This can’t be happening. I must be dreaming.

I slapped my cheek. Hard. But the sting was real. So was the heat of the sun on my face. The solid ground beneath my knees. I collapsed onto the dirt, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I didn’t even realize I was crying until I felt the tears on my cheeks.

A group of women stood around me—elegant, composed, and dressed like they’d walked straight out of a historical drama. One of them had to be important, because the rest of them hovered around her like she was the sun and they were planets. She looked like an Empress, and that made this… even worse.

I hated breaking down in front of strangers, but how was I supposed to react to this?

“Do you not know where you reside, child?” the Empress asked. Her voice was gentle, but there was authority laced in every syllable. “Or from whence you came? If it is your wish, I shall command my soldiers to escort you home.”

Home. How was I supposed to explain that home wasn’t a place on their map but an entirely different era? My voice caught in my throat. I just stared at her.

Then, to my utter disbelief, the Empress knelt beside me and began to sing.

It wasn’t a tune I recognized, but something about it wrapped around me like a blanket. The words were foreign, but the melody tugged at something deep inside me. It was warm. Familiar. Comforting in a way that made my chest ache. Her voice was soft, smooth, each note flowing like water through the air. And despite myself, I started to breathe easier. The tightness in my chest loosened just a little.

When she finished, I wiped my face with the sleeve of my jacket. The Empress smiled at me, and somehow, I managed a weak smile in return.

“Come with me,” she said, rising like some kind of goddess from legend. “Let us see you cleaned and restored to dignity.”

I hesitated, but what other choice did I have? I had no clue where I was or how I’d ended up here. Until I figured that out, I needed to play along.

She led me through a vast corridor, her maids trailing behind like silk ribbons. Then we entered a bathhouse so stunning it knocked the thoughts right out of my head—high ceilings, gleaming mosaics, marble pillars. It looked like something out of a movie.

But before I could take it in properly, I felt hands grabbing at my clothes.

“H-Hey!” I yelped, clutching at my jacket like my life depended on it. “I can undress myself, thank you very much!”

The maids blinked at me like I was speaking in tongues, but they backed off. I stripped awkwardly, heart hammering, and made a beeline for the nearest pool, sinking into the warm water up to my shoulders as fast as I could.

But apparently, modesty wasn’t on the agenda. The maids followed me in with soaps and oils and started scrubbing me down like I was royalty that had just crawled out of a swamp.

Meanwhile, the Empress—of course—had taken an interest in my clothes.

She picked up my jacket delicately, turning it over like it was some kind of exotic artifact.

“I have seen many garments from distant lands,” she said thoughtfully, “but none such as this. What strange silk is it woven from? It is neither fine nor coarse, yet thick as armor. Does your homeland produce such tunics?”

She nodded slowly, intrigued. And then—oh god—she picked up my bra.

“Don’t touch that!” I shrieked. My voice echoed through the marble like a gunshot.

Everyone froze. The Empress blinked at me, then gently dropped it.

“Why do these garments offend you so?” she asked, one perfect brow lifting.

“I’m not offended,” I stammered, my face burning. “I’m just—embarrassed! That’s… those are undergarments! You don’t just go around grabbing people’s underwear!”

Realization lit her eyes. “Ah. This is your strophion, yet crafted most peculiarly.” Then she gestured at my underwear. “And this—akin to a perizoma, though unlike any I have known.”

Please let me die now. I wanted to disappear into the water and never come back up.

“My lady, I… look, I can’t explain all this,” I muttered, scrubbing a hand down my face. “It’s complicated.”

She studied me, her gaze sharp and quiet. Then, she leaned in a little closer.

“Are you a spy?”

I nearly choked. “A what?!”

“A spy,” she repeated, all calm and terrifying. “Come to slay our Emperor, perhaps?”

“Kill the—? Are you insane?” I whisper-yelled, glancing around frantically. “There are people right here—your maids are listening!”

The Empress smirked. “My maids are bound to me, body and soul. Whatever I say, however blasphemous, they shall pretend never to hear. And should I command them to say it was you who uttered treason, they shall obey.”

Ice ran down my spine. So this was who I was dealing with. Someone who could smile sweetly while threatening to destroy me—and mean it.

“Fear not,” she added, voice softening again. “I shall not pry further into your past, nor demand answers you cannot give.”

I let out a shaky breath. Part of me relaxed, but I wasn’t letting my guard down.

“But tell me this—what shall you do once I release you?”

I hesitated. Then told her the truth. “I don’t know.”

She clicked her tongue. “That is quite the plan. You know not where you go, nor from whence you came.”

“I don’t even know how I got here,” I admitted.

She sighed, long and dramatic, like I was a stray cat she’d found on the steps of her palace. “Then there is only one solution.”

I tensed. “And that is?”

“You shall work for me.”

I blinked. “You… want me to be your servant?”

The Empress gave me a slow smile, the kind that says you’re already mine. “Oh, not a servant, child. I already have those. But a foreign girl, lost and unclaimed… You would be far safer under my care than wandering alone. Besides, you intrigue me. I have never seen one like you before.”

She was right. I had no options. Whatever happened to bring me here, I wasn’t going back anytime soon. If I wanted to survive, I needed to play along.

I nodded slowly. “Alright. I’ll work for you.”

“Wonderful,” she said, looking positively delighted. “Then let us make you presentable. If you are to stay by my side, you must be dressed properly.”

I groaned. That meant more poking, more weird ancient underwear, and probably some extremely complicated outfit that needed three people just to put on.

Great. Time travel sucks.

Later that night, I saw the Empress being summoned by a guard. There was a look in her eyes—one that flickered with something like dread before she masked it with her usual grace. Curiosity and unease warred in my chest. I waited, then quietly followed her through the shadowed halls.

She disappeared through massive golden doors guarded by armored soldiers. I pressed myself against a column nearby, hidden, my breath shallow.

Then I heard it. Her scream.

Followed by a grunt. A crash. A muffled thud.

Another cry. And another.

My blood ran cold.

I wanted to run in. To scream. To break the door down. But I had no power here—just a strange girl from another time, helpless against the might of an emperor.

I shrank into the shadows as more guards approached and took position by the door. No one looked alarmed. No one moved to help her.

She was alone.

I covered my ears, tears spilling down my cheeks—not because I was scared, but because she was suffering. And no one would save her.

Eventually, the sounds stopped.

I ran. Back through the corridors. Back to her chamber.

When she returned, her posture was wrong. She limped, her steps stiff. Her lip was cut. Bruises darkened her arms. She moved like someone trying not to break.

The servants bowed and stepped forward to clean her, but she waved them away. Then her gaze met mine.

She didn’t speak. Neither did I.

Later, when the servants finally convinced her to let them clean her wounds, I remained nearby, worried. As they began undressing her, I turned away out of instinct, then froze.

Gasps came from the servants when they saw how bruised she was. The Empress didn’t resist, but her body… it wasn’t what I expected. Beneath the royal robes, she wasn’t a woman.

I turned back slowly, confused.

Flat chest. Slender, scarred torso. The unmistakable body of someone born male.

My heart stopped.

She… he… was Sporus.

The boy paraded as a bride. A puppet cloaked in silk. A soul drowning in someone else’s shadow.

I stared in silence. Shocked. Hollow.

He had been abused. Controlled. Shaped into an illusion.

And now, I had stepped into the middle of his tragedy.

Not to change it.

But to witness it.