Chapter 523: Invitation

Queen Ju was absent-mindedly sitting at the window. She had finally become the Master of the Royal Palace of the Stone Kingdom, but she was not happy at all.

Behind her, several court maids were busy doing their jobs, as silently as ghosts. Or maybe they were just pretending to be busy — there was not much work for them to do. All they had to do was easy work, like making beds, sprinkling a little incense and tidying up. She used to only have one maid to do this work, and she had done it easily alone.

But as the guardian of the Dragon King’s Queen and the King of the Stone Nation, she was now entitled to these luxuries. Besides, there were many maids in the palace, and they needed to be kept busy.

Being a master felt good. People who had ignored her before now bowed before her in fear. Many people praised her in public, saying she had always been a special girl, as if they were the Queen’s old acquaintances. They hoped she would hear these nice words and be pleased. In truth, though, they had only met the Queen a few times.

Queen Ju was afraid of losing everything she had fought so hard for.

She tuned and looked at the maids in the room, asking the oldest of them, “How long have you been in the palace?”

She didn’t mention her name because she could not remember it. The maids were all focusing on their work, but they intuitively knew who the Queen was talking to.

The old maid stopped her work at once. She bowed respectfully and replied, “Twenty one years, Your Highness.”

“Twenty one years. That’s older than my age. So, you must have known all the masters of this palace,” the Queen said.

“Your Highness, the palace has always belonged to the Royal Family. Its master has never changed,” the maid answered very carefully, for she could not fathom the new master’s intention in asking her this.

“I’m different from my brother. Save these sweet lies for your next master. I want to hear the truth,” the Queen demanded.

The other maids began to work even harder. One was making the bed. Although the quilt cover had been tidied as smooth as a marble floor, she continued gently sweeping it with her hands, as if trying to ease out every wrinkle.

The old maid knelt down with fear and said, “Yes, Your Highness. I’ll tell you the truth. In the past twenty one years…including you, there have been five masters total.”

Five masters in twenty one years. The average duration for each master was only a little more than four years. ” Wow, my incompetent brother stayed longer than the average. And I have just started ,” she thought to herself.

“Who have been the real masters? The kings who eventually lost their power, or the maids who were wasting their time in this place?” she wondered.

Queen Ju came back from her thoughts. She turned her head to look through the window, and stared at the darkness in silence. The old maid was still kneeling behind her.

Xu Yanwei winked at the old maid to let her know that she could get up and go back to her work.

The old maid was relieved. Everyone knew that Xu Yanwei was not just an ordinary maid to the Queen. The Queen was the King’s guardian, and Xu Yanwei was like the Queen’s guardian.

However, Xu Yanwei did not like her position very much. She’d rather just be an ordinary maid. She was even willing to leave the palace and live freely on the streets, but she had to stay beside the Queen and live a life with endless speculations.

The Queen trusted her, relied on her, but was also wary of her. Since Xu Yanwei was sent to her by the Dragon King, the Queen was afraid that she would tell the Dragon King and the Queen’s brother everything.

“Your Highness, it’s getting late. Please take a rest. It’s as dark as black paint outside. There is nothing to see,” said Xu Yanwei, as if she was the Queen’s mother or older sister. Truthfully, Xu Yanwei was not a caring person. In the past, she had pretended to look pathetic to attract men’s attention and desire.

“Well, immediately,” said Queen Ju, as naughty as a child. But she sat for a while longer, before getting up slowly. A maid helped her to her bed.

The maid put down the gauze curtain and then removed her shoes. When she was going to close the window, Queen Ju said, “Leave it open. It’s a little hot.”

“You will catch a cold at night. Better shut it,” Xu Yanwei said. Only she dared to disobey the Queen, but only “slightly disobey”.

“No, leave it open. I’ll call you when it’s cold,” the Queen insisted, still acting like a spoiled child.

Xu Yanwei sighed silently, walked over and closed most of the window, leaving only a small part open. Then, she led the maids out.

Queen Ju could not fall asleep. She laid on the bed with her eyes open, listening to the nighttime sounds. The early summer insects were chirping. She was annoyed and thought, ” If I gave an order, crowds of maids and eunuchs would rush out with candles in their hands to catch the insects. ” Maybe when she got complete power, she would do that. But for now she only listened to the chirping until she heard the voice she was waiting for.

“What can I do for you?” the voice asked.

The voice was cold and rude. The speaker obviously did not regard her as a master. Queen Ju’s thoughts suddenly snapped back to reality from her rambling fantasy. She had to be careful when dealing with this woman.

“I heard that the Dragon King will go to Norland?” the Queen asked.

“Yes,” Maid Lotus replied, knowing that this was only the opening remark. The Queen must have summoned her for more important things, besides such a trivial matter.

After Norland agreed to send a prince as a hostage, Gu Shenwei decided to go to there in person to participate in the negotiations. Zhong Heng was skeptical about Norland, but Dugu Xian vouched for it by saying, “Unlike the Golden Roc Fort, Norland will not break their word in front of the whole world. The Supreme King could sacrifice his son, but the Khan will not. Even if the hostage is not his favorite Prince, all of the Khan’s bloodline is sacred in Norland. I believe it will be very safe to take the Prince as a hostage.”

“Did you know one of the King’s concubines in Norland even wrote to me, inviting me to visit there?” Queen Ju said scornfully.

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“I know,” Maid Lotus said, as she had read the letter.

During the seaside slope battle, the whole world had been impressed by the female soldiers from the Land of Fragrance. Although they had only shot a few rounds of arrows on the slope and had not been involved in the chasing of the deserters, they were still incredible in everyone’s eyes.

In the past, although a king would occasionally set up a women’s army on a whim, it had never been anything more than fun. Since then, female soldiers were only a myth in the Western Region and even the whole world.

The Dragon King’s move was, indeed, beyond everyone’s imagination. It had also resulted in unexpected effects for him.

The King’s “Lady of Norland” mentioned by Queen Ju was not an ordinary woman. She was the esteemed second wife of the Khan. She was very interested in the women soldiers of the Land of Fragrance, so she had invited queens and princesses from all over the world to gather in the grassland. The meeting was supposedly for wine tasting and appreciating flowers, but its real purpose was to discuss war and martial arts.

Many people suspected that the topic of the party would probably end up being about wine tasting and flower appreciation, anyway, though.

“The Dragon King has forbidden me to go,” Queen Ju said, trying her best to sound emotionless. Still, she could not hide the disappointment and resentment in her voice.

“No one can change the Dragon King’s mind,” said Maid Lotus.

Queen Ju did not intend to ask Maid Lotus for help. Although she had not met the Dragon King very frequently, she knew him well. She had something else to discuss with Maid Lotus. “I guess the ‘Queen’ of the Land of Fragrance will attend,” she said.

“Not necessarily. She doesn’t like that kind of thing,” answered Maid Lotus.

“She will go”, Queen Ju sounded even more sure, as if she knew everything about the “Queen”, whom she had never met. “Because the Dragon King is going to Norland,” she concluded.

Maid Lotus was amused and thought, ” She is so naive, and she is trying to use me.” She simply asked, “That’s why you summoned me?”

Queen Ju did not say anything. She could not say it directly because she was a little afraid of Maid Lotus. As the Dragon King’s female guard, Maid Lotus was different from any other woman she had ever met. Sometimes, she could see the shadow of the Dragon King behind Maid Lotus and worried that her efforts to win her over would amount to nothing.

“Those two chapters of scripture are always on my mind. I swore to the Dragon King that I would never reveal a word to other people, but you are the person the Dragon King trusts most, so you are an exception. So…if you want, I can recite it to you,” Queen Ju teased.

Maid Lotus was a wise person. Queen Ju believed that she would understand her implication of ” if you want something, you must offer me something in return.”

“You’re wasting your time. She won’t go to Norland,” Maid Lotus answered coldly, but her interest was aroused.

Thousands of miles away in the Land of Fragrance, Shangguan Ru was thinking about the invitation, too. She, indeed, did not want to go to Norland. The Land of Fragrance was not subject to the jurisdiction of Norland. She did not have to please the wives of the Khan. In addition, she was concerned that if she accepted the invitation, people might think she wanted to be the ruler of the country. She did not want that to happen.

Old Man Mu kept his promise and stopped killing in Xiaoyao Lake. He had been released from prison. At that moment, he was standing on a chair, reading through the simple letter again and again.

“You should go”, he said in a low voice, acting as a philosopher in front of Shangguan Ru. “Not for yourself, but for the people of the Land of Fragrance, and also for the Dragon King,” he continued.

The Dragon King was just another reason that she did not want to go to Norland. “I’ve done everything I can. He is better at martial arts than I am, and much smarter than me. He doesn’t need my help,” she said.

Old Man Mu shook his head while saying seriously, “Not necessarily. The Dragon King is good at martial arts, but he is not the best martial artist in the world. He is very smart, but sometimes he can be too smart for his own good. I believe he must have made detailed plans for his trip to Norland, but I’m worried that something could happen, unexpectedly. He may fall into a trap and need your help,” he said.

“If something can trap the Dragon King, then it’s beyond my help,” Shangguan Ru answered.

“If it weren’t for your help, the Dragon King would have suffered a crushing defeat at the seaside slope battle,” Old Man Mu reminded her.

“That was all his idea, I just… forget it. I don’t want to go to Norland,” she said.

Old Man Mu knew that the good girl could be very stubborn. He changed the strategy and said, “Well, let’s forget about the Dragon King’s life. But what about the people of the Land of Fragrance? You don’t care about them, either?”

“Norland’s power can’t reach here,” Shangguan Ru answered.

“You’re right, if the Land of Fragrance was still a legend like before. But now the situation is different, and the Dragon King is to blame. He sent women to the battlefield, causing the Land of Fragrance to be famous all over the world. Originally we only needed to defend against a few wolves around us, but now lions and tigers are on their way,” Old Man Mu warned.

Shangguan Ru said nothing. Old Man Mu decided to strike while the iron was hot. “The second wife of the Khan has invited queens and princesses from all over the world. In fact, you are the most important guest. If you don’t go, you will offend powerful countries. On top of that, people will think that you are taking the time to train more women soldiers in the Land of Fragrance to help the Dragon King in the field,” he said.

” I’m not…” began Shangguan Ru.

“I said that’s what other people will think. If you don’t show up, they will believe that. So, you need to give a little explanation,” Old Man Mu said.

“You seem to want to go to Norland very much,” she said.

“Norland is kind of my hometown. But if you’re suspicious of me, just lock me up in the dungeon again. I don’t have to go with you,” he said.

Old Man Mu prayed in his heart, “Good girl, you must take me there. My freedom for the rest of my life depends upon this trip.”

( End of this Volume )