Lady Yang was a tall, willowy woman of commanding presence. Despite the fact that she looked like a stiff wind could snap her in half, she had a spine of steel and a heart of stone when it came to her enemies.
Mingzhe had just never imagined he would be one of them.
When she'd caught him in the hallway, Mingzhe thought there was a moment where he could have left, and it would have been fine. A split second where she'd had no idea what was running through his mind, his recognition of the shield and the metal working technique.
If he just hadn't looked at it when she'd been looking at him, he probably could have gotten out before she realized.
That one slip was the end of him, and he hadn't even realized.
But then, most people probably didn't, he thought. Was there anyone smart enough to see the moment that was going to end them before it came?
The world would probably look very different if they did.
Mingzhe's world had ended in that hallway, under Lady Yang's black eyes. She's watched his gaze flick to the shield, for no more than a second, awareness had sparked in her own, and once it had, Mingzhe had at least had the sense to know he wasn't getting out of that hallway alive unless she let him.
He'd had no choice but to obey when she'd gestured, inviting him into her solar. Mingzhe had stayed as far from her as he could, the entire seating section and a table between them as the door closed. He felt like a fly trapped between spider webs strung too close together to allow any escape.
"Tea?" She'd offered, and Mingzhe didn't know enough words in his entire vocabulary to explain why he'd never take anything she offered him ever again.
She'd been amused by his refusal. Silently laughing at him as she'd taken a seat. "It's not poisoned, Lord Zhao. That would be rather obvious, don't you think?"
"That's hardly stopped people before." He'd worked up the courage, or accepted the inevitability of the situation and taken a seat across from her, but he still hadn't touched anything on the table.
"True." She studied him, and Mingzhe was struck for the first time by the emptiness in her eyes. He'd never noticed it before, had confused their darkness for depth, but now that he was pinned under the, all he saw was an endless abyss. "You seem bothered by something, Lord Zhao."
He frowned, trying to predict where she was going. "These are challenging times, Lady Yang."
"Indeed." Her smile had an edge of violence and victory. Whatever she had been planning, whatever her reasons were, she'd clearly been at them long enough that being caught was not enough to shake her. "One does what one must to survive in times like that."
"And what does that include?" Mingzhe asked, body poised for a fight. He was skilled with a sword, but not so skilled that he could fight his way out of this house by himself.
A thought struck him, cold and cutting…Did Hikari know?
His oldest, closest friend.
Maybe…maybe he's right.
Was Hikari saying that because he knew what his mother was doing?
Was he involved?
"You know." Lady Yang said and managed to seem like a disappointed school teacher as she did. "Survival is paramount, always. But as leaders, we cannot only be concerned about ourselves. We are responsible for every member of our family, for all the people who follow us. We cannot be selfish and think of only those we like, and we must do anything. Anything. To ensure their survival."
"You speak as if we are under the reign of a tyrant or some great evil," Mingzhe argued. "We are not. Regardless of your personal feelings about the family, the Ye's have been relatively free of that kind of person."
"Their founder would certainly notbe considered good or kind." Lady Yang pointed out in a counterargument.
She wasn't wrong, but Mingzhe was certain of one thing. "You will find one of those in every family if you look back far enough. And the fact that there is only one when their family has existed for hundreds of years is rather impressive. Probably better than most. The Zhao's have certainly had a couple of questionable members in their time. As I'm sure the Yangs have."
Lady Yang's lip curled. "We have not."
Mingzhe had no way of knowing if she was being truthful or if it was the delusion of a mad woman that her family was perfect and suffered no flaws.
"My family carried our ideals and practices with us from the Kingdom of Enlightenment when we crossed the great grasslands to come here."
The Kingdom of Enlightenment was a small dominion in the Land of Song and Snow that had collapsed not long after the Ye family had taken control. The estate had absorbed the family as part of a small group of refugees that had survived the arduous journey through two lands and thousands of li. The Yangs claimed to be nobility in the Kingdom of Enlightenment, but they'd started with nothing when they'd arrived at the Camelia. They'd risen through the ranks relatively quickly, but they'd still had to rise.
Mingzhe wondered if they resented that?
"Do you know why it was called the Kingdom of Enlightenment?" Lady Yang mused, brushing invisible specks of dirt off her skirt.
"Because someone named it that?" Mignzhe couldn't help but be callous given the situation, and Lady Yang's displeased expression clearly stated she didn't like it. Unfortunately for her, Mingzhe was beyond caring what she liked or disliked.
"It was called the Kingdom of Enlightenment because it started as a university. A place of learning, before it grew so large and so influential that it was able to build itself a throne. My family forged that throne."
Mingzhe raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure your service was well rewarded."
"No." She shook her head, a sly smile coming over her face. "We forged that throne. We melted down the metal from swords and decorations and gifts and tithes and bribes, and we made that throne. And we were its guardians from then on." She fiddled with a necklace, a pendant of the Yang family crest. A metal forging hammer and a bow.
Mingzhe felt like a fool for not seeing it before now.
~ tbc