I spent the better part of the season enjoying the hospitality of the kingdom, locked in my rooms, but overall unworried. They were respectful enough to my family not to make my life a misery, and were instead set on ignoring me, a course of action I was far too comfortable with. The women who came to serve in my chambers required a gentler touch as they felt comfortable sending in their meaner and rougher individuals now, showing who had been loyal to my household as a whole.
One bright spot in all of this had been Yuki. Sweet, eager to please, struggling to get by in the palace as a maid's apprentice to an aunt poorer than a simple grain farmer, Yuki. She was always in my chambers these days, hiding out from the persecution she faced when she was with others of her caste, and gorging h
