"You've come just at the right time. We were admiring the paintings that the girls have painted. Perhaps you can help me choose a winner?" the queen said, gesturing towards the hanging paintings.

The eyes of all the young girls present immediately lit up. The queen was asking the crown prince to pick the winning painting—and the stakes for the contest had suddenly shot up. If any of the paintings (or perhaps the girl who painted it) caught the prince's eye, then there was a good chance that the title of crown princess would fall on that lucky girl's shoulders. Right now, everyone wanted to be that girl.

The crown prince and the others slowly made their way down the aisle of paintings, nodding in approval as they admired each one. As expected, the most eye-catching pieces belonged to Ouyang Sangya, Song Lanfang and Meiyan, each of them earning a line of two of praise from the princes.

"These peonies almost look real!" Ru-quan exclaimed as he studied Meiyan's piece. True enough, the brilliantly red and pink flowers had been painted with such depth and detail that they seemed to jump right off the parchment.

"Look, even the butterflies are confused." Ru-an laughed, watching as two butterflies fluttered past him and landed on Meiyan's painted peonies.

Zi-ning's lips curled up in a sneer. More cheap tricks? Meiyan must have added honey to her paints just to attract the butterflies.

Meiyan was already blushing when she heard the princes' remarks. She was glancing shyly at the young men, looking like the perfect picture of grace and elegance. It was no wonder Ru-an had been attracted to her in their previous life. How could a man resist a girl who was as delicate and supple as a flower? Even Zi-ning had to admit that her half-sister had her charms.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see some of the other girls scowling when they heard the princes' remarks. Even Han Minyoo, Meiyan's close friend, shot an envious glance in Meiyan's direction.

While Ru-quan and Ru-an were admiring Meiyan's painting, Ru-wen had gone further ahead and stopped in front of Zi-ning's painting of the sole willow tree in the middle of the lake.

"This one stands out, doesn't it?" Queen Yuanji remarked. "This was painted by Minister Han's second daughter. Interesting how a young girl chooses to paint a tree when surrounded by a garden full of flowers."

The queen's remark caught the attention of the other men, who quickly lost interest in Meiyan's painting and walked over to join Ru-wen.

"And whose painting might this be?" Ru-quan asked, peering at it curiously.

The queen looked in Zi-ning's direction and the latter quickly stood up from her seat, curtseying politely.

"I painted that, Your Highness," Zi-ning replied. She could already feel all the poisonous stares from the other girls coming her way.

"When I asked her why she chose to paint the willow, she said that she felt it looked lonely," the queen laughed. "That's quite an interesting answer, is it not?"

"Very," the crown prince replied with a smile.

Everyone present was looking at Zi-ning now, including Ru-an.

When Zi-ning caught the fifth prince looking at her, she quickly averted her gaze, but ended up meeting that of the eighth prince, Ru-wen, instead. She stared down at her feet—guilty. While she could look Ru-an in the eye, albeit with fury, she couldn't do the same for Ru-wen. She owed him too much. In this life, the only thing she could do for him was to stay far away, so that hopefully the same tragedy would not have to repeat itself.

"So, you've seen all the paintings. Which one do you think deserves the top honour?" the queen asked.

"You're putting me on a spot, Mother," Ru-quan replied. "How am I supposed to choose when there are so many excellent pieces of work?"

"Your Highness, there's no need to be shy about it," Nansheng teased, elbowing the crown prince lightly in the ribs. He leaned over and whispered, "If you can't choose a painting, then why don't you decide based on the girl that painted the painting?"

Ru-quan went slightly red in the face, embarrassed by his friend's comment. He cleared his throat and said, "How about we put it to a vote? I'm no expert in painting. Everyone should have a say."

"In that case," the queen gestured to her maidservants, who promptly brought out some small baskets of flowers, handing them out to the guests present, "we can do as the crown prince says and put it to a vote. Everyone can use the flower in their hand to choose the painting they think is best."

Clutching their individual flowers in their hands, the guests got to their feet and went around the paintings, taking their time to cast their vote for the one they liked best. Everyone's watchful eyes were waiting to see who the princes would give their flowers to.

Zi-ning rolled her eyes when she caught Ouyang Sangya casting her vote to herself—as if she thought no one would have seen her doing that.

The Huang brothers both cast their votes to Meiyan, much to her delight. Unfortunately for her, the queen cast her own vote to Sangya instead, which sent a strong signal about who it was that the queen preferred as her daughter-in-law. Sangya was beaming proudly from ear to ear when she saw the queen drop the flower into her basket.

Ru-wen was the first of the three princes to cast his vote—and his went straight into the basket in front of Zi-ning's painting, without a second thought.

Zi-ning was not surprised. After all, it had been Ru-wen who had first introduced her to the willow tree in the imperial gardens. She hadn't been expecting him to show up here though, and a part of her was beating herself up for choosing to paint the willow now.

What happened next took everyone by even greater surprise.

Both Crown Prince Ru-quan and Prince Ru-an walked over to Zi-ning's willow painting and tossed their flowers into her basket too.

There was no fending off the jealous stares from all the other girls now. Zi-ning kept her head bowed down, choosing not to engage with any of them.

In coming here, Zi-ning had already harboured the intention of getting the queen's attention. If she could get into the queen's good books, then she would have a better chance of alerting her to Ru-an's insidious plans for the crown and in doing so, thwart his ambitions once and for all. If the queen believed that the fifth prince was a threat to the crown prince's position, then she would do whatever it took to ensure that her son's privilege—and life—was secured.

However, the appearance of all the princes at today's event had complicated matters somewhat. It seemed that she had not only attracted the attention of the queen, she had also attracted the attention of all three princes whom she wanted nothing to do with in this life. She cared not for the position of crown princess, or that of a princess consort. All she wanted to do was to watch Ru-an fall.

No matter, she would just have to play by ear.

When the votes were counted, the queen's lady-in-waiting brought the sheet of paper containing the results to her and the queen took a quick glance at it. The other servants had also brought out three wooden trays, each carrying a small trinket from the queen's private collection: a white jade vase, a coral bracelet and a golden hairpin. All the items were intricately designed and each cost a small fortune, but the golden hairpin was the most exquisite and valuable of them all, earning tiny gasps from the lips of many when it appeared.

Smiling, the queen looked up at the expectant faces of the young ladies present and said, "How wonderful. It seems like we have our top three paintings decided. "Miss Ouyang Sangya, Miss Han Meiyan... and Miss Han Zi-ning."

The three ladies stood up one by one as their names were called, stepping forward from their seats to stand before the queen. There was a buzz going around the pavilion, likely because there were two women from the Han family standing up there, a rare honour that would garner the jealousy of many of the other noble families.

"Such beautiful young ladies with such talent, don't you agree?" the queen said to her son, who nodded in agreement. She regarded them one by one, as if assessing who would make the most suitable daughter-in-law. This was something that demanded careful consideration, because the girl she chose would one day succeed her as queen of the kingdom.

While she was admiring them, the queen's gaze fell upon the white jade pendant hanging from Zi-ning's waist. Her smooth forehead creased ever so slightly. She quickly averted her gaze, folding the piece of paper and handing it back to Lady Ru.

"The painting that is in third place belongs to Miss Han Zi-ning," the queen announced, and a servant brought the white jade vase to Zi-ning, "second place goes to Miss Han Meiyan," the coral bracelet was brought to Meiyan, "and last but not least, the painting that garnered the most number of votes belongs to Miss Ouyang Sangya."

Sangya's eyes sparkled with delight as she watched the servant bring the gold hairpin to her. She immediately dropped to a curtsey, thanking the queen profusely for the gift. Zi-ning and Meiyan did likewise.

The crown prince frowned, turning to his mother. "Mother, are you sure the result is correct?" he asked. "I thought—"

"The result is what it is," the queen said, cutting him off abruptly. "Now Quan-er, you can't be biased just because the painting you favoured didn't come in first, am I right?"

Ru-quan smiled, shaking his head. "Of course not, I didn't mean it that way." He left the matter at that, although he still snuck a glance in Zi-ning's direction as the she retreated back to her seat with the jade vase in her hands.

Zi-ning knew that there were many quizzical glances being thrown her way after the results were announced, but she pretended she didn't notice any of them. Deep down, she was also mildly perplexed by the queen's decision. Anyone with eyes could see that Zi-ning had the most number of flowers in her basket, so why did the queen choose to change the results? Had she done something to displease the woman? She didn't think so, yet she couldn't for the life of her imagine the real reason behind what had happened.