Concubine Number 20

(Excerpt from the novel) “I can’t believe you can hear me!” Alessandro said excitedly. “Finally.” He’d been wondering how long he was going to have one-sided conversations with the girl, but now it seemed that they could talk to each other at last. ‘Yes, I can hear you,’ I replied. ‘But who exactly are you?’ I asked for the third time, feeling my fear slowly getting replaced with mild irritation. It was one of my pet peeves. It always annoyed me when someone answered my question with another question. Alessandro hesitated, not wanting to reveal his identity right away. “How about you?” he replied, diverting the topic back at her. “What’s your name?” I scoffed at his statement, now flat out annoyed. The nerve of this guy to keep throwing the question back to me! ‘I’m 20,’ I replied with a sigh, giving in. ***** Alessandro had the strange ability to hear Na-ri’s voice when no one else could. He didn’t know that she was actually his lowest ranked concubine in the imperial palace – Concubine Number 20 – and that she had somehow been teleported from modern-day Seoul. She, in turn, had been delegated to the role of a servant and had no idea she had been talking to the emperor of Luxentfort Empire all along. Can their mutual curiosity about each other gradually blossom into a romance strong enough to defy their social ranks – and transcend worldly boundaries?