Chapter 1
“You.”
The matron pointed casually at me. Everyone beside me breathed a sigh of relief.
“Pretty enough. We’ll take her to His Lordship first.”
She led me through winding corridors.
The servants we passed moved softly and went about their work with quiet precision.
The matron scolded me for looking around.
“A prince’s household isn’t like the world outside. Carelessness here can mean you won’t live to see tomorrow.”
I lowered my eyes and followed her in silence.
She was taking me to meet the prince’s heir.
Everyone in the capital knew he had acquired a treasured sword.
He adored it and brought it out to show off whenever the mood took him.
At a banquet, someone had suggested,
“A fine sword deserves a beauty. My lord, a beautiful woman’s embrace should be its sheath.”
At the time, living chairs and screens made of beautiful women were all the rage in the capital.
The suggestion was hardly out of place.
The heir picked a beauty at random and told her to hold the sword.
She held it in trembling hands.
He wasn’t satisfied.
He made her try several different poses.
Eventually, her arms began to ache.
The sword fell to the floor.
She dropped to her knees and begged for mercy.
Distraught over his sword, he had her dragged away to be dealt with.
After that night,
he searched far and wide, determined to find a woman whose beauty was worthy of his sword.
After much picking and choosing, he settled on me.
When the matron brought me into the courtyard,
the heir was polishing his sword.
Its blade gleamed coldly, flashing sharp light in the sun.
The matron knelt before him.
“My lord, this is your new sword-bearing maid. Does she please you?”
She turned and waved me forward.
I approached on bent knees, my eyes on the ground.
A sharp blade came beneath my chin.
The heir used his precious sword to lift my face.
“Passable looks. But I wonder whether my sword likes you.”
As he spoke, he let go of it.
If it struck the ground, I would meet the same fate as the beauty before me.
I caught the blade between two fingers.
My fingers slid down to the hilt.
I turned my hand, reversing the sword.
Then I laid it across both palms and respectfully offered it to him.
He smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. You’ll do.”
The matron quietly breathed out, too.
If he had been displeased again, they would have been held to account.
The heir was immensely pleased with his new sword-bearing maid.
He took me to the Yanle pleasure house.
Wine cups and drinking-game tallies circulated at the banquet.
The sons of noble families laughed and played.
I sat quietly to one side with the sword in my arms.
Beautiful women moved among the guests, pouring wine and bringing food.
Others sat in the center, playing the zither.
Someone noticed me and called out,
“You’ve found yourself a treasure, my lord. Why not let the rest of us have a look?”
The heir answered carelessly.
“Hardly a treasure. Barely pleasing to the eye.”
At his gesture, I carried the sword into their midst.
The beauty playing the zither withdrew with her instrument.
I stood there alone.
Eyes lowered, I held the sword with due reverence.
Someone sighed appreciatively.
“Such a lovely, demure girl. She holds a fine weapon with quiet grace. Even the sword loses its murderous air.”
Another flattered the heir.
“It only has that murderous air in His Lordship’s hands, of course. A beauty need only serve as its sheath.”
After lavishing praise on him, they turned to me.
“Why not have her perform a sword dance?”
I shook my head and answered softly.
“This servant cannot dance with a sword.”
The man on the heir’s left gave a lecherous grin.
“No matter. Take off your clothes and hold it for us to admire.”
I looked at the heir. He said nothing to stop him.
Slowly, I loosened my clothes.
When the men behind me saw my back, they sucked in their breath.
A skull was carved into it.
Someone swallowed.
“Why is your back so frightening?”
Intrigued, the heir told me to stand and turn around.
Now everyone could see the skull.
No one made another lewd joke.
These rich young men had spent their lives surrounded by beautiful women.
All they knew were girls with skin as smooth as jade.
They had never seen anything like this carved into a woman’s back.
They exchanged uneasy looks.
The heir suddenly clapped and laughed.
“Excellent! Just what I’d expect of the maid I chose. Truly one of a kind.”
He ordered me to dress and sit on my heels beside him.
But the man who had first told me to undress
still hadn’t given up.
His eyes roamed up and down my body.
I pretended not to notice.
Quietly, I memorized his face.