Queensmen

Chapter 81

Hermes. Hermes. Hermes. Have you gone mad?

Of course she knew that he hadn't but when thinking about the man she had just spent two hours with, she found it hard to accept... his patience and perseverance. Letting his subjects walk over him and his people hate him, all for the sake of what? Stability?

His mother had too much power and monitored his every move, even going as far as moving in with him, so his ministers find him weak. This selection, he clearly wanted nothing to do with it, so for things to have gotten this far it had to be the work of his mother and the ministers.

He made his palace the testing ground, using the women that were to be his wives to restrain his mother. But the Empress Dowager was a smart woman and didn't hide the benefits of siding with her.

At the moment, Oris was probably the only one with open enmity with her, did that truly make her Hermes' only ally in the harem?

Why did that make her feel a little special?

Turning another corner and walking through a small door, Oris was faced with the brightness open sky. The wind brushed against her and she took deep breaths of the cool air.

He is such an unconventional ruler, she held her hand above her eyes and looked at sky, did he even want to be Emperor?

In that moment she felt a sort of loneliness that had never once consumed her in all her years as queen. Will the path of a monarch always be so lonesome?

For my State, for my people, to honor my ancestors... She knew why she did what she did but would anyone else understand? Or would they call her a tyrant too when the dust settled and they flipped through the history books?

The things she would have to do, she had to do them before it was too late. If she got branded as sinful that was simply her fate.

She felt lucky to have this period to get away from it: the expectations, the fear of failure, the weight of the crown. Ever since she entered the palace all her focus had been on surviving, but at least she could be herself. Not once had she had to constrain her action for the bigger picture, because here she was the bigger picture.

Every step she took, though well-intentioned, had been selfish and she loved it-her free will.

Without knowing, a smiled bloomed on her face.

It was only when Mayree tugged on her sleeve that she regained her senses. She glanced at the maid, a question in her gaze.

"Yes, Mistress," Mayree answered. "We're almost there."

In other words, 'time to look dignified'.

Oris smiled at the sun, the weight in her heart grams lighter. I guess I don't hate you so much anymore.

She had to admit that much to herself.

~

Stepping past the brightly colored clothes hanging out in the sun and the artificial pools filled with water for washing, one would see a crowd of people milling about and hear the sound of wood pounding on wet cloth.

That was exactly what Oris witnessed when she stepped into the Laundry Halls. At first, nobody noticed her. She didn't expect them to. No one was expecting her and she had not announced herself.

It was only when she was at the center of the workforce and Mayree clapped her hands to draw the attention of the servants that they stopped working and got to their feet.

Unease spread through the crowd when one by one they recognized the cost of the clothes Oris wore and what it told of her status. In the end, the one to step out to greet her was one of the matrons in charge of supervising the laundry hall, rushing out from the inner chambers to see what had caused a disturbance and made her workers stop working.