Prologue
The Empire of Tenkou, with Kouryuu as its guardian beast, had been a vast country controlling nearly all of the east side of the continent.
However, due to the battle for supremacy in the continent, Tenkou was split and in the end it collapsed, leading to the birth of new countries with "Genbu", "Seiryuu", "Byakko", and "Suzaku" respectively as their guardian beasts.
Of these four countries, a country named Hakurou had Byakko as its guardian beast.
The first Emperor of Hakurou who received the protection from the divine beast Byakko, then built a palace in the capital called the Long Moon Palace.
As its name suggested, the Long Moon Palace was a beautiful palace that glowed white, just like the moon.
From its enormous southern gate until the central area was a neat arrangement of palaces for governmental affairs, while the northern area was the emperor's living quarters, and further inside was the Inner Palace where numerous consorts competed for the emperor's favor.
Inside the Inner Palace lived not only the consorts and their ladies-in-waiting, but also female officers who held official ranks and were responsible for the supervision of the place, and palace maids with no ranks who did odd jobs under the female officers. It was quite like a small nation.
* * *
One of the female officers working there, Kou Matsurika, had just turned sixteen.
Matsurika, with her flaxen hair, violet eyes, and an appearance that was nothing fancy but still neat, tidy and kind enough to give a good impression, shouldn't have any problem looking for a marriage partner, now that she had reached a marriagable age.
But, it was not impossible for female officers in the Inner Palace to receive the emperor's favor.
In times when there was no heir, there were cases where the emperor would make one a consort if someone were to get pregnant. And thus, even female officers were basically forbidden to make contact with the outside world.
—In other words, Matsurika was currently missing her chance to get married.
"Spring has come, huh."
It was the start of spring when the cold still remained and plum trees began to flower in the Inner Palace. The tiny red, white, and pink flowers created wonderful curtains and colored the garden gorgeously.
As Matsurika gazed at them entrancedly, she found a bird and its partner standing on a tree branch. She didn't envy the newly-wed birds, and only smiled while wishing them a happy life.
"Maybe I won't be able to find a man to marry all my life, but becoming a female officer is already a lifetime worth of happiness……"
In the first place, Matsurika had entered the Inner Palace as a palace maid. Palace maids wore navy clothes with no accessory and worked hard as per female officers' orders, with no chance to meet even the consorts, let alone the emperor.
Even so, it was a dream job for girls because the wages were guaranteed and there was no need to be troubled over food and lodgings.
Matsurika who had been lucky enough to become a palace maid was already quite satisfied, but she managed to contribute greatly in a certain case, was granted a primary eighth-grade official rank [1] and became a female officer.
From then on her daily life of odd jobs changed. She could now put on beautiful clothes with enough time to do her make-up in front of a mirror. She could also do her hair and put on hairpins, and even meet with consorts.
It was more than lucky, and she was now blissful enough that it was scary.
"Maybe it's like passing the civil exam for boys."
It would be too much to expect more than this. As proof……
"His Majesty is coming!"
"He's wonderful, as always……"
After cheering reservedly, consorts, their ladies-in-waiting, and female officers sighed admiringly.
Matsurika who were away from the crowd silently chased after the Emperor's figure seen from between the plum flowers.
The eighteen-year-old Emperor, Hakuyou, was a beautiful person with silver hair and golden eyes.
Though it was a rare colouring for countries at the east side of the continent, it was not so rare as to garner much attention in Hakurou, which served as the gateway for countries in the west. Matsurika with her flaxen hair and violet eyes had also never been bullied because of her colouring.
"It's totally impossible to see His Majesty if they're not female officers in the Inner Palace…"
Hakuyou was a perfect embodiment of young maidens' ideals that it seemed like he were an emperor who came out of a fairytale.
He always had a calm smile on his beautiful face and his voice was enchantingly sweet. He was also polite to everyone and possessed a strong sense of duty, yet by no means was he stern. It was also said that he could frequently be seen joking around with the officers in the governmental palace……
"So someone perfect really does exist, huh."
The emperor of Hakurou had many princes and princesses due to the number of consorts in the Inner Palace.
Once one of the many princes, but lacking any powerful backing, Prince Hakuyou had chosen the path of independence really early on by relinquishing his succession right and lowering himself as a mere subject. He had also taken both the recruitment exam for both civil and military officers, and was a genius who surprisingly managed to pass both.
It had been right after that. Hakuyou's father who had been the ruling emperor passed away much too suddenly.
Hakuyou's half-brother, the crown prince, was just three years old. The result of the discussion between the imperial family, the prime minister and generals, was to have Hakuyou succeed the throne in place of the much too young crown prince.
The people were all elated to welcome Hakuyou, who passed both the civil and military examination, as the new emperor.
And now as the emperor, Hakuyou answered their expectations, exercising his talents to make the country more prosperous and earning absolute trust from the people.
"Aah, I'd really like to have His Majesty talk to me, just once is fine……"
"I know right? We all can dream, but reality is just too harsh~"
Listening to their hushed whisper, Matsurika then remembered a certain Inner Palace story.
The main character was a girl who had just become a female officer. One day, she met the emperor's eyes as he was walking around the Inner Palace. The emperor then approached and asked her name while smiling.
Afterwards he became interested in her and before long they came to like each other, but of course the difference in their status troubled them.
The girl made up her mind and told the emperor to end it, yet he hugged her tight and said, "I don't want to part from you," and she was conferred a consort's rank……
That was only possible in stories. The female officers knew that.
But no matter what, one would always dream that they could perhaps be the main character in a story.
(As for me, I've managed to receive something beyond my dreams. There's no need to be the heroine in an Inner Palace tale. If I can just live out my life peacefully as a nameless female officer, that'll be enough……)
As she pumped herself up to work hard today for that goal, her senior approached her.
She walked swiftly through the garden, taking the long way round to avoid crossing the emperor's path.
"Matsurika, the chief is calling for you. Hurry."
With an, "Oh, no," Matsurika walked hurriedly towards the chief's office.
It was still difficult for her to adjust her speed lest she be called disgraceful.
Translation Notes:
1. ↑ I have little knowledge of how Chinese court rank works. If what I found is correct, there're 18 ranks numbered 1-9 with primary (正) and secondary (从) for each number, meaning the lowest rank is secondary ninth-grade (从九品), followed by primary ninth-grade (正九品) and so on. So Matsurika's rank is the fourth lowest (primary eight-grade/正八品). Do note: I translated 正 and 从 as primary and secondary, but seriously I dunno if they're correct… Do comment if you have a suggestion (:
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