How I Became Immortal

Chapter 23

       On the day of Princess Ara's birthday party, many nobles, princes, and princesses gathered at the palace in hopes of gaining favor by either the emperor or empress. Most of them were decked out in extravagant accessories that exposed their wealth. The women dressed in bright colors which were meant to let them stand out from the crowd.

It was obvious that these women were trying to gain the attention from any of the princes that were looking for a potential bride. Most of the parties and events that occurred were opportunities for young women to find husbands and vice versa. The only person that wasn't looking for a husband was Yuna.

Yuna arrived with a plain green hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) that blended in well with the crowd. She hardly had any jewelry on and the only accessory she had on was a simple flower hair pin. Her appearance was very humble.

A group of girls walked past Yuna and noticed her attire. They only had bad things to say about her. How could she come to a royal event with such a simple attire? She definitely didn't know the dress code when coming to the palace. It was known through out the upper class that royal events were extremely important. No one would dare show up at the palace with simple clothes and accessories. This would only lead to contempt and disgrace.

Yuna didn't bother with the girls that gave her glares. The last thing she needed to worry about was some little girls that wanted to play dress up. She didn't want to stand out and she didn't need to impress anyone. All she needed to do was keep it low-key and observe.

There were people bustling about trying to get to their assigned seats. Most of the royal events had assigned seats that were in order based off of their class. The royals were meant to sit at the center stage above the performer's platform. The prime ministers and their families were assigned to sit on the sides of the platform. The rest of the nobles were directly below the platform and the seats were arranged in neat rows.

Yuna worried when she noticed her assigned seat. The location was the opposite of inconspicuous. Her relatives were dressed more flamboyantly than the rest of the nobles. Luckily, she didn't stand out. She got to her seat and observed her surroundings.

The majority of the royals hadn't arrived yet. It seemed like she was one of the first to arrive. Her father and mother were not in their seats. They were busy socializing with other people. Yuna didn't mind that her parents weren't next to her.

While everyone was waiting for the royals to make an appearance, the performers kept them occupied by playing traditional music. There were dancers and musicians that took the stage. After watching the performance for a while, Yuna got distracted by some loud girls that walked by. They seemed to be gossiping about her family.

Yuna pretended to watch the performance and kept her ears out for what they were saying. One of the girls had short hair and a purple hanbok while the girl next to her had pigtails and she wore a orange hanbok. She murmured to the girl in orange, "I don't think we should socialize with the Kim Household."

The girl in orange questioned, "Why? Isn't General Junho incredibly famous? That household is one of the wealthiest families in the world. Don't you think it would be good to get on their good side?" The girl in purple scoffed, "I guess you didn't hear about what happened recently." The other girl lifted an eyebrow, "What happened?"

The girl in purple began explaining, "I heard that the Kim Household decided to bring in a war slave in their household." The girl in orange said, "So? Many people have war slaves in their homes. They're just slaves. What's so bad about that?"

The girl in purple continued to explain, "I understand that people have slaves in their homes, but it is questionable when the General decides to hire one. I've heard that they treat the war slave specially. Don't you think something is a bit fishy? Rumors have been spreading that the war slave is a spy, and that the General's Household is in cohorts with the Kingdom of Ezra. You know how much the emperor despises that kingdom."

The girl in orange nodded her head in agreement, "I'm so glad you told me about this. I'll definitely make sure to avoid them. It wouldn't be too good for me to get involved with traitors of the country."

Yuna wasn't shocked to hear this rumor amongst the public. She expected that Haemi was the culprit. There was no one in their household that would intentionally spread rumors to harm them. Yuna was sure that the situation would die down. She had experienced the same thing in her previous life.

The emperor was suspicious of their family at first, but eventually her father proved his loyalty through various means. Throughout her life, her father only cared about pleasing the emperor. He hardly had the time to spend with Yuna. It was obvious what the outcome would be like even in this lifetime.

Yuna ignored the rumors and continued to watch the performance. While enjoying the show, a group of eunuchs rushed to the platform and stopped the performance. One of the eunuchs appeared on the stage and informed everyone that the royal family had arrived. Many of the nobles that were socializing quickly went back to their seats. This included her parents.

Her father and mother made their way through the crowd and arrived next to Yuna. Everyone that was seated rose from their seats when the royal family came through the entrance to the courtyard. It was common courtesy to stand and bow when royalty was before them. Yuna followed everyone's example and kept her head bowed.

The entirety of the courtyard became silent as they listened to the rustling of long robes against the floor. Most of the royal families had long red robes over their elaborately decorated clothing. The empress and emperor were the first to appear and the princes and princesses followed behind them in a line.

Yuna wasn't able to see their faces because her head was bowed. It was considered extremely rude for anyone to look directly at a royal. She kept that in mind and kept her head down. Yuna was awfully curious about the royal family members.

She had wasted her previous life only focusing on Minho. She regretted not paying attention to anyone else. If she had, she would have noticed the dynamic of the royal household and how their relationships affected one another. She definitely wasn't going to miss out on information this time around.