Eirian woke slowly. Early, before the first light had even appeared. She was warm, almost too warm, even though the fire had died down to a gentle glow. By some miracle, they hadn't rolled off the couch in the middle of the night. They were still tangled together on the couch. Eirian could feel the rise and fall of their breath against her.
As her eyes adjusted, she could make out their features. Chenzhou with his softness, Mingzhe with his sharpness. How well the three of them fit together.
Eirian had never imagined that this was the way things would have worked out when she had first left Aontacht. She had been prepared to be miserable, lonely, and likely covered in blood from defending herself from new enemies, but none of that had come to pass. Instead, despite a rocky start, she had found a great friendship that blossomed into love and a husband who valued her mind more than anything else. And she had found love a second time with Mingzhe, different, but no less passionate than what she shared with Chenzhou. And even better, they loved each other as much as they loved her.
It almost seemed too perfect to be true, and she'd be suspicious if everything else wasn't working out much worse. Somehow, good luck was easier to swallow when it came alongside bad luck.
How human, she mused. Unable to accept goodness for good's sake.
She untangled her arm, gently, careful not to wake either of them, and waved a hand at the window. It opened silently, letting in a gentle breeze.
She wondered, for the first time in a long time, how Philip and his wife were doing? The woman had seemed surprisingly gentle, guileless when she and Chenzhou had met them at her father's ball. She wasn't what Eirian was expecting, based on what she knew of Philip, and even now, Eirian didn't think she'd been that blind to his nature. He was terribly ambitious and horribly concerned over what everyone thought of him. He'd never hesitated to find fault with Eirian's appearance if it didn't match his vision, and while Eirian had enough self-confidence not to be bothered by, or to change when he threw a fit, she wondered if his new wife was the same.
Honestly, that night she seemed too sweet for him, and a part of Eirian felt bad for her. But maybe Philip was better with her than he was with Eirian. That was possible. Eirian was certainly not the same person she'd been when she first came to the Camelia, though she didn't think she'd changed that much. She'd definitely grown, but she also remembered women in high society that had changed drastically once they had married. Becoming female parodies of their husbands or worse, their husbands' mothers.
She briefly entertained the thought of Chenzhou and Mingzhe changing to resemble her, but she would hate it if it ever happened in real life.
And frankly, she didn't think either of them was so weak or desperate a personality to change like that.
She was grateful for that. How bored she would be if she had a husband like that.
All they needed to do was get through this investigation, find out who was responsible, and punish them, and they could focus on being happy. On building the Camelia back up and strengthening the peace, and being happy.
She kept getting stuck on that one.
Being happy.
She'd never thought about it much when she was young, but she supposed back then that no one had really been trying to stop her from being happy. At least, not as much as they were now that she was an adult.
She looked at Chenzhou and Mingzhe, although she could only really see the tops of their heads. They were good men, and she was going to protect them as long as she could.
***
Lady Yang sipped her tea in quiet contemplation. Lord Zhao had proven more interesting than she'd expected. More thoughtful and aware than she'd realized. It was unfortunate he'd made the connection between the assassins and her family. Those masks had been a moment of pride and vanity that she'd known would be trouble even as she allowed it.
And really, only Lord Zhao had made the connection, so it hadn't turned out that badly. He wasn't going to say anything. Of that she was certain.
The careful planning her family had begun hundreds of years ago was finally bearing fruit, coming to its victorious conclusion.
She was beyond pleased that she would be alive to see it. That she would be the one who would finally accept their victory instead of being simply another generation sacrificed in the name of success.
Her family had sacrificed every single member, all of themselves, for so long that to finally have the end in sight was…delicious.
It had taken all her training and impressive discipline not to rush to the end. Those years watching Chenzhou wither away had been particularly painful. Every day, she'd waited for the alarms to sound and news to come that he had passed away, and every night she had gone to bed disappointed.
She had not expected his marriage to Princess Soliel. Well, she had expected his marriage when he was much younger, but then he'd stagnated in that relationship with the merchant's daughter, and she'd written off any concern about it when they failed to produce children. His decision to marry Princess Soliel was calculated to a level that Lady Yang actually admired.
Without even intending to, he'd stumbled on a way to check the Yang's plans, because she could not act rashly with the throne so close. Until she controlled the entirety of the Crimson Army, at least.
Perhaps the Camelia did not need to remain subservient to another throne forever, but there was a very small window for that to work out in her lifetime. Only while the new king was weak, as well as Lord Ye. If either of them regained their strength, they would be able to fight her off with ease. She had no illusion about her level of resources compared to theirs.
But still, if handled properly, it was possible…
~ tbc