Two months later

“Ahahaha.”

… Who is laughing?

Hui Lei woke up in a dark place where only a ray of light could be seen.

This place? Ugh… It is that dream again...

Hui Lei looked at his body. The body he had before his soul went to that girl’s body, the body of a man. He was laying on a cold dark ground.

“Look, look here, Sister!”

The sound of a cheerful boy woke him, Hui Lei got up and looked at the ray of light. He pinched his eyes and saw shadows of a man, a woman, a girl, and a boy. Hui Lei kept walking until his feet were unable to step ahead anymore. Hui Lei placed his hands on and tried to reach. His hand was stopped by an invisible wall. Hui Lei helplessly smiled.

How ironic. This is my dream, my world, yet I am not permitted to be free.

Hui Lei stopped trying to get close to the four shadows and watched the scene that happened in front of him.

A man, a woman, a girl, and a boy were smiling and happily chat in a field of flowers. "Sister, I will tell you something, come here!" The boy clung to the girl, told her to bend down and lend him her ears. The girl had an earring with a big blue gemstone on her right ear, it shook every time she moved. The boy whispered to the girl and the girl giggled happily.

The three shadows looked so happy together, it was a beautiful view of a joyful family moment, unconsciously, Hui Lei smiled softly.

But not for long.

The man bid the other three shadows farewell, the three shadows bowed to say goodbye. The man smiled and disappeared.

After that...

The field of flowers turned to flames and engulfed the three shadows. Hui Lei frowned severely and clenched his fist, looking through the scenery from the invincible wall.

He knew exactly what would happen but he could not do anything. Hui Lei felt helpless, no matter how many times he saw this dream, he could not forgive himself for not being able to save them.

No!

Hui Lei banged on the invincible wall when the woman shoved the boy and the girl away from the center of the fire.

Lady Tian, I am sorry. Although you saved me long ago, I was unable to save you...

"Mother!" The little boy screamed and tried to reach to the woman who turned to ashes. "Sister, save Mother, please!"

The girl had water formed in her eyes. She realized that her mother could not be saved anymore. She closed the teary eyes and gritted her teeth. She tried to get herself and the little boy away from the fire. Turning her back. She tried to walk but halted. Slowly her feet were unable to move, her legs, her thighs, her stomach, and her arms. She felt like her joints were all torn apart. The girl sharply gasped "Poison..."

Slowly, her body stopped moving, her heart stopped moving. She died.

Tch!

Hui Lei slid down the invincible wall, clawing on it with his hands. He had his knees on the cold, black ground before he banged on the wall again. 

Damn!

"Sister?"

"Are you okay? You are not hurt are you?" The boy that was in his sister's embrace looked at her bewilderedly. "Sister?"

-----

"Sis?"

"Gasp!" Han Lian Ai hastily opened her eyes. She was drenched in cold sweat while her breath ragged. "What, what is it, Xia?"

Han Wu Xia and Han Lian AI were in front of a big wooden door with phoenix carvings on both sides.

"You fainted." Han Wu Xia pouted. "I will ask the imperial doctor to come again later on."

Fainted? Again? Han Lian Ai glanced at Han Wu Xia.

Han Wu Xia was frowning, he was very worried. Ever since the fire happened, Han Lian Ai had been continuously fainting. The doctors were unable to grasp the reason for her strange body behavior. The poison in her body was cleansed and she had no disease whatsoever. There was no cause for the fainting.

The first time she fainted, she stayed in that state for three whole days. The week after that, she fainted for half a day. Then finally, after two months, she occasionally fainted for a minute or two.

The duration decreased.

The doctors could only say that it was a side effect of the poison she got two months ago.

“How long did I…” Han Lian Ai hanged her right hand on her head.

“Three minutes. I already informed the Concubines and our half siblings that you fainted.” Han Wu Xia helped his sister to stand up. “Let’s go back to your room.”

His deep obsidian eyes flickered when Han Lian Ai refused his offer and stood up herself. Han Lian Ai smiled at him.

“We already skipped the previous assembly, we can not skip twice in a row. The harem assembly is only held twice a month.” Han Lian Ai let the maids fix her clothes that were crooked. “This is a good occasion for me as the First Princess and for you as the next-in-line to learn how to manage people and keep them in check.”

“But, Sister, your body!”

Han Lian Ai chuckled, “I am fine.”

Han Lian Ai signaled to the servant to announce their arrival.

“The Crown Prince and First Princess!” The servant announced.

The big wooden door was opened and the siblings stepped inside.

The harem assembly was held in a hall. The hall was enormous and decorated with bright and joyous colors. Red carpet in the middle of the hall, red and joyful decorations coupled with exquisite phoenix carvings on the wall and eight golden pillars of gold and red.

Lian Ai saw several boys and girls around her age along the way. Each one of them showed confident and overbearing. They slightly bowed at Lian Ai when their eyes met, showing their respect. These were Lian Ai’s half-siblings.

The smell of women's perfumes got stronger as Lian Ai and Wu Xia strid farther in to the middle of the hall. Four women with high-class dresses were finally insight, two on each side.

The Han Kingdom culture required the children to pay respect to the elders who had similar status. By law, it is custom for the Empress’s children to pay their respect first before the Concubine’s children. Hence, Lian Ai and Wu Xia politely curtsied to the Concubines.

Lian Ai looked at the empty phoenix seat with her deep dark ashen eyes, contemplating.

*Chuckles.

Lian Ai frowned her brows when she heard someone giggle.

“You look as beautiful as ever, First Princess.”

Lian Ai cast a glance from her half-opened eyes below to where the concubines were, to see the woman who giggled. The woman was the honorable Concubine Wei. She wore dark purple glossy hanfu that praised her healthy skin. The dark blue fan on her hand matched well with the glittering accessories she wore on her head. She smiled like a blooming flower and said.

“Your beauty is showing more and more each passing days. I recall that you will be sixteen this year. Time sure passes by fast.”

Han Wu Xia unconsciously flinched when he heard Concubine Wei’s sweet and loving words that sounded like there were no malice to them.

Han Lian Ai had a dark face.

Sixteen.

Many girls would be happy when it came to their sixteenth birthday. That was not the case for Han Lian Ai because sixteen was the age Han Lian Ai was promised to someone.

No one but Han Lian Ai, her father, and her mother knew to whom though.

The concubines knew about the deal, along with their fathers, the province lords. The deal was a closed deal that only a handful of people knew about. One of those handful people was Hui Lei. When Han Shu Liu ascended to the throne, the country was in so much chaos that he needed help from an outsider. The outsider agreed to help him, with the condition of giving the new king’s daughter, Han Lian Ai, as the outsider son's possession.

Not a wife, not a concubine.

Possession.