84 Marrying into royalty

The Queen of the Night was a golden flower that only bloomed at nighttime.

When it bloomed, the scent would become even more intense. Hu Zi had a sensitive smell and could smell it during both day and night while ordinary people could only smell it at night.

It was hard for this flower to breed, so it was very rare to encounter it in the wild, yet the palace managed to make a garden full of it.

Aside from the palace, there was one more place where the flower bloomed. Hu Zi could vaguely recall a bush of it not too far away from the waterfall where she used to train her body as a wind practitioner.

The hexagonal pavilion located in the middle of a small pond had two levels. The ground level was left empty while the dark brown second level had a small and short table set right in the middle. Hu Zi took off her footwear and walked to the empty green cushion that was on the left side of the table. She sat down and handed the box of sweets she brought with her to the maid.

Hu Zi looked at the empress who in turn had been watching her too. Purple eyes studied darker yet gentle ones.

The empress was wearing a flower patterned red attire with a golden hem. The phoenix design on one of her hairpins clearly meant to indicate the beautiful woman's position.

She smiled at Hu Zi before the maid swiftly served the box of sweets. Taking a sweet from the box, the empress took a small bite of a white colored one.

Hu Zi swallowed, wondering why the empress just ate the sweet without dismissing her first. She felt anxious because she couldn't use much of her power here in the palace. She wondered if she could get away in time if something were to happen.

The empress didn't seem to take notice of Hu Zi's sudden pale complexion as she took another bite.

She then curved her cherry red lips and broke into a beautiful smile.

As Hu Zi patiently waited for her to finish the meal, the empress cheerily said, "Third Miss Hu, this is the most delicious sweet this empress has ever tasted!"

"This… This lowly one thanks the empress for her grace…" Hu Zi blinked twice. Despite being a member of the imperial family, the honest gleam in the empress' eyes showed that she didn't hold any malice towards her at all. This made Hu Zi feel even more confused, wondering if this was a move the empress made to make her lower her guard.

The empress enjoyed the rest of the meal, eating while wearing a really beautiful smile. She urged for Hu Zi to also take one, to which she refused. Hu Zi knew the restaurant food was really good, especially because those sweets were personally made by herself, but she really wasn't in the mood to stomach anything right now.

Hu Zi looked at the empress' smile and contemplated. She had never sensed a smile like hers before.

In her heart, she asked herself why that was.

Now that Hu Zi thought about it, she had never met the empress before. The empress never went outside and let the commoners see her, not even when there were big festivals that even other concubines attended.

She recalled Qing Bo once remarking about how the empress of Jin was a caged empress.

As she continued to contemplate, she suddenly felt a strong presence. The feeling she got was like a dark killing intent, something that seemed to be choking her. Her eyes widening in shock, her whole body trembled and she unconsciously turned around, trying to pinpoint where that ominous feeling was coming from.

The empress was shocked when Hu Zi suddenly rose from her seat. "What's wrong, Third Miss Hu?"

"Ah…" Hu Zi had risen unconsciously. She looked at the empress with a horrified expression. "There… There was…" Suddenly, Hu Zi couldn't feel the aura anymore. She broke into cold sweat and said, "It's nothing."

The empress was still looking at Hu Zi's figure that slowly dropped down and sat back on the cushion when her attention became fixated on Hu Zi's bracelet. She seemed to be thinking hard about something. "Third Miss Hu, where did you get that bracelet?"

Hu Zi, who was thinking about the dangerous aura, blinked twice and looked at her purple plum blossom bracelet.

"I got this one from…" Hu Zi's eyes suddenly grew darker and darker. She still clearly remembered the day Shou gifted her the bracelet.

The empress saw Hu Zi's sad expression and wondered what was she thinking, but recalling the event that fell upon the Hu family ten months ago, the empress sighed and decided not to pursue it.

"I…" Hu Zi moved her soft pink lips. "I got it from someone I cherish deeply in my heart."

Unconsciously, the hatred from her heart seeped out, her purple eyes glaring at the empress, whose eyes widened, wondering why she received such treatment from Hu Zi. Then thinking of a possibility, she said, "Third Miss Hu, didn't he tell you anything about me?"

"This lowly one does not understand what Your Highness is implying." Hu Zi frowned, indicating her cluelessness. The empress fell into silence; she looked around and found that the guards were within earshot so she decided not to tell Hu Zi about it. "There must be a reason why he hasn't told her yet," she said in her heart

The empress looked at the garden and spotted a black shadow hiding under a tree that hadn't lost its leaves yet. Before the sun rose this morning, it came to her without making a sound, suddenly standing in front of her bedroom window, bringing with it a piece of paper with written codes that only she, the sender, and his deceased mother knew.

The sender hadn't actually written down his name, but there was no one else she knew who would be clever enough to do this. Raising an owl, making it sensitive to smell, and using the golden flower scent to track the receiver. Other than him, it couldn't be anyone else. He must have been cooking this plan for a long time. The empress showered him with praises in her heart.

She looked at Hu Zi, who was trying to calm herself down by sipping the warm tea.

The empress closed her eyes. There was a very urgent reason why she wanted to meet Hu Zi in person. "Third Miss Hu, are you interested in marrying into royalty?"