The Untamed Princess

Chapter Three: The Suspicious Prince

The resolution made by Ming Yue to remain at a safe emotional distance from the other palace staff crumbled almost as quickly as it had been made.  She was of a naturally cheerful disposition, and loved to laugh, so playing the wallflower for any length of time was never really a viable plan.

Consequently, she had only been in the palace for a couple of weeks before she freely admitted to herself that she had been completely wrong.  It was much better, she reassessed, to act as closely to her natural personality as possibility.  Then, it would be far easier to sustain the illusion and avoid displaying any suspicious inconsistencies in behaviour.

This sudden epiphany proved to be a valuable one, as Ming Yue's friendliness and general approachability made others instantly relax their guard around her, and she was quickly able to pick up bits and pieces of information about the various characters in the palace and where their political leanings fell.

Shortly after her arrival, she had been placed in the palace harem, but was far too junior to serve any of the king's concubines directly.  Instead, she ran errands for the more senior maidservants and the eunuchs, and generally contributed to the smooth running and constant cleanliness of the various harem buildings, which were connected by a sprawling network of pathways around carefully manicured gardens.

Ming Yue's fellow maidservants were, for the most part, sweet, likable girls, and she had formed a particular friendship with a young woman called Wen Mei, who had entered the palace not long before her.  In keeping with her delicate features, Wen Mei was timid compared to Ming Yue, but she was genuine and kind, and the young princess valued their relationship immensely, even after so short a time.

As was always the way in these situations, just as there was a particular friend, there was also a particular enemy.  In this case, it was another maidservant, Bu Hong. Ming Yue had never specifically offended Bu Hong.  In fact, she went out of her way to avoid acting disrespectfully to anyone.  Butshe was growing more popular among the more senior servants in the harem with her striking looks and easy charm and, to put it bluntly, Bu Hong was jealous.

She was also, to all intents and purposes, a coward.  She knew that the new maidservant was well-liked, and she also sensed that it would not be quite so easy to bully this young woman, who gave off an aura of confidence and strength.  Consequently, she focussed most of her attention on making life as difficult for Wen Mei as possible, and Ming Yue's patience in this respect was starting to wear thin.

A month or so into her time at the palace, Ming Yue and several of the other maidservants were sent out of the harem to deliver gifts from some of the concubines to the queen's mansion.  This was not uncommon, but it was not often that the maids were given permission to go outside the walls of the harem, so it was quite an exciting little adventure, and she took her time looking around and memorising her surroundings, which were impressive, but no more so than her home back in Jin.  Unfortunately, in addition to Ming Yue and Wen Mei, their small group also included Bu Hong and two of her minions.

Seeing Ming Yue and Wen Mei deeply engrossed in a discussion, and never one to miss an opportunity, Bu Hong went to walk past the two girls, sticking out her foot to catch the front of Wen Mei's ankle as she did.

Ming Yue reacted instinctively as she saw Wen Mei start to fall, grasping her sash tightly to yank her back with strength that, in hindsight, she perhaps should not have revealed.  At the same time, she agilely used her toe to flick a stone from the path into the back of Bu Hong's knee, causing her to stumble and lose her footing as she walked away.  Bu Hong looked back in anger but, seeing her enemy so far away from her and seemingly focussed on helping Wen Mei find her feet, she had no evidence to confirm her suspicions.