The King and I Chapter 15: Troublesome Maids

Daichi nodded with his head still down.

“I will not let him take any action,” King Kageyama replied, looking out the window over his kingdom shrouded in darkness, “you will let me know if he makes any moves.”

“Yes, my King. So far the kingdom of Nekoma is still crippled, but I thought it best to make you privy to the information.” captain Daichi replied knowingly.

King Kagayama nodded, then dismissed his captain and remained looking out the window.

“I need to keep my concubine by my side forever,” he thought as he walked to the window and rested his hands on the sill.

………………………………..

Over these few days, while you were being called to service the King regularly, the other women who had been bought to the kingdom of Karasuno with you, were left to do the work of handmaids.

Shimizu had told them there was a chance that King Kagayama would be back to do another interview and pick another one woman (or maybe more women) to be in his more private collection of women, but as the days ticked by it was looking like he had settled on just you, and wasn’t interested in anyone else.

Rumors and gossip spread, and while some of your friends were happy for you, others were jealous and envious of your new relaxed and pampered position.

“Y/N was seen taking food to the King last night,” one of the girls gossiped as she scrubbed the clothes against the bronze washboard, her 50th clothing item that morning and she still had a pile to go.

“How come she gets to lie around in her bed all day and then get to spend time with the King? What about us?” another asked, dropping a bucket of hot water down beside the wash tubs and wiping her sweaty brow with the back of her hand before lifting it up again to dump the contents into the tub.

“She must be sitting in her room laughing at us as we’re stuck down here doing all the dirty work.”

“Yeah… I had to scrub sergeant Tanaka’s under garments. I swear that guy poops in his pants, there are brown stains all inside them.”

“Gross,” another snorted as she wrinkled her nose with distain.

“It’s not fair that the King only chose her, we need to ask her what she did so that we can also find favour with the King.”

“Maybe she has been telling him to not come back and pick us?” another said in a bitchy tone.

“No, she wouldn’t do that. Y/N is really nice,” another from the far corner added in, coming to your aid at the last second.

“You don’t know that. People change when they get put in a place of power,” the bitchy toned one replied.

“I’m going to ask Shimizu to bring Y/N back here so we can ‘talk’ to her,” another said as she hauled a sopping wet garnet out of the tub and hung it up to dry.

“Maybe if we rough her up a bit the King won’t like her anymore?” The bitchy one added snidely, “throw hot water on her pretty face. Then she won’t be so smug.”

“No! You can’t do that,” your friend called, standing up and glaring at the bitchy one.

“Oh, can’t I?” the woman replied with a smirk, “we’ll see…”

Unfortunately, the majority ruled and those who wanted the best for you were outspoken as the jealous ones banded together and approached Shimizu. 

With fake pleading faces, they hesitantly greeted the beautiful woman who was in charge of their health and well-being.

“Shimizu,” one of the better spoken ones said with eloquence in her voice, “our friend, Y/N, has been away from us for quite some time and we do so miss her,” she glanced at the other girls and they nodded with sorry looks on their faces, “would it be possible for Y/N to come and meet with us again? Even for a brief time. As we all grew up together back in our homeland of Nekoma and it would greatly boost our moral to see our dear friend again…”

Shimizu looked over the 8 woman who had sought her and she fell for the forlorn looks on their faces.

“Very well,” she said with a soft sigh, “I will enquire into Y/N’s schedule and ask if she would come to visit. If the King is in need of her then unfortunately you will not get to see her.”

“Oh, that’s is completely fine,” the well spoken woman said politely, “we understand and are pleased that Y/N has such a wonderful position now.” 

The bitch nearly choked on her own sweet words they felt so vile in her mouth.

“You are kind to your friend,” Shimizu said with a polite smile and nod, “do not fret. I will send a message to her now and will let you know her reply.”

The group of girls nodded and left quickly, waiting until they were away from Shimizu before revealing their true emotions.

“Ha! Dumb bitch. She didn’t even catch onto what we were doing. You did an amazing job!” one of the girls praised the well spoken one.

“Yeah, acting skills are palace jester level,” another said with a devious grin.

“Won’t be long now girls, Y/N may have been stunning but she’s dumb as hell… she will fall for our fake friendship spiel.” The orchestrator of this operation replied with a snarling smirk.

……………………………….

Hinata was called to Shimizu’s quarters to where he was handed a note written on parchment, and told to give it to Y/N, so off he trotted to run his errand.

It was early afternoon when the letter got to you and Hinata handed it over with a polite bow and then stood back and waited for your reply.

You read the message and softened when you remembered your friends still down in the lower chambers and decided that, yes, you did want to see them again.

“Do I have any commitments to the King today?” you asked Hinata as you placed the letter down on the dresser.

“Not that I am aware of. But he may want to see you tonight… as usual…” Hinata replied.

You nodded bashfully, then picked up your head covering and placed it on your head in preparation for visiting your friends.

“Lets go, Hinata,” you said sweetly, following him out of the room and down the hall then further to the back of the palace to where the maid’s chambers were.

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The King and I Chapter 16: A Fight >>>