Hearing the King's words had caused Judith's heart to skip a beat. She knew to expect this, but yet that didn't prepare her for the weight his words had put on her being.
'Calm down, you're Qui Lin's maid, not anyone else's' Judith had said to herself, trying to reduce her growing anxiety. The possibility of one of the Councilmen taking her as their slave was near zero, but yet, Judith still found herself worrying.
"I would like the one in our clothing," One of the Councilman had said in a hurried tone, as though trying to be the first to get the words out. Funny enough, this Councilman was not part of those against the King, but that's not to say he's actually a good person either.
On the contrary, this Councilman was one of the worst in terms of ethics. He was a gluttonous bastard who had a taste for the comforts of beautiful young maidens, despite the fact that he looked like a grotesque demon from the ugliest depths of hell.
'I won't be one of them.' Judith thought, as she waited anxiously for Qui Lin to chime in.
"Forgive me Councilman Ying, but I have already laid claim to her." Hearing these words, Judith all but melted onto the ground like a puddle of water while letting out a sigh of relief.
'Not today you piece of crap.' Judith said with a grin.
"Are you sure Lady Qui Lin? I don't honestly care, but if you hand this slave over to Ying here, I'd be more than happy to compensate you." Slightly looking up, Judith saw the councilman who had just spoke.
This time, this Councilman was actually a member against the King. But despite that, he always reveled with the fat and gluttonous Councilman to share maids amongst one another once they had filled their appetite, and it would seem he too had grown an appetite for Judith.
"I'm sorry Councilman, but..."
"Surely, a simple maid shouldn't be that much trouble for you to let go?" Judith froze in place upon hearing another Councilman's voice.
'Three?' Judith thought to herself, now feeling her heart beat rapidly. 'This isn't good.' Judith had said inwardly. Because what was going on really wasn't good. Originally, the protagonist of the story had two Councilman demanding for her, that was it. But if there were three or four, then this would pose serious problems.
It could cause the King to intervene and more often than not, try to please his Councilmen by asking Qui Lin to give Judith up, if that were the case, then Judith was as good as doomed.
"Get behind me." Judith whispered to Tsai, who was standing dumbfounded by everything that was unfolding before her eyes.
Listening to Judith's words, she carefully made her way to Judith's back, so she was out of sight.
With Tsai now safely tucked away at her back, Judith began to run through her thoughts once more, trying to find some form of escape from this scenario, but there was nothing she could do, she held no power to stop whatever it is that was going to happen.
'Crap crap crap.' Judith thought, feeling her heart pound. She didn't want his, she didn't want to be anyone's sex slave. 'Shit.' Judith gritted her teeth as she felt her nerves eating away at her.
"It's not that Councilman, it's just..."
"The Western slave saved my life." Judith's eyes widened upon hearing this voice, the prince's voice.
At once, all eyes were turned to the prince. When she looked in his direction, she was more astonished by the fact that he was seated on the floor, legs crossed with his right arm supporting his head.
The King in particular was left flabbergasted, as he had never seen the prince act like this. At least, he had never seen this prince act like this, since he turned thirteen.
With a drowsiness in the prince's eyes and voice, he struggled to keep his lids open as he spoke.
"Yes, she saved my life. And as such, I believe she deserves a lot more than being reduced to a sex slave." The prince said, then began to fall his head.
Judith couldn't help but stare at the impostor. Suddenly, her emotions took more turns and twisting paths than a tangled up roll of thread. She tried to comprehend what the impostor was getting at.
Why it would matter to him what would happen to her. If anything, allowing Judith to suffer in such a way would have been a good way to make her falter, and doubt herself. Thus enabling him to take her out of this world, and back to the one she was going to die in.
It didn't make much sense to Judith, but she didn't want to let her guard down. For all she knew, this was some sort of ploy, she still had to be very careful.
"What? No young prince, it's nothing like that." The fat gluttonous Councilman had defended.
"It's sad you would think of him in such a way." The other Councilman that spoke up about Judith had said, but the last one held his tongue.
"Ah, right, sorry Councilmen. I was having a dream just now," the prince said with a yawn, then stretched his arms before rising off the ground. "I mistook you all for a bunch of defilers and criminals," once he had gotten onto his feet, he bowed. "Please forgive me."
Judith still found herself lost on this impostor.
'Does he want to blow his cover?' Judith wondered, surely, someone would see he was acting off. This was not how the prince behaved. If he kept at this, he would end up in a torture chamber where they would interrogate him on the real prince's location.
Then again, this was probably a good thing...or was it? Judith had never been more confused, this act of kindness — no matter how suspicious it was — was throwing Judith off balance.
"No worries young prince." The fat Councilman said with a hearty and stupid laugh.
"Now, can we please wrap this up, I'm very tired." The prince had said, making everyone more than confused.
***
Judith had never stopped sighing of relief ever since the meeting had been over. Thanks to the impostor, things had wrapped up a lot faster, so everyone went their separate ways. After all the slaves had been rejected by the Councilmen, they were handed over to Tethereds to them to work in the mine fields.
Following that, the prince had gone off with his father, so Qui Lin, Judith and Tsai were left. Once they had exited the throne room, they made their way to one of the many vacant rooms in the castle, in which Qui Lin had given Judith one of her own.
It was large and empty. But nonetheless it was an incredible accommodation, compared to the closet room Judith had in her old world. Qui Lin had informed Judith that with time, she would fill the room up with things, but she had to earn it, and further prove her loyalty to Qugan and the throne.
With all that being said, Qui Lin had given Judith a list of everything she had to do everyday and at the exact time. Without wasting any time, Qui Lin had brought Judith to her own room, where she immediately commanded Judith to cleaning it out.
After spending the whole day doing one menial task or the other for Qui Lin, night had finally come and Judith was free.
With a heavy sigh, she pushed the door of her room open, so that upon taking a few steps in, she had fallen onto the ground, breathing heavily. It was night now, and the moon, or rather, the White Phoenix, was peaking the darkened sky, so the night's cool air began to caress the world. But this cool air seemingly made sure to avoid Judith where ever she went. Because no matter how cold it was this night, she fell incredibly hot and sweaty.
Lying there, Judith had never felt more disgusting. She was practically drenched in sweat, so that her clothing began to cling to her skin. Her hair was soaked and latched onto her face in strands, and her clothing was dirty as it had scraped and smeared against dust, grime and the likes of which.
Pulling Judith from her thoughts for a moment, was the aroma of something very delicious and mouthwatering, which had disappeared as quickly as it came. Or rather, it was pushed away from her thoughts, when she remembered the smell of something in stark contrast.
Qui Lin's dirty laundry.
Holding back a barf, Judith thought on the day she had. The devil woman Qui Lin did not just ask Judith to clean out her room, but the hallway that proceeded it, then her Lergobeast, who gave Judith a kick to the forehead. After which she proceeded to pack up its poop, and to follow suit, she began to wash all of Qui Lin's dirty laundry.
As the thoughts of her terrible day ravaged her mind, Judith began to feel the the hoof of Qui Lin's Lergobeast on her forehead, then, she squeezed her nose when she remembered how smelly Qui Lin's laundry was.
'Have they even seen water and soap before?' Judith thought with a bit of disdain, before her thought process had been interrupted by Tsai, who was on all fours and above her.
She stared at Judith with the most cutest and comforting smile. As opposed to Judith's long and annoying hair, Tsai's hair was relatively shorter, not going below her neck. Yet, she had packed it above her head in a neat bun.
"How was your first day?" Tsai asked Judith, her warm smile still present.
"Peachy." Judith said with a grin, which made Tsai chuckle.
"Let me help you up." Tsai said, then she got up, walked around Judith so she was standing in front of her, then bent over and reached out a hand to Judith.
Taking her hands, Judith at once was pulled onto her feet. And before she could thank Tsai, she had already spoke.
"I wanted to say that I left warm water for you in the bathroom, but..." Tsai paused, then fell her gaze in disappointment.
Judith instantly realized that Tsai was talking about the fact she was covered in sweat.
"No no, it's fine thank you. I'm still going to..." Judith likewise paused. It was now that certain things had dawned on her, causing her to frown.