll send my replacement to kill me?" Yasuko asked.
"Oh, no, my dear Yasuko. When that time comes, I'll do the job myself. It's the least I can do."
One of the perks of being a favorite, she presumed.
Prince Sturla leaned in closer and whispered into her ear, "Keep me satisfied and you get to keep on living."
Straightening himself back up, he then asked her, "How's your saddle area? I hear you got some burns for riding the baked potato."
"Fuck you."
Prince Sturla laughed.
Losing her patience with him, Yasuko asked him, "What do you want?"
"Everything under the heavens and everything above, my dear, but for the time being, I want to discuss your next assignment. Meet me in the dojo and I'll give you the details. Don't keep me waiting now."
He gave her a pat on the rear before turning to leave. Yasuko punched at him, but without even looking, he caught her fist easily.
"Temper, temper, love," he said with a grin. "Don't let your heartache put you in a bad mood. It was your choice, after all."
* * *
They call the Empress the most powerful woman in the Empire, but all that supposed power amounts to little in the end, it would seem. Empress Song's life changed little on the surface when she was placed under house arrest pending trial, but she may as well have been thrown into a hole in the ground for what the confinement was doing to her mind.
Right when all the pieces seemed to have fallen into place, everything was taken away from her. She should have been more aggressive instead of simply capitalizing on the situation as it was unfolding. She knew someone else was maneuvering against the Imperial Family, but she thought she could stay ahead and reap all the benefits. She never saw the noose tightening around her own neck.
Who was responsible? How far did the conspiracy go? Was the Lord High Chancellor the mastermind? Sixty years of playing the loyal lapdog, all the while plotting to avenge his sister and his house's disgrace? Or Lord Grima, that grasping barbarian, who took her daughter from her and spawned that halfbreed eel Sturla. Why not both? Why not all Three Excellencies and the Nine Ministers together raising the flag of rebellion without deploying even a single soldier? There was no one she could trust. They were all her enemies.
What was she going to do? So long as she was trapped in the palace, there was nothing she could do. Even if she could somehow find people she could trust to smuggle her out of the Capital, what then? Would her family shield her or would they cut her loose to preserve their station? She did not have to wonder. She knew exactly what would happen because she would do the same thing in their position.
Could she take refuge in the Unincorporated Territories? That would be a fitting irony, condemned to the same fate as Prince Wufei and House Ma when they rebelled against the Emperor. Was old Limei still living among those black devils in Idinga? Perhaps she could recommend a good place to settle.
She could not even take her own life to spare herself the coming dishonor. The Guardswomen who were her bodyguards were now her jailers. They were always watching. There was never a moment she was left undisturbed. No opportunity, no means of doing it. There was nothing for her except the slow creep of madness while she stewed in isolation and paranoia.
It was time for the changing of the guard. Six Guardswomen filed into the chamber by twos, went to their counterparts' posts, exchanged salutes, and then the relieved Guardswomen filed out. They would stand there without moving a muscle for six hours at a time unless the Empress went anywhere. There times when she herself would refuse to move for the entire six hours in a passive-aggressive bid to make them suffer.
She tried taking up poetry to pass the time, but the words never seemed to come to her. She never had much talent for poetry in the first place. The recitation of poetry was one of her skills around the time of her debut. She could memorize hundreds of verses and recite them so beautifully that it could bring tears to the eye, but when it came to writing poetry of her own, she was hopeless.
The ink was likely drying on her brush as she held it over the blank page. She might have started to nod off when her attention was drawn to a sharp hissing sound. She looked up to see a Guardswoman pointing a strange sort of small pistol at her comrade standing opposite to her. Before the other four could respond, she shot each of them in quick succession. They did not simply fall over dead, though. The first one to be shot was holding her neck as she drew her sword. The Guardswoman with the pistol struck her hard in the chest, knocking her back into the wall. The other Guardswomen opened their mouths to shout, but their voices were gone. They did not wonder at this for long. though, instead drawing their swords to attack their treacherous comrade.
However, one tripped on her own feet and fell over, another started swaying uneasily and slumped against the wall, and the other two were not faring much better. Only one managed to reach the Guardswoman with the pistol, swinging her sword clumsily and losing her balance. A good push was all it took to knock her to the floor. She tried to get back up, only to fall right back down. The other one was on her knees staring blankly into space, like she was unconscious with her eyes still open. The Guardswoman with the pistol lightly pushed her on the forehead to knock her over.
In another time, this scene would have put the Empress in a panic, but now, when she had lost everything, there was no reason to get excited.
Glaring at the lone Guardswoman, the Empress asked, "What is the point of shooting a dead dog in its kennel?"
The Guardswoman placed a small ornate dagger bearing the crest of House Ma before her.
"You shoot the dog to make sure it's dead before you drag out its carcass," she said.
The Empress looked at the knife and asked, "What am I to make of this?"
She did not think the Lord High Chancellor would be so obvious. It did not seem to be his way.
"A courtesy for a lady of rank," the Guardswoman replied.
"Ma Weiho thinks he can dispose of me so easily... And if I refuse?"
"You still die, just without any pretensions of an honorable death, if that matters to you."
The Guardswoman's brazen tongue offended the Empress.
"Never in my life have I heard one speak so to her Empress," she said.
"Maybe it's because I'm just 'some wild halfbreed'. Isn't that what you called me?"
The Empress' eyes widened and she looked up to get her first proper look at the Guardswoman's face.
"You!"
In that moment, everything became clear.
"That ill-begotten bastard... It was him all along..."
She took up knife and unsheathed it.
"We will see how easy he rests on the Phoenix Throne."
With a single, swift motion, the Empress slashed open the veins of her neck. She would be dead in a minute or two, most likely, long enough to deliver her parting shot. She took up her brush once more and soaked the bristles in her blood.
"Let this be the name of his reign," she said.
Before she lost consciousness, she quickly drew out the strokes to read 'wanzhou', ten thousand curses. She wished that many curses and more on him, but she knew that his reign would invite as many curses on the Empire itself. Ruin awaited them all, but it was now beyond her concern. If the fiery hells truly existed, she would be seeing him there with her soon enough.