The attention I got when I returned to the servants’ quarters was the most I had ever gotten in my life—more so than my first day as a transferred maid. Maids who had barely talked to me were bombarding me with questions about the Marquis while giggling uncontrollably. Even Mi-Nyu was participating, wide-eyed and eager.

Everyone was so smitten with that man, and I could not understand it. I never did when it came to men.

“Do you know when the Marquis will be back from his travels?” Mi-Nyu asked.

“He said it depends on how fruitful his conversations will be,” I recalled. “But he told the Queen that he was aiming to be back in a month.”

That sparked a few excited squeals and a whole lot more chatters.

“Oh, you are so lucky to have talked to him!”

“I’ve always wanted to see his smile up close.”

”He’s so much friendlier than the Queen.”

“Oi, Seul-Ki, I think your sister is looking for you,” someone called from outside the room.

I was relieved to have an excuse to escape the crowd of maids vying for way too much information on the Marquis. Without another word, I rushed out of the servants’ quarters.

Seul-Na was waiting by a cherry blossom tree along the public courtyard. These trees had been full of bright pink flowers just a few days ago; now, the petals were sparse and speckled. The seasons could not be changing this quickly, could they?

“Hey there,” I greeted my sister as I bent down to pick up a fallen petal. These springtime flowers would soon disappear as summer neared, and I felt the urge to keep them.

“Unni…” 

I raised my eyebrows at the unusual sullen tone. “Is everything okay, Seul-Na?”

She exploded at my question. “No, not at all! I’m stressed, Unni. Everyone at the quarters is stressed!”

Frowning, I sat down and gestured for Seul-Na to do so as well. She plopped down next to me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Tell me all about it.”

She let out a frustrated groan as she leaned against the tree bark. “Argh, it’s just so… so shocking.”

“What is?”

Her lips pursed as she glanced at me. “Oh, you know… the fact that the King spent the night with the Queen…”

The sentence, hesitant as it was, punched me in the gut. I did not like that fact too. No, I hated it. Despite the Queen’s assurance last night, the mere thought of it still made me want to throw up.

I doubted Seul-Na’s displeasure was related to mine, however.

“Yeah, it… it is shocking.” Pulling my legs up to my chest, I flattened the pink flower on my knees. “I hear that it doesn’t… happen very much though.”

“It has never happened before!” Any bit of uncertainty in Seul-Na’s tone disappeared as she went into a rant. “I mean, not like this, with the King staying till the next morning, apparently. I didn’t think it was a big deal at first, but the Concubine was so distraught. I- I’ve never seen her like that before, it’s… it’s frightening. She was crying, and screaming at us, and tearing up all her pretty clothes.”

My mouth dropped. “Oh, heavens, Seul-Na, that’s… that’s terrible…”

“She’s never like this, Unni. She has always been so nice and sweet. But after she found out about…” Seul-Na shook her head. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I hate seeing her like this, Unni. I hate that she’s so upset.”

I lowered my head. “I’m sorry, Seul-Na.”

We fell silent for a while. I focused on smoothening the flower petals while Seul-Na plucked at the grass and sniffed. 

“Does she always get this upset when the King visits the other concubines?” I asked.

“No! Which is why I didn’t realize how bad it would be. The Bin Concubine has never cared about the other concubines. It’s…” —she glanced at me again, her body stiffening— “only the Queen. I- I don’t know, but I was discussing this with the other maids, and we think it’s because… Well, currently, the Bin Concubine is the highest ranked consort favored by the King. But if the King was starting to like the Queen too, the one person with a higher rank than the Bin Concubine…”

“It was just one night, Seul-Na.”

“One night that has done so much! Rumors are spreading everywhere now, Unni. One good night with the Queen, and suddenly the King is entranced.”

I could not help but let out a snort. Of course the King was entranced. It was impossible not to be entranced by someone like the Queen. Why did it even take so long for him to be entranced?

“And this is all going to be worse if the Queen becomes pregnant,” Seul-Na continued. “The Bin Concubine wants to bear the heir, but if the Queen beats her to it, she’s going to… Oh, Unni, I really hope the Queen is not pregnant!”

A gasp caught in my throat. Pregnant? The Queen, pregnant? My fingers pressed on the flower so firmly that the petals tore into half. Once again, I agreed with Seul-Na but for a wildly different reason.

I really hoped the Queen was not pregnant with that darned man’s child.

Seul-Na was unaware of my growing anger as she rambled, “Seriously, from what I hear, I don’t understand what the King sees in the Queen. Like, what happened that night? Did she feed him a love potion or something?”

“Seul-Na.” My tone was harsher than I intended, but I did not care. “I don’t know what you have heard, but the Queen is a lovely person. Please stop talking about her like this.”

Seul-Na stared at me with a curious expression. “Unni,” she whispered, “I know you work for her, but you need to hear this.”

“Seul-Na, no—”

“The Queen comes from a power-hungry family, Unni. Did you know that the Bin Concubine was supposed to be queen? The King picked her and everything! But the Bae family got the Queen Dowager to pressure him into choosing the Queen instead.”

“That has nothing to do with the Queen herself.”

Seul-Na flung her hands up in the air. “Don’t you get it, Unni? The Queen does not deserve her place; that’s the problem! She does not deserve to be loved by the King and she definitely does not deserve to have his child!”

“Seul-Na, stop talking about her like this!”

“Stop defending her! I know it’s because you work for her, but I feel so bad that you do! She’s not treating you right! And you’re always so overworked—”

“She’s not the one overworking me, Sanggung is.”

“She allowed your Sanggung to do that—“

“That’s enough!” I stood up so fast that Seul-Na stumbled to the side. The torn flower floated away from me. 

Seul-Na’s eyes were wide with fear. I had never lost my temper at her before. Not at her. Never at her. 

But I was too angry to care now.

“Unni…” Seul-Na protested, her voice quivering. 

I spun around. The ground was now a watery blur of green and pink, and I trampled on the fallen flowers with as much force as possible as I stormed away from my sister.