This story goes back years before Ye Yue Mian was born...

Jilei Empire.

In the Imperial Palace, Emperor Wang called all the ministers and officials for an announcement. Empress Wang, Crown Prince Rong, first noble wife Hana, second noble wife Kaihua, third noble wife Dal and the fourth noble wife Byeol stood at his side.

Below the throne platform. Dividing the court in half, thirty ministers stood on each side with the Left Prime Minister in front of the left side and the Right Prime Minister on the right. The ministers and officials stood opposite each other dressed in official attire.

Eunuch Song, the emperors most trusted servant stood by his side as his majesty, Emperor Wang put the royal seal on the decree. Bowing with the utmost respect, Eunuch Song received the decree. moving to the last step before the throne he bowed to all the nobles and with a clear throat he announced, "Recieve the decree passed down by his Majesty the Emperor."

The ministers, officials and nobles bowed. Reading the decree, "The maidens chosen to wed this empires Crown Prince are Shim Lanhua, the Left Prime Ministers daughter. Dong Haneul, the Right Prime Ministers daughter. General Wen's daughter, Wen Ganlan and the Marquis's daughter Meigui. Since General Wen and the Right Prime Ministers daughters are still young and haven't become women yet, they will still be asked to live within the palace and after a year of becoming a woman, they will complete the marriage ceremony with the Crown Prince. Do you all accept the decree?"

Although they wanted to they couldn't object, "We accept the decree!"

Dismissing them the emperor and his wives stayed behind with the Crown Prince.

Leaving court the Left Prime Minister had a grin on his face. Outside the court, the ministers, general and marquis stood. The Left Prime Minister Shim grin grew wider.

The Marquis, "Congratulations, General Wen, Right Prime Minister Dong and Left Prime Minister Shim, from this day forth, the four of us are family."

Left Prime Minister, "Mn, yes... congratulations brothers, the emperor gave us the highest honour, we all should feel proud."

General Wen, "Indeed, we should thank his majesty."

Right Prime Minister, "The future is bright ahead of us. We should celebrate."

The smile on the Right Prime Ministers face was gentle. The Left Prime Minister looked over at him and scoffed thinking in his heart, "This time, I have the advantage over all of you. My daughter is the eldest, giving birth to a son, making me the father of the crown princess and the grandfather of the future emperor. The power I will command in the future will drown all three of you!"

Seeing the change of his smile the Marquis coughed, "See you all later, I still have things to take care of at the estate. See you all at the next court meeting." Cupping his fists, the Marquis left for his estate.

General Wen, "Brothers," he said as he cupped his hands and left, heading to the army base. The left and right prime ministers looked at one another then turning their backs, each heading their own way.

At the Left Prime Minister Shim Bishou's estate...

He walked into the courtyard with a bright smile on his face. His wife, two sons and daughter were waiting for him in the courtyard for tea.

Seeing her father arrive, Shim Lanhua got up and rushed to him, rushing into his arms, hugging him she said, "Welcome home father, how was court?"

Smiling he squeezed his daughter, kissed her on the forehead. "Come, come, I have good news for all of you." Sitting down and taking a sip of tea, he looked at his family's anticipated gazes; not being able to hold back anymore he broke out into a fit of laughter that displayed his wickedness. Puzzled by his laughter, his sons looked at each other, squinting their eyes.

After his fit of laughter, Left Prime Minister Shim wiped his tears, cleared his throat and said, "I have received great news. Our Lanhua will be moving into the Imperial Palace and become the future Empress!"

Instantly the gazes of the four pairs of eyes widened. Mrs Shim's jaw dropped in disbelief while Lanhua spaced out… mumbling to herself something… grabbing her father's hands she asked, "Father am I going to marry Crown Prince Rong, will I really be his wife?"

Holding onto his daughters' hands he said, "Yes, my dear child and after you give birth to a little prince you will be crowned Crown Princess of Jilei and mother of this empire and with this, our forces will be strengthened." His eldest son smiled, "Father your ambitions will be realized soon."

Nodding his head and smiling, "Yes, finally its time for us to shine." His wife had her hand on her chin and asked, "Is our daughter the only one?"

He had almost forgotten about the three other pests that would also be marrying the Crown Prince and his mood became sour. Saying with a distasteful glare, "Those wenches born from those knaves too." The youngest son raised his brows then sipped his tea hiding away his smile. Lanhua and Mrs Shim had wretched expressions.

Lanhua grew up treated as though she was a princess and naturally a princess needed a prince. Her father told her once before that there was a prince in the Imperial Palace waiting for her. Believing her father's words all her life and when she finally met Crown Prince Rong, his beauty made her fall head over heels for him. She would always visit the Imperial Palace with her father just to see him.

When he practised his swordsman skills she was always there to hand him a towel and massage his shoulders, she also won the empresses favour and worked hard to please the Crown Prince and after all her hard work, she was finally going to marry him and make him hers but now she had to share her man with three others!? Clenching on her silk tunic she gritted her teeth.

Seeing his daughters anger he smiled knowing that this daughter of his was going to make him proud.

=

After delivering the news to their families. General Wen, Right Prime Minister Dong and the Marquees dressed up in commoners clothing headed in three different directions meeting up in the brother house inside the VIP section where there was no noise.

Facing each other with a frown.

Right Prime Minister, “I wonder what his majesty was thinking marrying that loathsome Shim Bishous daughter to the Crown Prince. That girl, if she turns out to be like her father then how will the prince be like? We all know that the Crown Prince Rong is wise and gentle but under that, he is a double-edged sword that can’t be handled without care… does his majesty not know that setting up those two will create a mess?”

Marquis Wuqing, “As the two of you know, I have already informed his majesty of my suspicions of Bishou's treachery so unless his majesty has his reasons then he can only be called a fool. Bishou himself is a fool if he thinks he can use his daughter to run this empire. The Shim’s generation after generation have tried to rule this country but have gotten nowhere. But this Shim Bishou is something else, he has gained power from outside and is plotting something… I don't know what but I won't let him get away with it if it’ll cost the lives of our people!”

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General Wen, “We shall see, there three of us and one of him. But I know that there are some in my ranks and the royal soldiers that are loyal to the Left Prime Minister.”

Marquis Wuqing, “mn, to think that our own men that we trained would bute the hand that fed it… they will all suffer like the dogs they are!”

~~~

Before the next full moon, the four daughters were moved into the palace. A grand celebration was held, welcoming the brides of the crown prince. Four beautiful girls dressed in red walked up the stairs to bow before their husband. Looking down at his wives the Crown Prince smiled welcoming them into his palace grounds.

After the ceremony took place a banquet was held to celebrate the unions. The celebration went on for hours but the wives of the emperor and prince needed to head back to their palaces.

Each of the Crown Princes wives had their own living quarters in his palace grounds.

The moon, the star, the sky and the sun palaces, each on the four corners of the grounds while his living quarters were in the north.

~~~

The wives waited for three hours before he finally left the celebrations. Starting at the sun palace where the youngest of them all live, Dong Haneul. Walking into her quarters he saw her there on the bed waiting for him. Smiling, he walked over. Taking off the veil.

Looking down at her he caressed her cheek and kissed her forehead, “Get some rest, when tomorrow comes, come to my living quarters and have breakfast with me.” She nodded her head and he left… arriving at the moon palace where Ganlan stayed. Taking off her veil he held onto her face and kissed her on the nose, “Rest tonight and meet me for breakfast tomorrow morning.” She nodded with a smile and bowed.

***

Arriving at the sky living quarters where Meigui resided, he entered her bedroom and saw her sitting on the bed waiting for him. He walked up to her and took off the veil covering her face. Meigui had a birthmark under her left eye. Her beautiful hazel eyes looked up at him.

He raised his hand caressing her cheek while rubbing his thumb against the birthmark. He leaned down kissing her lips, wrapping his arm around her waist forcing her mouth open and inserting his tongue into her mouth. A whimper came out of her mouth and tears streamed down her cheeks with sobs following suit.

Crown Prince Rong stopped, pulling away and looking at her. He could feel her trembling in his embrace. Sighing he stroked the back of her head and kissed her on the forehead. Looking down at her he asked, “Are you scared?” She shook her head denying it making him chuckle, hugging her he said, “We don’t have to complete the wedding ceremony tonight. You are not much older than Ganlan-ah so I can wait… rest tonight and join me for breakfast tomorrow with Haneul-ah and Ganlan-ah alright?”

She nodded her head letting him wipe away her tears and kiss her on the lips one last time before leaving.

~~~

Arriving at the star living quarters he sighed. Walking in he saw Lanhua waiting for him ob the bed. She stood up when he arrived bowing. He took off her veil chucking it to the side. Pulling on the string holding her wedding robe together he tugged on it. It loosened revealing the dress skirt underneath. Pushing the robe off her shoulders. Rubbing his hands on her shoulder he admitted to himself that although he wasn't fond of her, she was a beauty.

Taking off her dress skirt he picked her naked body up and climbed onto the bed with her making her his and ejaculating his seeds into her, now, tomorrow night and the following night - three times should be enough.

Yes, it was! The following week during her bath one of the servants noticed that Lanhua’s breasts were slightly bigger. The ones truly happy about her pregnancy were her father and family, herself, the empress and emperor.

Although it was his child, Crown Prince Rong did not love her but treated her well in actual fact it was clear as day that he enjoyed the company of his younger wives than her. She was upset when she found out that she wasn't invited to share a meal with him. Complaining to her father, he then asked the emperor about it which lead to the crown prince being cross-questioned - this he did not like but did not let them know.

Answering his father Rong said, “I spent three nights with Lanhua, leaving her to recuperate while I spend time with my other wives. As the eldest, she will bare my first child. My younger wives don't see me at night and I feel terrible for being so selfish. I, as their husband, need to spend more time with them to make up for my selfishness.”

He then went to Lanhua’s quarters and had lunch with her. After lunch, he said to her, “You are no longer your father's daughter, you are my wife. As my wife, you will do as I say and behave as a princess should. This will be your first and your last time you question what I do! You are to sit in your quarters, stay healthy and give birth to a healthy son. Once my child is able to walk on his own then and only then are you allowed to do what you want. Complain again to the Left Prime Minister and see what I do with you!”

That night she cried because she couldn't believe that the crown prince she loved was so heartless… one of the servants working for her was a spy for the Right Prime Minister. She managed to relay this information to him and he smiled, he and his two brothers toasted to this laughing at the Left Prime Ministers miscalculations.

After she told her father about this he told her to endure and listen to what the crown prince said, he too kept quiet swallowing his anger, recalculating his plans. When the little prince started walking the crown prince spent a few nights with Meigui leading her to fall pregnant but she was allowed to see her husband, unlike Lanhua which made her bitter.

After Meigui gave birth Ganlan fell pregnant three years later while Haneul was still too young.

During this time, Crown Prince Rong walked into his room and bumped into the maidservant that just finished cleaning his room. Helping her up and when she looked at him his heart thumped hard… watching her leave he put his hand on his heat feeling it beat strangely fast.

Unable to stop thinking about her in the following days he went to find his nursing maid asking about her… reporting back to the prince she raised his nursing maid told him how she came to work here. Because he was interested in her he ordered the head maid to arrange for Ni Xing to serve by his side pouring tea and serving him lunch.

Crown Prince Rong made it obvious to everyone that he was courting Ni Xing. Whereas Ni Xing made it very obvious that she wanted nothing to do with him… but after a year of being annoyed by him, she finally fell in love too.

Lanhua would sometimes stalk them and other times get Ni Xing into trouble but the crown prince would always cover up for her.

Ni Xing knew that Lanhua hated her but did not bother with it. When she finally fell pregnant after her first time with the crown prince they got married and were happy, even the little prince and other wives liked her.

Crown Prince Rong’s nursing maid was in charge of taking care of Ni Xing during her pregnancy. While checking her health one day she frowned, sending the other servants away she said to Ni Xing while whispering, “My lady, the child inside of you is female.”

The two of them kept quiet about this while Ni Xing mentally prepared herself for what was about to come. She told the little prince that if he could, she would appreciate it if he could protect her daughter and also asked him to keep this a secret from everyone.

When she gave birth the Imperial Palace was in an uproar… finally leaving the emperor to kick his granddaughter and Ni Xing out of the palace while confining the Crown Prince for two days because he killed three of the palace guards who tried keeping him from seeing Ni Xing and his daughter.

~~~

Living on the outskirts of the empire, just her and her daughter weren’t as lonely as it was in the beginning because she had a little one to keep her company. In the fifth month of living there, Ni Xing couldn't fall asleep….

Later into the night as she was sitting by the window she saw ten silhouettes run across the open field under the bright moonlight. Grabbing her sword hidden under the floor, she placed her baby in a basket and tied it to the roofs frames that were exposed… Fighting off the intruders one by one she kept the badly injured one alive and cross-questioned him… She told him that if he gave up who sent them he would be spared. Believing her words he told her that the crown princess and the Left Prime Minister paid them one hundred gold each to kill her and her baby.

Furious... she went back on her words and killed him. “To think that our lives cost ten thousand gold!” She got rid of the bodies and left heading to her old friends business establishment…. She left because she knew that they would be sending people to check if they were dead since the assassin they hired won't be returning.

Lanhua and the Left Prime Minister were frustrated but stayed silent and during this time she buttered up to the crown prince wishing for Ni Xing and her baby to live and return too them safe and healthy.

What Lanhua didn’t know was that Ni Xing held grudges.