Princess Songyi - Chapter 3

As I left the imperial study, the crown prince blocked my path. He assumed I had gone to beg Father to spare me and immediately launched into a scolding.

“Songyi, how can you still be so childish? You even went to trouble Father in his study. A princess is supported by all the people. Going to Beirong to ease our kingdom’s burden is only right. How can you be so spoiled as to stir up the ladies of the palace to plead your case?”

I had no desire to argue and stepped around him. He caught my wrist hard enough to hurt. “I’m speaking to you. Did you hear me? Since you moved out of the palace and established your own household, you’ve become utterly unruly. You show your elder brother no respect and try to evade your marriage duty. You have none of the manners a woman ought to have. Even if you stayed in the capital, do you think the sons of noble families would want someone so selfish?”

I was already seething. At his refusal to see the truth, I gave a cold laugh. “Supported by the people? And what supports you, Crown Prince Brother, if not the people’s labor? Which member of this family, from the top down, doesn’t live off the realm? Yet whenever trouble breaks out at the border, all you can think to do is push a woman forward as a sacrifice. The court has failed to defeat Beirong for years. Isn’t that a failure of the men who rule it?”

I looked him in the eye. “Since you understand duty so well, why not give yourself to Beirong and buy peace for the border? I’m sure a prince of Daqian would be worth far more to them than a princess.”

His face darkened. “Ridiculous. I am heir to the throne. I will inherit this kingdom. How could I be sent away for a political marriage like a princess?”

“Heir to the throne?” I gave a soft laugh and leaned close. “If Father had another living son, Brother, do you think that position would still be yours?”

I knew at once that I had struck his deepest wound. The crown prince had never been particularly gifted. As children, we studied together under the grand tutor. When he explained the classics and questions of statecraft, I answered easily and often earned his praise. My brother would stare blankly, ponder each question over and over, and only just manage to keep up. The tutor could only shake his head. Father sighed whenever he tested my brother’s lessons. In private, he told Mother that the prince could at best preserve what he inherited, and even then would need wise ministers beside him.

Afterward, Father would look at me with regret. “Songyi, if only you were a son. Then I would not have to worry so much…”

My brother must have known what was said.

“You—” His face went livid. His lips trembled, and he raised his hand to strike me. I stepped back quickly, but he still had hold of my wrist. His palm grazed my cheek, leaving it burning.

For a moment, the air was still. I covered my face and let out a low laugh, coldness flashing in my eyes. Then tears spilled down my cheeks. When I looked up again, I wore an expression of fear and wounded disbelief.

“You… you hit me?” My voice shook. “I’m going to tell Father.”

I wrenched free and ran toward the imperial study, crying loudly enough to make the palace servants turn and stare. My brother had clearly not expected me to go straight to Father. After a stunned moment, he panicked and chased me.

“Songyi, stop!”

I ran faster. Ignoring Chief Eunuch Hou’s attempt to stop me, I burst into the study sobbing. “Father!”

I fell to my knees and raised my face, showing him the swollen red marks on my cheek as tears poured down it. To Father, I had always been his cheerful little princess, bright, playful, and innocent. He had never seen me so miserable. His heart went out to me at once, and he lifted me with his own hands, certain I had suffered some terrible wrong.

The crown prince hurried in behind me, pale and out of breath, only to meet Father’s suddenly forbidding gaze.

I looked at him through my tears. “Crown Prince Brother, I have called you Brother since childhood. I have always respected and loved you. When Mother and the other ladies heard I was going to Beirong, they wept for me. That is how family ought to feel. But you showed no concern at all. Again and again you pressed me to walk into that fire pit, and now you have struck me. Am I so little to you that you think you can treat me however you please?”

I turned sadly to Father. “Beirong is a cold, harsh place. I am willing to go for our country, though I have no idea what awaits me. But must I leave without even a little kindness from my brother? Does Crown Prince Brother see me only as an object to trade for peace?”

I shook with sobs and could scarcely breathe, looking utterly helpless. Father flew into a rage and kicked the crown prince. “You unfilial son!”

My brother did not dare resist. He took the blow and knelt, swallowing his anger. In the end, he was confined to the Eastern Palace for three months, ordered to copy scriptures a hundred times, and stripped of six months’ allowance.

As for me, I received Father’s gentle consolation and several chests of treasures. Only then did I return to my princess’s residence at my leisure.