empressliu

"Junshang's fourth wife," Liu Mingyan says. "Sha Hualing. She was princess of the Southern Desert, until she killed her father and gifted his lands--along with herself--to Luo Binghe. No great loss; he was a monster." Sha Hualing has never told her such, of course, but Liu Mingyan hears it in the carefully careless way she mentions her life before the harem. "Her people's loyalties are to her, however, not to him, and she--disliked that Junshang chose me for Empress over her." This is a massive understatement. "We crossed swords the first day we met, and most days thereafter. Yet I find, in his absence--" the idea of saying anything genuinely complimentary about Sha Hualing rankles, so she allows herself to trail off, instead.