In a private quarter of Ryoko Temple, Princess Xuan was pacing up and down, wringing the silk handkerchief in her hands.

"Mother, will it work? What if something goes wrong?"

Compared to her daughter's anxious state, Consort Song was the picture of calm. Her rouge-tinted lips curled upwards with confidence. "Not to worry, my darling. Han Zi-ning is only a motherless child who has lost favour in her household, and did you see her naïve and ingratiating behaviour earlier? She's only a simpleton. Besides having a pretty face, I don't understand what else the prince of Hua sees in her."

"She's not even pretty," the princess remarked. She flounced down onto a chair, folding her arms squarely across her chest. "But still, she's only a minister's daughter. What if the prince still refuses to give up on me?"

"After tonight, he'll have to give up even if he doesn't want to," the consort scoffed. "Hua may be a strong kingdom, but we aren't pushovers either. Your father will not possibly go through with this engagement knowing that Situ Zhiren has bedded the daughter of an official. It'll be a disgrace to the royal family."

Hearing her mother's words, the tension in Xuan's shoulders relaxed a little. She ran through their entire plan over and over inside her head, desperate to ensure that nothing would go wrong. Her entire future hinged upon the events that would unfold that very night. If they succeeded, then her problem would be solved and she would be free to marry Zhenghuan like she had always wanted.

"Go to sleep, Xuan-er. Tomorrow morning when you wake, there'll be a big show for us to see." Patting her daughter on the back, Consort Song ushered the anxious girl over to the bed. She lit a stick of soothing incense and blew out the lamps. "Sleep. Everything will turn out exactly the way we want it to."

#

The moment Zi-ning stepped into her room, she knew that something was wrong. There was incense burning in the bronze burner that was sitting by the side of the bed—frankincense, that was supposed to help quiet the mind for a good night's rest, but other than that, there was also a subtle hint of a different fragrance mixed in.

Bai hua san. Hundred Flower Powder.

It was made from a mixture ground from several rare herbs and flowers and a small packet would cost an arm and a leg from the dispensaries, but it was not an uncommon drug, particularly in the royal harem. The Hundred Flower Powder was a "spring drug", a cheap trick that harem ladies liked to use to win favour, because it was incredibly effective in stirring arousal in both men and women alike. Rumour had it that the previous king had been addicted to it, so much so that he did not attend court for a record three months because he was drowned in the wine, song and lithe bodies of his harem.

So this is their clever plan?

She had guessed that something like that was in the works, once she heard from Zhenghuan that Situ Zhiren had also come to Ryoko.

Zi-ning quickly dipped her handkerchief in the basin of water that Hana had left for her to wash her face and hands before bed. She wrapped the handkerchief tightly around her nose and mouth, and still held her breath as a precaution.

"Ah..."

The low moan coming from behind the drawn curtains of her bed made her step back in shock. It was very clearly a man's voice, so it couldn't be Hana.

Zi-ning moved closer, gingerly lifting the curtain with the tips of her fingers. As expected, it was Situ Zhiren lying there, the front of his robes tugged open and in disarray as he struggled to free himself from its constraints. His face was flushed and his eyes hooded, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. Classic effects of Hundred Flower Powder.

Suddenly, his arm shot out and his fingers caught her in a vice-like grip.

"What took you so long?" he breathed, his voice dripping with a raw lust that made Zi-ning want to retch.

Shit.

She should have called for Ahri before returning to the room, but had decided to let the girl get a night's sleep because she had been cocky enough to think that Consort Song wouldn't make her move till tomorrow. She had underestimated the consort's impatience and underestimated Situ Zhiren's resistance to the spring drug. A regular person should not have been able to string a coherent sentence and exert this much force while suffering the drug's effects.

With her free hand, she reached for the sole hairpin that remained in her hair, pulling it out in one swift motion. With its sharpened tip, she stabbed the back of Situ Zhiren's hand. The prince howled in pain and immediately let go of her. In that split second, his glassy eyes seemed to regain a layer of clarity.

I need to get out of here.

She rushed towards the doors, but just as she reached for the panels, she heard an ominous click from the outside. The doors refused to budge. She moved to the windows instead, but it was more of the same. She had been locked in.

She had to give credit to Consort Song for doing a thorough job. All her exits had been blocked, and even with the cloth covering her orifices, there was only so long she would be able to hold out in an enclosed room suffused with the fragrance of a Hundred Flowers. Assuming Situ Zhiren didn't force himself onto her first.

Using her index finger, she jabbed a large hole through the rice paper coverings of the window panel, sticking her nose out to take a quick breath.

Think quickly, Zi-ning.

She could not shout for help, because if anyone saw her here, alone with Situ Zhiren in such a compromising situation, the consort's ploy would have succeeded even if the prince did not get his way with her. Her name would be ruined, and Lady Min would no doubt latch on to this and use it to make sure she never saw the light of day again.

Behind her, she heard the bedframe creaking under Situ Zhiren's weight. He was moving again, struggling to get back up to his feet. Panic started to creep under her skin.

"Miss, move away from the window."

Zi-ning startled at the sound of the voice coming from outside. She moved her eye to the hole, relief washing over her when she realised who it was. She backed away as told.

Crack!

The hilt of a sword struck the lock that had been used to latch the window shut from the outside. The window panels swung open, revealing Ahri's slender silhouette in the shadowy darkness. The girl reached out and grabbed Zi-ning by the arm, helping her out over the window ledge. Then, they shut the windows and escaped the night.

#

The usual peace and quiet of Ryoko Temple was disrupted by a cacophony of voices gathered outside one particular room of the guest quarters this morning. At the crack of dawn, Han Meiyan had called loudly for assistance—so loudly that one might have mistook her for being a market hawker selling wares instead of a devotee in a place of worship—because she purported to have seen the shadow of a man slip into her beloved sister's room. That sister, was of course, Zi-ning.

Her cries had first attracted the attention of nearby temple attendants, who thought to enter to check for the intruder, but anyone who tried to open the doors were immediately blocked by a "distraught" Meiyan, who claimed that she had to wait for her mother to arrive, in case Zi-ning was caught in a "compromising situation".

Lady Min showed up shortly after, in the company of Consort Song and Princess Xuan.

"Meiyan, what's wrong?" Lady Min asked, a look of motherly concern spreading across her powdered face. "It must be something terribly serious, for you to be so anxious. Look, you've alarmed Her Highness and Her Grace while they were in the middle of having breakfast."

Meiyan immediately fell to her knees. "I apologise for the disturbance, Your Highness, Your Grace, but I did not know what to do. My poor sister Zi-ning... A man, a man is inside her room! What are we going to do now? What is Zi-ning going to do?" She burst out in another flurry of pretty tears, putting on a convincing act of sisterly sympathy.

Everyone present could read between the lines.

Consort Song coughed lightly into her silk handkerchief, hiding the expression she wore on her face. "Well, since we're already here, let's have a look and see what's going on, shall we? Perhaps it was a case of mistaken identity. The morning light has a way of playing tricks with one's eyes," she said.

The consort waved her hand, and her attendant pushed open the doors.

A strong, overpowering scent of frankincense and florals accosted their senses, mixed with the stench of sweat and desire. Behind the light gauze curtains hanging from the bedframe, the shadows of two intertwined bodies could clearly be seen, and the sounds of a man's heavy breathing and a woman's wanton moans drifted into their ears.

Meiyan and Princess Xuan immediately flushed bright red with embarrassment, hiding shyly behind their mothers.

"Goodness!" Lady Min exclaimed. "Han Zi-ning, how dare you commit such a transgression upon holy ground! The shame you have brought to our family!"

Consort Song let out an audible sigh. "This is very unfortunate indeed. To think that I had been willing to give the child the benefit of the doubt..."

A tinkling laughter floated into the room, providing a jarring contrast to the scandalous racket going on. Everyone turned around to locate the source of the laughter, and eyes bulged in horror when they saw who it came from.

"Everyone's up bright and early this morning," Zi-ning said, walking over with a brilliant smile stretching across her face. "What's the matter? Is something going on inside my room? To think I almost missed the big show. Imagine that." Flanked by Hana on one side and Ahri on the other, Zi-ning stepped across the threshold and entered the room, her cool gaze sweeping across each stunned face.

"Y-y-you!" Meiyan was the first to find her voice, and she pointed one shivering finger at Zi-ning's face. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my room. Where else would I be?"

"But if you're here, then who..." Princess Xuan turned back towards the bed, voicing out the question that was in everyone's mind.