Xiao Er came to wake her mistress early in the morning. Just like any other day, she was greeted with the sight of her mistress sitting on the bed with a solemn face. Her mistress had not been able to sleep since she was carrying His Majesty's child. Something was clearly bothering her.
Not only that, the mistress' sleeping pattern was disturbed by this nightmare. Her personality was also slowly changing and she seemingly turned into someone new.
Xiao Er had been serving the Lady since the first day she stepped into the inner palace. She felt so grateful and elated when she was informed that she, a few other new maids and eunuchs were selected to serve the new concubine. Only after a while did Xiao Er realize that they were practically a group of black sheep for the inner palace's residents. A new concubine with unclear background can only be served by a bunch of newbies who had no proper training!
They were left in a mess without proper guidance from anyone in the inner palace. Fortunately, the highly adaptable concubine Rong managed to rein the rope and lead all of them toward betterment by providing lessons on the palace's rules and regulations all by herself. For that, Xiao Er was immensely grateful that she was given the chance to serve a brilliant mistress.
However, this pregnancy was like a solemn cloud hanging on their head. It brought so much unwanted attention and animosities from other concubines who had been trying to conceive for a while. Not to mention, her own mistress had been affected by a peculiar mood swing that changed her warm and friendly manner into a cold and distant person which made her sound almost like the emperor!
'Is she trying to imitate His highness?'
Leaving the question behind, Xiao Er began to help her mistress to prepare for the day. Xiao Er realized that her mistress disliked putting up her hair like how she preferred before she was pregnant. Nowadays, she would only loosely tie the upper part of her at the back. The mistress also demanded to wear only white robe citing that colorful clothes make her feel dizzy.
"My Lady, do you still feel exhausted? I had asked the cook to broil your medicine and she sent it together with your favorite soups for breakfast." Xiao Er began to put the soup into a bowl for her mistress. Sister Meng who had been assigned as their cook was the only senior aide that was sent to serve Concubine Rong. Other than being an amazing cook, she was also proficient in making medicine. She was the one who had helped Concubine Rong to properly train all the servants in their mansion. Her mistress had been saying repeatedly how she was grateful that their mansion had Sister Meng to guide them toward betterment.
Xiao Er had always admired Sister Meng. She always knew what was the best for their mistress. She knew her mistress' favorite foods and her likes and dislikes on the very first day she met the mistress. She almost sounds like a clairvoyant when it comes about serving the mistress. If Xiao Er was being honest, sister Meng made a better head maid compared to her. Xiao Er had always wondered why sister Meng decided to work as a cook , which was a rather lower position with even lower salary than hers. Probably she likes the privacy that comes with the job's scope. Not to mention, Sister Meng has a large slash scar on her face. Maybe that was the reason why she rarely shows her face to anyone else outside of their mansion hence why she preferred to work in the kitchen
"The Emperor has arrived"
The unexpected announcement had Both Concubine Rong and Xiao Er staring at one another.
"What is he doing here at this hour?" she whispered to Xiao Er.
"This servant has no idea My Lady. Here, let me help you to get up" Xiao Er reached for Concubine Rong's arm. Pregnancy made her formerly active and independent mistress grow more dependent on Xiao Er in order to move around. While Concubine Rong was halfway through getting up from her chair, the sounds of the door creaking signaling that the emperor had already entered the room.
"You don't need to get up." Said the emperor while nonchalantly strutted toward the dining table. "You don't need to pay obeisance either" He continued.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Ignoring the emperor's order, Concubine Rong made a perfect curtsied while thanking the emperor for his kindness. Xiao Er is at a loss of words. Why is the concubine so stubborn nowadays? Xiao Er almost got a heart attack on daily basis whenever her mistress acted up in front of His Majesty. It was very fortunate of them that the emperor was unfazed by her mistress' improper behaviour. In fact, the emperor looked very much amused with her mistress' reaction and seemed kind of enjoying it. He was sitting on a chair comfortably and eyeing the selection of food on the table with a great interest. He had a big smile plastered on his handsome face. The emperor seemed to be in a very good mood.
" Xiao Er, go to the kitchen and ask for more food and another set of utensils from sister Meng" Concubine Rong instructed her maid after seeing the emperor comfortably picking her food by using the chopstick that she had been using just now.
Xiao Er curtsied before retreating back to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Xiao Er found Sister Meng crouching in front of the stove while diligently preparing something that emitted a delicious smell. Without hesitating, Xiao Er excitedly ran toward sister Meng wanting to see what was waiting for her on the stove.
"Woahh…sister Meng, you are cooking the emperor's favorite porridge. How did you know that the emperor is coming?" asked Xiao Er excitedly. She grabbed last night's leftover cake on the right table before stuffing them into her mouth. Looking up from her stove, sister Meng aggressively took back the cake from Xioa Er's hand.
"Sister Meng!! Why did you take the cake from me? I'm hungry"
Sister Meng straightened her body and rested both of her palm on her waist. "Stop stealing cakes from our kitchen. The emperor has a keen sense of smell and he would immediately know that you are eating our mistress' leftover food. While our mistress doesn't mind, you think the emperor would let you go just like that? Go and wash your mouth!"
This sent Xiao Er straight to the water barrel to wash her mouth. The emperor can be very ruthless when it comes about punishing the servants if he felt the need to do so. Sister Meng broke into chuckles seeing the young maid scrambling in front of the water barrel to wash off the smell from her mouth.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Xiao Er barked while wiping the excess water on her mouth with a handkerchief.
"You are too greedy. The mistress overindulged you too much. You would be dead if you were serving other concubines in the inner palace" she reprimanded Xiao Er. Sister Meng then called out for other maids to bring out the newly cooked breakfast. Seeing that they are now alone, Sister Meng turned to Xiao Er.
Facing Xiao Er up close, sister Meng carefully took out a packet out of her breast pocket.
"This is the medicine that My Lady asked me to make. Be careful, do not show it to other people" The packet was instantly transferred and Xiao Er hurriedly hid it in her clothes.
"I'm going out Sister Meng" Xiao Er bid her goodbye. Once Xiao Er is out of her sight, sister Meng unconsciously touched the scar on her face. It was a long straight knife wound covering from her right eye to her left check. Lately, the scar twitched so much it was bothering her.
*********
As soon as Xiao Er entered the room, she saw the emperor and her mistress were enjoying their meals in tranquil state. Her mistress would occasionally pick out some meat to be put on the emperor's bowl in which he would respond with a big grin on his face. Both of them made a perfect picture of how a beautiful family should look like, except for, there is nothing beautiful about their relationship.
Xiao Er did not know much about her mistress's past with the emperor. Just like any other people in the palace, Xiao Er knew that they met at the mistress' hometown where she saved the injured emperor and hid him in her shed. They fell in love and the emperor decided to make her as one of his concubines and they were supposed to live happily ever after. However, unbeknownst to other people, there is another key figure in their story that had been left out of the story that is the brother. Up to this day, the mistress still doesn't know where her brother's whereabouts.
As soon as both of them finished their breakfast, Xiao Er expected the emperor to leave immediately to attend to his work matters. Hence, she was surprised to see the emperor was still relaxing on the chair acting as if he had no paperwork piling on his table.
"Ah…Concubine Rong, do you still remember yesterday's shenanigan about you insisting on climbing the watchtower and almost creating trouble for your servants?" the emperor asked nonchalantly. Xiao Er can't help but realize that the Emperor had no filter whenever he speaks to the mistress. This is one of his unique traits that he only shared with the mistress as he rarely speaks that much with other people.
"Yes, Your Highness. This lowly subject apologized for making such a ruckus yesterday." Concubine Rong replied with a calm face. Just like the emperor, Xiao Er's mistress might have probably been the only palace lady who did not faze after being jabbed by the emperor. They even appear to be relishing in joy of this little passive aggressive banter with each other. The big smile on His Majesty's face was the obvious proof of this hypothesis.
Xiao Er felt a little relieved seeing this little exchange. There were only two interactions between both of them. It was either this harmless type of banter or the highly hostile fight that had always left the servant feeling terrified.
"Well, now that you cannot climb the watchtower nor can you go outside to enjoy the bustling scenery of our kingdom's capital, I have decided to bring the capital into this place. Servants bring 'them' inside" He instructed.
"Bring the capital to me?"