Panting heavily, she walked slowly to the corner of her bed where the creature fell.
"What there…?" Her words where swallowed back as a knock resounded at the door.
Knock…knock
"Yes!...who is it…?"
"My lady it's lunchtime, you didn't have breakfast, so I brought your lunch to your room, please may I come in…?"
Corvina gaze at the snakes colorful scales and hurriedly covered it with a blanket hiding it under her pillow.
"Come in…" The maid opened the door on her reply.
"I want to go out, inform my Anuty when she gets back" She immediately left, not eating the food and of course Cynthiana followed as planned.
Due the the Empires stereotypes and double standards, where men belong to the public sphere's and women belong to the private sphere's, Most of the shops and and tea houses where owned by men, though the where sometimes managed by women, they could not make decisions for the shops as the men owned it.
This brought some conflict, leading to women owning their own shops, tea houses and boutiques whereas before the only public building a woman can owe was a Brothel which only few could manage.
Walking in the streets, which was beautiful with flowers and luxurious carriages and horses rode passing by.
"Cynthiana…?" Corvina called
"Yes…" She replied
"How is the house of Lords…?"
"I don't know…" Her blunt reply left Corvina speechless as she had no form etiquettes, be it in speech, or dressing as she looked like a servant but did not act like one, as she was on the same footing with Corvina instead of falling behind a little, to show Corvina some respect.
"How does the law work here…?" Corvina tried again, intending to get something out of her.
"The have the three houses of Parliament, the first is the house of Lords, followed by the house of Commons, the guards and knights see to it that the House of Commons is under control and this is reported to the Baron who is inchrage.
Then the house of Lords consist of all the nobles in the Empire ranging from Baron to Duke and is controlled by the Grand Duke who makes sure that everything is under control in the house of Lords…" She stopped
"What about the third house…?" Corvina asked curiously.
"Sigh…The third house is the house of slaves, consisting of those that where sold, kidnapped and captured, just like that, a nobleman can be demoted to a commoner just like a commoner can be demoted to a slave depending on the level of their crime each having their boundaries, like this is the street of noble, each and everyone here is either a nobleman or have a wealthy background or something like that…I don't actually know much, this was all Cythera told to me"
"Let's check out the Commoner's street…" Corvina suggested
"Ma'am Floria said not to go beyond the bridge…" She said reminding Corvina how Cythera was scolded because of her.
"I'm not going to tell her…are you..?" This question left Cynthiana in a difficult position as she herself wanted to go and Corvina could see that as she hesitated to answer the question.
"Fine…Just this once, we'll never go there again"
"Deal"
Corvina answered as her eyes quickly surveyed their area, noticing a total of twelve spies following them since they left the house.
"Let's go…?"
Cynthiana again rudely took the lead in her servants wear leaving Corvina behind to follow after her. It pissed Corvina off but she did nothing about it, ignoring the weird gaze others gave them as the walked by.
After changing six horses for five hours to loose the spies.
The came to what seemed to be the entrance of the City, but on the otherside of the large beautiful gate was not a site to behold.
The streets where dirty, and muddy, full with horse-drawn carriages, street vendors and Pedestrian, dressed in cheap rag-like material, which with one gaze one could tell was of low quality.
And this proved to be the case as Corvina and Cynthiana traded their clothes in other to look among the Commoner.
"But in the Capital, there was nothing like this, is the Emperor even aware…?" Corvina voiced her thoughts.
"The ten kingdoms are ruled by One Emperor and ten Dukes making the Grand Duke is the Capital the controller of all. There is no way the Emperor and previous Emperors where unaware of this, though it is not done in the whole Empire, there are still some kingdoms that practice it, and we just happened to be in one of those kingdoms, Welcome to Mazin the Kingdom known for their beautiful women…" Cynthiana declared with scarasm
"Yes I know that…" Corvina mumbled
As the walked along the street exploring different passages and vendors, the where fantasized by the food of the Commoner, though not as healthy as that of the nobles, the had a good flavor.
To end their journey for the day, the booked a room in an inn as the where served bread and porridge oats, which was a delicacy for guests and families that can afford it.
To make matters worse, the bread was as hard as rock, it broke and fell on the wooden table with a loud thud…! The manager gave Corvina an embrassed look as if apologizing, but Corvina said nothing as she took the hard bread and ate it with the porridge oats, which was warm and delicious, it make the food enjoyable even the bread that was only made of flour and water technically having no taste.
Cynthiana was first worried of what Corvina would say, afraid that she will refuse the food but seeing her eat heartily, gave Cynthiana a sense of relief as she had a good impression of Corvina.
'If I survive this, I will never do this again…' Corvina swear seriously as she kept grinding the shell like bread in her mouth wondering if she will live pass today. And how her body was going to proceed such food into waste.
After the food the both returned home, again under the strange gaze of everyone but for a different reason, as the where both dressed in commoners clothes.