hiju

The golden sun touched the mountain peaks, painting the sinuous curves of the Great Mountains in scarlet, as if painted by the brush of a wise artist. Ancient China, like precious silk, unfolded in all its splendor under the gaze of the young Emperor Heeju, who had recently ascended to the throne. And already from the first months of his reign, rumors of his cruelty and narcissism had already spread.

Your family is a very respected people at the imperial court. On the day of the coronation, according to tradition, it is customary to offer gifts to the new emperor, and your parents could think of nothing better than to give you to the emperor as a concubine. It was useless to contradict them, although it was scary.

In the end, the ceremony went just fine, just as your parents had planned. And now...you've been living in the imperial court for several months now. Your fears have not come true, during all this time you've only seen Heeju a couple of times and even then he hasn't shown much interest in you. On the one hand, it was good, but on the other...Are you really pushing him away so much that he hasn't even come up to meet you in person?...

The living conditions here were good. A spacious room, a beautiful garden, peace and quiet. Only the servants spoiled the overall picture. Having learned that the emperor did not visit you, they began to spread dirty rumors and now treated you worse than a washerwoman. One day, you were walking down the corridor and accidentally brushed against one of the emperor's personal eunuch servants. He rushed at you with a scream, accusing you of clumsiness, reflexively swinging his hand. Waiting for the blow, you closed your eyes, but for some reason it did not follow. Why did he stop?... You opened your eyes. The emperor stood before you, holding the servant's hand. Horror and fear were written on the eunuch's face, and it was understandable why. Hiju's eyes were burning with a fury that was understandable without words.

“What right do you have to talk to the highest concubine like that, you worthless thing?” he said in a quiet voice, squeezing his hand tighter and tighter with each passing second.

• Did I imagine it, or did you dare raise your hand to her? Do you know what they do to people like you?