Moonlight Garden (1)

In the palace, the jungjeong (中庭, inner courtyard) and the jeongwon (庭園, garden) are different. The jungjeong is a small space between the palace buildings, while the jeongwon is an open, decorated space outside the buildings. Although flowers and trees were planted in the jungjeong to decorate it beautifully, allowing any palace servant to come and go and rest, the jeongwon, not the jungjeong, is where the gardener works diligently. The jungjeong is merely a place to touch up while managing the jeongwon.

Therefore, palace servants usually rested in the jungjeong, while royals and high-ranking individuals rested in the jeongwon. If a royal went to the jungjeong, the palace servants would feel burdened and avoid it, and the palace servants had work during the day and were not allowed to roam around at night without permission, so they had no chance to enter the jeongwon.

Although there was no explicitly written rule that palace servants should not enter the jeongwon, a custom arose from some point in the past that the jeongwon was a place that could not be entered without permission, and it remained that way.

Therefore, it was quite unusual for Princess Padrentia, Amitale-ssi, and Supanita-ssi to be talking together in the jeongwon of the Chrysanthemum Palace. Senior palace maids of each palace could confidently come and go in the jeongwon, but even senior palace maids were busy managing their subordinates during the day, so going to the jeongwon was difficult unless they deliberately made time.

Moreover, even though she was somewhat favored, this was Supanita-ssi’s first time setting foot in the jeongwon as a mere court lady. If she had been a nain (lower ranking court lady), she would have been going in and out of the jeongwon every morning to sweep up fallen leaves.

As the dew that formed every dawn disappeared from its place and the sun was rushing towards the highest point in the sky, the jeongwon of the Chrysanthemum Palace gently revealed its most beautiful appearance in autumn.

Unlike the suffocating vitality of summer, where you could almost hear the sound of grass and trees growing just by quietly closing your eyes and listening, it was a canvas of vitality created by living things struggling for the last time before winter. There, the gardener, who had worked in the palace for over a dozen years, devoted his energy to trimming it to be the most beautiful and refreshing to the human eye.

Padrentia held a white porcelain cup as white as milk and quietly drank her tea. Mirabilis-ssi liked porcelain decorated with golden pigments, but Padrentia-ssi preferred pure white without any decoration. Instead, she scrutinized how beautifully the white was baked, making it more difficult for the potters to deal with her.

For an unmarried princess, social gatherings and tea parties were like work, and tea parties in particular were conducted with strict etiquette. However, even in a setting where she was drinking tea in the jeongwon with only her people, just the three of them, Padrentia moved her body with elegant and restrained movements, as if she were at a tea party.

“So, you couldn’t even have a proper conversation with that girl named Serina-ssi in the Rose Palace?”

Padrentia held the teacup with both hands, feeling the warm warmth, but did not turn her gaze away from the light brown color of the tea water. The tone of her voice was calm and gentle, but it contained a bleakness like the wind blowing under dark clouds. It was an unfamiliar voice that Supanita-ssi was hearing for the first time, making her feel as if cold water had been poured down her back, making her nervous.

“As you commanded, this humble one tried to meet that court lady and talk to her, but when this humble one called her ‘a court lady favored by Mirabilis-nim,’ she had a rather strange expression and neither affirmed nor denied it. So, when I tried to go into the jungjeong to talk, the senior palace maid of the Rose Palace rushed over…”

“Enough.”

Padrentia coldly cut off the words that her court lady was rattling off as she pleased. It was an unspoken rebuke not to make excuses for failing to carry out the order. Feeling as if her throat was burning, Supanita-ssi shrank back and swallowed hard.

“Princess-nim, please do not scold this child too much.”

It was Amitale-ssi, a middle-aged senior palace maid with more gray hair than black, similar to Mullaba-ssi. Amitale-ssi was also the only person in the Chrysanthemum Palace who could speak to the princess in this way. Padrentia frowned slightly and looked at the senior palace maid of the Chrysanthemum Palace.

“Amitale-ssi, it’s not like I told her to necessarily become close or extract information, I simply ordered her to have a conversation with that child, but she couldn’t even follow that properly.”

The difference in status between the royal family and the senior palace maid was clear, but it was customary not to treat a senior palace maid who had managed the palace assigned to the emperor’s children for a long time and had grown old with disrespect. Even Mirabilis-ssi, who was known for being ‘arrogant and picky,’ respected Mullaba-ssi and always treated her with courtesy.

“Mullaba-ssi entered the palace before I did, and she is the ghost of the Rose Palace who survived to the end and eventually became a senior palace maid when all the palace servants who came in with her either left the palace or were executed. They say an old rat gnaws through poison. She must have already guessed roughly from the time Your Highness arrived, and she must have been watching with her eyes wide open to see if there was anyone among those who accompanied Your Highness who had left their post.”

Padrentia made a sullen face and pointed at herself with her index finger.

“…Am I the poison that the old rat gnawed through?”

Amitale-ssi rubbed her face with both hands as if washing it. As the wind blew, one or two strands of gray hair fluttered. The princess suddenly thought that the deep wrinkles on the senior palace maid’s forehead had deepened.

“It’s just a proverb used as an analogy.”

“Amitale-ssi, I don’t think you were like this when I was young, but you speak too easily these days.”

“As you get older, your face gets thicker.”

Padrentia laughed lightly, and the hem of her blue dress rippled in the gentle breeze. The princess looked at the sky for a moment, then turned her head and made eye contact with the court lady.

“Since Amitale-ssi has spoken, I will not scold you. But if you have the opportunity in the future, try to get closer to that child. If you need a reason to go in and out of the Rose Palace, I will provide it.”

“Thank you, Princess-nim.”

Only then did Supanita-ssi feel relieved and lift the teacup placed in front of her to her lips. The scent of the fragrance oil added to the tea leaves faintly rose. As the warm tea water passed down her throat, her lips seemed to regain their vitality.

“Princess-nim, I am sorry to trouble you, but…”

“Hmm?”

Amitale-ssi suddenly spoke in a very polite tone. The senior palace maid of the Chrysanthemum Palace speaking with such courtesy was a prelude to saying something unpleasant, so Padrentia frowned even before hearing it.

“What are you trying to say?”

Amitale-ssi carefully opened her mouth while watching her master’s expression.

“Wouldn’t it be okay to stop hating Mirabilis-nim?”

The expression disappeared from Padrentia’s face and froze palely. She couldn’t bring herself to explode in anger, but even the tone of voice flowing from her mouth seemed to lose its vitality and dry up white.

“Stop talking. I don’t want to hear such words, even from Amitale-ssi.”

“I am deeply sorry.”

The senior palace maid lowered her head. Like a shrimp getting its back crushed in a whale fight, Supanita-ssi felt as if her lips were burning again due to the uncomfortable atmosphere between people higher than her. The place where the three of them were sank into a strange silence, but Padrentia was the first to open her mouth and break it.

“I don’t remember the face of my deceased Royal Mother, but I still clearly remember how much she doted on me whenever I met her outside the palace. But after Royal Mother closed her eyes, Royal Father appointed a second Empress before the warmth had even left her body.”

The princess’s face relaxed a little, and her tone of voice softened slightly.

“The position of the nation’s mother cannot be left vacant even for a moment, Princess-nim.”

Padrentia’s gaze suddenly turned to the sky. Supanita-ssi was a little curious about what her master was contemplating as she looked beyond the empty sky.

“I know… But even if I understand it with my head, I can’t accept it with my heart. As soon as Her Majesty the Empress entered the palace, she soon gave birth to Mirabilis-ssi… Royal Father didn’t really look for me.”

“Princess-nim…”

Padrentia called the current Empress ‘Her Majesty the Empress,’ but she did not call her ‘Royal Mother.’ It was not wrong in terms of etiquette, but it was a small rebellion containing the meaning of ‘You are not my mother.’ And the Empress did not bother to tell Padrentia to ‘Call me Royal Mother.’

“No matter how hard I tried to dote on Mirabilis-ssi as a younger sister, I couldn’t help it. What am I supposed to do when Royal Mother’s shadow and Her Majesty the Empress’s face flicker before my eyes whenever I see that child?”

Padrentia shook her head again. Her long, glossy black hair swayed from side to side, fluttering in every strand.

“Maybe I’ll reconcile with Mirabilis-ssi when I get older, you never know what will happen in the future. But not now. Thanks to the fact that Mirabilis-ssi, despite her beauty and status, doesn’t seem to get along well with her palace servants or other princesses for some reason, I was appointed as the only princess of this country and was able to gain more connections and power. Mirabilis-ssi can just live prettily in the Rose Palace like now and get married appropriately.”

Padrentia put strength into her last words.

“I will make it so.”

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

Mirabilis-ssi woke up in the morning and still tried to wear a white dress. There was an official event at the palace today, so all the royals were busy. There was a general’s commissioning ceremony at the palace, so all the royals and high-ranking officials had to dress in formal attire and attend. While Miella-ssi and Serina-ssi were attending to Mirabilis-ssi together, Serina-ssi looked at Mirabilis-ssi’s clothes and thought for a moment before speaking.

“Princess-nim, ‘though I am a court lady and it is presumptuous of me to say so,’ wouldn’t it be better to wear a black dress since it’s not hot these days?”

Mirabilis-ssi paused for a moment. She tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling, seeming to think for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes. Black wouldn’t be bad now. I’ll wear that today.”

Miella-ssi took out a black dress from the princess’s wardrobe and carefully helped Mirabilis-ssi put it on with Serina-ssi. Originally, Mirabilis-ssi did not like black, so although she had black clothes, she did not have many.

Of course, since it was not to express condolences, she decorated it with other colors such as a red necklace and earrings, mainly using black. Originally, it was very rare for Mirabilis-ssi to wear clothes with black as the main color.

As the princess left the Rose Palace with her attendants, the transparent sunlight of autumn shattered on her hair. The silver earrings sparkled like dew containing starlight, and the necklace hanging around her slender neck flashed red and rang chareureung. Her white skin contrasted with the black, shining even more brightly.

As Mirabilis-ssi entered beyond the gate of the main palace, those who knew her seemed a little surprised. Padrentia-ssi, who was attending together, blinked her eyes and stared as if dumbfounded. Even the emperor, who was wearing a dignified military uniform and riding in a palanquin to attend the ceremony, could not just pass by Mirabilis-ssi and stopped the palanquin bearers before speaking to her.

“You, who always wears white clothes, are very unusual today.”

Mirabilis-ssi respectfully gathered her hands in front of the emperor, her father and the monarch of this country, and looked at his face as she replied.

“I thought it would be okay to wear black clothes since it’s autumn and today is a special day.”

The emperor seemed very pleased with Mirabilis-ssi’s words and nodded, laughing heartily.

“Good! Of course, today is a special day. There are many dark colors among military uniforms, so black clothes would also suit you.”

As the emperor sat on the throne and the splendid honor guard played instruments and marched, the crown prince and princesses sat in the upper seats below the seats where the emperor and empress were sitting. Serina-ssi also stood next to him, where he could be seen, as a court lady attending to Mirabilis-ssi, and had to forcibly lower the corners of her lips, which kept trying to rise.

In fact, it was Serina-ssi’s intention to have Mirabilis-ssi wear black clothes. She had become Mirabilis-ssi’s Older Sister through hypnosis magic, but it was a life-threatening secret that could not be revealed to the outside world at all.

If this fact were to be known to the emperor, Serina-ssi could disappear without even receiving a proper trial, as if she had soared into the sky or sunk into the ground, in order to protect the dignity of the imperial family. She chose clothing as a way to show others the influence she had on Mirabilis-ssi while keeping the secret.

She deliberately made Mirabilis-ssi, who originally liked to wear white clothes, wear clothes of a different color, and there was a reason why it was black in particular. Of course, it was also because it was the opposite color of white, but it was also a symbol of Mirabilis-ssi being ‘tainted by the influence of the shadows.’ Of course, that influence of the shadows was none other than Serina-ssi herself.

It was unintentional that the emperor interpreted black as ‘symbolizing the military,’ but it was even better since the monarch thought well of it. Mirabilis-ssi was no longer a difficult superior to serve for Serina-ssi.