After Eunuch Tang and his entourage had left, Yuelan stared at the carriage for a minute before looking around for Long He. The dragon wasn’t far away and was watching Yuelan with a calm expression. She frowned. Why didn’t he seem at all rattled or upset by what had happened? She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

Long He’s calm expression changed to amused. “Being upset won’t change anything, Miss Yuelan,” he pointed out. “I suggest we pack your things into the carriage and go see your new residence. If there is no furniture in it I can take you back to the Library tonight for you to rest and bring you back in the morning, though I would imagine your servants have already been assigned to fill the residence with everything you might need.”

Yuelan’s eyes narrowed. “Couldn’t you have stopped all this at some point?” she demanded. “It’s not like I’ll be staying here forever. I have a home to go back to.”

Long He shook his head. “This isn’t the time or place. If you wish to talk then we should go to your residence.”

She sighed. “Fine. We’ll take the carriage and everything I bought this morning and go to the residence. At least there will be a spot to put the guzheng in it.” When she turned around to tell Camphor and the others to get ready to leave she found the three maids had already gotten busy moving things to the new carriage. “Why did he have to give me so many presents?” Yuelan grumbled. “And what about those shops? What am I supposed to do with them?”

The dragon chuckled. “Use them to make money, of course. And he gave you what you needed to be able to live the sort of life you should as a future princess consort.”

Yuelan snorted and went to help her servants move things from her room into the carriage. There wasn’t much, so it only took two trips from each of them. When they’d finished Yuelan got into the carriage and sat by a window so she could look out at the streets some more.

The inside of the carriage was lined in soft fabrics with thick pads on the seats. A rosewood table sat in the center with a delicate, porcelain tea set decorated with plum blossoms placed atop it, and inside the table there was a space for heating water--or the carriage itself. It was even nicer inside than Prince Guangfeng’s imperial carriage.

Yuelan leaned back in her seat as the carriage started to move and she found that the padding was thick enough it was more comfortable than sitting in Prince Guangfeng’s carriage, though she still didn’t think she’d be comfortable going for too long inside of any of the horse-pulled contraptions.

After about twenty minutes the carriage stopped in front of a set of large, ornately carved gates. The three servant girls got out of the carriage then helped Yuelan out and led her to the gates, which were already starting to open. Two rows of servants, both male and female, lined either side of the stone-paved path that led from the gates into the rest of the residence and they all bent over in a salute as Yuelan stepped inside. “Welcome home, Miss,” the servants greeted in sync before rising. A middle-aged man and a granny stepped from the front of the two lines and saluted her a second time, though not as deeply.

“This servant is called Chung Soo. His Majesty as assigned me to be the head housekeeper,” the man said in a high pitched voice that marked him as a eunuch.

“This old one is called Bing Mei,” the granny added. “His Majesty assigned me as the head maid for Miss’s residence and asked that I teach her the rules and etiquette of our country.”

Yuelan nodded. “These three are Camphor, Willow, and Laurel. They are the personal servants Prince Guangfeng assigned to me last night,” she told the two head servants of her residence.

The two older servants nodded and greeted the three maids.

“Is there a courtyard prepared for Miss yet?” Camphor asked. “She should rest and prepare before Their Highnesses the Princes arrive to greet her.”

Chung Soo nodded. “The main courtyard was set aside for Miss and prepared first. It has been cleaned and new furniture put in place, though it will take some time for the residence to be finished. If Miss will follow this servant, I will show you the way.”

Yuelan nodded. “Go ahead.” Her head was starting to throb from all of the surprises of the day and she just wanted to take the accessories out of her hair and lie down to close her eyes for a while.

The eunuch explained what each building they passed was for as he led the way to Yuelan’s courtyard, which was a pretty, white building surrounded by a low wall with a moon gate for an entrance. Surrounding the building was a garden filled with flowers and two dogwood trees in full bloom, one on either side of the moon gate.

“Thank you, Chung Soo,” Yuelan said to her housekeeper. “Please send someone to inform me when Their Highnesses arrive. I’m sure there is a lot to be done, so I won’t keep you.” She headed through the moon gate and then the doors and into her courtyard. It took a couple of minutes of exploration to find the master bedroom and she went through a couple of empty rooms that looked like a potential sitting room and dining area first.

Once she was in her bedroom Yuelan sat down in a wooden chair in front of a vanity. Everything looked to be beautifully carved, though Yuelan wasn’t in the mood to pay too much attention to any of it. “Help me take out my hair, please,” she requested of her maids, who quickly started to attend to her. As soon as all the accessories were out Yuelan walked over to lay down on a daybed placed by a window. She opened the shutters to let the fresh air and sun in and yawned. “Wake me in an hour so we can do my hair again before the princes arrive,” she instructed before drifting off to sleep.

***

Yuelan had been up with her hair redone and had been practicing her greetings with Camphor for an hour before a servant came to let her know that the princes had arrived. She followed the servant to the main entrance and gave the princes a much more graceful salute than she had given Prince Guangfeng before, though because the emperor had declared her of equal status, she didn’t need to wait for permission or go as deeply as she had before.

“Since Miss Yuelan and I have met before, I’ll handle the introductions,” Guangfeng said once everyone was settled in the appropriate seats. He sat in a lazy, informal position on a chair with a cup of tea in his hand that he sipped at in the same lazy manner.

“Starting over there is our oldest brother, Xiong Guangfai. His mother became the current empress after my mother died.” Guangfeng’s introductions each came with a lazy wave in the general direction of the indicated brother. “Second brother, Xiong Guanghong is there. On this side we have our fourth brother, Xiong Guangzhu. Fifth brother, Xiong Guangrong is in the wheelchair and the one playing with the origami crane is our sixth brother, Xiong Guangjun.”

Yuelan nodded to each prince as they were named by Prince Guangfeng. She gave them all a polite smile, but wondered what had happened to confine the fifth prince to a wheelchair. The sixth prince had an innocent, childlike air even though he was in the body of an adult and he seemed completely focused on the paper crane in his hands as he made gentle tugs on the neck and tail to flap its wings.

“Fifth brother broke his back in an accident when we were children and has been confined to his wheelchair ever since,” the first prince said in a haughty voice that instantly got on Yuelan’s nerves. “He can’t produce heirs, so there’s no point bothering with him. And sixth brother is an idiot who can barely form sentences. I wouldn’t bother yourself with him, either.”

Yuelan frowned. “It isn’t your decision, Your Highness,” she said in a gentle but firm voice. “I will choose the person I feel will make the best leader for the people. Your emperor decided on this, but the choice is still mine and I don’t have to choose any of you. You’ll have to prove yourselves to me. At least I have the advantage of not knowing any of you, so I can be unbiased from the beginning.”

The first prince snorted. “You met third brother yesterday and let him take you to dinner and give you gifts. How is that being unbiased?”

“I was with Lord Long as well,” Yuelan pointed out. “And I had only just arrived. Prince Guangfeng was merely acting as a guide for me and making sure that I had the things I needed to be presentable here in the capital.” She shrugged. “Besides, there were plenty of officials who tried to sell their daughters to him while we were eating. It was a disgusting display.” Picking up the teacup on the small table beside her, Yuelan took a few sips.

The first prince smirked at Guangfeng, then looked back at Yuelan. “You’re only a girl. Instead of playing as though you understand politics you should focus on embroidery or something. Don’t worry about what Father Emperor told you.”

Yuelan set her teacup down on the table again. “Your attitude isn’t getting you any points, Your Highness, and I do understand politics,” she said calmly. “My father is a prime minister and I am his only child. My mother died when I was young and I have attended several events with him. He taught me the same way he would have a son. I may be a girl, but that doesn’t make me an idiot. The emperor himself questioned me before making his decision. If you have an issue with it I suggest you take it up with him on your own.”

Prince Guangfeng chuckled and Prince Guangfai scowled. The fourth, fifth and second princes looked amused, though were polite enough to not laugh. The sixth prince looked up from his crane, saw Guangfeng was laughing, and let out a childish giggle.

“For the next few days I will be quite busy settling into my new residence,” Yuelan informed the princes. “I appreciate Your Highnesses coming to visit, but from now on I’d appreciate it if you came one at a time so I can take the time to get to know you better and learn what it is you want to do if you were to become emperor.”

“Of course,” Prince Guangfai assured her hastily. “We’ll be sure to come one at a time. Please be sure to make time for us, as some of us have quite busy schedules.”

Yuelan nodded. “If there’s nothing else…”

“We’ll come visit another time,” Prince Guangfeng replied, standing up. “Miss Yuelan only just received this residence and everything in it. I’m sure you’d like the time to get to know it.” He smiled. “Besides, you’ve also had quite a trip from your country to ours. I’m sure you’re tired.”

Yuelan smiled back and rose from her seat. “Thank you. I hope to see Your Highnesses again soon.” She gave them a polite salute and then walked with them out of the reception hall and to the gates of her residence. Each prince got into their own carriage and Yuelan noticed that Prince Guangfeng’s was the least ornate of all of them. Even the prince who seemed to have some sort of mental disability had a nicer carriage than the third prince’s. She frowned a little as she watched the carriages drive away, then turned and started to explore her residence.