Jealousy (2)

That day, more happened at the Rose Palace than Supanita saw and heard. Mullaba kept Supanita by her side, giving her all sorts of tasks to ensure she had no free time. Of course, as a maid with attendants under her, she didn’t roll up her sleeves herself, but directing the workers in the Rose Palace garden, marking off areas where people could and couldn’t go, and giving instructions, subtly took up a lot of time.

Even though it was autumn, constantly moving under the midday heat was no easy feat. At this moment, she couldn’t decide whether to be happy that the Princess-nim had entrusted her with work or to envy the other maids at the Chrysanthemum Palace who were serving Padrentia-nim.

Serina-ssi had the least work among the people in the Rose Palace except for Mirabilis-nim, but even she was surprisingly busy, running around the palace conveying the Princess-nim’s messages and also spreading Mullaba-nim’s instructions. Mirabilis-nim, with Serina-ssi back by her side doing odd jobs, was enjoying the benefits of having a maid anew.

It was when Serina-ssi was coming to deliver the Princess-nim’s message to Mullaba-nim. Coincidentally, Supanita-ssi, having briefly obtained Mullaba-nim’s permission, was also moving to convey a message to the Chrysanthemum Palace attendants who had followed him into the Rose Palace, and they almost collided head-on with Serina-ssi on the stairs.

“Ah, Serina-ssi, right?”

Supanita-ssi was initially startled, but upon seeing who was in front of him, he smiled brightly and spoke. Serina-ssi had never thought she lacked the ability to befriend strangers. However, compared to the maid from the Chrysanthemum Palace, she felt like a child hiding behind their parents when seeing a stranger.

“Chrysanthemum Palace… Was your name Supanita-ssi? We didn’t even introduce ourselves back then.”

When Serina-ssi brought up the story of when Padrentia-nim had visited the Rose Palace, Supanita-ssi also smiled awkwardly. Even the smooth-talking and glib Supanita-ssi couldn’t help but feel a bit deflated when he recalled being scolded by the Head Court Lady for acting brazenly at the Rose Palace.

Even though Supanita-ssi could cover all those emotions with a single layer of skin on his face, he didn’t particularly enjoy shady dealings, deception, or trickery. The ever-smiling face was a habit born from his innate nature. Personally, he had a slight desire to become friends with Serina-ssi, regardless of Padrentia-nim’s orders.

Supanita-ssi, looking a bit embarrassed, scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

“The other day, the Head Court Lady of the Rose Palace scolded me for trying to drag you to the Main Chamber without an introduction. Come to think of it, I never even said my name. I didn’t even have time to do so because I was being scolded by the Head Court Lady.”

He quickly erased the awkward expression from his face, straightened his posture, and spoke in a slightly serious tone.

“I am Supanita-ssi, the second daughter of Anoksamba. I am a maid serving Padrentia-nim.”

Since the other party formally introduced himself with his name and family name, Serina-ssi reluctantly had to reciprocate.

“As you may already know, I am Serina-ssi, the only daughter of Rantalum. I am a maid serving Mirabilis-nim.”

As Serina-ssi introduced herself, Supanita-ssi once again wore a gentle smile and suggested in a subtle yet impolite, low but clear voice.

“How about it? Serina-ssi, wouldn’t you like to talk with me? We’re both maids serving Princess-nims, so I think we’d have a lot to talk about.”

A friendly expression bubbled on his face. Supanita-ssi once again grabbed Serina-ssi’s wrist and strode towards the Main Chamber of the Rose Palace. Serina-ssi, exclaiming, “Eo-eo,” as she was dragged along, recalled Mullaba-nim’s words and forcibly stopped him at the edge of the Main Chamber’s passageway. Supanita-ssi tilted his head, looking bewildered as he stared at her.

“Why are you acting so familiar? You just dragged me along…”

Supanita-ssi was a bit flustered, but upon hearing Serina-ssi’s words, his face brightened, and he approached, acting subtly.

“Oh, was I not welcome? I thought Serina-ssi didn’t mind since you were following me… I’m sorry. Still, won’t you talk with me?”

Very lightly, while apologizing readily, Supanita-ssi winked his right eye and took Serina-ssi’s hand. The distance between their bodies was so close that they seemed about to touch, but nonchalantly, he supported Serina-ssi’s palm with one hand and placed the other on top of it.

Seeing his nonchalant and brazen attitude, Serina-ssi thought, ‘Shouldn’t I try to extract some information?’ and fell into contemplation. As Serina-ssi said nothing, he smiled brightly and put his arm around her shoulder. But suddenly, a hand appeared and forcibly separated the two.

“No, who is… Mirabilis-nim?”

The owner of the Rose Palace had, at some point, quietly come out of the Main Chamber and descended to the two maids. Supanita-ssi, flustered, hastily knelt on one knee, bowed his head, and paid his respects.

“Are you in good health, Mirabilis-nim?”

However, Mirabilis-nim, instead of properly accepting the greeting, looked down and scolded him in a low voice.

“Maid from the Chrysanthemum Palace, you seem to have quite a bit of time to spare. Mullaba-nim was looking for you… How can you be dallying with my maid?”

The Princess-nim’s voice was as cold as ice. Originally, Mirabilis-nim rarely smiled, but this time her face was even stiffer. Supanita-ssi shuddered, shook his head, hurriedly apologized, and had to leave the spot.

“I am sorry. I will return to the Head Court Lady immediately.”

Mirabilis-nim watched his retreating figure with a displeased look until he was out of sight.

“Princess-nim? Weren’t you in the Main Chamber? When did you…”

Then, the Princess-nim turned her body and looked at Serina-ssi.

“Looking at the Main Chamber from the window, it seemed that you and that maid were quite close. Serina-ssi, do you have a reason to become close with a maid from another palace?”

There was a slightly angry tone in Mirabilis-nim’s voice. The Princess-nim raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. Anger was secretly rising in her eyes as she glared at Serina-ssi.

“Are you not one who serves me? I do not know how commoners outside the palace associate and become friends with each other. It must be more familiar to you, who grew up in a commoner’s home without being noble.”

The Princess-nim put strength into each phrase of her words. She wanted to directly enlighten the maid who had acted ‘presumptuously’ within her sight. The content of what Mirabilis-nim was about to say was an excessive imposition even by palace laws, but she was not aware of it at all.

“But it is different inside the palace. You must only look at me, whether it is day or night. As long as you are a person of the Rose Palace, you must not leave the shadow of the wings I spread.”

The owner of the Rose Palace took a breath and closed her eyes. The warm emotion wriggling in her chest trembled as it knocked on the Princess-nim’s eyelids. Silence fell between the two as she searched for the words she wanted to say, the words she wanted to convey to the maid named Serina-ssi. The Princess-nim opened her eyes and clearly put her intentions into words towards the maid.

“Do not forget the duty of a maid. Your joy and sorrow, your labor and rest, are all entirely for me.”

Mirabilis-nim had said to Serina-ssi, “You, who grew up in a commoner’s home without being noble.” In the past, she would have bitten her tongue internally upon hearing such words, but now it was nothing. She no longer hated the Princess-nim in front of her. She only felt a little sorry for her.

‘She’s so cute when she’s my younger sister.’

Serina-ssi strode towards Mirabilis-nim. The distance between the two was so close that only two fists could barely fit between their bodies. The Princess-nim seemed a little surprised by the maid’s attitude, but she said nothing.

Serina-ssi put her hand on Mirabilis-nim’s cheek. It was an impulsive action, not a conscious one.

Smooth, clean, and flawless skin, the fingertips caressed and passed over the slender and sharp facial lines. The midday light shattered like shimmering scales of silver on the green eyes beneath the long eyelashes.

The touch gradually moved down to the slender neck. The sensation of the heart beating beyond the fair and clean neck was faintly felt. The throbbing and sulky appearance conveyed through her fingers felt very lovely.

This was the first time she had looked at Mirabilis-nim’s face so closely. As she became newly aware that she was truly a beautiful Princess-nim, a strange joy and possessiveness stirred from deep within her heart.

“…What are you doing?”

Originally, she should have been furious that a maid presumptuously touched the body of her master, but Mirabilis-nim avoided Serina-ssi’s gaze, turned her face, and only muttered in an inaudible voice. Serina-ssi, enjoying the soft and warm feeling on her palm, opened her mouth.

“Mirabilis-nim, if you are displeased, please command me. If you say, ‘Take your hand away,’ I will obey.”

Mirabilis-nim hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth in a low voice.

“…Take your hand away.”

“Understood.”

Serina-ssi, feeling a little regretful, lowered her hand as if it were nothing. Mirabilis-nim raised her head and looked at Serina-ssi’s face.

“Do you… do this to other palace people as well?”

“Of course not.”

“Step back.”

Serina-ssi took a step back, creating distance. Mirabilis-nim brought her own hand to the area that Serina-ssi had just caressed. Originally, it was an impudence that deserved punishment, but strangely, she was not angry. She would have been furious if she had done this to other palace people, but since she only did it to her, it was strangely not unpleasant.

‘I don’t know.’

Mirabilis-nim herself felt that it was strange. It was then.

“Uoko Sororem Pauraam.”

Mirabilis-nim paused for a moment. Serina-ssi lowered her voice.

“Wait, don’t move. And go through the right corridor first and wait for me in the corner.”

“Okay, Older Sister-nim.”

Basically, a maid could not walk ahead of the master she served. It was only possible when there was a reason, such as guiding the way, but there was no reason to guide the way in the Rose Palace. So, after sending Mirabilis-nim ahead, Serina-ssi followed behind. Seeing Mirabilis-nim waiting in a corner where no one could see, Serina-ssi spoke first.

“Why did you do that earlier?”

Mirabilis-nim was silent for a moment, then asked back in a slightly brusque voice.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you talking about the fake me coming out of the Main Chamber and separating me from that maid? Or are you talking about scolding Older Sister-nim?”

“I’m talking about separating Supanita-ssi from me. Why did you bother coming out of the Main Chamber and deliberately separating us?”

But Mirabilis-nim only hesitated and did not speak properly. Serina-ssi thought that the words the ‘fake’ had said while scolding her were not the true feelings of the ‘real’ one, but she did not bother to press her. She only brought up another Keyword.

“Regina Lecta.”

At that moment, the light disappeared from Mirabilis-nim’s eyes again, and she lowered her face deeply. Serina-ssi hardened her voice and asked again.

“Mirabilis-nim, I won’t get angry, so tell me the truth honestly. Why did you come out of the Main Chamber and separate me from that maid?”

“Older Sister-nim…”

Mirabilis-nim raised her head. Even though it was blurred by hypnosis, negative emotions flowed out like rippling waves from her opaque eyes.

“Older Sister-nim… becoming close with someone… leaving me behind… I don’t like it… Someone from another palace… someone I haven’t even met a few times… talking while smiling… I was angry…”

Serina-ssi finally understood why Mirabilis-nim was angry, but it was absurd. So, she tried to persuade her gently.

“That’s your misunderstanding. I was actually annoyed because Supanita-ssi was being unnecessarily friendly.”

Mirabilis-nim put her fingers on the cheek that Serina-ssi had touched a little while ago and asked again.

“Do you… touch other palace people… like you did just now…?”

“No, believe me.”

Mirabilis-nim’s expression became a little more comfortable.

“Really…?”

“Really.”

Serina-ssi took Mirabilis-nim’s hand. The slender fingertips were cold and soft, and the texture was pleasant.

“I’m sorry… Older Sister-nim…”

“You have to trust me, even if it’s not anyone else.”

“Yes…”

As Mirabilis-nim leaned her head back into Serina-ssi’s arms, Serina-ssi stroked her hair, feeling the texture of her hair, and said.

“Count to thirty slowly here, and then you will wake up as the fake you again. Then you will think that you separated me from Supanita-ssi and scolded me for talking to a maid from another palace without permission, and then you will return to the Main Chamber… Understood?”

“Yes…”

Serina-ssi left the spot first. Mirabilis-nim slowly began to count from one. But as Serina-ssi came out of the corridor and was about to go on her way again, Mullaba-nim was far away, holding up her hand towards Serina-ssi, beckoning her to come. As Serina-ssi approached with a puzzled expression, the old Head Court Lady asked with a stern expression.

“Serina-ssi, what is your relationship with Mirabilis-nim?”

“Yes, yes?”

Serina-ssi asked back with her mouth, but inwardly, she felt her heart sink. In a fleeting moment, all sorts of thoughts flashed through her mind like a river. Mullaba-nim did not miss such a flinch and grabbed the young maid’s shoulder, looking straight into her eyes. In the maid’s eyes, the brown eyes of the old Head Court Lady, with wrinkles between her wrinkled eye corners and eyelids, flickered with a toughness and tenacity like steel wire.

“We are just master and maid. That’s all.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Mullaba-nim crossed her arms and glared at Serina-ssi, and only when an uncomfortable silence flowed did she open her mouth again.

“Mirabilis-nim has felt lonely since she was young. I tried to do something about it, but… it was completely beyond my reach. Perhaps you are the first peer friend that the Princess-nim has ever made. Although it is a relationship between master and maid.”

“Yes…”

Mullaba-nim gestured again.

“My words are over, so go back.”

Watching Serina-ssi, who was moving her steps far away again, she frowned and pondered.

“Really… is it really just a maid, or just a friend?”

Mullaba-nim had been secretly following Supanita-ssi to see what he was trying to do, and she saw Mirabilis-nim separating Serina-ssi and Supanita-ssi from behind the passageway. Not only that, but she also saw the scene where Serina-ssi touched Mirabilis-nim’s face, but the Princess-nim did not get angry at all. Something immediately came to Mullaba-nim’s mind as she pondered the past.

‘When a court lady who is in a Daesik relationship sees her partner being friendly with another court lady, she often acts like that. She can’t bear the sight of her partner getting close to another woman of the same age other than herself. Could it be that Mirabilis-nim…’

Mullaba-nim did not miss the fact that Serina-ssi was momentarily flustered after hearing her words. The old Head Court Lady, who usually only sensed the court lady’s feelings and looked into the inside story as if she had it in her hand, was not confident this time, even though she had been in the Rose Palace for decades.

‘The atmosphere is subtle to say that it is just a simple friendship, but it is too bland to say that it is a Daesik relationship. It would be nice if the Princess-nim was just deeply obsessed because she was the first peer friend she had ever made. Serina-ssi had an attitude that seemed to indicate that she had something to point out, but…’

If court ladies formed a pseudo-marital relationship through Daesik, where they could not meet men or marry while in the palace, it was not common, but it was not very rare either. There were also as many cases where one party cheated or fell into suspicion and engaged in a love affair. Once such a dispute arose, the relationship between the court ladies deteriorated, and the atmosphere of the palace became grim, so the Head Court Lady was always careful.

It was like this even if the court ladies were in a Daesik relationship, so what if it was between the Princess-nim and the maid?

Mullaba-nim felt dizzy as she imagined it, and she had to lean her old horse-like body, tired from decades of palace life, against the wall to catch her breath for a while. Only after catching her breath did she barely manage to pull herself together again.

‘I’ll have to keep an eye on it a little more.’

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

Ever since Serina-ssi gave Mirabilis-nim the suggestion to become a ‘younger sister’ and masturbate in bed every night, when she thought she should go to sleep, her personality changed to ‘younger sister’ and she lay down in bed and masturbated as suggested. Every time she soothed her body and gained pleasure and fell asleep, the time she spent as ‘Serina-ssi’s younger sister’ was gradually increasing, and it had noticeably increased since the two had touched each other naked.

“Older Sister-nim… I wonder if she’s not coming today.”

Mirabilis-nim, in the state of being a ‘younger sister’, was sitting alone at the table, reading a book and waiting, but Serina-ssi did not come. She already had no more insomnia, so Serina-ssi could not come to the Main Chamber every night forever. Of course, she understood such circumstances, but she could not help but feel a heart that secretly hoped and waited for her to come at night.

Mirabilis-nim approached the bed and put her hand on it. It was extremely unskilled, but a smile appeared on her lips as she recalled the time she and Older Sister-nim had gotten to know each other naked on the bed.

She lay down on the bed and touched her chest over her robe. As she felt her nipples touching the stuffy texture of her clothes, she was seized with a strange anticipation and gradually patted her body as far as her arms could reach.

‘Older Sister-nim’s fingers…’

She remembered that Serina-ssi’s hands had played her naked body like an instrument on this bed that day, touching every corner. Mirabilis-nim wanted to follow the trajectory of Serina-ssi’s fingers that day as she remembered. She was naked at that time, but now she was wearing pajamas, so she could not feel the same sensation as before.

In the end, she got up from her bed again and took off all her clothes. She wanted to feel the feeling of that day even a little closer. As she took off all her clothes and her naked body was revealed, she felt a coolness different from summer, even though it was inside the Main Chamber. In that state, she lay down on the bed again, covered herself with a blanket, and wriggled her whole body again.

As her fingers brushed against her nipples, a small pleasure arose. She did not know that this would happen when she felt pleasure at first, but now she did not. Rather, she was happy that the time was near. Fluid flowed out from between her legs and became wet. This was just another sign that the time was near.

She put her fingers between the valleys of her legs and found the pleasurable spot in her heart and patted it. Every time her fingers touched it, it felt like a hot wave was shaking her body.

As her fingers danced and patted over her smooth body, a hot heat gradually rose from her body, driving away the coolness, and sweat formed on her soft skin.

“My true Older Sister-nim is only Serina-nim, and I swear eternal loyalty to Older Sister-nim!”

The moment she made the prescribed ‘oath of loyalty’, it seemed that sparks flew from Mirabilis-nim’s eyes, and a lightning-like pleasure spread through the blood vessels of her whole body, driving her into a frenzy of ecstasy.

As if a blocked dam had burst at once, the wave of pleasure swept away every piece of flesh and blood, stirred her body vaguely, and slowly receded like a receding tide. After that, her legs lost strength, and she collapsed in front of the empty chair.

‘When will Older Sister-nim come again…’

Mirabilis-nim struggled to calm her body, which was flushed with heat, and took a deep breath. Even though she had experienced it many times, it seemed that she had lost all her energy from her body after doing it.

But something was missing. Something was tickling her in her head as if she was about to remember it, but she could not remember it properly. The word ‘loyalty’ was stuck in her mind, but that was all. She thought about what it was, but then she just gave up.

“Will Older Sister-nim… get married after leaving the palace someday…”

Most court ladies, especially maids, generally got married after leaving the palace when the Head Court Lady notified them when the time came. When she thought that Serina-ssi would get married and become a wife and mother of a family, a loneliness that seemed to leave her alone in the world gently soaked her heart. As a ‘younger sister’, she should congratulate her, but when she imagined that scene, an inexplicable regret and sadness were intertwined in one corner of her heart.

‘No, there’s no need to worry in advance. At least now is not the time for Older Sister-nim to get married.’

When her thoughts reached this point, Supanita-ssi, whom she had seen during the day, suddenly came to her mind.

‘That bad person… I can’t just let it go even if he’s a person from our palace, but he’s Padrentia-nim’s person, yet he dared to put his dirty hands on Older Sister-nim’s body. The only person who can touch her is me, she’s my Older Sister-nim.’

This time, anger surged up. It felt like a ball of fire was burning fiercely inside her body, but Mirabilis-nim gently closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and struggled to force the heat to subside. She wondered if she should take off her clothes and go to bed as it was, but when she thought about getting up in the morning, she thought she should wear them after all.

She forced herself to put on her clothes and lay down on the bed to go to sleep again. When the candle went out, a thick darkness congealed inside the Main Chamber, but Mirabilis-nim’s excited breath did not subside easily.