07
Late at night, I was fast asleep, lost in a dream.
I heard someone push open the window.
Someone had slipped inside.
Too sleepy to open my eyes, I murmured with a vague, hopeful expectation, “Tiêu Phi Luyện?”
The other person’s voice was cold. “Who is Tiêu Phi Luyện?”
It was Triệu Thư Diệu.
I jolted fully awake.
He narrowed his eyes and asked again, “I’m asking you, who is Tiêu Phi Luyện?”
I turned my head to avoid his gaze. “Just an animal, Your Highness. You don’t need to concern yourself with it.”
He said, “Vệ Triêu, are you sulking with me?”
“It was only a bird. Even if it died, it wouldn’t matter. And yet you provoked Lạc An again because of it.”
Triệu Thư Diệu would never understand.
It wasn’t just a bird.
A Mi and I shared a deep bond.
When I stayed silent, he didn’t press me. He simply tossed a box of ointment down beside me.
I didn’t reach for it.
I didn’t need it anymore.
As if casually bringing it up, he said:
“Vệ Triêu, it’s been three years since you and I made our contract.”
The contract had two terms.
First, I was to train animals for him for three years.
Second, I was to summon every beast to pay homage.
I had fulfilled both terms.
I clenched the corner of the blanket and looked up at him.
“Your Highness, I don’t want to renew the contract.”
I didn’t want to stay at the prince’s residence.
I wanted to take A Mi’s advice and leave as soon as possible.
All I needed now was a travel permit.
But Triệu Thư Diệu seemed to misunderstand what I meant.
He stood by the window, his figure shrouded in watery moonlight.
The night softened his sharp features, making him look somewhat gentler.
“That’s true. You’ll be a secondary consort from now on, so you shouldn’t keep training animals.”
For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. I lowered my head and unconsciously crumpled the corner of the blanket, then smoothed it flat again.
My heart felt bitter and sore.
Triệu Thư Diệu didn’t know that A Mi had already told me.
He and I were only deceiving each other.
What did he want me to do for him this time?
08
I was good at training animals.
Triệu Thư Diệu, on the other hand, was good at keeping his subordinates in line.
Many spies planted by others were close to him.
Under his mix of threats and inducements, some submitted to him, while others took their own lives to protect their families.
But he treated me differently.
With me, he used “affection.”
When I first entered the residence, the first animal I trained was Triệu Thư Diệu’s prized Hãn Huyết horse.
It had noble blood, was an imperial gift, and was so arrogant it cursed me all the time.
Standing beside it, I tried stiffly to persuade it:
“Let him ride you for a little while. He’ll give you lots of tasty food.”
The Hãn Huyết horse replied indifferently:
“I’m an imperial gift. Even if I don’t let him ride me, he wouldn’t dare let me starve.”
I was so anxious my eyes reddened.
“But I’m not an imperial gift. If you won’t let him ride you, he’ll let me starve.”
It reluctantly gave in.
“All right, but just for one day.”
Triệu Thư Diệu then rode the horse out hunting in the autumn.
Someone asked me what my secret was.
I replied:
“Um... have you tried asking it nicely?”
Many animals have a compassionate heart.
The man thought I was making it up, and went around telling everyone I was deliberately keeping my skills secret.
But that was how Triệu Thư Diệu learned I was irreplaceable.
He treated me very well.
So well that it was almost too much.
He let me meet with him without bowing, and tolerated other people’s teasing that we made a handsome couple.
He even once took me on a private outing.
In spring, when the flowers were in full bloom, he and I rode the same horse.
He held the reins in one hand and gently wrapped the other around my waist.
The horse’s hooves trampled the tender grass.
His soft breaths mingled with the wind whistling past my ears.
I felt as if I were dreaming, my heart pounding.
Then the horse beneath me spoke:
“Idiot.”
I lowered my head, leaned close to its ear, and whispered:
“Don’t insult the donkey.”
It replied:
“I’m insulting you. Can’t you see Triệu Thư Diệu is deceiving you?”
I was speechless.
I really couldn’t see it.
I had never been loved by anyone.
At fifteen, my heart had only just begun to stir, and Triệu Thư Diệu was the best person I knew.
I didn’t argue with it.
I wasn’t perceptive, but I knew animals were much more honest than people.
So afterward, even though Triệu Thư Diệu repeatedly mentioned making me his secondary consort, and my heart raced at his promises,
I kept reminding myself, again and again:
He was deceiving me.
09
I waited for Triệu Thư Diệu to tell me what he really wanted.
He said, “When your wounds have healed, tame a crane for me.”
It was exactly what I’d expected.
And yet my heart felt empty, and for some reason, I felt a sense of loss.
He was still deceiving me.
My lips parted, my voice a little hoarse. “What do you want to do with it, Your Highness?”
He answered vaguely:
“Have it deliver a letter for me. You don’t need to know what’s in it.”
Perhaps the stiffness in his words made him realize something was wrong.
He smiled at me again, leaned down, and gently brushed the stray lock of hair from my forehead.
“This is the last thing. A Triêu, once you’ve done it, wait for me to come marry you.”
I felt a little uncomfortable and leaned back slightly.
“All right.”
There was no need for him to marry me.
I wasn’t suited to staying here, and I didn’t want to stay any longer.
But I didn’t dare say the rest aloud.
I understood Triệu Thư Diệu well. He wouldn’t let me leave easily.
10
Ten days later, on an auspicious day, Triệu Thư Diệu lifted my confinement.
I moved with him into the Eastern Palace.
A great many people came to offer their congratulations, and Commandery Princess Lạc An was among them.
Everyone in the Eastern Palace knew she disliked me.
So Triệu Thư Diệu wouldn’t let me appear before her.
While everyone else was absorbed in the flowers in full bloom, I was left alone, banished to a deserted corner, sitting on the threshold outside a room and chatting with the white crane he’d just found.
“This task is very simple. All you have to do is take that letter in your beak and fly from here to the marquis’s residence west of the city.”
The marquis’s residence west of the city was where Commandery Princess Lạc An lived.
The white crane lowered its head and pecked at a mouthful of bitter grass in the bronze basin.
“What’s the reward?”
“A whole lake.”
I raised my hand and traced a circle in the air.
“His Highness the Crown Prince is very rich. He’ll have a huge lake dug for you.”
Sure enough, it began imagining that glorious future and nodded in agreement at once.
As I watched it eat, I found myself speculating.
This letter was probably from Triệu Thư Diệu to the commandery princess.
He had always cared about her.
I hugged my knees and watched the leaves fall in the courtyard, a faint sadness rising in my heart.
My gaze slowly drifted upward.
A plump white cat suddenly leaped down from a tree branch.
It landed on a pile of fallen leaves, making a soft rustling sound.
I asked in surprise, “Who are you?”
It said, “Human, I’m Tiêu Phi Luyện!”
It had changed so much that it was now so round and fat I could hardly recognize it.
I gently scratched its chin.
“I thought your name would be something like Little White or Big White...”
Tiêu Phi Luyện raised its head proudly. “Other cats can be called Little White or Big White, but I’m different. My master has particularly refined taste.”
I laughed. “I see.”
I chatted with it for a while, and the troubles weighing on me earlier slipped from my mind.
It said, “My master’s come to find me.”
This place was already remote, and there was a bamboo grove just beyond it, so it wasn’t easy to find.
The bamboo leaves stirred gently, making a faint rustling sound.
A young man in a dark red official robe emerged from the bamboo grove.
He brushed a fallen leaf from his hair and chided it:
“Tiêu Phi Luyện, where are you trying to run off to this time?”
11
His gaze swept over me just as I looked up, holding the cat.
He paused for a moment, then bowed slightly and cupped his hands in greeting.
“I’m Cố Duy Ngôn, Vice Minister of Revenue. Forgive my intrusion.”
I hurried to my feet and returned his greeting.
“You’re no intrusion.”
I pressed my lips together. Since I hadn’t read many books, I couldn’t think of an especially refined way to introduce myself.
“I’m Vệ Triêu. I used to be an animal trainer in the Eastern Palace.”
He smiled faintly, like the bright moon shining into one’s heart.
“When I was exiled, I could barely look after myself, so I had no choice but to leave Tiêu Phi Luyện in the capital. It’s close to you, so I imagine you must have taken good care of it back then. Thank you.”
“If you ever find yourself in difficulty, I’ll do everything I can to help.”
Actually, there was something I wanted to ask him.
But it wasn’t because I wanted Tiêu Phi Luyện to repay me. It had already helped me so much.
I wasn’t good with words. After hesitating for a long while, I lowered my head and spoke softly.
“There’s no need to thank me. But there is something I really would like to ask of you, sir.”
“If you ever need anything, I know how to train animals. You can come find me...”
Cố Duy Ngôn said, “Please, go ahead.”
I said, “I want to leave here. I need a map.”
That didn’t seem like a difficult request for him.
He agreed at once.