With the garden party just a few days away,
Gyokuyou
was in her room checking outfits with her maids.
"Lady Gyokuyou. Isn't it too plain after all?"
Yinghua
tilted her head as she held accessories up against the garment. The outfit was red—she had used that same color since her days as consort—but the shade was a touch too dark.
"Doesn't it look kind of muted?"
"It'll match the color palette of the banquet just right. Besides, I have to consider how it will look alongside His Majesty."
The head maid who had been combing Gyokuyou's hair—
Hongniang—
replied. Even she, however, seemed to have doubts about the overly subdued color, for she set down her comb and went to the wardrobe room, adding another hairpin to the accessories Yinghua had been holding.
The timing must be tricky to get right.
Back when they were in the Rear Palace, the priority had always been outshining the other consorts. So while keeping a reasonable sense of propriety, the fun for the maids had been figuring out how to add a touch of playfulness. But now the situation was somewhat different.
"Lady Hongniang. Are you really going to add that one?"
Yinghua looked skeptical at the hairpin Hongniang had brought.
"Oh? Is something wrong with it?"
"I think it's fine too, but she's worn it before, hasn't she? Back then, one of the Empress Dowager's maids was closely observing what she wore."
"Then it's no good."
Hongniang returned the hairpin.
As a rule, an outfit worn at a grand banquet would not be worn at another grand banquet. The ornate decorations would be remade and the piece downgraded to casual elegant wear for tea parties and the like.
Small accessories could be reused on occasion, but they could not afford to be seen as having nothing else to wear.
"But it really is too plain, isn't it?"
"I know..."
The two of them groaned.
As far as Gyokuyou was concerned, she could understand their opinions.
"Aside from the color, I want something that makes a strong impression at first glance. A large gemstone, perhaps."
She had plenty of jade, but none of it suited this outfit. What she wanted was something with greater clarity — something that drew you in with a single look.
"Something like crystal, maybe."
What else?
"A diamond polished in the Western style."
"Finding one at this point would be difficult, wouldn't it? If we had one, I'd have the craftsman rush to set it, though."
Even so, she had half a mind to look. Hongniang headed for the wardrobe room once more. Gyokuyou had been said to be more modest than the other consorts, but she was still the empress. She surely owned a crystal or two.
But —
"Somehow that doesn't feel very exciting, does it?"
Gyokuyou stuck out her tongue with a playful pout.
Since leaving the inner palace, her entertainment had dwindled considerably. Her days spent with the children were pleasant, and the Emperor — as befitting his position — was considerate in all sorts of ways toward her as empress.
Still, Gyokuyou was only just past twenty. The curiosity she had harbored since her days as a young girl was alive and well.
"If we're going to do this, we might as well go with something interesting."
She smiled sweetly and rose from her chair.
Then she slipped away to fetch something in secret. The two maids didn't notice where Gyokuyou had gone or what she had retrieved.
"Hongniang, Yinghua —"
"Yes, what can we do for you?"
The two of them came over promptly, and Gyokuyou showed them a stone wrapped in cloth. There were three stones — high-clarity crystals, translucent enough to see through from the other side.
"…Did we have crystals like these?"
Hongniang looked bewildered.
Yinghua, on the other hand, was wide-eyed, comparing the crystals to Gyokuyou. When Gyokuyou closed one eye, Yinghua seemed to understand what she was getting at and discreetly gave a thumbs-up in reply, careful not to be noticed by Hongniang.
"I'd like it shaped like this."
Gyokuyou moved to her desk and, picking up a brush that lay there, quickly sketched a simple design. It was a hairpin shaped like a horned lantern — or perhaps more like a small standing paper lantern. She wanted a cage-like setting that would let the crystal inside show through. She added an explanation for the two and handed the crystals and the paper to Yinghua.
"Yinghua, take these and go ask him right away."
"Yinghua, if there's an order, I'm always the one who—"
She tried to take back the crystal she had handed to Yinghua, but Gyokuyou stepped in to block her.
"Can't it be Yinghua for once? She should understand what's needed."
"That may be true—. Gyokuyou, you're not planning something, are you?"
"..."
Sharp. As expected of the head attendant. She'd been Gyokuyou's watchdog since childhood, after all.
But just as Hongniang knew Gyokuyou inside and out, Gyokuyou understood Hongniang just as well.
"—I can't keep relying on Hongniang for everything forever, can I?"
Gyokuyou lowered her gaze and looked up at Hongniang with pleading eyes.
The sight made Hongniang's expression turn stern.
"No. I will carry out my duties properly as your head attendant, Gyokuyou."
"But then you'll never get married."
The word "married" transformed Hongniang's expression in an instant, as though struck by a thunderclap.
"M-Married..."
Hongniang was still healthy and beautiful, but she had long passed the prime marrying age. While most women married between their mid-teens and early twenties, Hongniang was thirty-two. According to Maomao, who had some knowledge of medicine, "She's still young enough to bear children," but Hongniang herself was anxious about it.
Just how anxious? During her time in the inner palace, there was even a period when she set her sights on—
Gaoshun,
—even if he was a eunuch. Incidentally, while Gaoshun wasn't actually a eunuch, he apparently had an older, fearsome wife back home, so she gave up entirely.
Hongniang insisted on doing everything by herself. At this rate, if you weren't here, I wouldn't be able to do anything on my own. At the very least, I need to start delegating to the other attendants.
She was so capable that even the noblemen would have found it difficult to approach her.
When Gyokuyou entered the inner palace at fifteen, Hongniang came along with her. To venture into the inner palace—a den of demons, in a sense—she needed a capable attendant. At the time, there were several other senior attendants, but once Gyokuyou became the Emperor's consort and found her life in danger, they returned to their hometowns one by one. Some cited marriage as the reason, while others collapsed from tasting food for poison.
What remained were Hongniang and three young, still-inexperienced girls, including Yinghua. Hongniang must have been under constant tension, believing she had to handle it all herself.
When her daughter was born, Gyokuyou temporarily hired a wet nurse, but having grown up in the harsh desert lands, she couldn't tell friend from foe and refused to bring in any new attendants.
It was during this time that Maomao joined the household.
She was tempted to reminisce about how entertaining things had been when that girl was around, but now was no time for such thoughts.
Gyokuyou had to do her utmost to keep Hongniang occupied—for her own amusement, if nothing else.
"Father also used to say the same thing. That we ought to prepare a good marriage match for Hongniang someday."
"You, of all people,
Gyokuyou
-sama..."
Hongniang was deeply moved.
It was no lie. Father had said, "A child of Hongniang's would surely be exceptional, whether boy or girl." It was too late to become a milk-sibling, but they would surely serve faithfully.
"Unlike before, we have more maidservants now. You don't need to keep straining yourself forever."
Three maids had come from their homeland for the Eastern Palace's delivery, and more had arrived after she became consort.
"I understand your unease. This may not be the inner palace, but it's a battlefield of women all the same. There's no telling what might happen. But you're not alone anymore. Please think more about your own future, and live for yourself."
Gyokuyou marveled at how easily those words had come off her own tongue. Perhaps it was this very nature that had allowed her to survive in the battlefield of women.
"Gyokuyou... -sama. For you to think of me that way..."
Hongniang's eyes glistened with tears.
"I understand. Starting now,
Airan
and
Guien—
I'll go fetch them. I need to see how much of my work those two can handle."
Full of resolve, she left the room at once.
Her profile, as she departed, was flushed like that of a young woman in love.
"..."
Left alone in the room, Gyokuyou reached once more for the writing implements on her desk.
A simple "I was joking" wouldn't cut it. She decided to write a letter to Gyokuen in the capital, inquiring about any suitable marriage prospects.