Water Mirrored Moon - 水鏡月

Part III - Beloved of the Seventh Prince: 40. Chrysanthemum Tower

Since that first day in the capital Cui Xi had not stepped foot in the Chrysanthemum Tower, but as the carriage rolled to a stop, she felt a finger of dread stroke up her spine. Shivering, she pulled her cloak against the wind and pushed the curtain aside.

What the hell was that? It feels like someone just walked over my grave...

Xiao Hei helped her out of the carriage, carefully handing her down into the snow.

"Please be careful, Mistress," he sighed, as she moved towards the entry, boots crunching on the snowy steps.

A woman dressed in red stood in the front and she immediately moved to block the way.

"What business do you have here, Miss?" asked the woman. "Are you looking to join our establishment?" she asked, her lips tipped up in a mocking smile.

Unfazed by the woman's unfriendly look, Cui Xi smiled back.

"No, I want to leave a message for my master. It's urgent..." she began, but the woman interrupted.

"Oh? Looking for a man at a pleasure house? If your master is within, I can call him out. What's his name?" the woman asked, eyes bright with malice.

"My master is also your master. I wish to speak with the Second Lady."

The woman stiffened, eyes narrowing.

"How impudent. I think it's unlikely that a girl like you would have business with the master of the tower," the woman snorted rather unattractively.

"Mistress, perhaps we are wasting our time here," said Xiao Hei, his grip tightening on the hilt of the sabre thrust through his belt.

Cui Xi shook her head.

She pulled out the rectangle of silver hanging from her neck, showing the woman the moon and three stars.

"Go. Call out the Second Lady," she said, coolly.

"What's the matter?" said a male voice.

The woman looked like she was going to argue further, but a guard had suddenly materialized by her side. He glanced at the seal and then at Cui Xi and immediately bowed.

"Young Mistress," he said, over cupped hands. "Please forgive Tan'er's mistake. Please come this way."

The woman looked shocked for a moment, and then stiffly curtsied with a bowed head.

"I will forgive it only this time. Do not block me again," said Cui Xi as she swept past with all the bearing of a queen.

Xiao Hei smirked and followed.

It didn't take the guard long to take them up the tower until they were almost on the top floor. Cui Xi thought she might die from climbing so many stairs, but since her conditioning was better now, she wasn't panting. She realized that the long climb was probably a very subtle discouragement to overzealous guests. How like Master...she thought, allowing herself a small smile.