Outside one of the manors, birds sung to each other. Their flirting whispers to one another could make listeners blush, but it was quickly interrupted by the sound of a tea cup shattering against the tiled floor. In fright, the love birds scattered, leaving only behind the feathers of the lost intimacy.

A beautiful, slender hand gripped the wooden arm of the chair until the knuckles turned white. The Crown Princess was visibly shaking as her eyes stared darkly at the ground where the remnants of the cup rest.

"Your highness, be careful. . ." Mingyi kneeled down in front of her mistress, in fear and worry.

Just a while ago, an eunuch came with an imperial decree, stating that the Crown Princess had frightened Xin Rui who was pregnant with Song Yu Jian's child, thus, is punished to write a day's worth of scriptures in the temple.

Colors of red and green alternated in the flawless face of Ai Lan. Why, she wondered, why does the heavens hate her so much? She lost her baby, the key to winning her husband's heart. After she suffered a miscarriage, the Crown Prince spent more time in the Royal Study halls and away from her. She was not blind— she knew that he was also spending his nights at his concubines' rooms. Her heart, freshly shattered and healing from a deep wound, was torn apart once more. She lost her child, her husband has eyes for other women, and a married woman who caught his attention is now pregnant. It was like the heavens had stolen her baby to give to this damned woman.

Crystal tears rolled from her jewel-like eyes. She had done everything for Jin Hai, for his love, his heart. She yelled out with pain in her voice, "She stole my baby! Xin Rui, you damn witch, give me my baby back!"

Mingyi gently touched her mistress' trembling hands, "Your highness, it is this lowly servant's fault. Please rest instead and let this servant take your punishment. No one will know. . ."

After Ai Lan slowly calmed down from her eruption, she nodded slightly and she sucked in a deep breath before wiping her tears away. Mingyi had learned to read and write for moments like these. She spent her entire life serving Ai Lan: her loyalty to the princess was unwavering.

In another courtyard, the Empress was eerily calm after receiving such news. Her niece, Fang Ai Lan, lost her baby while a simple, nobody who wedded a bastard is now pregnant.

"Your Majesty. . ." the middle-aged woman besides the Empress called out in worry. The obvious fear is that Xin Rui will give birth to a boy. If the boy manages to survive til the age of five, then he would be granted the title "First Little Prince" and the favor would shift towards the Seventh Prince. Although Yu Jian was born from a mere servant, the Emperor pardoned her out of love and bestowed the boy the title of a prince, which allowed him into the palace. Yu Jian has little to no power within the palace but if he were to have a child. . . that changes the whole story.

For some unknown reason, the WuJin Palace is cursed with infertility. The royal bloodline and high status family struggles to produce healthy, pureblood children. Children from maids and other unworthy women had little to no value.

"No worries," the Empress calmly replied, "Chen will just take care of it, like we did to the other girls.

That's right. The Empress had dipped her hand in poison in order to give her son the title of Crowned Prince. With the marriage to her niece, it secured his position. She will not let the other princes have their child before her son. But unbeknownst to her, the queen's evil habits had angered the Gods from above. Fate smiled wickedly as she began to recklessly cut the red threads connecting to the lineage of the Royal Family. Karma has her ways. Since the Empress liked to interfere with the circle of life so much, why not let Fate do it for her? She'll just snip, snip, and snip until the kingdom begs for heaven to give mercy.

The Empress had taken great care of the Crown Princess during the pregnancy with a lot of herbal medicines and tonics. But when she lost the baby, the queen simply shook her head in disappointment as she said one word that shattered Ai Lan: useless.

With so many children dying unpredictably, the Emperor stopped awarding titles to the children until they surpass the age of five. Since then, all royal children and pregnant main wives and concubines are placed under heavy surveillance and any danger to them will result in an instant death penalty. The Empress cannot touch the children that have already been born, but that doesn't mean that she cannot prevent future pregnancies.

However, Yu Jian's case was different. Her phoenix eyes narrowed into deep slits as her smile curved from ear to ear. She always hated that bastard. His mother was nothing but a scheming slut; a splinter under her skin. Even with death, the Emperor secretly still has her in his heart. The Empress smirked as she recalled how she slipped in a slow acting poison into the slut's food. Unfortunately, it only killed the mother and not the child. She will do the same to her son's precious wife.

"Xin Rui is nothing but a foreign girl, with no power or status in WuJin. If I kill her off, surely His Majesty, the Emperor, will thank me for removing this thorn from his side." The smile on her face only grew wider and her eyes popped with a new kind of crazy for blood, "Chen won't make the same mistake this time. Shall we try the new slow acting poison that Master Li created?"

Lu-mama, the woman besides her, nodded her head peppered with black and grey strands of hair. Her grin held no less maliciousness within than the Empress. "This servant will do as Your Majesty wishes. No one will know. And no one will have the antidote because it does not exist."

The Empress sent Lu-mama to set up preparations and to inform Ai Lan about the plan. She needs her niece to carry a child as fast as possible. The Emperor will shift his sadness about the loss of a potential grandchild to rejoice about his heir's son. It will serve as a distraction for Emperor to prevent an attempt to investigate the tragedy, while continuing the favor for her son. Killing two birds with one stone.

When Rui woke up from her deep slumber, she found herself in an unfamiliar bed hidden behind red sheer curtains. The mattress was soft and her clothes felt smoother than usual. She could hear the distant cries of birds chirping. Her eyes wandered around and landed on the blurry figures of two girls sitting patiently adjacent to the bed.

Rui lifted her upper body up by pushing on the strength of her forearms and she let out a groan. A wave of dizziness and nausea hit her like the gust of strong wind during a storm. The girls rushed to her side immediately, opened the curtains, and kicked a bin towards the bed just in time for Rui to vomit.

The acid taste in her mouth left her feeling disgusted as her head pounded away with pain. One of the girls gave her water to drink and a towel to wipe, while the other took the dirty bin out.

Once Rui's body finally calmed down, her tired voice asked, "What's going on?"

The girl with a red ribbon in her hair answered seriously, "Qi-Wangfei, this servant is called Xiao Mu."

The other girl with a pink ribbon in her hair intercepted with a cheerful tone, "And this servant is named Xiao Bai!"

The adorable girls were no older than the age of sixteen and with Rui's experience with laundry cleaning, she could tell from their attire that they were within the upper class of servants. Seeing the confusion on Rui's face, Xiao Mu stepped up to explain, "His highness the Seventh Prince has moved you to stay in his quarters from now on and your punishment from the Emperor has been lifted. Originally, the plan was to wait for your highness to recover before moving rooms, but you slept longer than expected."

Rui could barely catch the words flying past her ears to process them as the girl handed her a jade stone and a note. Obviously, it was Yu Jian who wrote the note with such abnormal style. After a while, she asked slowly, "How long did I sleep. . . ?"

Xiao Bai jumped in, "About 3 year!"

"Ha??" Rui almost fell off the bed. Xiao Mu smacked the back of Xiao Bai's head and gave her a scolding.

"This servant is wrong," she cried out as she rubbed her head with her hand, "Your Highness only slept for half of a day. It is currently morning. . ."

Seeing how cute the two girls were, Rui smiled peacefully for the first time in weeks. She could see small portions of Liling within the girls and her heart only grew warmer. She took it as a sign from the heavens that these girls would treat her well.

Xiao Mu gently supported one side of Rui's arm and tenderly helped her stand up. Another wave of nausea shot her in the stomach but she held it in and closed her eyes tightly. She must be sick.

"Your highness⎯"

"You girls can just call me 'Miss' when we're alone," Rui correctly with a soft smile on her paled, cracked lips. The girls looked at each other first for confirmation then, with hesitation, nodded.

"Miss, we prepared a light meal for you and that should help with the queasiness. Afterwards, a hot floral bath awaits you." Xiao Mu informed her as she led the weak girl to a round table made of redwood and painted with silver. Xiao Bai placed a padding on the seat before helping her sit down.

"Xiao Mu, Xiao Bai, I'm not that fragile," she giggled lightly but to no avail, the girls continue to pamper her.

"Xiao Bai isn't calling Miss weak! It's just that Miss has two stomachs to feed right now!" The girl with pink ribbons beamed with excitement; even Xiao Mu couldn't hide the same happiness on her face.

"Two?" It took awhile for gears to click into the right places, but Rui finally caught on: she was pregnant. An ecstatic smile blossomed on her face like red peonies during the summer days. The three girls were elated in their cloud of bliss.

She took her bath and changed into a new silky robe. Though the girls did not say anything about the dried, bloody scabs on her arms and scalp, their curious eyes spilled their secrets to Rui. To be honest, she couldn't remember what had happened after her journey to drop off clothes at the Southern Palace. Everything was a blur and only bits of memory floated here and there. But, she clearly remembered how Yu Jian busted into her room and hugged her with his might, as if his soul was stubbornly holding onto one thin strand that is threatening to snap. The string that is keeping her together and from falling apart. His worried face—it was filled with terror and sadness. She would never forget that expression as it engraved into her mind like a bright, red stamp.