I almost choked on my tea. “M-Married?”

“Yes,” she said with a bob. “It’s been a little over three years.”

By the way she was talking about him, it didn’t seem like they were married, but the way she was blushing said otherwise. She was deeply in love with him–that was what her face said.

“He’s the first person I’ve learned to truly love. Puppy love was always around me, but true love usually only comes once,” Jia said happily, her cheeks rosy. She drank a little bit of her tea before setting it down. “Have you ever been in love, Daiyu?”

I stared down at my hands before nodding slowly. “Yes, once. We were supposed to marry but then . . . he joined the imperial army and was killed in the Battle of Dragon Lake.”

Jia’s eyes widened. “Meilin was in that battle, as was Fang and Hai. It’s a famous battle since Meilin fought off hundreds of soldiers.”

I smiled sadly. “He said he wanted to bring back a position when the war was over. The war was only supposed to take a year or two . . . ”

“But then Meilin joined one and a half years into the war and finished it another one and a half years later,” Jia finished for me.

“Yes.” I had moved on from Heng and his sweet smiles, the way he would ask to hold my hand and then gently take it. I had told myself that our moments together were chaste and kind, but that he was now a memory. Still, thinking of him hurt a little bit.

“Do you hold resentment for Meilin?” Jia asked me slowly as she scrutinized me carefully.

It would’ve been easier to blame him for everything, like everyone did. He was the ferocious and frightening usurper, who burned paintings and statues of the previous royal family, and forced many people into poverty, but it wasn’t his fault that Heng died. Heng was a soldier and he knew what he was getting himself into when he joined the war.

“No,” I answered truthfully. “Even if Emperor Meilin himself killed Heng, I wouldn’t blame him for it. They both were soldiers in that battle and neither side cares for who they’re killing, as long as it’s the enemy. It was no personal fight, so I can’t blame the emperor.”

“But if Meilin hadn’t joined the war, he wouldn’t have died.”

“Yes, but Heng knew what he was doing when he joined the army. He knew that there was a chance he would die.”

Jia watched me for a moment before the corner of her lip rose. “You’re very mature, Daiyu, you know that?”

I laughed and shook my head. “It’s because I have five younger siblings to take care of.”

“Five siblings?”

“Five younger siblings and two older brothers,” I told her. “And you, Jia? Do you have siblings?”

She bobbed her head. “Yes, one older sister and one younger brother.”

We began chatting about little things concerning our siblings, and before I knew it, my tea was finished and I was genuinely laughing at something she was saying. In moments, I forgot the sadness of losing Heng and the loneliness of being in the Palace.

“Don’t you ever wonder how Meilin rose to power at such a young age?” Jia asked curiously, though by the look in her eyes, I knew she already knew the answer. “Don’t you ever wonder? Think about it...he looks younger than you.”

It was true, Meilin looked a year or two younger than me, but if he took the empire four years ago, he must’ve been even younger. It was hard to imagine a young man of seventeen or eighteen taking charge of an entire army and usurping the royal family.

“He must be . . . talented,” I said with a shrug.

“Right? But you should ask him about his age; he’s actually much older than you think,” she said. “Also, can we just stop and say that he is extremely beautiful?”

Color flushed my cheeks and I bobbed my head. “He is, but he’s also just as cruel, isn’t he?”

Jia seemed to think for a moment before nodding in agreement. “He loves teasing people and Fang told me he’s pretty merciless in the battle field. Still, his beauty has no bounds.”

“Yes, that’s true.” He was possibly the most attractive person I had ever laid eyes on. The rumors of him being exceedingly beautiful were true. “But he’s just as cruel.”

“You’ve heard about the remaining royal family, haven’t you? The three princess and two princes he allowed to live?”

Everyone knew about that. The younger brothers and the sisters of the previous royal family were allowed to live, but one of the princesses was killed during captivity. Some say she killed herself after the torture and rape she endured at the hands of Meilin’s soldiers, while others said that Meilin himself killed her as an example in front of her siblings because she tried to run away.

“The oldest sister, though many believe Meilin killed her, actually killed herself,” Jia said with a wave. “Meilin let her live and what does she do? She kills herself.”

“But what if she was tortured and raped?”

She furrowed her brows together as if she’d never thought of that. “I don’t think so. Meilin ordered to not touch them or go near them. He didn’t want anything to do with them and he wanted them killed, but he said he didn’t want to kill women and children, so he let them live. He wouldn’t allow the princesses to be raped.”

“I . . . suppose.”

“Meilin is quite fond of one of the little princes, and likewise, the little prince loves him,” Jia mused. “Do not assume that he’s nothing more than a ruthless emperor. Did you know that once he took over the palace, killed the royal family, and all was settled, he wanted Hai to become the emperor?”

I paled at the way she casually talked about the Dragon murdering the royal family. Refusing the throne was, however, surprising. After all, why lead the rebel army and at the last second, push the throne to someone else? That clearly meant he wasn’t striving for power when he took over the Huo empire.

“Lu Hai, the man that had previously ruled over the rebel army?”

“Yes, he’s now a general like Fang.” She smiled. “He’s a really nice and funny person. Very cheerful, you know.”

“I don’t understand why Emperor Meilin would refuse the throne at the last second.”

“I don’t understand either, but it just goes to show you that his taking over the empire wasn’t for his own selfish desires. He truly believed the previous emperor to be inept.”

“Still, he did kill the emperor and the emperor’s oldest sons,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but that is war.”

Still, it wasn’t easy to dismiss bloodshed that effortlessly. It was horrifying to think of what my betrothed was capable of.