Barefoot Princess

Chapter 2

A voice above Abby started questioning the guards. Abby was only able to catch a few phrases here and there but from what she was able to understand and piece together latter the conversation seemed to go like this.

"What on earth do you think you are doing to that Lady! How dare you handle a Lady of the Court thus" His Majesty barked, "Release her at once and explain yourselves!"

The man who appeared to be the lead of the military group bowed deeply to the King, "Chona, please, accept our explanation. We found her wandering in a restricted area. Her strange appearance, manner and even language is not quite correct. We were taking her to be investigated.

His Majesty the King peered at Abby, "Odd appearance did you say? Raise her up so I can look at her properly."

Abby was roughly jerked to her feet and found herself face to face with a handsome man in red robes embroidered with a five toed dragon. Oh, she thought, this must be the actor playing the King. As the gentleman met her gaze he his eyes widened in shock. He started to circle her, muttering under his breath as he did so. Abby wondered what on earth he was looking for. Surely she was not that ugly or funny looking.

"Who does she say she is?" The King questioned the head guard.

"All we managed to understand was that she was a guest and lost, Chona. She could be lying or a Spy.”

The King again appraised Abby’s appearance and almost smiled. “I doubt it. With that hair she would be noticed anywhere and be easily remembered. Not a very good choice for a Spy. Her clothes have the style and cut of high ranking nobility or a wealthy merchant family. How she came to be in the palace though we must ascertain. Release her, she is obviously terrified, I will question her myself.”

The Guards all murmured in protest. “Chona! You must not! Chona! It would not be proper!”

“I Will Do As I PLEASE! Now releaser her.”

The guards released Abby and she fell to the ground in. Her knees had just given out from all the shock and fright. The King thought she had fallen into a awkward bow and said to her kindly, “Rise, and fear not you are in no danger here. Please tell me who you are and what you are doing here?”

Abby felt the sinking of reality setting in on her. The smells, the clothing, the speech all of it pointed to the fact that she was no longer in Modern day Korea. That meant she was truly facing a reigning King of what appeared to be the Joseon era. Her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her body of fright. She knew the wrong words now could lead to her death. She had to thinking quickly on her feet and answer the King without revealing to much. She decided to give a random name that she had been given by a Korean name game generator as a joke. Glancing up shyly at His Majesty she replied, “The name I was given was Shin Bin Gi. Chona.”

His Majesty nodded but he did find it odd that she said given and not that it was her name. But he let it pass for now. “And why are you here?”

“I was brought here, Chona”

“Brought here? By who?”

Tears filled Abby’s eyes. How could she explain. If she really was in Joseon, everything depended on her next few words. Oh what to do. A sudden inspiration came to Abby. She recalled that during the Joseon Era that the kingdom did a lot of trade with China. It was called Ming or Qing depending on which part of China you were dealing with. She took her chances and said, “ I was captured by the people of the Ming and brought to the palace. I know not where the men are that accompanied me, Chona.”

The King squinted at her. Abby was not sure that he had understood her and all her rambling. She hoped that she had understood enough of what he had said to properly answer the question. As he peered at her, her necklace caught the sun and sent a beam of light directly into His Majesty’s eyes. He held up a hand until it passed and then looked at the necklace again. He pointed at it and said, “Is this the script where you come from?”

“Yea, Chona.”

“And what does it say?”

Abby fingered the necklace lovingly, smiled to herself and then spoke without thinking, “Princess.”

The King’s head snapped up, “Princess?!”

Oh crap, thought Abby, she really had messed up and put herself in a pickle. How could she have spoken so thoughtlessly. Abby could not think of the phrase for nickname in Korean, so she blurted out, “It was a title my mother called my by not long after my birth.”

The King nodded and seemed satisfied with her answer. Phew, thought Abby, she had sidetracked that issue but who knew what other issues might arise. The King motioned to one of his eunuchs, “Have her taken to Court Lady Jo and installed harem in the Court of King’s Women for now until we figure out what to do with her.”

Harem! Bloody Hell she hoped she had just translated that wrong. Otherwise this was getting serious. Hopefully it would only be temporary lodging until they sorted out where she belonged or she figured to what had happened and how to get back home to her own time.

As she the left the King was quite thoughtful. What an unusual creature. Why that child was almost as tall as himself. And he was considered to be almost a giant among men at 5’8”. Red hair the colour of fire and green eyes of the purest jade. She almost seemed to be and other worldly creature sent to torment him in his troubled reign.

As Abby was led through the palace compound she could hardly contain her wonder. The change from the palace she had seen just what seemed hours before and then now could hardly been explained. It almost smelled new. Abby laughed to herself. It’s smells new silly because compared to the present day palace it is. The eunuch lead her to a large compound in the palace with several buildings surrounding a beautiful compound. Abby remembered on the tour this was the home of the Concubines of the King. She was not happy. Why was she being brought here. Hopefully just to protect her maidenly virtue as no one would dare touch a woman that was under the King’s protection. As they reached the compound the eunuch had a whispered conversation with what looked like a Court Lady.

Court Lady Jo appraised Abby as His Majesty’s Eunuch had a whispered conversation with her.

“Lady Jo, His Majesty has commanded me to bring this young lady to you. He has expressed his wish that she should be housed in the Hall of Concubines until such time as they determine what to do with her and assertain the validity of her story.”

Lady Jo tried to contain her surprise at not only the unusual appearance of the girl but also the unusual circumstance but her voice did give away some of her mood, “Who does she claim to be? She is quite different looking.” She looked Abby up and down again and then repeated her question, “Who does she say she is?”

“From what we could understand she claims to be a Foreign Princess captured by the Ming’s and brought here as tribute.”

Lady Jo nodded, “Well that certainly explains the manner of her dress. She certainly has fine clothing and beautiful jewelry but nothing fits properly, her shoes are positively indecent and her hair is done up as if she were already a married woman.” Court Lady Jo sighed. She foresaw a lot of work ahead of her.

“Well,” the Eunuch said, “ It is the Ming’s dressing her, we are lucky she is somewhat properly attired. She also does not speak the language correctly or understand everything that is said to her. So speak slowly and be patient with her.”

Lady Jo nodded, “I understand. We will treat to her as an honoured guest until instructed otherwise.”

She then turned to Abby, “My name is Lady Jo,” she said with a bow, “please follow me, My Lady.” She then lead Abby into one of the buildings, down a few corridors. They past other brightly dressed women who stopped and stared at Abby in amazement. Their maids and eunuchs whispered in what seemed to be both horror and excitement to Abby. Lady Jo gave them one look of admonishment and they quieted immediately.

“Pay them no heed My Lady. Things will settle here soon. You are just new and different. Here is your room.”

She led Abby into a small but beautifully furnished room. Hand painted bureaus of what looked like the finest cherry wood were placed low along the wall. Beautiful scenery was painted on a modesty screen that sat behind ornate hand sewn cushions which were propped up for a seating area in front of a small table that looked to be used as a writing desk. The skill and time that it must have taken to create all of this took Abby’s breath away. Lady Jo bowed to Abby again and said, “this will be your room until His Majesty says otherwise. Your retinue will be outside your door should you require anything. I apologize for it being so small for a person of your position but we were not ready for you arrival. You will have one Eunuch and two maids with you at all times. Should you require anything else you may ask me.” She then bowed as she backed out of the room.

Abby’s eyes slowly filled with tears. How on earth was she ever going to figure out how she had got here or even get back to the building she had first arrived in if she was never to be left on her own? Utterly exhausted she collapsed onto the cushions and started to sob. She had never felt so alone and helpless. Her surroundings may not look like a prison but they sure felt like one at the moment. Abby continued to cry softly to herself until sleep overcame her, her head in her hands still sitting but dead to the world from her plight.