Sisterhood (1)

In the east, a morning star twinkled, and a faint light spread across the sky like watercolor paint. The sound of waking up maids and court ladies echoed through the buildings, dragging its tail and disappearing.

Ttaak ttaak.

The watchman of the Rose Palace’s watchtower walked through the corridor, striking two pieces of hard wood, dried and treated with resin to make them even harder, with a ttaak ttaak sound. The last duty of the watchmen guarding the watchtower in the palace was to wake up the maids and court ladies.

They had to meet the complicated conditions of waking people up enough, but not waking up the higher-ups, and ensuring that those who woke up to the sound didn’t have a fit. As a result, they went to great lengths to strike the hard wood. The clear sound, close to the sound of metal, was gentler on the ears than real metal.

When the watchman passed by, striking the wooden clappers with a ttaak ttaak sound, the people who woke up had to shout loudly, “From dawn, I place my hope in your words,” to signify that they had risen. An old monastery custom had been adopted by the Imperial Palace. If the designated response was not heard, the watchman would knock on the door of the person who did not shout, with their wooden tag, to confirm.

For that reason, when the watchman knocked on Serina’s door, she jumped out of bed in surprise and belatedly shouted the designated phrase. The palace people in the other rooms giggled. Even though Serina didn’t hear the laughter, her face turned red.

The palace people’s rising time was earlier than that of commoners. This was because they had to prepare in advance before the higher-ups woke up. Not only in the palace but also in most noble families, maids or servants were the same. In the summer, when the nights were short, the palace people’s rising time was also earlier, but conversely, in the winter, it was later. Since the hot season had passed and it had cooled down, it was rare for a palace person like Serina, who had been there for three years, to fail to answer in time and have the watchman knock on the door.

At the gathering where the maids and palace people counted numbers and reported any unusual events from the previous night, the gazes directed at Serina were particularly sharp. She tried her best to maintain a calm expression, as if she had covered her face with iron skin.

Although the palace people woke up early in the morning, even the higher-ups woke up around sunrise at the latest. Of course, those in power could wake up later. However, if they made it a habit to wake up late, they would be seen as ‘lazy and negligent,’ so even the direct imperial family members were educated to wake up around the time the sun rose from the ground.

Serina opened the door to the Main Chamber, shrinking her body at the increasingly chilly air. The palace people of the Rose Palace, as well as Mullaba, thought that Serina was favored by Mirabilis, so they entrusted her with the exclusive task of waking up the Princess in the morning.

When you think about it, Mirabilis was falling asleep and waking up while looking at Serina’s face. The honey scent of the candle that had been lit the previous night still lingered slightly in the air.

The Princess’s Main Chamber was incomparably larger than the palace people’s quarters, but the air was still slightly stuffy. Serina gave a bitter smile and first opened the window. With a teolkeok sound as it opened, the cold air swept around Serina’s face.

Serina shook Mirabilis, who was lying on a silk and gold bed. Mirabilis, illuminated by the cold light before sunrise, looked as pale as could be. As Mirabilis slowly opened her eyes, a dark figure flickered in front of her, obscured by the dim light.

“…Serina, is that you?”

“It’s time to wake up, Hwangnyeo-nim.”

The owner of the Rose Palace rubbed her eyes, stretched, and slowly got up to greet the morning. As the sun shone on the palace through the hazy light of early dawn, the palace people moved like wriggling creatures, heading to their respective workplaces as they were accustomed to. The monotonous, repetitive daily life began like that.

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

Mirabilis, with the help of Serina and another maid, Miella, put on her clothes. Like the common people’s nickname for her, ‘The White Rose Princess of the Rose Palace,’ Mirabilis liked to wear white clothes, but on this day, she deliberately avoided wearing white.

“The Gongnyeo are gathering at the Rose Palace today, right?”

“Yes, Hwangnyeo-nim. They are scheduled to gather in the garden at 8 o’clock today.”

8 o’clock meant 8 hours after sunrise, 2 hours after noon. It was an appropriate time to eat lunch and gather. Gongnyeo, or young ladies, was a word referring to the unmarried daughters of noble families. In fact, Serina and Miella were also ‘Gongnyeo’ in that sense, but unlike the maids of the First Princess Padrentia, they were not properly treated. This was because they were the daughters of fallen nobles.

Thanks to the fact that their master was the Hwangnyeo Mirabilis, they received at least minimal treatment. Disregarding a maid could be interpreted as disregarding her master. Although she didn’t have the same weight as Padrentia, Mirabilis was, no matter what anyone said, the legitimate Hwangnyeo of the Empire. In a way, Serina and Miella were benefiting from their master’s authority.

A tea party where the Hwangnyeo and Gongnyeo gathered. On the surface, it was just a gathering where the young ladies got together and played, but since the young ladies who gathered were all daughters of families with their own power and reputation, they couldn’t really be said to be ‘playing.’

Although not directly, it could be said to be an extension of the political battles taking place in the palace’s court in a broad sense, so even the parents of the main family were concerned about these gatherings. Although rare, there were even cases where fights between the Gongnyeo that occurred at these tea parties unexpectedly affected the political landscape.

“It seems fine for you to wear a white dress as you usually like…”

When Mirabilis quietly looked at Miella, she shrank back and swallowed her words. Seeing her Adam’s apple move with a kulkeok sound, Serina felt the need to defend her appropriately.

“Hwangnyeo-nim’s eye for fashion is always excellent. Miella’s eyes are a bit lacking, but even so, she seems to have a point this time.”

“Isn’t your eye for fashion just as bad as Miella’s? I don’t know if you can even tell the difference between a horse and a donkey. You’ve already worn it before, so this time you need to deliberately wear red clothes to leave a strong impression.”

Mirabilis cut off her words with a single stroke. Serina didn’t really mean to persuade her. She was just trying to save Miella’s face appropriately and also not upset Mirabilis. Perhaps because she had more余裕 in her mind, she didn’t feel too hurt even when she heard the Hwangnyeo’s sharp words.

After that, although there was still time left, Serina and Miella, along with the other court ladies, were busy preparing tea snacks and tea sets and decorating the Rose Palace’s garden until the tea party began.

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

It was the end of summer, but autumn flowers bloomed as new flesh grew in the place where summer flowers had fallen. So, the garden was still full of blooming flowers. As its name suggests, the Rose Palace’s garden had many roses planted. Although the season when roses bloomed most beautifully had passed, thanks to the gardener who woke up every morning before the morning dew dried and took care of the land and pruned the branches with the court ladies, there were still quite a few roses of various colors.

When the sun tilted westward from the center of the sky, the intense sunlight was somewhat subdued, and the grass, trees, and flowers in the garden became even clearer. In the middle of the Rose Palace’s garden, there was a pond and a pergola. White sand brought from the beach was scattered around, and flagstones were laid to make it easy to walk.

When you were inside the shade cast by the vines that wrapped around the white stone pergola, you were caught between the cool breeze blowing from the pond, the rippling water, and the green sea formed by the trees and grass, amidst the flowers blooming in primary colors and the gaps in the deep blue sky, and you suddenly entered the middle of a feast of vivid colors that seemed to fade away.

Even in the midst of all these colors, Mirabilis’s red dress and golden hair revealed an unforgettable, intense presence in all directions, befitting her status as the owner of the Rose Palace and a Hwangnyeo. Even Serina had to admit that Mirabilis’s aesthetic sense was outstanding when she saw it like this.

As befitting a tea party held in the Imperial Palace, its splendor was also extraordinary. The tea sets used by the attendees were white porcelain decorated with gold pigment. White porcelain that was baked with gold pigment from the beginning, rather than being gilded, was truly a rare treasure to see. This was because most gold pigments changed color or flew away while the white porcelain was being baked in the kiln. Just seeing these tea sets was enough to give the Gongnyeo who attended the tea party something to boast about.

The tea drunk at the tea party was fragrant but bitter, so they had to eat tea snacks together. They spent their time neutralizing the bitterness with sweetness. The cake made with plenty of sweet berries and sugar and mixed with cheese was as white as snow and delightfully sweet. Since sugar was imported from far away, its price soared like an eagle flying in the sky when it came to the Empire’s capital, so this sweetness was made with money.

Even though they were brought from distant foreign lands, the fruits were still fresh, the flowers only grew in foreign countries, and the fragrant tea, which was worth as much as a handful of gold, was extremely luxurious even in seemingly insignificant aspects. However, there were detailed etiquette rules at the tea party, such as how the host and attendees should turn and distribute their cups. Simply being extravagant would only lead to becoming a laughingstock even after spending money.

Mirabilis didn’t do much external activity, but the tea party was one of the few events that the Hwangnyeo rarely held at the Rose Palace. This was the first time Serina had accompanied the tea party as a direct attendant to Mirabilis. She was so nervous that she couldn’t even properly appreciate the beauty of the Rose Palace’s garden.

‘If I had attended, I would have been ridiculed without fail.’

Serina mocked herself as she watched the tea party proceed. It was humiliating, but the extent of Serina’s knowledge was so crude that she couldn’t actually use it. Of course, she had known that fact in her head for a long time. But when she actually saw the way it was done in the Imperial Palace according to the orthodox method, she felt like a street kid fighting with a wooden sword in front of a veteran.

None of the Gongnyeo who were talking with Mirabilis were people Serina knew. At least, the children of powerful families in the capital were all connected by one bridge, no matter how estranged they were. However, the two maids who were attending to the Hwangnyeo, Serina and Miella, had no acquaintance with any of the attending Gongnyeo.

At Padrentia’s tea party, the maids and other attendees exchanged simple greetings and joined in the conversation, but that didn’t happen at Mirabilis’s tea party. No Gongnyeo would dare to criticize this in front of the Hwangnyeo, but it was clear that it was damaging to her pride as the owner of the palace. The gazes of the Gongnyeo looking at the two maids were not very warm. Both of them desperately wished for the tea party to end quickly.