Crown prince Baixun of Gi and his crown princess arrived in the capital less than an hour before the banquet began, and arrived at the venue decidedly late. Dressed in a suit of dark blue silk with white embroidery, Baixun was all smiles as he accepted the greetings of the ministers and officials that were in attendance. As he led Naying down the central aisle, he kept a watchful eye on everyone that was present, noting with interest that the crown prince of Feng was seated in one corner drinking wine as if it were water.

His men had already brought him the news that the princess of Hwa had announced her engagement to a prince of Feng, but that prince wasn't the crown prince. It was no wonder Prince Minsu was drowning his sorrows in wine.

He had to admit that it came as somewhat of a surprise to him, because none of his spies had ever come back with news of this second prince of Feng. It meant that he needed to go back to the drawing board, but that was fine by him—patience was a trait that he was rather proud of.

"I don't think I've ever heard that the king of Feng had another son," Naying whispered into his ear as they greeted the hosts and swiftly took their seats across from the king of Feng, her eyes peering curiously at this new prince that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Neither have I," Baixun replied with a smile, "but since the king himself acknowledged it, then I suppose it must be true." He wouldn't have been surprised even if the king of Feng had created a son out of thin air just to secure an alliance with Hwa, considering his heir was an imbecile. Raising his cup, he offered a toast to the king—one that was not received particularly joyously. "It's quite the celebration, isn't it?" he remarked, surveying the flurry of activity taking place across the grand hall. A pity it would all end in a less than joyous manner.

He raised his cup to his lips, turning his gaze towards the main characters of today's show.

Atop the sandalwood dais, the princess of Hwa sat in a casual manner, her slender frame slanting sideways as she leaned one elbow lazily on the armrest of her chair. She wore an exquisite silk dress made in the deepest shade of red, with an embroidered phoenix taking flight trellising along the right side of her dress. Beside her, Prince Minjun was decked in the pure white and quietly sipping on his wine, looking not the least bit out of place.

Baixun's brows dipped as he pondered upon where he had seen the man before. There was a sense of familiarity tugging at him from the back of his mind, although he was certain he did not recognise that face.

His guard was up. Someone who had kept such a low profile for this long and could maintain such composure at a setting like this was not a person to be trifled with.

His eyes flickered back towards the princess and regent of Hwa, just as she lightly brushed aside the strings of pearls that hid her face. The moment he laid his eyes on her, Baixun's cup slipped out of his hands, crashing onto the floor and splintering into more than a dozen fragments.

"Your Highness, are you alright?" Naying exclaimed.

How can it be? This must be some sort of joke, Baixun thought. But he was always someone who trusted what he saw with his own two eyes, and his eyes were telling him that this was none other than Yuehwa—and the man beside her was the White Scorpion. Now he knew why he found the latter so familiar.

His insides clenched.

When he had arrived and greeted her, Yuehwa had merely acknowledged him very briefly, without giving any sign of even knowing him at all.

There's something different about her, he thought. She looked every bit like the Yuehwa he remembered, but there was a leaden air about her, weighing down her every movement. As if she had lost her spark and soul.

The loss of her brother had affected her greatly.

"What happened?" he asked in a hushed tone, directing his question at the prime minster of Hwa, Jing Bohan, who was seated beside him.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I underestimated the princess. She is... unorthodox in many ways. Who knows what she has up her sleeve?" the prime minister murmured in response, shielding his moving lips with his cup. "There is nothing to worry about though. Everything will be settled tonight."

Baixun's fingers strained against the tabletop as he suddenly remembered what was about to happen. His head jerked upwards when he heard the chief steward call for attention.

Yuehwa had stood up and raised her cup of wine in the air.

"I would like to make a toast, to the unity of Hwa and Feng, and to continued peace," she said, and it was only then she turned to look straight into Baixun's eyes, "across the kingdoms."

"To peace across the kingdoms," all the guests responded in unison, raising their cups to their lips.

The edge of the bronze cup grazed her lips.

"Wait!" Baixun suddenly called out, his voice echoing across the grand hall. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned towards him in surprise, watching as he suddenly left his seat and walked straight over to the grand dais, bringing his own wine cup along. "I happen to have brought over some top-grade wine from Gi. Perhaps the princess would like to toast with this instead? Take it as a token of my congratulations to the both of you," he said, trying his best to stop his voice from trembling as he looked into her eyes.

Yuehwa studied him for a moment, then said, "Of course." She allowed Baixun to exchange his cup for hers.

Beside her, Shoya frowned as he watched the exchange take place, though he kept his silence.

Faced with her toast, Baixun raised his cup to his lips—and drank all its contents in one gulp. Yuehwa watched him as he did before she lifted her veil of pearls and followed suit. As the warm liquid slid down her throat, her eyes met Naying's for the briefest of moments, enough for her to register the expression of shock and disbelief in the latter's eyes.

"Please accept my congratulations once again," Baixun said with a bitter smile. He looked only at Yuehwa, his eyes filled with sadness, regret and "what ifs". "If you'll excuse me, I'm not feeling all that well right now. The journey here must have taken its toll on me."

Yuehwa nodded her head. "Thank you for coming all the way here, Prince Baixun. It was a pleasure. I'll send the imperial physician over in a while, he should be able to prescribe something for you."

"There's no need. I brought my own physician. Thank you for your offer," Baixun replied. He turned and walked towards the doors, with a confused Naying scrambling to her feet to follow behind him.

#

After Baixun's abrupt departure, Yuehwa and Shoya returned to their seats and the banquet resumed in full swing with dancers dressed in their multi-coloured silks and musicians carrying their instruments entering the hall. Chatter resumed and the bizarre exchange between the regent and the crown prince of Gi was quickly forgotten.

As she sat there watching their graceful movements, Yuehwa felt her vision slowly beginning to blur. The dancers seemed to be multiplying, each one melting into the next. Gripping tightly to the armrest of her chair, she tried to steady herself to keep her head from spinning, but to no avail. The rising metallic sensation in her throat began to take over, until she was finally unable to keep it in any further.

A mouthful of blood splattered all over the table.

"Your Highness!" a chorus of voices shouted in alarm. The music in the hall came to an halt.

"Yuehwa!" she heard Shoya's voice call out as a strong arm wrapped itself around her shoulders to keep her upright. She turned to look at him, the worry in his eyes mixed with a more complex emotion that she couldn't decipher. "You'll be fine, you'll be fine," he said.

"I know," she whispered, then she blacked out completely.

When Yuehwa awoke, she was no longer in the grand hall, but lying on her bed staring up at the familiar ochre ceiling beams instead. Her head was throbbing and her entire body felt too weak to even move, but at the very least the world had stopped spinning.

"Prince Minjun, just because you are to be the princess's consort does not give you the right to change the imperial physician's prescription at your own accord! Are you going to take responsibility if something goes wrong?" General Han barked.

Beside him, Shoya was calmly sipping at his tea, ignoring the fact that the general was close to drawing his sword. "General, I take it you don't trust me?" he asked. "There is no reason for me to wish for any harm upon the princess. I am nobody—only the son of a king who'd much rather me be dead. Without the princess, I will lose everything. I'm not that stupid."

No, no you're not. I'm the stupid one.

Yuehwa closed her eyes, listening to the argument that was taking place near her bedside. The general would not yield, but neither would Shoya. The calmer Shoya was, the more agitated the old general would get. Finally, she opened her mouth and said, "That's enough." She tried to sit herself up on the bed, although it was taking a great deal more effort than she had expected. One of her palace maids immediately rushed to assist her.

"Your Highness, how are you feeling?" General Han asked, a worried frown etched between his greying brows.

Shoya picked up the teapot and poured himself another cup of tea.

"I'm fine," she said, even though she knew she probably looked like death. She took a sip of water out of the cup that her palace maid had just brought over for her, letting the coolness of the liquid soothe her throat. "How long have I been out for? What's going on outside right now?"

"Close to eight hours. It's already daybreak. I've put the entire palace under lockdown and Commander Song is leading the investigation on the matter. No one is allowed to leave the palace while the investigations are taking place, including the royal guests from the other kingdoms. All of them have been given suitable accommodation, although there have been some who have started protesting about this."

Yuehwa nodded her head thoughtfully. "There should be an outcome soon then," she murmured. Looking at the general, she said, "Uncle Han, I'll leave the investigations to you and the commander then. Send someone to bring word the moment there is a new development." Her gaze flickered towards Shoya, who was sitting there quietly. "You can take your leave, there are some things I need to speak to Prince Minjun about."

"But Your Highness—"

"Don't worry. He won't hurt me," she said, smiling at the elderly general to reassure him that she would be fine. "On your way out, do me a favour and tell the imperial physician to brew the medicine according to the prince's prescription." She waved her hand to dismiss all the other palace maids and stewards as well.

General Han looked like he was going to say something, but then he just sighed and turned on his heels, not forgetting to throw a suspicious glance in Shoya's direction before he left the room.

"Why did you put yourself in danger like that?" Shoya said quietly.

"I was never in danger, was I?" Yuehwa said, the corners of lips tilting upwards in a slight smile. "You wouldn't have let anything happen to me, else I'd doubt what everyone says about the White Scorpion." Immediately after she had finished that cup of wine, Shoya had quickly sealed her acupuncture points to prevent any poison from reaching her heart. It wasn't in time to stop the poison from making its rounds through her body, but her life was never actually in danger.

"Why?"

"I would have thought that you'd already have figured it out."

"You don't have to use yourself as bait, Yuehwa," Shoya replied. There was a terseness in his tone that made Yuehwa wonder if he was angry at what she had done.

"It's the most efficient way," she said.

Whoever it was who plotted her brother's death had their sights set on the entire kingdom of Hwa, and she was an obstacle in their way. If they believed that she had been mortally wounded, perhaps they would let their guard down and make their move, bringing them into the open.

But Baixun had been one complication that she had not expected.

While she had been intending to poison herself, someone else had the same idea. Baixun was either responsible for the latter, or he was somehow in the know, hence his sudden request to switch cups when he learned that she was the princess of Hwa.

"What was in original cup?" she asked.

"That was Hanxin. It's practically undetectable, except it leaves a subtle red tinge when it touches bronze. I might not have noticed it myself, if Baixun hadn't intervened."

"Hanxin?"

She had heard of that poison before, during her many travels. Hanxin froze hearts, as its name suggested, silently and without warning, as if a person had simply drifted off into deep sleep.

Yuehwa sighed, turning to look out of the window. A light rain had begun to fall outside, and the grey clouds were hanging heavy in the sky. "Is he alright?" she asked.

"Hanxin can end lives within seven hours," Shoya continued, "but I expect Baixun will have the antidote, so it won't kill him. It's been quiet at his end so far—he hasn't left his room ever since the banquet. I would have gone over to check on the situation, but Baixun is highly skilled so he would know if anyone tried to get near." He paused for a second, as if contemplating whether or not to say the next line. "I must admit I was surprised by what he did. You matter a lot more to him than I had expected."

Had it not been for Baixun's abrupt request to exchange wine cups with her, she might have drunk the original cup without realising that she was adding poison to poison. Perhaps the only reason why she was still alive now was thanks to him, and the thought of that made her feel a little guilty.

Just then, a knock came at the door, and the voice of one of her stewards announced the arrival of Commander Song, chief of the palace guards.

"Your Highness." He bowed down in front of the princess once he entered the room. "We've found a tiny bottle containing some poison in the room of one of the stewards that had come over together with the crown prince of Feng. The physicians have verified that it's the same poison that was in the wine."

"And the steward?"

"Dead. He was found hanging from a ceiling beam in his room early this morning, leaving behind a letter containing an admission of guilt. The letter also claimed that he had been following instructions given by the crown prince himself." The commander carefully took out the letter and handed it over to Yuehwa. "What should we do now, Your Highness?"

Yuehwa didn't need to look at the letter. She had written it herself.

She casually placed it down on her bedside table and said, "Take your men to the east wing and arrest the crown prince of Feng. Don't worry about keeping a low profile—the more the people who know about this the better."

"But Your Highness, the steward is dead and there is no other witness that has been surfaced so far. The prince could deny all charges and insist that he's being framed, and we wouldn't have any evidence to verify the truth."

"The truth isn't important," Yuehwa said calmly. "Just do as I say."

The engagement between Yuehwa and Shoya had forced the king of Feng to accept the existence of this son, so as to secure the alliance he needed with Hwa. However, it did not automatically give Shoya the position of the crown prince, despite him being the king's first-born. In order for him to become the heir, they would still need to get rid of the one person that was standing in his way—the incumbent crown prince, Minsu.

She was doing the king a favour, really.

#

"Let me go! You must be tired of living! Do you know who I am? I'm the crown prince of Feng! Once I get out of here I'm going to raze this damn place to the ground!"

Before Yuehwa and Shoya reached the doors of the palace prisons, they could already hear the shouts and banging coming from the incarcerated Prince Minsu. It had been close to two hours since he had been dragged out of his chambers in the east wing by the commander of the palace guards and thrown into a cell, and the spoilt princeling was clearly getting desperate.

In front of the heavy wooden doors leading down to the cells, the king of Feng already stood waiting. His was pacing back and forth with deep creases set upon his forehead, making him look as if he had aged ten years overnight.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," Yuehwa greeted as she approached the man.

The king turned, his frown deepening when he caught sight of Shoya.

"Princess Yue, what is the meaning of this? How could you arrest my son and lock him away in this manner! I demand you release him at once and apologise to Feng for this treatment."

Yuehwa smiled. "I'm afraid that's not going to be possible. You must have already heard what happened. My guards found the poison in the possession of the prince's chief steward, who has already hung himself out of guilt and left behind a written confession," she said coolly.

"Lies! Someone" —the king glared at Shoya— "is trying to frame Minsu for this crime. My son did not do anything of that sort."

"Unfortunately the evidence speaks otherwise. I'm sure you understand the implications of this. If you choose to protect the crown prince, then our alliance is over. There is no way that the kingdom of Hwa will extend a helping hand to someone who has tried to poison its regent. Moreover, there is that slight complication of the crown prince of Gi, who was the one who handed me that cup of wine. How would Gi react to knowing that your crown prince tried to frame theirs? I'm sure you know what Prince Baixun is capable of. That is the reason why you are here in the first place, is it not?"

The king bristled with anger, his fists clenched tightly by his side as he listened to her words. "You are leaving me with no choice," he said between gritted teeth. He looked towards Shoya, acknowledging his son's existence for the first time since they met here in the Hwa palace. "This is your doing, isn't it? How could you? Minsu is your brother! He is innocent. He doesn't know what happened twenty-five years back. Let him go and we can discuss your terms."

Shoya stared at the king with a piercing gaze. "Since when were you concerned with whether or not someone was innocent? If you were that sort of person, Father, then you wouldn't have ordered your first-born son killed so soon after he was born," he said. His voice was calm, yet Yuehwa could sense the turbulence simmering beneath.

She instinctively stepped forward, shielding Shoya from the cruel man who had almost condemned him to death as a mere child.

"Your Majesty, there is always a choice, except that some choices are better than others. I'll give you one day to consider your options, after which we'll make the decision for you," Yuehwa said firmly. In the background, they could still hear Minsu screaming at the top of his lungs. "I suggest you make up your mind quickly. I'm not the most patient of people, so your crown prince might not last very long down there."

With a casual bob of her head as a mark of respect (or lack thereof), Yuehwa turned on her heels and walked away, with Shoya following behind her. There was no need for them to stay any longer to witness this fake show of kinship that the king of Feng was putting up. Neither of them had any doubt what his decision would eventually be.

He had once sacrificed a son to secure his reign over the kingdom—and he would do so again.