Krystal blew out a breath of frustration. This new girl that Howie wasn’t sure he’d actually bought, the whole transaction was seeped in confusion and murky at best, was standing in the training room, arms crossed, and a defiant look in her eyes.

“I’m telling you right now, we are not allowed access to the Palace.” Krystal said. Victoria was sitting with her, having been summoned to help coax the new girl into thinking the idea of a celebration for the King and Queen would NOT be helpful in easing the tensions that seemed to surround the city, never mind the fact that the gisaengs hadn’t been allowed in the Palace for 2 generations of Kings now, all because of a scandal involving one of the gisaengs with the Crown Prince of the time.

Krystal could feel a massive headache coming on, and had already sent for the herbs needed to help keep the ache at bay. They were due to host the last of the celebrations for the new girl that night.

“Excuse me, Mistress.” Jooyeon had been properly punished for what had happened with Lee Donghae, her status as a gisaeng temporarily removed, making her the House Mother’s servant for 6 months. “A runner is here from the Kim clan.”

Jooyeon had ended up learning about the existence of shifters because of her punishment, though a part of her had not been surprised in the least, allowing Krystal a sigh of relief that the older girl had taken the news well. Since being sworn to secrecy, Jooyeon found it easier to tell the slight lies that rolled off her tongue whenever a member of the Packs or Clan came to the House.

Krystal raised an eyebrow. “Send him in.” She said, glancing at Victoria, who nodded.

Victoria took the new girl by the hand, her name was Min Yeon or Min Hee or something like that, and gently tugged her outside so that Krystal could conduct Pack business in privacy. They still weren’t sure if the girl was a shifter or not, Victoria’s senses saying she wasn’t but V insisted there was something off about the girl, and for that reason they were cautious. The last thing the shifters needed after Donghae’s attack was for their secret to be exposed because of carelessness.

The girl sniffed in frustration, yanking her arm out of Victoria’s grip once they passed the doors of the training room. “You all will regret trying to keep this celebration from happening.” The girl huffed.

Victoria used all of her self-control not to slap the girl in frustration. She did not answer the girl, her sensitive sharp hearing catching the conversation inside. The Pack runner wanted her to hear the conversation, which was a good thing.

Once the runner had concluded his business, and left, the herb order Krystal had placed finally came. She and Victoria resumed their attempts to dissuade the girl, finally giving up in frustration hours later, realizing that the only way she would be stopped from such nonsense was either Howie telling her no, which Krystal knew instinctively he would, or the Palace laughing in her face.

A week later, and the new girl had disappeared right under the watchful eyes of the two young gisaengs in training that Krystal had placed with the girl. The whole gisaeng house was in an uproar, though later on, no one could really remember why and chalked it up to some childish prank a gisaeng in training must have pulled on another girl.

Victoria had sent word to Ji Yong about the girl, V smirking in satisfaction that her instinct had been correct, but it was hard to gloat over the fact the girl must have been magical when no one else could remember the girl being there.

Ji Yong had replied with an oddly worded missive about the mountains that confused Victoria until a warning drum sounded in the distance. At first Victoria though it was the Japanese, coming to force the Joseon King to submit to their authority, word had already been circulated around the gisaeng houses that the Japanese were planning on taking over the kingdom, but the news was worse than she though.