“Tia, are you the emperor’s concubine?”
What happened to her today? Aristia was annoyed when Jieun, with tears welled in her eyes, abruptly came to her and asked if she was the emperor’s concubine. Aristia was dumbfounded to hear that.
It’s already been four months since Jieun suddenly appeared. For more than two months she often visited Aristia without any notice and disrupted her work. Despite that, she was now asking Aristia who she was. Does that make any sense?
“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
“Then, you are really Ruve's concubine?”
Concubine. Even though a concubine is not the emperor’s official wife, there is a hierarchy in concubines. In the empire, there is only one empress and only one royal concubine.
Accordingly, the empress is called the emperor’s official wife, while the emperor’s unofficial wife is called a royal concubine.
The royal concubine manages all the palace women and in times of emergency she acts on behalf of the empress. The meaning of the title ‘royal concubine’ was changed since the 11th emperor’s reign as it was given to the woman that the emperor favored most.
So, there were few royal concubines who played their roles properly in the history of the empire.
“Yes, I am the emperor’s royal concubine, Your Highness.”
Nearly half a year after Jieun became the empress, she still does not know the difference.
She probably doesn’t understand why Aristia was correcting the name of my title. Unlike the previous empresses, she is not yet familiar with her work and role as the empress, so Aristia had been subbing for her. Despite that, Jieun doesn’t realize what a big insult it is to call Aristia one of the usual concubines.
It was a big insult to Aristia really.
“By the way… ”
‘What are you trying to say this time? What the hell are you gonna tell me? ‘
Due to severe hypotension, Aristia didn’t feel well in the morning. Strangely enough, today she felt so dizzy, and had a headache. But even though she had a headache there was so much work to do, from the numerous documents meant for the Empress, to the meetings she had to attend with Ministers.
Was it because of that? She was growing more and more annoyed when Jieun visited her abruptly and hesitated to say something.
Given that nobles usually have social gatherings until late at night, it is the standard manners for them to avoid visiting somebody in the morning. Jieun has been learning royal manners for almost half a year, but she still doesn’t know basic manners. Aristia really wondered what her etiquette coach is teaching her.
“Uh… let me come back later. Sorry.”
'Asking me whether I was a royal concubine. Why are you doing it again today?' Aristia thought.
Aristia was boiling with rage when she saw her Jieun after she visited her abruptly with a haggard look, as if something happened last night. She felt like shouting at her, but she didn’t.
Aristia thought to herself, ‘Why are you so sorry to me? Because I have to take care of all the messy work you’ve haven’t done? Because you have left all the palace work to me? Or because of your poor manners that you can’t improve at all? Can’t you stop now? If you’re not here to test my patience, please stop it.’
Finally Jieun spoke up, still with her occasional pauses. “What I mean is… ”
“… ”
“I heard you were originally designated as the empress. I heard that you were Ruve's fiancée since you were born.”
‘Ah, you only heard it now? How come you heard it only now, when it was already half a year since you became the empress?’
“Sorry. I’m really sorry.”
“… ”
“What I really mean is…”
“Oh, you don’t have to apologize, Your Highness.” Aristia said, trying to stop her from speaking further. "You're the Empress. You don't apologize to a mere concubine"
“What are you talking about?” Jieun's eyes widened in disbelief. She didn't expect Aristia to be so curt.
"I'm saying your lowering yourself below your status quo. You've always wanted to be the Empress, right? I am expect you to at least behave properly" Aristia said strictly.
“Empress? Oh my god! I didn’t want to be this kind of empress at all! One day, when I was on my way back home, I just picked up a coin. After that, I was thrown into this empire. Everybody around me, dressed in strange clothes, looked at me weirdly. They were speaking a language I’ve never heard. Somehow I could carry on conversation with them. They reminded me I was in a different world from where I used to live, and they even said I was a girl sent by God!”
After she spat out some words that Aristia could not understand at all, she gasped for breath.
“All of a sudden, a guy named the emperor appeared before me and asked me to be the empress. I’m only nineteen years old by Korean age, so I’m not an adult yet, but I was forced to get married to him!”
***
At that time she was not able to completely understand Jieun's emotions, but now she did.
Imagine if you're thrown into an unknown world. You're forced into an unknown position without your family and friends.
"Jieun!" Jisoo called Aristia, making her snap out of her thoughts. "Look at this new manwha I read. Which of the male leads is cuter?" Jisoo waved her phone in front of her face.
Aristia smiled at Jisoo and pushed the phone away from her face. Her focus was on her homework. She didn't have enough time to entertain Jisoo's talk about manwha's.
"Come on! Just look at them for a minute. I promise not to start ranting about the characters I hate" Jisoo said.
Aristia relented and took the phone to look at the male leads which Jisoo wanted her to see. Upon seeing them, she became shocked.
Jisoo said by her side. "I really like this manwha because one of the characters looks like you and is even your namesake!"
Aristia's eyes widened as she continued to stare at the picture. "What's the n-name of the manwha?" She asked, as she struggled to take her eyes of from the image of a man with green hair and the other one with red hair, on the phone.
Jisoo looked at her, a bit confused about her dramatic reaction. "Wow, you've never been interested in manwha" She took her phone away from Aristia then went to the homepage of the website.
After getting to the homepage she handed the phone back to Aristia and said. "This manwha is titled 'The Abandoned Empress"
YOU ARE READING
To You Who Was Abandoned
FantasyA 1st life of being abandoned and sad. A 2nd of her joy and happiness as Empress. A 3rd were she had reincarnated as Jieun. And now Aristia lives her 4th life with one mission; Saving all those who had been abandoned in the story. Including herself...
