Within the Palace Grounds

"Have you heard?" 19 asked excitedly, sticking to me like glue as we walked down the pathway outside the palace. She was headed for the laundry area and I was off to the garden to tackle our first chores of the day. She kept her voice low despite talking to me in a rush, a clear sign that whatever she wanted to say had gotten her so excited. 

'Heard what?' I replied. I got my fair dose of rumors mostly during mealtimes at the pantry, because it seemed like gossiping about the royals and nobilities was the universal pastime of servants in the imperial palace. 19, however, usually received her information a lot faster than I did – and much more detailed too. If she had been born in Seoul, she would have been an award winning investigative journalist.

"The emperor had cleared all his bed partners," 19 declared, giving me a pointed look.

'What does that mean?' I asked, confused.

19 sighed. She had no idea how 20 can do it – be so smart in some things and totally clueless in others. "It means he has stopped his physical relations with the highest ranked concubines." She held my hand and started to shake it, as though I had just won a prize. "I heard he made the announcement official at a meeting. You know – with all the ministers in attendance." 

I gawked at her, having a hard time processing the news I just heard. It had been a week since we had our afternoon tea, and the demand I had made then was done mostly out of impulse – a spur of the moment decision that I had regretted as soon as I stepped out of his office. Well, I was quite serious about it because I really didn't believe in polygamy, whether in Seoul or Luxentfort or anywhere else. But I just didn't expect that 1 would take it so seriously. 'Why would he do that?' I wondered, almost to myself.

"I think you're asking the wrong question," 19 scoffed. "The question you should be asking is – who did he do it for?" 

I blushed but refused to take the bait by answering her rhetorical question. I was floored that 1 would go out of his way to do something, simply because I had told him to. While I didn't subscribe to the idea of multiple partners in a relationship, everyone else in the empire accepted it as fact. The only requirement was for the man – or woman – to have the means to provide for the needs of the chosen concubines – no matter how many they were.

That was why only nobles had concubines in the first place, because they were the ones who could obviously afford to. If the financial benchmark was obliterated, I'd bet a month's salary that even peasants would rush to get at least one concubine.

"Actually, I've just thought of a better question," 19 announced with a smirk. "Which prospect is more appealing for you: being the future archduchess or being the future empress?"

'What are you saying?' I mentally shrieked, my hands flying to my cheeks in an attempt to cover up my embarrassment. Nothing made me feel more like a frumpy maid more than standing next to Caio. I was positive that even if he wore a potato sack, he would still look as dashing as he was in his military uniform. His confidence was in the way he carried himself, after all, not in the clothes he wore.

"So you can't decide, huh?" 19 laughed. "No worries, you have plenty of time to choose."

Thankfully, we had reached the narrow intersection in the pathway so I didn't have to comment on that remark. 19 had to turn right to continue to the laundry area and I had to walk to the opposite direction where the garden was. 'Go,' I said, giving her a push. She just laughed and gave me a wink before turning away, leaving me alone on the cobblestone trail.

*****

Lucrezia was at the balcony of her bedroom where she could see the sprawling imperial garden below. The weather that morning was great, the sun was shining brightly but there was enough cool air to ward off the heat. That's why her maids had set up her breakfast at the terrace, so she could enjoy the view. But no amount of good view and morning breeze could calm her down. She was positively seething.

She was rarely this angry, but when she had heard the news she could literally feel her temper snap. She couldn't believe that a mere maid – a scullery maid, for crying out loud – had the power to overhaul the imperial palace in the few months since she had arrived. She got the archduke on her side, won the emperor's favor – and now she even managed to kick the highest ranking concubines out of the positions.

The others may be fine with it, accepting the new turn of events with a petulant sigh, but not Lucrezia. She was almost on the verge of being Luxentfort's empress. She was so close to her goal, so close to being with Alessandro, that she could almost visualize her coronation night and the passionate encounter in bed after.

She even had tentative plans already on how to put Minedore Kingdom on the center stage of the empire, instead of merely sharing the spotlight with the other four main kingdoms in Luxentfort. She had never liked sharing what she considered hers, anyway.

Now with the emperor's new order, she had to work as an administrator? She was the only princess of Minedore, and she was doted on by her parents since birth. She refused to even acknowledge the idea of handling the tasks of a common office staff when she was destined to rule the empire alongside Alessandro. 

She had previously thought that she could give the scullery maid some time to bask in her delusions of climbing the social ranks, but Alessandro's official announcement changed her mind completely. Lucrezia's mood finally lifted as she smiled, helping herself to orange juice. If she couldn't get rid of the girl outside the palace, she'll have to do it within the grounds, then.