Kapitel 17: Chapter 17 - Acceptance.

In that near midnight time, the three ladies had a rather childish pillow fight in their room, this is the first time they were so relaxed ever since they reached this castle. Suddenly, someone knocked on their door. An Er opened the door and was greeted by Jade who held a whole pile of pillows in her hands.

"Good evening, Sister An Er. Here are some extra pillows, a pillow war would be more fun with more pillows," said Jade with a serious tone despite the casual circumstances.

Despite being a bit confused, An Er nodded and accepted those pillows from Jade.

"An Er, who is it?" Rei asked.

"My Lady, it's Sister Jade. She somehow brought us some extra pillows, she said that pillow war is more fun with more pillows, and she sounds serious." said An Er as she passed the pillow to Rei and shrugged.

"Jade? It's so late right now, and she's still guarding outside? But it should be really cold right now out there, isn't it?" said Rei, slightly concerned.

"I guess she is. Or else, she will not know that we were having a pillow war just now." said An Er.

"Ah… An Er, can you invite her into the house? She will certainly catch a cold if she stays outside in this cold weather." said Rei.

An Er nodded before walking towards the door again and called out for Jade who had been standing quietly in the cold corridor about three metres away from Rei's room door.

Although a bit confused, Jade entered the room as instructed by Rei.

"My Lady, do you need anything from me?" Jade asked as soon as she gave Rei a proper ninety degrees bow.

"Jade, may I know why are you still guarding outside despite the cold weather? Is there any reason behind it?" Rei asked, in a polite and gentle tone.

"My Lady, His Majesty gave an order to me to ensure your safety while protecting your privacy. In order to ensure your safety all of the time, I need to stay close to you all the time, but at the same time, I need to ensure that I will not violate your privacy. Thus, guarding outside is the best option. As for the pillow fight, the commotion in the room was quite loud that I overheard it by accident. But rest assured, that's the only thing I overheard throughout the day." said Jade, who is rather serious and enthusiastic about the jobs given.

"But now that you are my servant, I wonder would my command to you be able to cancel out the King's order?" said Rei, with a friendly smile.

"Pardon me, My Lady, I don't really understand your question," said Jade.

"What if I want you to stay in the same room with me, starting today?" Rei asked.

Hearing that unexpected order from Rei, Jade was a bit startled at first, but she nodded after dazed off for a few seconds.

***

Later in the night, Rei lay on her bed while staring at Jade who stood at the far end corner of the room, trying her best not to peek at Rei's sleep look.

"I guess she is just a very serious and frank girl, huh?" she thought and smiled…

***

The next morning. Rei woke up rather early, she planned to do some hair care. As An Er took out a small tray of mixed herbs that Rei usually used for her hair care, Rei remembered the essential oil used by Jade the day before. And so, she called for Jade.

"Jade, yesterday, you used some jasmine oil for my bath, right? I am wondering if I could use it for my hair?" Rei asked.

"Yes, My Lady, it can be used on hair, but I have a better recommendation for you," said Jade.

Then, Jade walked out of Rei's room and returned after a few minutes with a bottle of yellowish essential oil.

"My Lady, this is an essential oil made of bergamot orange, it can help add lustre to your hair, and it has a nice smell. Do you want to give it a try?" said Jade.

"Yes. Let's give it a try," said Rei with a smile…

***

After Rei got her haircare done, she was once again summoned by the King just like how she expected. With some simple dress-up and basic preparation, she stepped out of her room and headed to the King's palace.

Passing through the same small alley as before, this is the first time she felt so relaxed when walking on that path leading to the King's palace. After a short while, she reached that building again, out of curiosity, she took a short glance at the door of the assembly hall that is tightly locked.

"So, no meeting again today?" That is what she thought as she took another path and headed directly towards the King's reading room.

However, the atmosphere near the room today seems to be a little bit different than usual. The palace guards outside the room nervously shook their heads while giving Rei some hand signals indicating Rei not to enter the room at the moment. A bit curious about the situation, Rei slowly approached the room.

Suddenly, she heard a loud noise of things falling onto the floor followed by the angry voice of the King.

"Don't give me such an excuse! Don't you realise how serious the consequences of your mistakes are? While you, as a squad leader, what the hell was in your mind when you tried to cover their mistake? Are you not planning to let me know if I didn't find out by myself?" said the King, in a reprimanding tone and obviously trying his best to hold back his anger as much as he could.

"I will give you one last chance, solve everything within a week or else I will put you all up to the guillotine. Now, get out of my sight until you get everything solved. Out." said the King.

Then, three men walked from the reading room, one of them is that shady man Rei met when she first visited the reading room...