"Zhenghuan, is there no way you can accede to the marriage proposal?" the king asked, looking at the younger man pleadingly.

They were now within the confines of the king's study and there was no one else in the room except the two of them. The banquet guests had long left the palace and it was late into the night, but this discussion could not be delayed further. Even though King Shunde had managed to stall for time by suggesting that the marriage alliance be discussed a separate day, he would still need to give the Shon ambassador an answer eventually and that answer had to be one that the latter could accept.

"No," Zhenghuan said, staying his ground. "My answer is the same as it was back there. I will not marry the princess of Shon."

"But the king of Shon has specified you in his proposal, to reject his request would be a direct offense to the king and the princess. Political marriages are common. You don't have to like the princess—even if you marry her you don't have to face her every day if you don't want to! If you prefer, we can even arrange for her to continue staying here in the capital while you return to Anyang. That way, you would at most have to see her once or twice a year. I am not asking you to take her as your wife—all I am asking is that you accept her into your household as one of your concubines, that is all."

If any of the court officials heard what the king was suggesting, there would have been an uproar. The Shadow Lord was merely a subordinate to the crown and the king could easily issue the order to have him marry the princess—he would not be able to say no—yet the king was here wasting time trying to convince the younger man to nod his head, even to the extent of offering to make the Shon princess a mere concubine.

"Your Majesty, forgive me but there is no way I can accept this proposal. I will not marry a woman I do not love."

"You don't always get to marry the one you love!" the king bellowed angrily.

"If I do not marry the woman I love then I will not marry at all," Zhenghuan said quietly, seemingly oblivious to the king's anger. He knew that his words had struck a raw nerve in the king, because the latter was acutely aware of what it was like to have to marry someone he didn't love. King Shunde respected his queen, that much was true, but he could not convince himself—or anyone else—that he loved her. He had dozens of women in his harem, many of whom had borne him children, yet they all knew that the one woman that he loved had slipped out of his grasp.

Even a king had to lose sometimes.

King Shunde sighed, sinking back in his seat. "Is it because of Yu Zixi?"

Zhenghuan remained silent, neither denying nor agreeing to that.

"Alright, if your mind is made up then there's nothing else for us to discuss. I will have to identify another candidate for this alliance." The king rubbed his sore temples, closing his eyes as he ran through the possibilities in his mind.

"The princess would much prefer to enter the household of the crown prince," Zhenghuan suggested. "If you grant her wish, I expect she will be appeased."

"No," the king rejected. 'She cannot marry Ru-quan."

"Why not?"

King Shunde opened his eyes, glaring at the young man. "Zhenghuan, you know full well why I will not allow that to happen. If Ru-quan marries the princess of Shon, he will have the kingdom of Shon behind him."

"Is that not a good thing? He is the crown prince and he will inherit the crown one day. His marriage to the princess of Shon will ensure that our two kingdoms enjoy continued peace."

The king slammed his palm against the table, his eyes blazing angrily. "Do you think that just by feigning ignorance you can pretend as if the truth doesn't exist? Zhenghuan, staying away for the capital doesn't change a single thing. You cannot hide forever! Just because you have adopted the surname Du does not make you—"

"Your Majesty," Zhenghuan interjected, "my surname is Du and that will never change. I thought I had made that clear when I left five years ago." He looked straight into the eyes of the king, unwavering. "I will do my part to protect this kingdom but do not expect any more from me. There are people who are much more suited for that role than I am." He bowed, then turned on his heels and walked out of the room without waiting for an acknowledgement from the king—perhaps the only man in the entire kingdom who dared to do something like that.

The king sighed as he watched the black silhouette disappear into the distance. His chief steward, Moqun, who had been waiting outside the study, walked in after the Shadow Lord had left, assuming his position by the king's side. Seeing that the king looked distressed, the steward quickly poured him a fresh cup of tea.

"This was brewed with fresh peppermint and lavender. It will help with headaches," the steward said.

"Moqun," the king picked up the cup of tea and took a sip, "did I do something wrong? After all I've done for him, all that I've said, all I get from him are those cold, heartless words. Why can't he see that I'm just trying to do what's right? This is his birthright—it's in his blood!"

"The young general will understand one day. He has returned to the capital, has he not?" the steward said comfortingly. "Your Majesty, pardon me for saying this, but the general isn't without reason. If you decide to go ahead with this, it will create a lot of controversy within the kingdom."

"My mind is made up," the king said resolutely. "Whether he likes it or not, this is the responsibility he was born with and it is the responsibility he must bear. As for the rest of them, I have no need to answer to them. I am the king and choosing the heir to this kingdom is my decision and my decision only. Bring me a scroll and my seal."

Moqun quickly did as instructed, unfurling a new scroll across the mahogany table and handing the king a writing brush. When the king was done, he picked up his heavy jade seal and stamped it across his name, the red insignia of the king of Duan attesting to the authenticity of the words that this scroll contained. Moqun brought forth a long, wooden box lined with blue and gold silk, carefully placing the scroll inside with trembling hands.

Serving as the king's chief steward ever since the king succeeded the throne, Moqun knew him better than anyone else. Although he knew that the king had been toying with this idea for many years, he had never gone as far as to put it down in writing before, what more making it official by stamping the imperial seal onto the scroll. The box he was carrying now held a ticking time bomb, one that would undoubtedly cause chaos within the imperial court once it was revealed.

"Your Majesty, when do you intend to..."

"Keep this in the vault for now and don't let anyone else know of its existence. I would still prefer to wait until he is willing. Hopefully I will not need to wait long."

#

When the king's decree regarding the marriage alliance with Shon was issued, it caught the entire capital by surprise. The king had not only honoured the Shadow Lord's decision, he had also opted not to have the princess marry any of the princes, contrary to popular expectation. Instead, the king offered to take Princess Sana into his own harem, bestowing upon her the title of Consort of the First Rank, putting her alongside the likes of Consort Song and Consort Han, the mothers of the fifth and eight princes respectively.

"This is ridiculous!" Princess Sana yelled, flinging her porcelain cup against the wall. The cup shattered into tiny fragments with a loud crash. "I will not marry the king! Don't you know how old he is? He's older than my father!"

"Princess, you have no other option. Unless you'd prefer to return to Shon in shame?" Ambassador Caron said, his expression dark and stormy. This was not an outcome that he had expected either and he knew that their king would not be pleased with it. He stared down into his teacup, swirling the dark liquid thoughtfully. It had been a risk, using the princess in order to test a hypothesis, but at the very least it had not been futile.

A while back the king of Shon had received an anonymous letter bearing a rather unusual assertion, one that had left them suspicious and puzzled. The letter had but one line, yet it was enough to send shockwaves through the king's inner circle.

The Shadow Lord is King Shunde's son and will be the next king of Duan.

It was ridiculous.

Everyone knew that King Shunde had named the second prince, his eldest surviving son, as the crown prince of Duan five years back. Over the past five years the incumbent crown prince had been sitting comfortably in that position and there were no signs that anything would change in the near future. Even if there were to be changes, the strongest challenger for the position seemed to be Prince Ru-an, the king's fifth son.

The contents of the anonymous letter was like a bolt out of the blue and many of King Romir's advisers had recommended that he ignore it entirely. However, Caron thought otherwise. The letter reminded him of something odd that he hadn't paid attention to until now.

It was common knowledge that the king of Duan greatly favoured the elder General Du and his son, the Shadow Lord, but many attributed it to the Du family's extensive contributions towards the kingdom's border security and success on the battlefields, choosing to overlook the almost obscene favouritism the king showed towards the young general.

Upon thinking deeper, Caron thought that the claim made by the letter might not be so far-fetched after all, although he wasn't quite ready to accept it as fact without a thorough investigation. If the letter was true and the Shadow Lord was indeed the king's son and potential heir, it would have significant implications on the state of affairs between the three kingdoms.

Although peace supposedly existed between the kingdoms, all parties knew that this peace was merely a temporary façade maintained by the somewhat balanced military might of each of them. The kingdoms often tested the boundaries by inciting small skirmishes along their borders, though nothing serious had ever emerged. If the Shadow Lord assumed the throne of Duan, that could well be the slight push needed to tip the scales and Caron was loathe to imagine what the armies of Duan would be like if they were entirely under the Shadow Lord's command.

The banquet had already given Caron the answer he was looking for, but King Shunde's decree confirmed it. The Shadow Lord's behaviour was far beyond what should be acceptable for a servant of the crown, yet the king had not only tolerated it, he had pandered to the man's wishes.

What made Caron even more certain that the letter spoke the truth was the fact that the king had not betrothed Princess Sana to any of the princes, even though Sana had made it blatant that she fancied their crown prince. The princess represented the kingdom of Shon and it went without a doubt that Shon would give its support to whichever prince she married. Choosing to keep the princess in his own harem seemed to suggest that King Shunde did not want any of the princes gaining that advantage.

The ambassador's thick eyebrows knit together in a deep frown. He would need to report this to his king as soon as possible and then they would need to reconsider the path ahead. There was one other thing that was weighing heavily on his mind, and that was the motive behind that poison letter. Who had sent it and what did he want out of this?