Inside the Phoenix Pavilion, Qin Yihuan was meticulously dressing herself.
As the news from the study room arrived, it naturally reached her ears first.
Her brows curved in a smile as she traced her eyebrows before the mirror. “She’s unfavored in the manor anyway, and Mother is the same—knowing she would be entering the Eastern Palace with me, she didn’t even bother sending a guiding nanny, making the Qin family lose face.”
Though Qin Yihuan said this, her inner thoughts were clearly quite the opposite.
Even Yufu, standing beside her, could sense her excellent mood. “Her Highness is right; the distinction between the legitimate and concubine-born always sets boundaries.”
Yufu’s brows were steeped in triumph.
Lifting her chin slightly, Qin Yihuan asked, “Has everyone arrived? When did that girl get here?”
Yufu turned around to ask a little maid a few questions, and a flicker of shock flashed across her face.
Qin Yihuan caught it clearly, and she couldn’t help but tighten her brows. “What is it?” Could something have gone wrong?
Yufu hesitated, looking somewhat tongue-tied. “Your Highness… the Chenghui has indeed arrived, but her face…”
In an instant, a bad premonition arose in Qin Yihuan’s heart.
She stood up, urged her maids to help her change her clothes, and instead of leaving the imperial concubines of the Eastern Palace waiting for their morning greeting as she usually did, she walked straight out.
As soon as Qin Yihuan arrived at the main hall, she caught sight of Qin S Suyu, who was surrounded by a crowd.
It was just her back, yet it immediately allowed Qin Yihuan to pick her out.
There was no other reason; even among the sea of blossoming beauties in the Eastern Palace, that slender figure was far too striking.
Standing there, her fragile shoulders and back were held straight, while her neck drooped slightly, revealing a patch of porcelain-white nape.
Clearly slender enough to snap at a single touch, she paradoxically exuded an air of stubbornness.
The morning light cut obliquely from the east, casting a layer of soft gold over the contour of her profile, yet through that gentle glow, one could see her tightly pursed lip line and the fragmented shadows cast by her eyelashes upon her cheeks.
Qin Yihuan tightened her brows, her gaze falling upon the small red rashes on Qin Suyu’s cheeks.
“All right, what is the meaning of crowding around like this?”
Before Qin Yihuan had arrived, Meng Zhao had already torn off the veil covering Qin Suyu’s face.
Now, as she arrived, Meng Zhao turned around, looking with a half-smile at this exceedingly proper Crown Princess.
“Your Highness, if you’re going to present women to His Highness, you ought to at least choose those with gorgeous appearances. Allowing this Lady Chenghui to enter the Eastern Palace now is really… lowering the class of the Eastern Palace.”
Meng Zhao was a Madame, the woman of highest rank in the Eastern Palace second only to Qin Yihuan.
Back when the Emperor and the Noble Consort were choosing between the two of them to be the Crown Princess, Meng Zhao had lost solely because she lacked “decorum.”
Unlike Qin Yihuan’s civil official father, Meng Zhao was the daughter of a military general, having grown up on the frontier with her father and brothers.
After entering the Eastern Palace and being forced to rank below Qin Yihuan, Meng Zhao felt all the more resentful.
Her words instantly caused Qin Yihuan’s complexion to alternate between green and red, nearly failing to maintain her dignified composure on the surface.
Forcing a smile, Qin Yihuan stepped forward. “What is Sister Meng saying? Lady Chenghui was personally conferred by His Highness. Class or no class… what could possibly compare to His Highness’s favor?”
Hearing this, Meng Zhao rolled her eyes.
It was only when her personal maid gave her sleeve a tug that Meng Zhao reined in her spirit and joined the others in paying respects to Qin Yihuan first.
After taking her seat of honor, Qin Yihuan swept a trace-free glance toward Qin Suyu.
Noticing those red rashes, a flash of disgust crossed her eyes, though she masked it exceptionally well by the time she stood up, transforming once more into the gentle, graceful, and sensible Crown Princess.
Sitting gracefully in the sandalwood armchair with armrests, a just-right, shallow smile lingered at the corners of her lips, yet that warmth never truly reached the depths of her eyes.
“Normally, the first and fifteenth of the month are days for the sisters to pay their respects. Today, I’ve specially summoned you all; I presume everyone knows the reason.”
As her gaze swept across the crowd below, it still carried the inherent, restrained, and sharp scrutiny of someone in a high position, finally landing upon Qin Suyu.
There weren’t many women in the Eastern Palace; even with Qin Suyu added now, there were only six in total.
Crown Princess Qin Yihuan; Madames Meng Zhao and Zhu Sijiao; Lady Chenghui Xie Qingshang; and Attendant Lu Yunmiao.
Aside from Lu Yunmiao, the other four had been assigned as imperial concubines to Pei Xuanyan during the selection three months prior.
Hearing Qin Yihuan’s words, the rest showed little reaction, save for Attendant Lu, who smiled.
“I heard that the newly arrived sister is Your Highness the Crown Princess’s own younger half-sister. But if you ask me, it is still our Crown Princess who is the most blessed. Just look at this all-encompassing bearing and the noble air between your brows…”
Her sidelong glance swept past Qin Suyu, her voice deliberately elevated. “Though born of the same household, they are ultimately different!”
Attendant Lu had a palace-maid background. Back when Pei Xuanyan was conferred as Crown Prince and took residence in the Eastern Palace, the Empress Dowager had immediately bestowed a woman upon him.
Yet after more than a year, Pei Xuanyan had never touched her.
Emerging from the depths of the palace, Attendant Lu was an absolute expert at reading the political winds. When she first heard the news about Qin Suyu, she had even assumed the Crown Princess treated this “sister” so well that she was willing to share her man.
Yet seeing her today, though the Crown Princess appeared magnanimous on the surface, that trace of jealousy and mockery in the depths of her eyes escaped others, but Attendant Lu saw it crystal clear.
If she wanted to latch onto the Crown Princess’s ship, she naturally had to do things that pleased her and say what she loved to hear.
Just as Attendant Lu expected, hearing this, the furrow between Qin Yihuan’s brows relaxed slightly, though her words remained a rebuke.
“Now that you’ve entered the Eastern Palace, no matter whose daughter you were previously, you are all sisters now. Why say such things?”
Though she rebuked it, she spoke so lightly that it carried not a shred of intent to protect Qin Suyu.
Qin Suyu sat quietly at the very end with lowered brows, offering no comment.
Hearing this, Attendant Lu smiled even more brightly. “Your Highness is kind-hearted and always treats everyone like a sister. But this distinction between legitimate and concubine-born is, after all, an ancestral rule.”
Though Attendant Lu directed these words at Qin Suyu, Meng Zhao felt rather uncomfortable hearing them as well.
Clenching her fingers, she cast a cold, chilly gaze at Attendant Lu.
“Since you’ve entered the Eastern Palace, you’re still obsessing over that legitimate-versus-concubine nonsense. The master of this Eastern Palace is His Highness; whoever His Highness favors is exalted.”
Lifting her eyelids, Meng Zhao looked at Qin Yihuan with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Crown Princess, wouldn’t you say so?”
Meng Zhao’s family background matched Qin Yihuan’s, so Qin Yihuan preferred not to bicker with her too much, forcing out a smile instead.
“Madame Meng speaks well. Now that you’ve all entered the Eastern Palace, you are all His Highness’s women. Working to extend the imperial lineage for His Highness and the state is the absolute priority.”
Qin Yihuan raised her hand, and Yufu led forward three young palace maids, unfolding the brocade boxes they held one by one.
“Since His Highness bypassed the regular selection and personally conferred the title of Chenghui, I ought to prepare some gifts.”
Looking toward Qin Suyu, she beckoned, “Suyu, come here.”
Qin Suyu stood up, braving that cluster of needle-like gazes, and walked steadily to Qin Yihuan’s front, bowing in salute.
“Your Highness.”
Qin Yihuan lifted her chin slightly, looking down from her position of superiority just as she was about to speak when the sharp, piercing voice of an eunuch rang out from outside.
“His Highness the Crown Prince’s oral edict has arrived—”