Conquering the Emperor

I wasn’t sure what made the building appear so beautiful but if I had to guess it was probably the rich array of colors and what seemed to be colored stones that decorated the walls and pillars. The palace wasn’t as big as the one in the capital; however, the decoration was equally if not more sophisticated and definitely more unique.

Rich colors of red, green, yellow, and blue meshed together to form intricate patterns of leaves and various flowers covering the entire building. The flowers were heavily decorated with colored stones, making them look shiny and three dimensional. In all my life, I have never seen anything like this.

“Wow…this palace is so beautiful,” I whispered in awe.

“I told you so,” Ren said almost emotionlessly as he pulled me after him, leading me quickly inside.

Six women dressed in light yellow maid costumes greeted us with their eyes lowered respectfully to the ground. The eldest maid gestured with her hands to show that she bids us well and welcomes us warmly to the palace. I guess it wasn’t acceptable for the staff in this palace to talk to the Prince since no one has spoken a word since we got here.

Ren didn’t seem bothered by it, so I presumed that it was the norm. I smiled at the maids instead as I wondered if they even saw my smile with their eyes glued to the floor like that.

Thankfully, the women left the hall leaving us alone soon after they finished their greetings. I felt uncomfortable with them around since they didn’t speak, and I honestly did not know how to interact with them.

“Umm…are they not allowed to speak to us?” I asked Ren hesitantly after we were left alone.

“You mean the maids? They can’t speak. All their tongues have been removed. The guards can speak though, but they’re not allowed to enter the palace building,” Ren replied casually.

“What do you mean their tongues were removed?” I asked without bothering to hide my shock.

“It is as it sounds. Their tongues were cut off so that they won’t be able to speak…or leak secrets,” Ren said before he smiled alluringly at me.

“You can’t be serious…” I mumbled.

“Emperors and other prominent family members come here with their women. It would be troublesome for the maids to gossip about what they observe here so…” Ren explained with a shrug.

I didn’t know what to say. I felt like I was going to vomit at this tasteless and barbaric way of things.

“Let’s go to our room,” Ren said cheerfully as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

I did not miss out on the word “our room”. However, before I could open my mouth to voice my protest. Another voice rang out in the room.

“Ren! Why are you here so late?! Did something happen? I heard that there were bandits on the loose…”

I turned around to see the owner of the voice walking fast into the room. Shin walked in with a clearly worried face. He walked up to his friend and patted his shoulder and arms to make sure that Ren was real and still living.

“Lady White Lotus, I hope that you are well…” Shin said as he bowed slightly to me.

I quickly bowed back to show my respect. Shin wasn’t just Ren’s best friend, but he has a high rank of his own.

“We were ambushed and had to spend the night in a cave because it rained so hard. I don’t think they were simple bandits though…” Ren said with a laugh like none of it ever bothered him.

“You were ambushed? Meaning someone tried to assassinate you and you’re standing here laughing? I’m sending word to the emperor,” Shin said as his face turned tense with seriousness.

“Don’t do that. You’re overreacting. The emperor doesn’t need to be bothered by something so trivial as this,” Ren replied with a chuckle.

“So trivial? The crown prince, his eldest son, was the target of an assassination! Ren!” Shin said, raising his voice.

“The emperor sent us here to make babies. What’s going to happen when you tell him about this?” Ren challenged.

“He’ll send an army here to escort you back to the main palace where you will be better guarded. Obviously,” Shin replied with certainty.

“That’s great. So, we don’t need to make babies anymore?” Ren shot back jokingly.

“…No! Burning flames of hell, why am I stuck dealing with you!” Shin exclaimed as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and began pacing about the room.

“Exactly. Just leave me alone and stay quiet. No one can kill me that easily…” Ren said dismissively.

“I don’t know what else to say to you anymore. I’m requesting for backup to escort you on the way back,” Shin stated his plan.

“Sure. I’ll leave that to you. Let’s go, Rin,” Ren said turning to me and grabbing my hand into his once more before dragging me away after him.

“Where are you taking me? Ren?!” I asked as I tried my best to keep up with his long and fast strides. The high platform shoes and the dress that I was wearing was not helping me at all in this situation.

“To our bedroom. Where else?” Ren replied like it was the most obvious thing.

I mean, I guess it was but in this large palace why can’t we get separate rooms.

Soon we arrived at our destined room. The bedroom was more like a set of rooms instead of a bedroom. There was a dining room with a large round table in the center as well as other pieces of furniture such as a wooden sofa set. Next came the dressing room, our private bathroom, a working room, and finally the bedroom with a large bed it could probably fit four to five people.

I looked around impressed as I checked out our rooms. Well, this turned out better than I had expected. At least Ren and I won’t be stuck in a small square room with a single bed to share between us. The wooden sofa was long enough to accommodate my small body. I’ll give Ren the bed and sleep here.

“You should shower and get changed. Your clothes are dirty, and you look like a poor mess,” Ren said without mincing his words.

Perhaps he was right, but he didn’t have to put it that way…

“Ok…” I muttered softly.

“I’ll get the maids to come help you clean up,” Ren said as he made his way towards the door.

“What about you? Where are you going?” I asked.

“I have something to do. Find something to preoccupy yourself with for the day. There’s a hot spring on the palace grounds…” Ren said with his back still turned to me.

He was out the door before I could say anything. Just like that, Ren left me alone in the room. Ok…now what?

--To be continued…