Maid Beneath the Skirt - Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Ten years passed, and the Eldest Princess no longer resembled the soft, sweet child she had been.

Hers was not an ordinary sort of beauty. It was in the slight lift at the corners of her eyes when she looked at you, in the faint curve of her red lips when she happened to glance up and meet your gaze while having her hair combed, in the languid grace of her body as she reclined on a chaise longue, crimson sleeves spilling down at her side.

The Eldest Princess’s voice was cool and brooked no argument. Unlike her beauty, which was seductive to the extreme, her voice was cold as a snowcapped mountain. Each note struck like a plucked string, each syllable falling clear as pearls.

The Eldest Princess had fewer and fewer moments of happiness, yet my own joy had not diminished from those early years.

Matron had clearly said that we would only be happy when our mistress was happy. Then why was I so happy simply being by her side?

I went to ask Zanghuo. She shot me a glance, her tone thick with jealousy. “Of course you’re happy. These days, the Eldest Princess gives every task to you. What is there left for the rest of us? So you came here to show off, did you?”

I said sheepishly, “Isn’t that because I’m so multi-talented that the Eldest Princess comes to me? Who told all of you to oversleep every day back when we had lessons? You can’t dance with a sword, and you can’t play a tune. What would the Eldest Princess need you for?”

Zanghuo clenched her fists and came to beat me, so I hurriedly fled. Before I left, I even tossed back, “Sister, go easy on the vinegar. The Eldest Princess doesn’t like strong smells.”

Of the five personal palace maids, I was the youngest. The eldest, Yuluo, was born in the Hour of the Ox; the second, Bingyi, in the Hour of the Tiger; the third, Huoren, and the fourth, Zanghuo, were both born in the Hour of the Rabbit. Only I was born in the Hour of the Dragon, making me the youngest among them.

Ten years had passed, and the Eldest Princess treated people with fairness and composure. Unlike other palace maids who schemed against one another, the bond we had formed growing up together made us like true sisters. Teasing one another was a common thing. It was just that every time my mouth got the better of me, I would call them “sister.”

Chapter 5

The Emperor arranged a Prince Consort for the Eldest Princess, and the Eldest Princess’s temper grew worse and worse.

Somehow, the Eldest Princess also found out about my habit of calling the others “sister.”

One morning, while she was bathing, she ordered everyone else out. I had just stepped one foot toward the door when the Eldest Princess called me back.

“Chenhu. Let down my hair.”

“Yes.”

I withdrew my foot and shut the door in front of the wide-eyed stares of the others outside.

The Eldest Princess’s long hair was black as ink. The moment I removed the hairpin, it scattered loose with the scent of agarwood.

“Chenhu, why have I never heard that you and Zanghuo’s group are sisters?”

My hand paused slightly as I combed her hair. “We merely grew up together, and Chenhu is a little younger, so I only call them that in jest.”

The Eldest Princess gave an “oh” and toyed with the pearl hairpin she had just taken off. “At what hour were you born?”

I hesitated. “Chenhu was born in the Hour of the Dragon.”

“Then call me sister too.”

My hands trembled in fright. Clutching the jade comb, I immediately dropped to my knees and bowed low to the floor. “This servant would not dare.”

“What? You can call them that, but not me?”

“The Eldest Princess is of noble status. How could you be compared to lowly people like us…”

With a sharp crack, the glass hairpin she had just removed shattered on the floor before my sweat-damp forehead.

“If I tell you to call me that, then call me that!”

My heart pounded wildly. I did not know whether it was from fear or something else. I gripped the jade comb so tightly my hand hurt. I licked my dry lips, and the instant I opened my mouth, blood rushed to my head. My heart felt as if it were about to fly out of my chest.

“Sis…ter.”

It was only two syllables, yet forcing them out felt harder than uttering ten thousand words. When the final sound fell, a tingling numbness ran down my back.

The Eldest Princess did not move for a long while. After some time, she merely gave a soft hmph. “Bathe me.”

With my head lowered, I walked to the edge of the bathing pool. The Eldest Princess stood behind the folding screen. Only when I was standing before her did she lift both arms. “What are you standing there for? Undress me!”

“Yes.”

My hands shook terribly. Before, I could have removed her garments in two motions, but now they seemed knotted together. The steam blurred my eyes, and my fingertips kept brushing by mistake against the Eldest Princess’s jade-like skin.

“Chenhu, are you now incapable of even undoing clothing properly?”

I had made the Eldest Princess angry!

I quickly pulled my hands back, my voice starting to stumble as well. “Chenhu will go and call Bingyi in.”

“Then Bingyi will switch with Yuluo, and Yuluo will switch with Zanghuo. With all of you switching back and forth, by the time the water is cold, am I still supposed to bathe or not?”

I had never seen the Eldest Princess lose her temper so badly. My heart twisted painfully, and without thinking, I knelt and bowed low to the ground.

The next instant, there came a ripping sound. Her peach-red dress fluttered to the floor. I lifted my head slightly, and what entered my sight was a stretch of delicate whiteness, smooth as silk.

“Help me over!”