บท 3: 3: Fake your ignorance
"S-Someone, bring a rag and inform the soldiers that we need a coffin."
"Shouldn't we call for a doctor first? We also need to clean up the blood."
"Oh god! What is going to happen to us?"
People were yelling and running all over the place, and all Sui could do was walk toward the corridor and look inside.
She was less shocked at the sight of blood than she was at the encounter she just had.
"Sister Jinken, are you alright? What happened here?"
The pale face and sunken cheeks showed the older servant girl was not doing well.
But she still tried to give Sui a reassuring smile.
"This is nothing for you to worry about, Sui. Concubine Cherubini made a mistake and ended up meeting her end. Let's pretend that we know nothing about it, alright?"
Jinken was an experienced servant of the imperial family who had spent the last 20 years in the imperial harem, serving the concubines.
This was not the first execution she had seen, and it certainly would not be the last.
However, …
'Watching dead bodies of people you know is never an easy task. I wonder what happened….no, stop it! Sister Jinken warned me not to be too interested in the truth.'
Sui tried her hardest to forget what happened, but her curiosity was getting better.
'Since the princess killed Concubine Cherubini, the Concubine committed some grave offense. Despite her reputation as the 'blood princess,' even someone like the Imperial Princess does not have the authority to kill the emperor's concubines…I think.'
"Hey, girl! Come here and help me move this body. We must clean this place before someone else is assigned this palace."
Another servant asked Sui, and she quickly got to work.
Her hands moved expertly to pick up the dead body. Blood had stopped bleeding out of that beautiful face, and the Concubine looked asleep.
'What a waste of her beauty. But I still cannot guess what happened here.'
Sui sighed before she helped the other servant girl pick up the body.
Despite her petite frame, Sui had a lot of strength. But carrying out a dead body was not an easy task.
"Hey, did you know that Concubine got killed because she cheated on the emperor? What's worse, she was even pregnant with the cheater's child in her belly and refused to name the culprit until the end. She even tried to pass it off as the emperor's child."
Sui looked at the servant in front of her, who seemed to be having difficulty keeping her mouth shut.
The right response here would be to say nothing and pretend she did not hear the other servant's words, but Sui's curiosity was her weak spot.
Once it had been ignited, she needed to curb it, or it would swallow her whole.
"Oh really! Someone like Concubine Cherubini had a hidden lover! I would never have guessed. She seemed pure and proud all the time."
Sui pretended to be shocked by the news and even acted innocent to get more gossip.
Most servants in the imperial palace knew not to gossip outside safe zones, but the one in front of Sui seemed new and naive.
She was going to spill all the beans.
"That's right! No one would have believed these rumors if the one who saw it was not the blood princess. That's why the princess was here today - to make the Concubine confess her crimes."
It made sense why the princess had dealt with this swiftly.
The news of a concubine betraying the emperor would cause massive outlast for the servants and the families involved.
"I mean, it's not uncommon for the low-level concubines to seek out other lovers, but they must be discrete if they do not want to be caught. We could all have been killed by that bloody princess if she desired. After all, she does not need a reason to kill, right? You've heard the rumors as well, right?"
Sui remained quiet at the question and let the other servant babble alone.
As a servant, Sui's status was more like that of a slave than that of a free person.
Being raised in the palace meant learning to listen to the gossip and choosing to store the information for later.
They reached the gate and knocked at it to be opened.
When there was no response, Sui decided to let go of the dead body and climb the gate before jumping on the other side.
The sound of her jump caused the guard to wake up instantly.
"Huh! What happened? Why are you jumping down from the top of the gate? Wait! I need to arrest you."
The guard quickly realized what to do and brought his spear out before he heard the knocking sound from the other side of the door.
He suddenly realized what happened, and his face went red in shame.
"N-Never mind! I think there has been a misunderstanding between us. I will open the door now-Ahhhhh"
The first thing the guard saw was the dead face of Concubine Cherubini, and Sui quickly put her hand on his face to quieten it.
"Don't make much noise. We need to take care of this situation quietly. There was likely to be a formal announcement about what happened later."
Sui reminded the guard, causing him to calm down.
The guard noticed the red on Sui's hand when she pulled her hand back, and he paled.
"U-Understood! H-Have you called for a coffin or a cart yet? How do you expect to bring the body to the burial ground?"
The guard asked in a shaking voice. Sui instantly rolled her eyes.
'Is this guard stupid? I just told him that Concubine Cherubini's death will be announced later. That means that we need to get rid of her body discreetly.'
Sister Jinken quickly arrived at the gate and looked sorry for Sui.
"Sui, you know what to do from here, right? I will leave it up to you. For the rest, go back to your duty and act normally. Remember, nothing happened here today, alright?"
Everyone nodded before Sui was made to take the body's weight on her shoulder and drag it along.
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