And just like that, I was engaged to a prince I have never met before.
Besides the initial fear, I found myself excited at the prospect of marrying a prince. Barely able to sleep at night, thinking and waiting for the time when I can finally meet my prince charming. Perhaps, this wasn't so bad, I was to become a princess and I couldn't think of anything better than that.
What I thought was immediate took time to happen. I wasn't a ripe marrying age, and I wasn't trained in proper manners and etiquette of a royal. It will take years and the most experienced masters to train me before I'm ready.
The emperor sent his escorts to chaperone me to the palace. I was to be trained how to be a proper bride to a prince before I could even meet my betrothed.
I was nervous, I was brought to the most extravagant place in the nation all alone. Without my family, without any friends, relatives, no one to lean on - during those times I needed comfort.
When I arrived, I was given a room at the consort's courtyard separated and bigger than a regular concubine's room. I found out the concubines employed the hierarchical ranking system. The more important and closer they are to the emperor or a prince, the bigger and more luxurious the rooms, and clothing are. They're also given their own personal servant.
Most concubines don't have servants, they tended to themselves while everything else was provided for them. But since I'm the second prince's betrothed, I was given a large luxurious chamber along with a personal servant named Bailing to aid my every need.
It didn't take long before I heard silent hisses and whispers about the new girl who arrived in the palace. I attracted attention, a little too much-unwanted attention that the women were blunt about letting me know of second prince's opinion of our engagement.
It was well known in the palace the second prince opposed the arrangement of our marriage. He's a prince and a scholar and he deserved nothing less than a smart and elegant woman. No amount of beauty is going to convince him to marry a peasant and the fact that he's marrying me for the reason of vanity alone was absurd.
This broke my heart. learning his opinion of me. Although I didn't let it break my spirit. Coming here wasn't my choice either. I was forced to come here, and my parents were obligated to give me up.
*****
My first week at the palace came and went like a hurricane that I barely remembered the days that passed. I was taken to every scholar and instructors hired to bring me up to speed to become literate and elegant.
They were all relentless, I was swatted and paddled whenever I made mistakes that by the middle of the week arrived, I had full on anxiety anticipating a whip or a smack each time I couldn't keep up with their lessons.
They told me I needed to learn fast. Most women who came to the palace are nobles from aristocratic families.
The women the princes married are princesses from the neighboring kingdoms and it surprised them when the emperor suddenly chose a bride for his son without an aristocratic blood. Girls like me were typically used for pleasure, mainly brought in as whores and not as brides.
I said nothing, without allowing their insults and degrading statements break me down. I was to be a wife to the second prince and that's all that mattered.
On the days away from the brutal hands of the instructors training me to be a proper wife, I walked around in the crowded garden. The palace has the most beautiful garden filled with every variety of flowers.
The garden was the most beautiful place here and I found out this is also the most popular place with the concubines.
Not only for its beauty, but also for the prince who enjoys spending his time here. I learned the third prince, the youngest among the princes enjoyed the breeze at the garden especially during the hour after his morning combat and arms training.
I heard words about his attractiveness and his legendary appeal. They said he was handsome, the most handsome of the brothers with the body to match. I found my interest piqued, intrigued at the idea of masculine vanity.
I don't know exactly how he looked like and I'm not one to decide what an attractive male looked like. I was young, far too naïve and raised in a tiny village with a limited population. I don't see a lot of handsome men.
I heard a wave of giggles that made me turn my head. I saw a flock of young women suddenly crowding the path to the bridge. A group of guardsmen walked making way for someone in the crowd and I had assumed him to be the infamous third prince.
My curiosity got the best of me, just like a cat, I went to investigate.
"Don't go." I heard a sudden protest, whipping my head around. It was my personal servant Bailing. Her hand wrapped around my wrist, halting me. She gave me a persuasive look that's hard to ignore. "You don't want to get tangled up in that crowd."
"Why not?" I asked curiously.
Her head glanced over to the flock of girls giggling on their way to admire the prince. "Seriously! Do you really want to follow those idiotic girls?"
"Hmmm?"
"Look at them, they're practically drooling over a prince who'll never pay attention to them."
I hesitated.
Bailing clucked her tongue.
"What? I want to see what the whole fuzz was all about." I said.
She scoffed. "Don't stoop so foolishly. You're betrothed to his brother, you don't need to be involved in all that mess."
I turned my head back at the now growing crowd and decided she was right. The flow of concubines who flocked to see the prince became overwhelming that I never knew the palace could employ so many girls.
I nodded and smiled at her. "Should we go back to the chamber, then? I don't know what else to do."
She shrugged. "If you say so."