10 Ideal Woman

In the middle of the night, the stars twinkled and the whole night sky shone with stars, and Chinua recalled the early days in her life. She doesn't remember when she was taught to hold a bow and a sword, while the other princesses in the palace held paint and makeup brushes. When she met other princesses in the palace, she envied them very much. Every time they passed by her courtyard, she would rush to the door and watch them pass by in their gorgeous colorful dresses, red-painted nails, and porcelain-white skin.

When Chinua was seven years old, she met two princesses on the way to the back garden of the palace. She stood for a while, watching the two princesses sitting in a small pavilion writing poems. She wanted to know what the two princesses were writing, so she went and asked them. The two princesses gave her a weird stare, and with their white porcelain fingers, red fingernails covered their rosy lips, they giggled at her.

Amid their laughter, Chinua knew they wouldn't speak to her, so she quickly fled the back garden and headed straight for her courtyard.

(memory)

Chinua hid under the quilt on the bed, even if the maid asked her. She shouted, "Go away! I hate each of you."

A servant pushed Batsaikhan into Chinua's bedroom and parked the wheelchair in front of Chinua's bed. Batsaikhan said, "Everyone go out." All the servants slowly backed away and closed the door. Batsaikhan reached for the blanket, but Chinua held onto it tightly. He sighed. "Are you really going to hide there forever?"

Chinua replied, "I'm too ugly to face anyone."

Batsaikhan asked, "Who said that? Tell me and I will behead that man in front of you."

Chinua cried, "I saw two princesses in the back garden..."

Batsaikhan asked, "What did they say?"

Chinua sniffed and said, "They didn't say anything... they laughed at me."

Batsaikhan smiled and said, "That's all?"

In a fit of anger, Chinua got up quickly, sat on the bed and stared at Batsaikhan. She said angrily, "Do you think I'm weird too?"

Batsaikhan finally understood why Chinua was upset. He smiled and said, "Chinua is neither beautiful nor gentle. Chinua doesn't have the flawless skin and beautiful face that men want." He reached out and took Chinua's hand. "Because Chinua is the rarest beauty among all the women in Hmagol. In the future, no woman can't be compared to Chinua, and all men will kneel in fear when they hear Chinua's name."

Chinua frowned and said, "What's so rare about me, if others fear me? I also want people to praise me, but people laugh when they see me. I know why they laugh. Because of my dark skin, they laughed. Because of my huge body structure, they also laughed." Tears slowly spilled from her eyes. "I heard some maids say I'm too tall and too fat. I'm not as pretty as the other princesses. When I stand up, I look more like a man than a woman. If I were a commoner, no man would like me."

Batsaikhan said, "Come and sit next to me."

Chinua sat on the floor next to Batsaikhan. She rested her head on Batsaikhan's lap. She asked sadly, "Do you think no man would like me?"

Batsaikhan patted Chinua's head lightly and said, "In the future, there will be thousands of men who love Chinua. If Chinua orders them to fight, they will follow Chinua and fight to their last breath. When you grow up and become wiser, you will find that the princess in beautiful clothes will never be as good as the fat princess who looks like a man, not the gentle woman that men like."

Chinua grabbed Batsaikhan's left leg and hugged him tightly. She said, "I don't want those maids anymore, I want to be here alone."

Batsaikhan said, "Mother, won't allowed because no one will take care of you."

Chinua said, "I don't want those pretty maids by my side."

Batsaikhan said, "Alright, I heard the chief eunuch say that the newcomer just arrived today, since you don't want personal maid, just go and choose a few eunuchs for you." He looked down at her. "Let's go together."

Loud screams of pain from young men and teenagers could be heard as Chinua and Batsaikhan arrived at the chief eunuch's room. Chinua saw some castrated men lying on the bed with a white cloth in their mouths, blood soaking their short pants. Chinua could smell the fresh, rusted blood in the small room.

Twenty boys and men stood before Chinua and Batsaikhan. The chief eunuch and the twenty men and boys knelt before Chinua and Batsaikhan.

The chief eunuch greeted, "Crown prince, if you want to see me, ask the servants to pick me up, your Highness doesn't have to come."

Batsaikhan said, "Princess Chinua wants to come here."

The chief eunuch said, "This is the twenty people who are still waiting to be castrated." He pointed to the left. "Those have been castrated."

Batsaikhan looked at Chinua and said, "Choose as many as you want."

Chinua asked the first person standing in line, "Will you sell your life to me willingly?"

The man hurriedly knelt on the ground and said, "Your Highness, this subject is willing to give up his humble life to protect Her Highness."

Chinua walked slowly down the line of men and boys, each giving her the same answer. When she met a teenager boy, she asked, "Will you sell me your life willingly?"

The teenager stared at Chinua and replied firmly, "I will not."

Chinua asked, "Why not?"

The teenager asked back, "What good deeds have you done for me that will make me willingly give up my life for you?" He stared at Chinua coldly, but a eunuch hit him hard on the back of his knee, and he quickly fell to his knees.

Chinua stared at the teenager and walked to the person beside the teenager. It seems that the last boy standing must be the youngest of all the people in line. Chinua asked, "How about you?"

The boy looked affrightedly at Chinua and said, "I was sold here by my father, and I don't want to stay here."

Chinua looked at Batsaikhan and said, "I chose him." She pointed to the teenager. "From now on, your name is Khunbish." She shifted her eyes to the last boy. "I choose him and from now on, your name is Khenbish." She walked over to Batsaikhan, lent beside Batsaikhan's left ear, she whispered a few words, and stood beside Batsaikhan.

Batsaikhan said, "From now on, the two of you are the personal servants of Princess Chinua and take them to Princess Chinua's court."

The chief eunuch said, "Crown Prince, what about castration?"

Batsaikhan said, "In two days you go to Princess Chinua's court, where the castration will be performed there."

The chief eunuch bowed his head and said, "This subject understand."

Inside Chinua's royal hall, there are only two eunuchs selected by Batsaikhan. The two old eunuchs put ten plates of food on the table and then backed away.

Chinua looked at Khunbish and Khenbish and said, "Come and sit at the table and eat with me."

Khunbish looked at Chinua strangely and said, "We were told not to eat with our master."

Chinua said, "I don't want a servant, I want a loyal friend who will never stab me. From now on, call me Chinua. I was never treated like a royal princess, so no need to formally address me as one."

Khunbish asked, "Why are you being so nice to us?"

Instead of answering Khunbish's question, Chinua said, "Khunbish and Khenbish, except me, you are not allowed to be loyal to another woman."

(End Of Memory)

"Chinua... look up at the sky."

Chinua opened her eyes, looked up at the sky, and saw a meteor shower passing by. The dark night sky suddenly lit up with hundreds of small lights.

Timicin exclaimed excitedly, "Wow, so beautiful... I've never seen anything so beautiful." He looked at Chinua. "Have you seen anything like this before?"

Chinua said, "No..."

Timicin said with a smile, "Doing a thousand good things together in a previous life, created the opportunity for us to enjoy this beautiful sight together tonight."

Chinua said, "I heard it differently."

Timicin asked, "How does this differ from my theory? Tell me."

Chinua said, "I heard that the fallen stars were soldiers who died together, they became gods in the night sky, watching the innocent people they swore to protect. Once their time as gods came to an end, their spirits would together fall back to Earth and be reborn."

Timicin smiled and said, "Your theory is more unreliable than mine."

Chinua scoffed with a smile and looked at Timicin. After putting aside their differences, Chinua noticed that Timicin wasn't such a bad guy. She sighed and asked, "Do you have a lover at home? Or what is your ideal wife?"

Timicin looked at Chinua with a smirk on his face and said, "Definitely not someone like you." He sneered at Chinua sarcastically. "Why? If I don't have a lover. Do you want to be my lover?"

Chinua said, "I'm just asking. If you do, I just want to know what she looks like. If you don't have a lover, maybe I can be your matchmaker between you and a princess."

Timicin scoffed and said, "The perfect wife in my mind is one with a thin waist, big breasts, shorter than me, and skin as white and tender as tofu." He turned to Chinua. "The exact opposite of you."

Chinua asked, "Do most men like that kind of women?"

Timicin was taken aback by Chinua's innocent question, "Yeah...now that you know, should you act more like one?"

Chinua said, "Painted my lips red and dressed glamorously. No thanks. I'm going to be who I am, and I'm not going to pretend to be someone I'm not. I'm going to be true to myself."

Timicin teased, "Being true to yourself won't get you any man."

"But it will bring me honor and glory," Chinua said, raising her black eyebrows at Timicin.

Chinua and Timicin watched hundreds of stars pass by them. The two person who were supposed to be punished to set an example for other recruits, enjoy their punishment and conversation under the night sky. They suddenly forget why they were there in the first place.