This morning was a quite one in Concubine Rong's mansion. A fateful night had swiftly changed the dynamic of relationship between its residence. The concubine's head maid was demoted into a mere servant and no longer allowed to serve the mistress. While the quite and unassuming cook who had been cooped up in the kitchen , gained the control of the mansion. No other servant was allowed to be near the mistress other than Sister Meng.

The maids had been gossiping about this matter since the morning. They would dropped whatever task they were doing to deliver a portion of what happen last night to each other. Most of the servants were trying to piece together everything that they knew about the last night's event. They would , of course, scrambled back to their task whenever Xiao Er appeared - out of nowhere - to scold them.

Since last night, Xiao Er was in foul mood. It was not because she was demoted and had to do menial task but she was worried about her mistress' situation. It was quite concerning that no one was allowed to visit the mistress other than Sister Meng. However, the most puzzling thing that had been lingering on her mind was why Sister Meng? Why she had to be the one who'd betrayed them?

Xiao Er was quite attached to her, thus Sister Meng's betrayal cut deep for her. She wanted to slap her own face real hard when she realized that there was so many clues regarding Sister Meng's identity that she choose to easily ignored.

To think that Sister Meng was one of the remaining senior servant that stayed in the palace since the era of the previous royal family and had survived the infamous 'Servant Purge' incident. It was painfully obvious that she was working as spy for the emperor in this mansion! Having Sister Meng directly involved in this scheme was their biggest mistake! To think that Xiao Er prided herself to be her mistress' most intelligent maid and she was oblivious to this! However, regardless how many times she tried to knock some sense into her own head, it was already too late. The best thing she could focus on was completing her work as a low ranking maid in this mansion.

Unlike the days where she was the head maid for her mistress, Xiao Er had already been demoted and given new task. Starting from this day,she needed to fetch water from the well. To be frank , Xiao Er did not really mind doing heavy work as this was better than being put into prison.

As she was diligently pulling the bucket that was filled with water out of the well, Xiao Er caught the sight of a woman watching her from afar. She knew that it was Sister Meng that was supervising her every step. Nonetheless, as a former head maid of the mansion, she was not use of being supervised by someone else. She decided to drop the bucket and went straight to the woman she had , once, considered as her older sister.

"Stop watching me. I'm not going anywhere! I promised you"

" That's not why I am here"

" Then, what are you doing here? What do you want from me?"

" I want to apologize for my part on last night's fiasco" the apology sounded so monotone and as dry as the desert one could even think Sister Meng was asking for the water in her hand instead of forgiveness.

" It was not my place to forgive you. And I don't think the mistress would forgive you either" Xiao Er replied.

"I'm doing this for her sake and - "

"I'm not asking" Xiao Er interjected. She had no intention to listen to some sappy story about how Sister Meng was regretting her role as a traitor to their scheme.

"... and to atone for my past mistake" She continued and disregard Xiao Er's initial retort.

"What does your past have to do with the mistress? Do you know how important her brother was to our Mistress? He was her whole world before the emperor came and separated both of them!" Xiao Er was completely incensed. There was no point talking to a traitor. She turned around to resume her work and ignored this conversation altogether. However, Sister Meng's quick grip on her wrist hindered the young maid from walking away.

" Let me go!"

"He…. he was also important to me" the crack on her voice signaling that the emotionless cook was holding back her tears.

"Who?" At this point Xiao Er was intrigued.

" Gao Wang"

Xiao Er slowly turned toward the older women with disbelief expression.

"Who are you Sister Meng?"

                                                                    *************

Nobody in the mansion was expecting to receive the emperor when they first saw him bolted through mansion's main gate a few moment ago. All of the servant was caught unprepared when they saw his figure prowling in the garden with a serious look on his face.

All of them immediately scrambled to attend to the Emperor's need but was completely ignored by him. He had a destination and everyone knows where was it. To the mistress room!

Concubine Rong was wide awake due to the commotion occurred outside of her room. Her calm day had came to an end when the emperor barged into the room and shamelessly stared at her.

She lifted her blanket and slowly rose from the bed. " Greeting, Your Majesty"

" Mind with propriety" he snorted. The emperor walked and around the room and settled down on the chair located in the middle of the room. He reached for the tea pot that was placed on the the table, and poured the tea into a tea cup himself.

'How time flies' He thought. 'Just a few weeks ago they had a good time in this exact room!'

"How are you feeling today?"

"I'm good Your majesty"

" Have you remembered?" he was mindlessly toying with the teacup in his hand.

" Remember? Pardon me Your Majesty. But may I know what are you referring to?" Concubine Rong frowned. She was genuinely befuddled with the question. Her mind was still hazy regarding yesterday's fiasco. In fact, everything was quite blurry to her now.

The emperor appeared to be quite irritated with her reply. He gotten up from the chair and sauntered toward Concubine Rong. As he walked closer to her, the concubine instinctively dragging her body to the wall. He climbed onto her bed and cornered her against the wall until she had no space to move. Closing the space between them, he then began to caress her cheek.

"Liu Shi, I though I saw a glimpse of yourself last night" he spoke to her using the tone that she had never heard before. It was low and soft and sounded almost like a lullaby. His eyes were all over her face. His palm was actively sneaking between her cheek, ear and neck.

Concubine Rong's face was as red as tomato. The Emperor had never shown this side of him to her before. She did not feel comfortable with the unexpected attention that he showered to her. She involuntarily squirmed and politely pushed his hand away from her neck.

"Your Majesty, I'm not feeling well enough for 'that' " she tried to refuse his advancement, or so she thought. He looked intently into her eyes.

"I am not asking for 'that'" using the same tone, the words slipped smoothly out of his mouth.

"Then what do you want from me?"

"The old you. I want my Liu Shi!" gone now the gentle side of him. He aggressively grabbed both of her shoulder in attempt to get her close to him. He put his forehead against hers. Their nose almost touching and in this close proximity, their breaths mingle intimately. For a short while, both of them had their eyes closed, relishing this moment that they had never experience before.

It was obvious that they used to be intimate for a couple of time for the past three years. The baby that she was carrying for almost nine months in her tummy would be a living proof to that. However, this kind of intimacy was scarce between them. It was raw and exciting. At the same time, it was also quite painful for Concubine Rong. She felt as if there was a hole in her chest was filled with warmth that she had been longing in her entire life. Somehow, it felt strangely familiar to her!

"Liu Shi" He whispered. Listening other woman's name coming out from the emperor's mouth sparked jealousy within her. She pulled away and stared at the emperor.

"Who is Liu Shi?" She sounded annoyed.

" You are Liu Shi!" He said adamantly.

"No. Your Majesty, I am Mo Chou! You mistaken me for someone else!" It felt like having a knife jabbed into her heart. Concubine Rong had always thought that she was alright with her husband having few other concubines in the palace. He was the emperor anyway. Like it or not, emperor were bound to have more than one woman. But, it pained her to hear the emperor mistakenly called her after Liu Shi with such soft voice.

"Liu Shi. It has been 13 years! Come back to your sense!"

"I am not Liu Shi!!" she shouted. Why it was so difficult for the emperor to accept that she was not Liu Shi.

"Who is this Liu Shi?! Was she that important to you?!" She lashed continuously at him.

"Liu Shi" he reached for her hands in an effort to calm her down.

"Listen to me" He kissed both of her knuckles. "I know you can't remember anything. Hence, I am going to tell you about the story . My story! Our story!"

She swallowed hard. Their story? Why does her head hurt so much?