“Should I really dress this?” Juhyun asked, not liking that she now had to use the same type of clothes that servants in that city wear. It was a simple white robe made of cotton. It was shallow and lifeless, completely different from the pale pastel rose of female servants from Rosegarden.

“All the slaves and low borns wear white in Midsummar.” Yuri said.

“But it is the wedding of Lady Miyoung! Shouldn’t we all be well dressed and groomed?”

“Slaves don’t come near the main events of the palace. What we need to do is to make sure the food and the wine is all served to the highborns.” Sooyoung was the one answering this time. “We deliver them to the guards, and guards put them on top of their table. That’s our job.”

“And your job…” Yuri added. “Is to help your Lady Miyoung to bed Master Shin.”

Juhyun looked at her feet, displeased with her own duty. Even though she was loyal to Miyoung and the Hwang Family, there were times where she shouldn’t be so desperately needed. In her mind, that was one of those times. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“You shall remove her makeup and accessories, untight her dress and hair, so when he receives her, he wouldn’t be burdened by all of that.”

“He couldn’t do it by his own?” Juhyun asked, frowning her brows.

“Master Shin wants things done quickly for him. He doesn’t like waiting, he doesn’t like to do things himself. He wants everything to be all ready for him so he can enjoy at fullest.”

“Poor Lady Miyoung…” Juhyun said, lowly. Knowing the heart of her master, Juhyun could tell Lady Miyoung wouldn’t have the best life in Midsummar.

“Yeah… she sure didn’t have any luck in her betrothed husband.” Sooyoung pitied. “At least she has you to take care of her, right?”

Juhyun really didn’t think she was much of a help. She was just a poor servant of the Hwang Family. And by the eyes of Master Shin, she was no different from a slave. She had nothing to offer Lady Miyoung now that she must live in the Red Mountains. All Master Shin’s servants are loyal to him and only him and she has no right to deny any orders from him, or from his concubines for that matter.

In the end, she would be truly a slave of that city, of that palace. Even if she was there to make Lady Miyoung’s life easier, as the days go by, Seo Juhyun would be relegated to just a mere slave of that region, no different from Sooyoung or Yuri’s.

That thought scared her soul.

“Come…” Sooyoung called. “We will take you to the nuptial room.”

Juhyun timidly followed the girls, looking around the corridors of the palace. Servants dressed in white were all carrying loads of wine and food to the main hall.

As they were on their way to the nuptial room, the footsteps of other servants started to become louder and quicker, as if they’d started to run. Juhyun thought that was odd. In such an important event like the wedding of Lady Miyoung and those people were all making that noise? Where is the respect towards the ceremony?

But apparently, Juhyun wasn’t the only one to find that disturbance odd. Sooyoung and Yuri quickly wondered themselves what was happening.

“Something is wrong.” Yuri spoke out. “Why suddenly there are so many people running in the palace? Master Shin ordered to us being as silent as possible.”

As they continued to walk, they saw a couple of servants and soldiers running against them, with no wine or food to deliver.

“That’s really odd.” Sooyoung added.

“Should we go to the main hall?” Juhyun asked, timidly. “It might have had an accident of some sort. Lady Miyoung is a bit clumsy sometimes.”

“Are you crazy? We can’t just suddenly appear in the main hall! Master Shin will skin us alive!” Sooyoung quickly shut it off.

“Then what should we do?” Juhyun tried.

“We should do our job. You need to be at the nuptial room when your Lady Miyoung goes in there.”

When the tree women entered the room, their other fellow servant, Sunhee, was there already. Sunhee’s face was pale and she quickly put herself standing up once she saw them.

“Sunhee? What you are doing here?” Sooyoung asked, curious.

“M-master Shin asked me to come here, to h-help Lady M-Miyoung get undressed.” She answered, rather quickly, her eyes staring at the floor.

“We brought Seohyun here because we thought it was her job to undress Lady Miyoung.” Yuri frowned her brows.

“It’s Juhyun…” She tried to correct them her own name.

“Well, Master Shin’s orders were for mm-e to assist Lady Miyoung. I d-don’t think he wants Lady Miyoung to b-be near Seohyun.”

“Why you are nervous?” Juhyun asked. Sunhee has always been composed, Juhyun found weird that she was acting like that.

Sunhee stood quiet.

“Sunhee? What’s wrong?” Sooyoung asked, moving forward.

Juhyun started to feel anxious. There was something going on in the main hall, she was sure of that. And all the Hwangs were there, and if something bad happened, it might have happened to them.

“Sunhee?”

The girl turned her face to the side. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Seohyun…” Juhyun had already given up on correcting her name with those people. “But Lady Miyoung’s…”

Juhyun’s heart fastened its beats, tensed for expectation. That didn’t sound good. Please, don’t let anything bad happen to Lady Miyoung.

“What about her? What happened?”

Sunhee gulped hard. “Lady Miyoung’s family… The Hwangs… they...uh…” She closed her eyes. “Master Shin had them all...murdered.”

Juhyun widened her eyes, her chest hyperventilating. Her ears were buzzing and a cascade of tears streamed from her eyes. No. No. That was impossible! How come the Hwangs were gone? All murdered? On the Lady Miyoung’s wedding day? How could they? How could those people lack any sense of honour and duty? How could they do such a horrible thing to the Master Lords of Rosegarden?

Juhyun clenched her teeth, her hands trying to wipe the tears falling down her face. She instantly felt the hands of Sooyoung and Yuri on her shoulders, trying to comfort her. But that was no use. No hands in the universe would comfort her from those news. House Hwang and Rosegarden was her life and now that they’re gone, what would become of her life? And the lives of people in Rosegarden?

“Lady Miyoung was murdered?” Sooyoung asked on Juhyun’s behalf as the handmaiden was short of words out of shock for what she just heard.

“Lady Miyoung’s alive….” Sunhee replied, making Juhyun lift her head up. “But her family members...they...they are… All gone…”

Lady Miyoung was alive! Juhyun had to so something! She couldn’t let anything happen to her! She is the daughter of Master Hwang and if there’s any possibility to save the Rosegarden, only Lady Miyoung could do it!

Wiping her tears, and inhaling deeply, Juhyun tried to escape that room and go to the main Hall, but Sooyoung quickly grabbed her by the wrists. “Where do you think you are going?” She asked, stopping her.

“To the main hall. I need to help Lady Miyoung!”

“He’ll have you slaughtered!” She warned. “You can’t go in there!”

“I can’t let that man hurt Lady Myoung! I need to be there to help her!”

Yuri blocked the door, preventing her to escape. “You can’t go in there! Master Shin killed the family of his own wife on the wedding day, for God’s sake! You think he’ll have some pity over you?”

“I don’t care of dying! I need to help Lady Miyoung!” Juhyun yanked her arm away from her, her eyes starting to get watery again.

“You can’t help her if you’re dead!” Sooyoung retorted it.

“If you want help Lady Miyoung, you gotta do in ways that Master Shin can’t see you. The moment he realizes you’re alive, he will have you done for!”

“I need to h-help Lady Miyoung.” She wept, her head starting to ache and her voice starting to falter.

“Don’t go in there, Seohyun…” Sunhee was the one talking, making everyone turn their heads to her. “You are the only one who’s left for Lady Miyoung. She needs you by her side. If you are gone, what would become of her? Of her life in here