Rei lay awake that night, her mind preoccupied with conflicting thoughts. Her late parents had instilled in her a strong sense of loyalty to her country and warned her against siding with evil. Yet now, she found herself in an ironic and sarcastic predicament.
The empire she had once loved had abandoned her, and she had nearly perished in the wilderness as a result. Meanwhile, the person who had been rumored to be an evil, cruel and fearsome tyrant had saved her from the snow. Rei was unsure of what to do next. Should she remain steadfast in her parents' teachings or stay in the castle of a potential enemy of her empire?
As she grappled with this dilemma, Rei's hesitation began to fade. She recalled how she had been falsely accused and exiled from her homeland without a proper investigation, despite her repeated protestations of innocence. Even her fiancé had not come to her aid. With these thoughts in mind, Rei's resolve strengthened. She would no longer blindly follow the empire that had betrayed her, but would instead chart her own course.
Thinking about all these things, Rei suddenly got up from her bed.
"My Lady, what's wrong?" An Er asked, rather concerned.
"Can you call out someone for me? I want to meet the King." said Rei, out of the blue.
"Eh? My Lady, are you serious? I mean, you know that he is that rumoured tyranny who was trying to conquer Qin's Empire, right? Why would you want to meet him?" An Er asked, rather surprised at what Rei just said.
"Well, he saved us after all, I think I should give him a proper thanks." said Rei.
"But he is the King of one of the potential enemy countries of Qin's empire, furthermore, he is an extremely evil and cruel person, it will be quite dangerous for you to recklessly meet him in person just like that." said An Er, who doesn't really allow her lady to meet the King due to various reasons.
"Well, we don't really know whether he is really an awful person as in the rumor or not, it could be fake. After all, it's just a rumor. I choose to believe that if he is a cruel and evil person as rumoured, he wouldn't even stop by and save us. As for the 'potential enemy' of Qin's Empire, well, they chose to abandon us in the first place, why should we even bother with that anymore?" said Rei, with a determined attitude.
"But… We can't just betray our empire…"
"Betray? Was I not faithful enough to the empire? But look at what I have got right now? A permanent banishment order. If that's the prize of my faithfulness, I'd rather choose to betray." said Rei, rather desperate and fed up, as water filled her eyes.
"Oh my… My Lady. I am sorry for my inconsideration. I will support any of your decisions with no doubt. So please, don't say such heavy words anymore, you have been bearing too much." said Er as she hugged Rei.
"I will get someone to arrange a meeting between you and the king, right now, please have a good rest, your fever hasn't fully recovered yet…" said An Er, as she slowly convinced Rei to lay back on the bed before covering her up with a blanket…
The next morning, as instructed by Rei, Er inquired one of the palace's maids if they were allowed to meet the King. However, the maid's response was not what she had expected…
"Dr Ben said that your lady needs to stay in her room until her fever is fully recovered, which will take at least two to three days, so, please make sure she stays in the room and away from the cold until then. As for your daily needs, just let us know if you need anything, and we will get everything for you." She slightly bowed.
"But we have some very important matters, can't you just loosen up a bit?" Er as she took out a small bag of silver tokens.
The maid shook her head.
"Miss, it's futile, not even with the King's order. Dr Ben's words are not anything we would want to oppose." A palace guard spoke kindly, as he just happened to be passing by.
"Mhmm… Just like what he said. But don't worry, after your lady has fully recovered, we will reach you to Master Satoshi, he should be able to get you to His Majesty."
"Ah…"
With that, Er passed that unbelievable piece of information to Rei, which caused Rei to remember that doctor's name while starting to have a unique interest towards him…
***
A few days later, Rei finally fully recovered from her stubborn fever and was allowed to leave her room. With the help of a palace maid, they successfully reached out to Satoshi.
"Hmm? You want to meet the King? Yes, I can indeed bring you to him, but are you sure about that?" Satoshi asked, rather surprised at Rei's request.
"Yes, is there anything wrong with that?" Rei asked, slightly confused by that response.
"Well, I believe you must have heard a lot of awful rumors about His Majesty in your country, don't you actually feel scared about that?" Satoshi asked, who sounded slightly sarcastic.
Satoshi's question left Rei at a loss for words. Though she had been the one to request an audience with the King, she couldn't deny the fear that gnawed at her from the depths of her heart.
Upon seeing Rei's reaction, Satoshi let out a sigh but still escorted her to the King's location, much to her surprise. To their delight, the palace wasn't far from Rei's room, and they arrived at a towering structure after navigating through some narrow hallways.
However, their progress was impeded when a guard called out to Satoshi, signaling that an emergency had arisen.
"I am very sorry to leave you alone here, but we are having some quite complicated situations near the garden, I have to go there right now. Did you see that half-opened tall double-sided door in the middle there, it's the assembly hall, His Majesty is having a special brief meeting there right now, he should be free in a few minutes."
Spoke Satoshi before hastily running towards an opposite direction from Rei, leaving Rei standing on the spot, slightly confused, and she certainly did not notice that smirk on Satoshi's face when he left her.