Oh An Ah smooths down her hair, casting a reproachful look at the bruised skies above. Even the sunset had failed to take away their ominous stormy shades. The wind is cutting, icy and damp. She hates everything that had brought her out of her cozy chambers into the mercy of this weather. But here - she had a mission to accomplish.
Bile rises to her throat at the thought. She squeezes her eyes shut and repels the disgust from her expression. Instead An Ah thinks of her father. Unfairly brought down, accused and imprisoned - all simply because of clan rivalry and an emperor who has roots on the opposite end of the field.
"I've spared nothing on you," he surely had not meant it to sound as regretful or burdensome as it did. But all the same, An Ah had never been more duty bound. "You've had the best of tutors, the finest ladies - latest fashion. Everything the princess herself probably enjoyed. Would you fail to charm a man - when your family depends upon it?"
