For someone who also writes historical fiction, thanks for adding MA to your reading list!

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"GET IN THERE WENCH!"

A prison guard shoved her in there and left abruptly as soon as his job was done.

"LET ME OUT!", she yelled, banging on the metal bars, leaving bloody scratches on her hands as she tried desperately to be let out.

Currently, all the soldiers ignored her pleas. They were under new management now.

Which meant the Princess Consort would receive no help from them.

Lying with her back to the bars, she paused momentarily as she had exhausted her voice to the point of cracking.

Placing her hands on her forehead, she moaned. It could be seen clearly that rats scurried every which way across the muddy ground of the palace dungeons.

Still hearing the cackles of her enemies reverberating through her ears, she pondered over how everything had gotten to this point.

Was it when...No, that wasn't it. Could it have been? No, that would have happened either way.

Maybe this all started when she agreed to the alliance...or well technically she initiated it in the first place.

Had that been what laid the groundwork for this messy predicament?

Coming to the Oriental Masked King's kingdom?

It felt like it was so long ago now...Was it really only several years ago?

Several years ago...

Her royal carriage came to an abrupt halt once the rider reached their destination.

Opening the curtain, she titled her head to get a closer view of her new home.

Up ahead loomed an immense fortress lodged in the mountains; ample men scurried back-and-forth from the palace as they went on their way like it was any other day.

It would have been for her too, but it just happened to be her wedding day.

Wed to a man who had ridden ahead of her the entire way from the inner palace of the Conqueror's kingdom. Her brother, the Conqueror, had been ultimately cajoled by her to offer his own cherished sister as a means of procuring an alliance with the Oriental Masked King. All in the name of defeating pirates!

She could just imagine the grimace on his face now, knowing that his sister was in the hands of a unknown stranger who had never met her before, especially someone of his beastly reputation.

However, if she was to honor her nation, then she must put duty above all else and make this work.

Secretly, she wished the rumors circling about her betrothed were not true, especially as all his prior concubines lay buried in the ground, but if they were...well then she would do everything in her power to survive.

"We've arrived, your Highness," uttered a servant dressed in blue and white linen outside the coach, pulling aside a stool for her to step on as she descended.

With a curt nod, she continued ogling the sights right in front of her. Sunset made the orange rays highlight the shadows of the ancient stone castle, giving it a more prominent look to the Oriental Masked King's lair. Ahead, a steep incline led to a winding stone staircase where one would climb towards the castle high in the sky.

Being as the palace was set high on a cliff, she watched her step, careful not to fall into the gorge below where she might meet a rocky watery grave. Porters carried her little luggage up the steps quickly, passing her with a quick bow on the way up. Coming from a sedentary life hidden away in the inner palace, climbing these stairs was quite a workout for this soon-to-be princess consort.

Reaching the wooden gates, a burly soldier opened the way for her, bowing in reverence.

Once again, she nodded before disappearing into the cavernous mountain fortress. From what she had heard from others, and read in scrolls, the Oriental Masked King's kingdom was mostly mountainous desert. Thus, it had been able to deter many an invasion by its practically insurmountable environment.

Should one not from here lose their way in this land, they were to perish from heatstroke.

That thought alone squashed her childhood dreams of going past the palace walls and having adventure in the great wide-open world. She had once imagined about traveling to exotic places, speaking to people of other languages and living a life, outside of the books the Conqueror gave her, would be so thrilling!

Perhaps coming here was an ill-conceived idea in the first place. What would she know of being a concubine to an illustrious ruler when she had spent her whole life reading scrolls and dreaming that she could have the opportunities her brother, the Sixteenth Prince, took for granted?

And now, she was to be stuck again...only in a foreign palace with a whole new set of rules, traditions, customs, propriety, culture, etc. Alas, her mastery of the dialect so far had been dismal! If only there had been more native speakers she could practice with before she was whisked away, alas she had but a few days between persuading her brother and leaving her home forever with the Oriental Masked King, her groom, who only glanced at her for a second.

Stuck in her thoughts, she was snapped out of them when the head of the palace maids uttered, "Good afternoon, are you there?"

"Yes," she squeaked, almost covering her mouth at that awkward outburst.

"Welcome to the palace. I am aware you were a princess before coming here, but this palace, and subsequently nation, has a few rules that you may not be used to."

Glancing around the walls, she noticed they had so much more ornamental decoration than she was used to at home. Their father, the late King, had been...wild in many aspects, and let architects and artists take over the palace with signature works of arts. Her brother, the Conqueror, stressed frugality and simplicity above all else. Even tearing down pre-existing gaudy statues in favor of a less cluttered, bare palace with a few banners or curtains to put a touch of color in the palace. Not that he did not appreciate fine art, but he stressed on focusing that money to other things like furthering education, helping with defense, building up the national treasury, etc.

The head female servant continued rambling on, seemingly not caring if her liege paid attention.

"1. You are merely a concubine so your place is only higher to the palace ladies. Unless you are spoken to first, you may not speak. 2. Talk only in our dialect, our royals are very particular about that. 3..."

"Really? But I have not had much practice..."

"Rule number 1!", she reiterated. "Anyways, you shall have a palace lady go over the rules and customs with you properly as well as an etiquette tutor that shall arrive shortly. These lessons must be learned before the palace banquet this month."

Lowering her head, she strolled past several corridors and passageways. Listening to the older lady, she ogled the golden artifacts hung on the walls along with the high ceilings that stretched farther than her neck could crane to see. Chirps from birds echoed from above their heads as the last red beams of the sun made the walls glow the color of freshly cut blood.

The sight both enthralled and frightened her.

Torches flickered as servants quickly lit the flames in an attempt to stave off the darkness of the cold desert night. It was still summer, but here in this temperate desert, temperatures could quickly fall from ninety to sixty degrees in the span of a few hours.

Pulling on the sleeve of the head palace maid, she coughed slightly, making the female servant look at her in anticipation. "Well, what is it? Spit it out, girl."

"Are there any other rules I must follow, madam?"

Snorting, the 'madame' said, "Stop gawking. It's unbecoming of a noble lady like yourself."

She paled, twirling the tendrils of her long silky raven hair in embarrassment over her actions.

"There is one. Never step foot in the Eastern Wing of the Palace."

"Why?", she asked.

"It's where our King resides."

"So it's prohibited?", she asked rhetorically.

Guiding her to a room, the servant opened the doors without a word, tossed her in while muttering, "This one won't last a week," then slammed it shut.

"Supper is in an hour! Don't be late," she called out as she hastened on her way back to the servant quarters.

Girding her loins, she unlocked her trunk and unrolled a dress meant for a simple royal dinner.

Hopefully, the mid-length red tunic would be enough for a night dinner. This was her first night in the palace after all; consequently, she did not want to appear as she were putting on airs.

Becoming curious, she opened the wardrobe in room  to find it bare. Checking the room she had been placed in, she found it was devoid of any of the fancy decor she had expected. If she did not know any better, she would have suspected it had once belonged to a servant.

What a warm welcome indeed, she mused.

Another male servant knocked once before leading her into a small hall where a simple table, and two chairs at opposite ends were set up.

All they needed to proceed was the groom.

Hours passed by, and he never showed. The incense sticks burned out, a man called out midnight before she pounded on the table with her fists, excused herself and left in a huff.

Dinner would have to be served another time.

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Author's note: I usually don't use bad words or bleep them out so sorry.

History note: Incense sticks were used to tell time in Ancient China. (How much time depended) This story is set during the Sixteen Kingdoms Period/Later Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. Throughout Chinese history, some royal concubines would only need a dinner with the groom and to follow a few traditions to be 'married' to the ruler. Which means that the kind, but assertive Princess Consort might have a justifiable reason on why she is angry with the Oriental Masked King after journeying so far...

Connection to Prior Stories:  This is a spin-off of The General's Cause, another historical fiction c-drama-ish story, which happens to be a retelling of Bluebeard/Beauty and the Beast set in Ancient China. In that story, the chapter The Conqueror gives a bit more backstory into why she came to Xi Xia.