The maids were much too low in terms of status, many of them were sold into the palace for labor, their only purpose is to serve and serve only. The courtesans, I assume, are slightly above the maids. They are kept in the palace for entertainment purposes--they are diseased, little birds flaunting their clipped wings and underskirts to the men within these palace walls. As for the concubines, their bellies are always swollen and shrill shrieks can always be heard from their chambers. They are brought in to produce heirs with no emotional or romantic attachment to the king or their heirs. Finally, the ladies in waiting, spend their lives preparing to serve their future ruler, and much like the maids, their only purpose is to serve.

I, Choi Jun Hee, chose to liberate myself the day I became a scholar. Only men were allowed to take on the position of a scholar, but becoming one of them meant that I could liberate myself from the constraints of servitude and fill my mind with the wonders of the world around me. And though I was liberated from a menial job most women in the court occupied, I was not free from the consequences that came with being a female scholar. As educated as the men seemed, they were foul-mouthed, slandering me with their poisonous words and lecherous gazes. 

The women in the court are tools. We are machines void of emotion, with nothing more than a small smile on our faces and our heads held high ready to serve our court at any instant. But the day the prince disappeared and the men became inflicted with that sleeping illness was day of our independence, a sign from the Heavens telling us women of the court that we are free. Free of men, free of labor, free to choose our own path. This freedom however, resulted in an internal struggle between the women of the court, where backstabbing and treachery ensued as they would stop at nothing to place themselves on the throne. That dirty throne that hid secrets and drew blood did not interest me. 

And that throne did not interest me one bit until the day the prince disappeared.

The court broke into a frenzy the day the prince disappeared. It was the spring after my twentieth birthday. The crowned prince and sole heir to the throne, Kim Joonmyeon, mysteriously vanished moments before he was to be crowned king. And if that weren't strange enough, the men in the court were suddenly inflicted with a bizzarre sleeping spell, rendering them useless. With the court in shambles, the women--the maids, the ladies in waiting, the courtesans, the concubines decided that I, a simple scholar, the only female scholar in all the court, a woman born to a low-ranking minister, was fit to become queen.

"Her Royal Majesty, Mother to the People and Ruler of the Morning Calm, Queen Choi Jun Hee."

Now, I stand before the throne not as Choi Jun Hee, the female scholar but, Choi Jun Hee, heir to the Kim dynasty, Mother to the People, and the one responsible for locating the missing prince's whereabouts.

Hi everyone! I was inspired by the manga "Ooku" while listening to Juniel and...POOF! This story was born! I hope you all enjoy it! :) Please subscribe and comment as you please!