“May I know your name?”
Çuiren looked up at the servant who entered. He was a middle-aged man who looked a little too muscular to be a regular servant, but he didn’t seem aggressive. She quickly looked down, worried she might offend.
“Çuiren,” she said quietly.
“Then, Çuiren, I am the steward of His Royal Highness the U’il-šanad’s residence. As his maid, there are certain rules you will have to follow.”
“I understand.”
“Let us first go take a look at where you will stay. I can explain the rules in the meantime.”
“Yes, as you request.”
The steward turned around and left the chambers, Çuiren following.
“First, always address His Royal Highness as ‘His Royal Highness’,” the steward told her as he walked along the corridor at a steady pace, not too fast, nor too slow.
“I understand.”
“Next, unless he addresses you, do not speak to him.”
Çuiren nodded.
“You’re part of the interior when he doesn’t need you but you’re serving him. If there is something you need to saynonetheless, you will address him properly.”
“Of course.”
The servant continued listening dos and don’ts, and Çuiren confirmed she understood each of them while they walked through a courtyard. They soon entered a small room in a separate building.
“His Royal Highness gives each of his servants their own rooms, so make sure to be grateful. I hear some of the other Princes prefer to have their many servants in limited rooms with no regard of how they will feel and their comfort.”
“I had to sleep in a room with many others while still part of a tribute to His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, so this makes me very happy” Çuiren confirmed. “I shall show my gratitude to His Royal Highness.”
The steward’s face paled slightly at the word “tribute” but he said nothing about it when he saw her smile.
Though they said the serving girls were for the Crown Prince and were his property, as U’il-šanad has claimed, it had not been quite true. Yet. It was true, however, that someone gave the Crown Prince the girls, but who Çuiren couldn’t say.
She knew better how this all had worked. She only used the word tribute, as if she was an uneducated country bumpkin who had learnt words but did not understand them.
Her gaze turned cold when he turned to leave, and she swept her gaze through the room before she left.
True, it was a lucky coincidence U’il-šanad had taken her in, and, in that way, the rumours were a fortune. Yet she couldn’t be certain what the Prince wanted from her.
Çuiren herself didn’t want to remain a slave forever either. She hadn’t come to be a slave at the Imperial Palace just to remain a slave. At least not a lowly maid with no good points.
A determined glint in her eye was like a spark that could light a fire, but as soon as it had appeared, it was hid deep in her heart and she followed the steward.
He continued to explain how the Prince was served in general and that the other maids would help her learn. They were as soon back at the chambers.
“Where is His Royal Highness?”
“He is in the bedchamber waiting for the new maid with the Imperial Physician.”
“Then we shouldn’t stall. Çuiren, come with me.”
The steward knocked on the door. “Your Royal Highness, I have brought Çuiren, as you expected.”
The steward opened the door for Çuiren and they both enter.
And froze at the door.
The red bed curtain was transparent and showed the young divine behind it. Hearing them enter, the Prince, half-lying on the bed, lazily lifted the curtain.
White skin reflected the light of the small burning flames, and the Prince looked at them with half-closed eyes, his long lashes visible even from the door. A silk robe hung around his elbows. On his chest, just below the left collarbone, Çuiren could see a red butterfly. The white cotton trousers had been pushed up and the Imperial Physician held the young man’s leg and squeezed it. Whether he was examining the leg or massaging it, she couldn’t say.
U’il-šanad waved the physician away and stood up. His hair looked dishevelled, and he didn’t even lift the robe up. The hems of the legs of his white trousers slid down to his ankles as he moved over to them, his hips swaying and the smile having a certain allure not befitting someone of the imperial family.
She swallowed as he stopped in front of her. She didn’t dare to look directly at him, but she had seen the butterfly on his chest was a red birthmark.
“No need to look away. Women far stranger than you have seen far more of me than this. Come on now.”
She stubbornly moved her gaze to stare at her own feet.
“I have no rules for any servants to look away. Within my walls, you are free to look anywhere and at anyone. Just don’t stare in any inappropriate manner.” He put his hands on her cheeks, and tilted her head to look up at him. “Looks like you’ve got yourself warmed up.” He turned to the physician. “Take care of her.”
It seemed the steward finally could move again, but it was in fact a tall guard with a cold expression that stepped inside and pushed the servant aside. He lifted the robe over the Prince’s shoulders. “Your Highness, it’s nearly winter. Please refrain from contracting any illnesses or you may end up troubling your servants.”
U’il-šanad let go of Çuiren’s cheeks and turned to the guard. “I’m fine. I’ve just been examined for no reason.”
“You’re one of the Princes; we can never be too careful,” the guard remarked in a flat voice.
U’il-šanad chuckled and let the guard tie a silk belt, given to the guard by an embarrassed maid, around his waist.
“After Çuiren has been examined and medication has been prescribed, have her eat.”
The servants and physician all nodded and left the Prince in his bedroom with the guard still fussing over what he was wearing. .