The Empress Wears Gucci

27

        "Lady Ying Yue," Guan Shu kneeled to bow, followed by the other three maids. She was delighted and brightly beamed upon walking into my chamber. "His Majesty requests for your company in an hour."

         Hua Er and I both looked at each other with widened eyes. I blinked rapidly. "H-His Majesty?" 

        "Today is your lucky day!" my youngest maid gave me a big smile. She threw her arms up in cheers.

        "We must hurry and give you a flower bath," another maid—who barely ever talks and only obeys my commands or compliments me—said with an exciting tone in her voice. She was grinning from ear to ear. "We've prepared the bath already!" 

        I immediately sprang up to follow my four maids. Hua Er quickly gives me one last gleeful look before shutting the screen from my chamber behind me. 

         After a short walk, I stepped inside the bathhouse. There was only one bathtub... a really large one, may I add. It was almost like a pool. All women in the harem had to bathe together. I usually bathed with Su Yin. Baths were quite luxurious and expensive, so we never actually bathed daily. It's disgusting but I was used to it, though, it didn't take long to not feel dirty every time I didn't clean myself. Once I was promoted to 'Noble Consort', I've been getting more baths. 

        I dipped my foot slowly into the water. I then took my time to submerge my entire body in the water. The tolerable hot water comforted me. My heartbeat slowly stabilized. I leaned my head against the side of the 'pool' and closed my eyes, feeling my skin absorb every heat of the water that surrounded me. The soothing aroma of rose petals and another scent of flowers that was unknown to me soon filled my nostrils. This was bliss. I felt feminine, safe, and beautiful in the middle of this large capacity of water. I fiddled with a floating purple petal rubbing against my thigh. 

        "We added rose petals and lilac flowers to this bath, Lady Ying Yue," the younger maid moved closer towards me. She thrust a basket of green medium-sized green leaves towards me. "These are willow leaves, milady. We haven't added them yet."

        I waved my arm to separate the petals floating in the water and watched the small ripples of the gesture. There were so many petals, I wonder if adding so much was necessary. "Is it really necessary? I don't think I'm going to be sleeping with the Emperor." What I said caused an immediate shock to my maids. A unison of gasps came out of the maids' lips while I aimlessly stared into the basket. They looked at me like I told them that I was from the future. They looked at me like I ripped off my skin and revealed myself as a reptilian. They looked at me like—well, anyone can get the memo. 

        "This is such a rare opportunity! The Emperor hasn't laid with anyone for the past two weeks," Guan Shu nagged but paused when she had a sudden realization. She kneeled and bowed. "Milady, please forgive me for being discourteous." 

        "Get up," I motioned Guan Shu to rise. The maids began to throw the willow leaves into the bathwater. As my body slightly lowered into the water, the sound of water moving as my legs kicked the leaves was heard. I stared at the leaves floating on the water. "I'm just... not ready."

        The quiet maid cleared her throat and hesitantly took a few steps back. "Lady Ying Yue, you're here to serve His Majesty."

        "I know, and I will eventually," I retorted, propping myself up. I took a deep breath before I sank down until the water reached my neck. "Right now, I would just like to spend time with him. Is there anything wrong with that?"

        "No, milady. Pardon my rudeness," the maid said as all four of them stepped away from me. 

         "You may all leave now." I calmly said, while scrubbing my skin.