After a few more days of practice wearing the hearing dampeners, Seulhee was declared ready to go. She hugged Joora and bid her farewell, and Dongwoo took her to meet the man the conspiracy had bribed to accept her as the job holder for the serving girl position.

They met at the back gate of the palace. Dongwoo paid the man the necessary sum and released Seulhee to him. “If we ever catch wind of any funny business, you know what the price will be.”

The man nodded vigorously, shoving the coins into his pocket, and motioned for Seulhee to follow him. She walked with some distance between them, gazing around at her surroundings in wonder. The last time—the only time—she had come close to the palace was for the king’s wedding, all those months ago. And now, she was finally setting foot inside the palace grounds, inside the palace’s interior.

The place felt monstrously huge to her, looming above her head, the uppermost spires piercing the sky formidably. Inside, it felt cold and spacious, her steps echoing loudly around her—or at least she assumed they did since her diminished hearing picked up on a fraction of the noise. Some of the halls had carpets covering most of the flagstones, but otherwise she walked over smooth stone.

Eventually, they arrived at a particular door. The man unlocked and opened it and showed Seulhee inside. There was a single long rectangular table that stretched the length of the room, big enough to seat maybe twenty people. The walls were bare, and a chandelier hung overhead, glowing by some magical lighting.

“Every day at noon, and then again at six, you will be serving the council in this room here. You will pour them water or tea or wine, bring them food they request from the kitchen, whatever they wish, and should you stumble and spill things, don’t expect to go unpunished.”

The man ushered her out of the room, locking it behind them. “Go see the palace staff about everything else, and I suggest you figure out where everything is as quickly as possible. Your life is now in your own hands. Step carefully, girlie.” Without another word, the man slunk off to do whatever it was he was supposed to, leaving Seulhee alone in the hallway.

She spent a while looking around, trying to orient herself and remember the way, and eventually she set off in the direction she had come from, hoping that she could find her way somewhere familiar.

In the end, she got hopelessly lost, and was all but ready to give up and sit down against a wall, when someone came up and tapped her on the shoulder. She almost yelped, but remembered that she was supposed to be deaf and mute, and managed to remain silent as she looked to the source of the tapping.

It was a boy around her age, or so she thought. It was hard to tell because he was so pretty and youthful looking, with his unblemished pale skin and large bright eyes.

“Hello there. Sorry if I startled you. You’re the new serving girl, right? I’m Sungjong.”

Seulhee indicated her ears and to communicate that she couldn’t hear or speak. A look of understanding passed over Sungjong’s face. “Ah. I’m sorry,” he said, forming his words more carefully this time. “I’m Sungjong.” Instead of doing what she expected, he took her right hand and spelled his name in her palm. When he finished, he let go and smiled. “Pleased to meet you.”

She returned the smile and nodded at him, mouthing “thank you.” Taking his hand, she spelled her own name for him.

“Seulhee? That’s a pretty name. Anyway, it looked like you were a bit lost. I can show you wherever you need to go.”

Seulhee indicated the clothes she was wearing and then pointed at his clothes. His shirt was a cream color, and over it he wore a red and gold tunic, the colors of the palace uniform.

“Right, you will need a uniform. I’ll take you to the palace tailor. Let’s go.” Taking hold of her hand, he pulled her along.

***

Upon completing all the necessary measurements, the tailor stated that it would take maybe two days to get all of Seulhee’s clothes made. In the meantime, she would need to borrow a uniform from someone else.

Once again, Sungjong dragged her along. However, he did point out some landmarks along the way that would help her keep track of where she was, and for that, she was thankful. She committed those to memory.

This time they visited the lady in charge of living arrangements for the servants. She assigned Seulhee to a room with several other girls around her age, ranging from thirteen to twenty.

Sungjong showed her where the room was located, and she fully expected to be left alone after that, but instead he motioned for her to follow him somewhere else.

They walked for a while, until Sungjong abruptly stopped and opened what seemed like a random door on one of the hallways and pulled her inside, shutting the door behind them. It was a storage closet, full of buckets and brooms and dustpans, and Seulhee stared bewilderedly at Sungjong in the darkness of their surroundings.

The boy touched his hand to the door, whispering some words she couldn’t make out, and a split second later, a tiny spark flashed in the darkness of the closet, and a small orb of light appeared above their heads. Then, she understood.

“Sorry about that. Had to play along to everything. You’re actually very convincing in your act. I couldn’t tell that you were faking it.” Seeing her still looking at him, he said, “I know you can talk, so you can stop pretending now.”

“Right,” she said, her voice coming out as a croak. It was weird, not speaking for so long a time. was rather dry at the moment. “So you’re…?”

“Part of the conspiracy? Yes.” He bobbed his head proudly.

“You seem a bit young, though.”

That was when he turned defensive. “I’m eighteen. That’s plenty old enough to think and act for myself, thank you very much.” She had underestimated his age by a bit. “How old are you, anyway?”

“Seventeen,” Seulhee replied, feeling sheepish.

“Well then. If you’re not too young, then I’m not, now am I?” He grinned. “Anyway, anything you find out, you report to me. If you ever need something that you can’t get from anyone else or have difficulty communicating to other people, come find me. I actually work in the stables. Shouldn’t even be here, but my absence won’t be noticed…yet, anyway. I guess I’d better go now.” He snapped his fingers, and the light went out.

They stepped out of the closet. No one was around to see them, thankfully, otherwise it would have looked a bit odd and rather suspicious. “Don’t get lost, and good luck with everything!” Sungjong yelled as he ran down the hall to get back to the stables. He waved at her one last time before turning to face forward once more.

Seulhee watched him go, a smile on her face. Even though he was old enough to be considered a man, he seemed more like a child. But it was nice to have someone else sharing her situation in the palace, a friend in enemy territory.