The next morning, Yuelan sat at her dressing table and stared at the set of sapphire accessories in front of her. Today was the day she was supposed to have a meal with the first prince, but Yuelan wasn’t sure how she felt about it. The accessories in front of her were beautiful with detailed etching in the headpiece that was made to look like a peacock was resting atop her head. The matching hair pins would form the tail, fanning out with her hair.

Lifting a thin finger, Yuelan nudged the gold and sapphire peacock and sighed. She put her left elbow on the dressing table and propped her head up with her hand as she used her right hand to nudge the peacock around on the table. It was heavy. Most likely wearing the set would give her a headache.

“Is something wrong, Miss?” Laurel asked. The maid was standing just behind Yuelan, waiting for her miss to let her do her hair. “Do you dislike the accessories from His Highness the first prince?”

Yuelan shrugged. “I don’t dislike them,” she answered, letting out another sigh. “They look beautiful, but I feel like wearing them is impractical...Putting all of this on my head at once will give me a headache, but if I don’t wear all of the pieces it’ll look strange as well.”

“But you’ll be going out this afternoon with His Highness and he sent them to you as a gift,” Laurel gently reminded her.

“It would be rude to wear something someone else had given me,” Yuelan concluded. “Why don’t we choose some of the accessories in my dowry instead? There are some in there that I haven’t worn and it’s not as though I’ll be attending a formal occasion. I don’t have to wear a complete set of accessories.”

“Of course Miss.” Laurel started carefully picking up the peacock set and placing it in the box it came in. “Could you perhaps wear only the earrings from this set? I think they would look quite nice, even without the full set with them.”

Yuelan looked at the large, dangling earrings decorated like peacock feathers and grimaced. “I feel like if I put on something so large and heavy they’ll tear through my ears,” she disagreed. “And then I won’t be able to wear any at all.” Several stones larger than the nail on Yuelan’s thumb were used on each of the earrings along with more gold and other, smaller sapphires.

Laurel nodded and put the earrings away as well, leaving the dressing table empty. “Then this servant will put the set away and find some nice accessories from miss’ dowry to wear instead.”

“Thank you, Laurel,” Yuelan sighed. “Though blue stones would be nice with this gown, so try to find some of those.”

Laurel bowed her head and left the room with the box. She returned a few minutes later with another box and started setting out hair pins, earrings, and necklaces from that box for Yuelan to choose from.

Yuelan studied the items, all containing blue stones, and selected a pair of silver hair pins that had butterflies decorated with sapphires and aquamarines at the decorative end. Two thin chains just under each butterfly hung down with little bells attached that would tinkle whenever Yuelan moved her head. “Use these,” she said, handing them to Laurel so the maid could do her hair.

Laurel took the hairpins and picked up the engraved, redwood brush and started brushing and styling Yuelans long, thick, black hair while Yuelan studied the necklaces and earrings on the table.

By the time Laurel was done with Yuelan’s hair, Yuelan had found a pair of small butterfly earrings and a simple necklace with only a chain and a single, larger butterfly that matched the ones on the hairsticks. She gave the necklace to Laurel to put on her while she put the earrings in herself.

Fully ready for the day, Yuelan stood up from the dressing table. The sleeves of her dress were just as long as they had been the day before, reaching to her knuckles with the lower part flowing down several inches, but today the dress and half-coat were not as simple as yesterday’s. The gown was made of soft, light blue silk with light pink and white orchids and birds embroidered on it. The half-coat was a soft pink and had pale green willow tree embroidery. The gown covered her feet completely, but the embroidered shoes were pale green with light blue.

Yuelan wasn’t hungry, so she only had a small bit of porridge before heading out of her courtyard and into the garden near the residence’s main gate to wait for the first prince’s arrival. Morning court would be over soon, and he had sent word that he would be picking her up directly after.

There was a swing hanging from an elm tree in the garden and Yuelan took her seat on that, gently swinging back and forth in lazy motions. As her feet moved to pump the swing Yuelan stared at the bows of the tree that bent down toward the ground with a small frown on her thin lips.

Guangfeng wanted to help the people. What did the other princes want to do as emperor? She’d have to ask each one individually. Of course, there was a chance they would lie to her and tell her what she wanted to hear. Yuelan would have to secretly observe their actions somehow to see what they were doing when they weren’t putting on a show for her. She could ask Liling as well. The oldest princess seemed to get along well with Guangfeng and she probably had opinions about her other brothers…

“My lady, His Highness the first prince has arrived.” the high-pitched voice of Chung Soo broke through Yuelan’s musings and she looked up, then carefully dismounted from the swing.

“Thank you, Chung Soo,” she said softly before heading to the front gates of her manor.

The first prince’s carriage was ostentatious. Those were Yuelan’s first thoughts. It was made of expensive rosewood and covered in gold and expensive silks. The horses seemed to be in good condition, but the driver and the servants standing to either side of the carriage entrance seemed pale and possibly malnourished. Yuelan frowned a little, but didn’t say anything as she stepped up to the carriage.

Xiong Guangfai lifted a curtain and held his hand out to help Yuelan into the carriage. “Lady Long,” he said in a respectful tone as Yuelan took his hand and stepped inside, followed by Willow. He saw the accessories in her hair and frowned a little. “Did you not like the gift I sent you?”

Yuelan gave the first prince a diplomatic smile. “It’s lovely, but I felt something simpler would suit the occasion better,” she replied. The accessories really were beautiful, but they were ostentatious and heavy, completely against Yuelan’s preferred style.

Guangfai reached a hand out to touch one of Yuelan’s butterfly hairpins. “These are quite nice. Who gave them to you?”

Yuelan’s eyes narrowed and her thin lips got thinner, but she still kept a smile on her face as she moved away from Guangfai’s hand. “They were my mother’s,” she answered in a calm voice. “Your Highness, please keep in mind that men and women are different and should not be too familiar.”

“Does it matter?” the first prince asked. “We’ll be engaged eventually anyway.” He smiled at her, but pulled his hand back.

“That has yet to be decided,” Yuelan reminded him. “His Majesty granted me the right to choose between all of his sons.”

“Yes, but I am the eldest prince and the son of the empress. Naturally the title of crown prince should be mine, which would make you my future wife,” the first prince argued.

“It’s my understanding that the current empress is the second empress and that the third prince is the oldest son of the first empress,” Yuelan replied. “So he has as much right to the title as you do. Also, the decision on who I marry still belongs to me. I’m less interested in who has the most rights to the title of Crown Prince and more interested in who is best suited to it. Why should I choose you over any of your brothers?”

Guangfai frowned and his eyes narrowed slightly as he leaned back against the seat of the carriage. “I am the most suited. I have studied the hardest, learned the most, and been helping Father Emperor with running the empire for the longest. I know better than my brothers what should and shouldn’t be done. Second brother has ambition, but no ability. Third brother has neither ambition nor ability and knows only how to fool around with women. Fourth brother has no ambition. Fifth brother cannot produce an heir. Choosing him would only cause uncertainty and make the people lose faith. And Sixth brother…” The first prince snorted. “Is an idiot who will never act like anything more than a child.”

Yuelan’s lips tightened imperceptibly. “I see...Still, I think it’s too soon for me to simply take you at your word. I want to spend some more time observing everything.”

“You may observe me as much as you like,” Guangfai replied, giving her a lazy smile. “Starting with today’s lunch.”