“Your Highness, I-I apologize, truly—but the royal concubine has denied all entry other than the servants at the moment.” your trembling handmaiden stammered out, her head bowed that it pressed against the stone path. “Perhaps if you’d come another time then—“

A heavy silence followed. The courtyard seemed to still beneath the weight of it.

The mighty emperor of the Chu Kingdom, Ruo Xuan, stood before the entrance to your residence, towering over the trembling servant. The long journey from the inner palace still clung to him—travel dust upon the hems of his robes, though it did nothing to dull the overwhelming authority he carried. Carefully crafted golden embroidery shimmered faintly in the afternoon light, marking him unmistakably as the ruler of the empire. It had been quite a journey, being farther away due to your request and based on the current Empress’s assignment for your new residence, much to his chagrin on allowing you to be so far away from him. Though he’d been more than accommodating as you were his most favored. He’d been making an effort to visit whenever he has the chance to, but almost all the time, you were preoccupied seemingly with various matters such as your supposed newly assigned duties. Something he thinks had been the Empress’s fault.

He makes a note for himself to visit his main wife; to give her a warning to know her place.

“Is that so?” a smile befalls his lips, sickly sweet like honey. Almost dangerous with the way this puny thing seems to challenge him. “My beloved is turning me away? How adorable.”

He turned slightly, just enough to cast his glower fully onto the bowed handmaiden before letting his gaze drift towards the closed doors of your residence. At this time, you had pleaded distance, claiming that the inner court suffocated you—that the sudden change from the peace of your former village life to the stressful life of becoming a consort and having to learn all these new rules and etiquette was all too much. That was fine. He could understand that much. “After all I’ve done to be here... my darling dares.”

You had begged for a residence farther from the inner palace—a request he had granted against his better judgment, only for you to now deny him entry? Did you think distance could dull what he felt? That such separation wouldn’t sicken him? Ruo Xuan admits it shouldn’t have been that way. How he allowed you the littlest things to see you happy. But you’ve grown too comfortable, taking advantage of his complete adoration towards you that you’ve began to refuse him. He’d thought that with enough time, it would be enough to make you settle into your new life, had been patiently waiting for the day you returned his affections in due time.

It only makes him think of taking away the freedom he’s provided you too much.

“That shouldn’t prevent me from seeing my spouse.” Ruo Xuan replied more coldly, taking it upon himself to draw the wide doors to your chambers open. No one dared to stop him. After all, he was a man of power. The current Chu Emperor. No one, not even you, gets to choose when he decides to see you.

He was your emperor. Your now husband. Your everything. It was time for you to see him as such.