Chapter 1: The Water-maids

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Birds were chirping in the forest. Maids were washing clothes in the river and talking:

"And then Janice got caught! Such a funny scene!"

"Not so funny if you consider she got punished."

"Come on, Tamie! We all know it was a crime to spill boiled water over a prince's hand. She should have been prudent!" the first maid argued.

"Yeah, as if she could... It's all casualties, Christine. Those wealthy fools shouldn't get it the wrong way." Tamie continued rinsing the kimono-robes.

"Hey! Be quiet, will you? If the masters hear you call them 'fools' you're going to be in trouble!"

"Yeah, and get us all in trouble," the other maids cut in.

"Right... I'm sorry."

"It is fine, Tamie. Sometimes we all want to speak our minds." A short redhead maid chuckled kindly.

"But we still can't blame the noblemen completely," yet another maid spoke, who had been silent all this time. "Of course, if a nobleman is kind-hearted, the punishments can be milder than thirty whips, but then again, they expect us to do our jobs, so we shouldn't blame it all only on them. I was a noblewoman once, so I know."

"Ugh, the fact that you were a noblewoman once, Liz, doesn't give you the right to look down on us!"

"Who says I'm looking down on you, Christine?" Liz asked. "Or is it that you feel that way because you have an inferiority complex?"

The maids laughed. Christine flared up with anger:

"At the moment, you're nothing but a water-maid of the Wanglong Royal Palace, just like all of us!"

"I perfectly realise that without your telling me," Liz said.

"Stop fighting, girls. That won't bring us any good," Tamie cut in. "Let's focus on our jobs!"

"Hmph!" Christine turned away. Liz chuckled and got back to rinsing.

When they finished the work, the maids went back to the palace - a giant wooden building with five floors and multiple roofs. It was red and yellow and adorned with red lanterns. 

The three girls - Tamie, Liz, and the redhead - returned together, carrying baskets full of wet clothes. As they began putting the clothes on drying ropes, they spotted six young men riding horses up the hill, with many servants around them. Many dogs accompanied them too. The six were richly dressed - in precious silken kimono-robes. They wielded golden-handled swords and golden-tipped arrows in their quivers. 

"Them again..." Liz said.

"They have returned from another hunt," the redhead said.

Hearing her friends' remarks, Tamie eagerly eyed the young men, but then, sighed with disappointment and got back to her work. The redhead cackled:

"What is it, Tamie? Your boy's not with them?"

"Huh? No, Tiegan! That's not it!"

"Come on! We can see Wang Shao's not with them." Liz chuckled. "Weren't you looking for him?"

Tamie rolled her eyes and turned away, but a shy smile could still be seen on her face.

"Someone's in love!" Tiegan, the redhead, laughed.

"But to get serious - you'd better forget about it, Tamie," Liz said, "I was a lady before, so I know - high-class lords and ladies never look at commoners as equals, so you have zero chance with the princes. I do perceive you as my friends now, but that's because I have served as a slave for many years and I already know the truth of the world - that life can always change for any of us. The one who was on the bottom once, might turn up on the top when you least expect it, and vice versa. Noblemen don't know that - they consider themselves the rulers of the world, as I too thought, one time. For now, fate is on their side, so we cannot approach them so easily."

"Yeah, added that, in this twisted empire of Wanglong, men are regarded as higher than us women," Tiegan said. "Even men-servants are worth more than us, although in other terms we're equal. I hate it, to admit."

"Yeah, I hate that too, Tiegan," Tamie said. "You're right, girls. I'd better get back down to earth."

"Hey, don't get discouraged!" Liz put her hand on Tamie's shoulder. "You will find a good man of your rank someday. No need to worry!"

"Thank you, Liz."

Tamie continued hanging clothes on the drying ropes. Her eyes would still glance at the six princes from time to time, for she couldn't help herself - she was always attracted to noblemen, since her deep childhood.

Her parents used to tell her and her brother that they were descendants of noble families. Their great-grandmother had been a member of a wealthy and powerful clan of their country, Qartland, but due to her marrying a commoner, they were born as commoners in the capital city of Qartland.

The city got attacked and Tamie fell into captivity of the enemies. She was sold as a slave and found herself in the great empire of Wanglong. The ancestry of noble families resulted in her being attracted to their comfortable and leisurely lifestyle, as well as inheriting the pride of a true noblewoman. She didn't count these as blessings, though. For a commoner, who had scarce wealth and lost even that, the craving for wealth and comfort, as well as the love of a prince or a lord, was rather a curse. Tamie had to cope with poverty, which greatly tormented her, and be content with the salty jokes of peasant boys when she could easily catch a glimpse of majestic noble horsemen from afar. It made her suffer. She envied those men-servants who got to be closer to the princes due to being their attendants in hunts and battles.

I wish I were closer to the princes like those boys... She thought.

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