Defending Territories

I was hardly even out of the 1's quarters when I noticed that everyone I passed by along the hallways practically tracked my every move, from palace officials to lowly servants. It was so palpable I could practically feel their eyes on me. Just the fact that a scullery maid was called to have a private audience with the emperor must have been such big news that I didn't need to do anything – the rumors spread like wildfire.

I winced. That's why I didn't want to accept his dinner invitation in the first place. What was the point of eating alone with him when practically the entire palace knew about it as soon as the meal ended? My goals had remained the same since I had found myself in Luxentfort – find a way to survive, keep the lowest profile possible, and – despite the odds stacked against me – somehow get myself back home to Seoul. Being acquainted with Caio kind of eroded my second goal. And now with the emperor in the picture, that goal was completely eradicated.

'What's wrong with this place?' I asked myself. I had no trouble blending in the crowd when I was in Seoul. I fit in so much, in fact, that I almost considered myself part of the furniture in the office. And I literally needed to exert effort if I wanted to catch someone's attention for something else other than work. But here in Luxentfort, I felt that I stood out so much – without even trying, and without even my voice. If that wasn't a classic case study of irony, I didn't know what was.

I spotted 19 waiting for me outside my bedroom door, and as soon as she saw me walking down the corridor, she strode to me with determined steps. "We have to talk," she said, pulling me inside my room. "Is it true?" she demanded when she had closed – and locked – the door. "Is it true that the emperor called you in his chambers?"

There was no use denying something that everyone already knew. 'Yes,' I sighed, sitting on the bed. If we were going to have a lengthy conversation about it, I might as well make myself comfortable.

She looked at me incredulously, "Whatever for?"

I hesitated, wondering how I was going to answer her. I couldn't exactly tell her straight out that 1 invited me to dinner.

So adept at reading my expressions by now, 19 took a stab at it and made a speculated guess. "It wasn't because he needed you to clean – was it?"

I shook my head, giving up my attempt to look for an excuse. For a moment I had forgotten how perceptive 19 was. And if that was the case, then it seemed that there was only one way to do it, and that's to give her a heavily edited, watered down version of what happened. 'He just wanted us to have dinner, that's all.'

If a picture was really worth a thousand words, 19's expression then could easily generate an entire page. "Why would the emperor even want to share a meal with a scullery maid?"

I sighed again. 'The thing is, we already sort of know each other.'

"How did that happen?"

'He can hear me.' I tried to sum it up in that short sentence, which was the entirety of what the topic was about, anyway. It all started when I heard 1's voice, only to discover that he had been able to hear me even before then.

"How the hell can he hear you?" she asked disbelievingly. "You can't even talk!"

'I know that,' I readily acknowledged. "But somehow he can."

She continued to stare at 20. Ever since she had heard of the girl's arrival in the palace, she knew the girl was different. Her ideas, her manner of communication, her personality – everything suggested that she didn't belong in Luxentfort. And that made her very concerned about 20. She stood out too much for her own good. "You do know that you might get in trouble because of this, right?"

'With who?' I asked, puzzled. I realized that the incident may definitely cause rumors, but landing in hot water solely due to it seemed like a stretch. I had dinner with the emperor – not poisoned him.

"The higher ranked concubines," 19 warned. "Especially Concubine Number 1."

I nodded, pondering her words. I had thought that she had never looked more like a princess than she did at the ball. I understand why she would get antsy over such a situation, but it wasn't as if 1 did anything that would be deemed suspicious. 'We just had dinner,' I repeated in exasperation.

"That's the point – you had dinner together," 19 emphasized. "Did you know that the emperor had never invited any of his concubines for a private meal? Not even once."

As I slowly tried to comprehend what 19 was saying, it dawned on me that I may have unwittingly stepped into someone else's territory. And if there was one thing I had learned during my relatively short stay in the empire so far, it was this: the people in Luxentfort defended their territories like it was a matter of life and death.