Chapter twenty three: Naughty Sulang

An inconspicuous female servant with no notable features hidden among the crowd slithered away like a snake, her absence barely noticed by the over-excited crowd who were still buzzing from the shock of the earlier event.

The King and the Queen had taken their leave but everyone was still rooted in place gossiping about the event that took place.

The servant had the look of a thief excited to escape with his stolen goods uncaught. Her dark brown eyes glittered with the excitement of the news she couldn't wait to share with her mistress. Who is going to be so pleased with her when she learns what had happened.

Her mistress is always collecting information on everyone in the palace and the servant was just pleased to have something good for her.

She hurried towards her mistress's abode once she was clear of the crowd and was sure no eyes were following her. She almost ran all the way to the east building, house to the first Concubine, her mistress.

The only thing that kept the servant from racing to her mistress is the fact that she didn't want to rouse the dust of curiosity in her direction.

Even the walls have ears and eyes in the palace.

She ran into the building, her blood hot and bleeding with impatience to share the gossip of the event that took place at the introduction ceremony.

Her rapid entrance caused the other servants surrounding her mistress to give her a look but the eager servant barely spared them a glance as she hurried towards her mistress who was sitting down in her inner chambers while two servants helped her make her hair.

She barely got her curtsey out of the way before the words were rushing out of her mouth in a giddy excited tone.

The servants listening to her tale all had a shocked and disappointed look in their eyes wishing they had been the ones to witness the servant's tale.

Concubine Su, a beautiful woman with a serene look on her face staring at the long mirror in front of her while her servants brushed the long silk midnight hair falling smoothly down her back looked bored as her servant relayed all she had gathered at the ceremony.

The only time there was a crack in her blank expression was when the servant mentioned the accusation of Master Chang.

She put the information away. Something worth investigating.

All through the story telling her beautiful face was arrested in a boring blank look until the servant was done.

After the servant was done with her outlandish tale the rest of the servants looked to their mistress to guage her reaction to all these but their beautiful mistress looked bored and unconcerned, like she couldn't careless of what she had heard.

" Mistress, do you think this is true? " one of servants making her hair asked adding beautiful pins to her mistress's hair. They were all curious to know whether to believe the story or not. A lot of stories fly around the Palace most of which have no truth to them but if their mistress believes this then they too will.

Concubine Su took a moment to answer. She was a very wise and cautious woman with no trust for the people around her. If there was one thing palace politics have thought her is that you can be betrayed by anyone even your family.

Even though she intends to find out if all that her servant had said was true she wasn't going to reveal it to her servants.

" I don't know the new Queen but I am sure that there is no truth to all these. It was merely the words of a dying man, " she said in a soft cold voice, being tactical in her response.

The servant above her nodded and then concentrated on making her mistress's hair.

The servant who have brought the news was dismissed after she was done with her tale leaving the rest in a quiet contemplative mood.

All the servants in the room where wishing to meet the new Queen who seems to be an interesting character to them.

The quietness in the room was interrupted by the loud cry of a child.

Concubine Su's serene expression shattered and an alarming look appeared in her eyes at the sound of her child weeping.

" Sulang! " she yelled flying to her feet.

Her sudden movement caused all the handiwork the servant had done to her hair to fall. which she didn't mind but raced towards the door scared and impatient to find out what had her child crying.

She and her servants raced across the hallway to the courtyard where her seven-year-old daughter was playing.

When they got there and she saw her daughter crying inconsolably in the arms of a blonde girl that looked so familiar to the servant she saw earlier this morning, she screamed her daughter's name again and raced towards her.

" Sulang! " she screamed again snatching the crying child from the blonde. Her eyes nearly rolled back in her head when she saw the odd angle of her daughter's arm. The child was crying in so much pain which made Su's heart bleed and at the same time made her furious.

There was no one to blame except for the blonde whom she had caught with her child.

She turned to the blonde with her eyes glowing in rage

" What did you do?! " she screeched at her, her voice high-pitched like broken glass.

Salsa fell back to her knees her eyes wide with fear and shock as she looked at the woman, her body trembling a little.

Why did the woman automatically assume she did something when she was only trying to help the girl.

After the ceremony and the King and the Queen had walked off leaving the servants to their own devices Salsa had thought to explore the palace. The place was huge and beautiful.

She was walking along one of the numerous hallways connecting the palace buildings when she heard a loud thud on the ground and a high-pitched scream.

She had raced in that direction to find a young girl on the ground yelling in pain. From what she could tell it seemed the girl had been climbing the tree in the middle of the courtyard and had fallen.

She had gone to the girl and had tried to help her before they were suddenly interrupted by the new arrival.

She opened her mouth to explain but the words never left her lips as the woman reached out and gave her a hot slap.

Su was so mad and the blonde's silence was irritating her that she reacted without thinking not that she regretted her action.

She was going to do worse if she finds out the blonde had hurt her child.

Salsa's face flew back in shock and pain.

She gawked at the woman in disbelief.

" I didn't do anything! I was only trying to help!" she cried trying to defend herself but her words were made inconsequential when the weeping child suddenly opened her mouth to accuse her of pushing her down.

Su furious gaze turned to her wailing child. " What happened? " she demanded from the child.

Sulang gulped amid her tears at the terrifying look in her mother's eyes. Shakingly she pointed towards the blonde.

She pushed me, she said lips trembling, eyes huge with tears and looking vulnerable and innocent like she was telling the truth.

" What! " Salsa gaped at the girl unable to believe her ears.

Sulang is the only child of Concubine Su and the King. None of the other King's Concubines or wives have been able to give the King a child which makes Sulang a precious child. Too bad she is a female.

Despite that, the King and her mother doted on her which made Sulang spoilt and very entitled.

She was naughty and always got herself and other servants in trouble. Since no one is allowed to punish her the servants ended up being the ones punished.

This morning her mother had given her freedom to play around but Sulang had gotten bored and decided to climb the tree. Her mother had told her severally not to climb trees but she had believed since no one was around she could get away with it.

Now that she had hurt herself her mother will be angry with her if she finds out she had disobeyed her orders. Her mother can be a scary beast when she is angry and Sulang is scared of her mother when she is mad at her so she decided to blame the servant that had come to help her.

She was new and Sulang didn't feel bad blaming her.

Su once again turned her angry eyes at the servant.

" Cease her! " she ordered her servants.

Salsa was still trying to come to terms with the bald-faced lie the child just told when she felt hands grabbing at her.

" Hey! let me go! " she screamed in fear struggling against the two female servants that came with the woman.

Who is she?

Looking at the woman and the way she was dressed the woman looked important but who was she?

Su's rage at the blonde servant for hurting her child was close to boiling over and the only thing holding her in check is that she didn't want to terrify her precious child who looks so terrified and in pain.

She stood up with her weeping child in hand and turned to the servant closest to her and handed the girl to her.

" Take her back to the house and get the palace doctor, "She said to the servant and then turned to the blonde servant, her face cold and radiating with so much fury that she looked scary.

The look in the woman's eyes terrified Salsa so much that she took a step back from her but her retreating movement was forcefully stopped by the servants holding her hostage.

" Did your mistress send you to attack my child? Did she see my Sulang as a threat to her, that she will stoop so low to attack her? " Su growled taking a threatening step towards Salsa.

Salsa shook her head vigorously even though the words pouring out of the woman's mouth didn't make sense to her.

" I didn't hurt her, Lady! " she cried trying to defend her innocence but the woman was barely listening to her.

Su couldn't believe the servant and her mistress. So this is their plan. To kill the King's only child. Her daughter might not be a male but she was still the King's only living blood offspring and she couldn't believe that the new Queen could be so evil as to try to eliminate her child.

She threw back her head and let out an evil laugh as if amused by the Queen's nefarious plans.

Once her laughter ceased a malicious wicked look entered her eyes.

" Take her to the flogging block. I want her to be canned twenty strokes of cane that will teach her not to mess with my family. "

What! Salsa's eyes fell off her head.

" I didn't do it, " she began to plead in earnest as the two servants started to drag her away.

" Please, Lady, I didn't do it, " she screamed as tears began to fall from her eyes but the Su remained stone-faced to her pleading.

She followed elegantly behind as her servants dragged the blonde girl away.

When they got to the block she watched with a stone-cold look on her face as her servants shackled the blonde to the block before one of them sneaked away to get the cane. She was the oldest servant in Concubine Su's employ.

When she came back she looked towards her mistress for permission to begin.

Su nodded her head and watched coldly as her servant began to discipline the blonde. This will teach the new Queen to know her place.

Salsa wept softly as she was shackled to the block. She couldn't believe she was being punished for something that wasn't her fault.

Will the Queen save her again she wondered bracing herself for what is to come.

No one has ever flogged her before. Her father might be a stern man but he had never laid hand on his children.

" Ahh!!!! " she let out a blood-curling scream when the cane descended on her back.

Another scream tore through her throat as the cane landed.

She kept on screaming as the servant above her flogged her with no mercy.

The pain was blinding and so much that she was almost on the brink of passing out.

The other servants stood aside watching her with pity in their eyes. They all know how their mistress's daughter is and suspected that the girl might be lying but their mistress loves her daughter so much that she refuses to see her fault.

Ten!

Eleven!

Twelve

Thirteen

fourteen

Salsa's voice has grown weak and hoarse from her screaming, her vision has become blurring and all she could see and feel is the excruciating pain in her back.

The servant raised her hand for the fifteenth time only for her hand to freeze when a loud voice rang out in the courtyard.

" What is going on here? " A female voice barked with so much authority and fury.

The servants gasped in shock at the sight of the Queen.

Salsa was so weak from the pain that she could barely react at the sight of the Queen but that didn't stop her heart from leaping in joy.

" You are finally here, " she murmured in a low voice and lost consciousness.