THE LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN LOTUS (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER 8

She was a bit stressed ever since they received a letter from Mika that he wanted to propose to the Saintess. She was practically raised by her and yet she knew how cruel she was. Letting her son love that woman was the hardest thing she could do. She didn't know what to do or say. If she rejects her son's choice, she was afraid he would hate her forever. If she agrees to the choice then it will be known that the grand prince married the formidable woman and her name will be in shatters. She had suffered a lot just to be where she was. She sacrificed a lot and used her own children to trap the empress and now that she was the one heading the harem she was afraid that it will come back to her.

She didn't want to go against the Saintess too. She had heard about the news of the two and how loving they were towards each other. If she tries to do anything silly then a war might break out. The Saintess was someone who didn't hesitate to go to any war. How did she survived that fire, she too had no idea. They said not to bite the hand that feeds you but sometimes she just wished that the Saintess would just disappear. It is also one of the reasons why she put some of her people among the empress's when the fire was set. She would lose her son but at the same time she would get rid of the Saintess; that was the price she was willing to pay. The Saintess never really asked for anything from her but still it didn't feel good to just know that it was her who made her enter the palace. She left a huge mark on her and it was hard to rub. She had people investigate the fire and yet there were no clues to how they survived the fire. That proved that the Saintess was even more powerful than she thought and she was simply hiding it. If she crosses her now while her son was with her then she will be in trouble.

All these years she suspected that her son was alive even though she had no idea where he was but knowing that he was with the woman who took her to the palace didn't make her feel any good. It was as if she was making a statement without saying anything and that scared her. The Saintess managed to steal her first son from her and now she won't be able to get him back.

'Your highness, the Emperor is asking for you,' her chief maid said.

'I will be there, shortly. Prepare the palanquin,' she said.

She went to the Dragon palace to see her husband. He must be having an answer to the letter that Mika had written.

She greeted her husband before taking a seat.

'It's good that you are. I have made a decision,' he told her.

'What is your decision?' she asked him.

'The time we are at is so crucial, so we can't afford any mistake. We know that the Saintess is a great opponent and we can't have her as an enemy. It's better to have her close as a friend and keep her closer. If we make our son marry her as he wants then we might have a chance to keep a closer eye on her,' the Emperor said. It made sense now that she was hearing it but she knew her mistress well.

'I understand where you are going my love but I know her. She is not someone you can keep an eye on but for the sake of making up to our son, I will agree. Let him pursue his own happiness. He deserves that at least,' she said.

'I knew that you will agree in the end. Let's just put his happiness first and we will deal with whatever comes in the future,' her husband said and she smiled.

It seemed like she will never be able to wash off her past like she wanted. With her son marrying the woman she wanted to get rid of, it was difficult but one way or the other she was going to try to eliminate her before she took her son from her.

He wasn't really a fool to not know what was going on in his favorite's consort mind. He didn't just love her because she was beautiful but she had so many tricks up her sleeve that indirectly she helped him to remove all the people that bothered him. All he had to do was just love her continuously and she did all the work herself.

He knew that she wasn't agreeing completely to Mika marrying that woman who didn't have an ounce of respect towards the monarchy. He wanted her gone but not so much like his consort. He was going to leave everything to her like he always did. He would just borrow her hands like he always do.

'Prepare the marriage gifts and have them sent to Mika, he wouldn't be marrying without bestowing gifts,' he told his consort and she agreed with him.

'I shall excuse myself,' she said and left his palace.

He took a deep breath before he called his personal attendant inside.

'Your Majesty!'

'Send people to keep an eye on Imperial Noble Consort. Remove any obstacle in her way if it becomes dangerous, you understand what I'm saying right?'

'Yes, I do; I will send some men over right now,' his personal attendant said and left the palace too.

He resumed reading his memorials, apparently there were some issues going on in some districts near the borders. There were a lot of refugees and not enough food to give them. He had to provide some funds for food or else a catastrophe would occur. He had to think of something before those corrupt officials think of stealing the money again.

Imperial Noble Consort gathered all the gifts she thought would be necessary. As someone who once served the Saintess she knew what she liked so she put most of those there. The gifts were ready to be sent and she had one thing left to do. She took the pearl powder that she was supposed to send as a gift and added her own powder and mixed it. Once the Saintess takes it, the effects will come up as late as possible. She won't be able to detect anything like that no matter how powerful she is. She placed the bottles of the powder and had them wrapped up.

She watched as the carriages full of the gifts left the palace. She won't be able to attend the wedding at all but it was good she won't have to pretend to like what was happening when she knew exactly what was in her mind. If the evil woman was gone then she will have her son back and find her a suitable candidate he will marry.

                                                                                                ...

Nora was brought up by the Saintess, so she owed her and she was loyal to her. Whoever brought harm to her, she made that person her enemy. Her only wish was to see her happy. She had never seen her happy before. She carried a lot of burdens on her shoulders that she shut out anyone who wanted to make her happy. She knew how her mistress felt for the grand prince and it was good but the more she loves him the more she gets to suffer a wrenching pain from her heart. Her mistress was really cursed; she couldn't love him without bearing any pain. Every time she saw her looking at him even fully knowing what she will go through was too much. It was as if someone made her drink the lovesickness tears when she was in her womb. How could she be blessed and cursed at the same time?

Ever since the grand prince returned to the mountain her mistress was happy. They finally expressed their feelings towards each other even though Xavier had no idea about the suffering that the mistress goes through every time. At one point it made her faint and sleep for two months, she didn't want that to happen again; maybe with them expressing their love towards each other then maybe the pain would be less for her.

She was busy practicing dancing since her mistress loved dancing when the grand prince showed up. She paid her respects to him and he smiled at her.

'Young lord, how can I help you?' she asked him.

'You are a really good dancer, I'm impressed,' he complimented her with a smile.

'Thank you but I still haven't reached there yet,' she told him and he just shook his head.

'She will be proud of you, I know how much she loves that dance,' he said.

Nora knew that Xavier knows a lot about the mistress which gave her less to worry about. Seeing him here was also because of her, she thought.

'So what do you want?'

'I need your help and it is serious,' he said.

'As long as it is not harmful, I will lend you a hand,' she promised wondering what it was.

'I want to propose to the mistress and I don't know what to do. Do you have any ideas?' he asked her and she smiled. To be honest she knew that a day like this would come but will they be ready to face the world with that?

'The Saintess grew up mostly at the mountain so I don't think proposing her here will be fine. How about you take her out of the mountain, dress in disguise and take her to a nice inn and show her what you are capable of,' she suggested.

'Are you sure she will agree to that?'

'If it's you, she can. If it doesn't work, then we will try something else. Mistress just wants you to be honest and sincere, so just go ahead with that,' she told him.

'Thank you, I will try that now and see where it gets me.'

'I wish you all the best and please protect her even if she is capable of doing that herself. Make her happy or I will come after you,' she warned.

'I will love her and protect her for the rest of my life. I promise,' Xavier promised.

'Good then. I will go back to my practice; you go and do whatever you will do. I won't be joining you. You should have your privacy.'

'Thank you, I owe you one,' Xavier said and left her to her practice.

She smiled as she watched him leave. It was good to have someone you love to love you in return. Would she ever get a chance to experience that herself? She had been concerned with her Mistress all her life and now it was time to find herself something to do.

She stopped practicing and returned to her room, where she washed up and changed into fresh clothes. She was going to leave the mountain and see what was new in the city and maybe pick a few things for her mistress.

She took a carriage and headed for the city. When she arrived in the city she alighted and began to walk. The market was filled with people and it was lively. She stopped at one of the shops and entered inside. She began to look around inside until something caught her eyes. That would be perfect as a gift, so she went to get it but someone got to it first. She was so angry she wanted to bash the person but when she looked up she melted. She just looked at the person and wondered what was really going on.

'Finally I found you,' the man said and she looked at him with very angry eyes.

'Give me that,' she said pointing to the hairpin that had been snatched away from her.

'How about we do this? You go with me to that restaurant and have lunch with me and I will gift you this hairpin.'

'There is no way I will be doing that,' she said and looked at the shopkeeper, 'don't you have any more hairpins like this?'

'I'm afraid that is the only one,' the shopkeeper replied and she knew she was in trouble.

She needed that hairpin and the only way to have it was to have lunch with a man she hit a few years back. What was happening?

'Tell me your answer now. I have things I need to do,' he said rushing her into answering.

'You promise me that you will give me the hairpin once I have lunch with you right?'

'Yes, I promise,' he said.

'Fine, I will have the lunch with you. Lead the way,' she said.

Nora followed the stranger to the best restaurant in the city. The manager knew her of course but she shook her head and he restrained himself. She got seated at one of the tables and the stranger ordered their lunch.

'Do you know how hard it was for me to find you?' he asked her.

'Why would you even bother to look for me? It's not like we are friends.'

'I know right but you see in my entire life you were the first girl to humiliate me like that. How can a girl fight a man? Why did you do that to me that day?' he asked her.

'You want to know the truth?' she asked him.

'Yes, I really do,' he answered her.

'I hate men who take advantage of women. When I saw you with her I thought you were being improper with her so I did what I did to rescue her. It was only after I helped her escape that I learnt the truth that you weren't a bad guy,' she confessed.

'So you knew and didn't bother to come and apologize?' he asked her.

'I wanted to but at that time you were already angry and swearing to kill me when you find me. I wouldn't risk that,' she told him.

'And now I found you. What do you think I will do to you?'

'You won't be able to do anything here, I can simply apologize and you will have to accept it. You can't and won't harm me because I won't allow it and so is the person I serve,' she told him.

'Who do you serve?'

'A very scary person,' she said with a smile as their food was put onto the table.

She began to dig into her food and realized that she didn't know the name of the man she was with.

'So what is your name?' she asked him.

'I'm Daren Walkers,' he replied.

'Oh, now I know. Your family is one of the biggest families in the capital. What are you doing here?'

'I came here to find you,' he said.

'What do you want to do?'

'I will tell you about it after we are done with our lunch,' he said.

She didn't mind at all. She ate her food since she was a bit hungry after all that travelling. When they finished their meal, he took her out of the restaurant and the two began to have a walk.

'I'm curious about one thing. How exactly did you find me?' she asked.

Daren took out a poster he had drawn and showed it to her. She took the poster and she was shocked. It was a split image of her. She could tell at one glance that it was her.

'You are a great artist,' she complimented him.

'Thank you.'

'I can see how I got found out,' she admitted.

'So do you really serve the Saintess?'

'I won't ask how you know about that but yes. Why do you ask?'

'I have always wanted to see her one day. I heard she is beautiful, is that true?'

'She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,' she answered.

'Can I see her?'

'She isn't someone you can see because you want to see her. If you want to see her then you should go bearing gifts. Do you have gifts?'

'I can settle that. How about I come and see her tomorrow, I will get everything ready and come and see her properly?'

'I will come and get you but don't think of doing anything silly. You know her reputation right?'

'I will be a fool to not know it,' he told her.

'Good then. I have talked enough with you. I have to return back to my duties,' she said as she stopped.

Daren looked at her for a while and she felt her heart thumping very loudly. She just looked away and Daren smiled at her.

'I will keep the end of my bargain, you may take your hairpin,' he said as he gave it to her. Nora took the hairpin and gave a sigh of relief.

'Thank you, I will take my leave,' she said but he stopped her.

'I am living at that inn, come and get me there tomorrow morning,' he said pointing at their inn.

'I will. I will excuse myself,' she said and began to walk away.

Her carriage showed up and she hoped onto it. She smiled as she left the city, she went out and yet she met him. What a coincidence. Maybe her luck was on her way after all.