Longing After Wang Ye's Shadow

Chapter 1 - Drawing of Shadow

It was a breezy summer day. 

The sun was shining high above the clouds. I remember the pale wall with dark roof tiles enclosing from all sides. In front, there was a line of young girls dressed in plain robes. Although they were of low status like me, they made the effort to decorate their hair with simple pins and painted their faces with cheap stall powder and red lip stain.

I didn't care for it. For I knew where we were going, I didn't want to win any favors. I just wanted to live quietly and perhaps to then die without anyone noticing. 

We had just arrived at this certain Wang Ye's Manor. Enlisting our lives to serve Wang Ye forever. I'd never met him. All I knew was that his father was the late Emperor, and his mother was the Honorable Consort who passed away when he was young. His brother had taken over the throne.

He was 15 at the time. Only 3 years older than me, yet our lives were completely different. Or maybe not so different considering we were both orphans.

The older man leading us suddenly stopped walking. We all halt our steps as well, and turned to face him as he slowly made his way to the center of the line, eyeing us up and down.

"This is the young Wang Ye's home. You will not be disorderly nor will you disobey any order given to you. Is that clear?" His high tone was unexpected. I would have confused him for a eunuch with such a shrill voice.

"Yes." All of us answered in unison.

"I'm Head Servant Song... You should address me as such. You've all been sold to this household, so your livelihood will depend on how well you serve Wang Ye. You must never approach Wang Ye without being directed to do so. You must not touch Wang Ye. You must..."

We listened in silence as he continued to warn us of how to live in Wang Ye's home. Honestly, what was so hard about it? We were servants and had to slave away day and night for not only Wang Ye but anyone else above the food chain. I just wanted get his lecturing over with.

The man finally shut his mouth, only for a moment but that short moment was bliss. He turned to someone approaching and smiled. He lowered his face and bowed politely to a young boy dressed in navy blue silk. The boy's hair was neatly combed with a silver adornment circulating the bun at the top of his head.

The young boy's brownish gray eyes were unlively. His high cheek bones were sharp and highlighted his slim face. The tip of his nose poked out aligning the height of the bridge just perfectly.

"Wang Ye." The old man greeted.

"Wang Ye." The others followed the old man in bowing. I quickly lower my head along with them.

That old man had a lot of rules about Wang Ye. Never approach Wang Ye, never touch Wang Ye... but he didn't say anything about admiring Wang Ye with just our eyes.

"These are the new maids?" Wang Ye did not seemed amused. Just being 15, his voice had already matured into a soft and low tone as chilling as the icy winter wind.

"Yes, Wang Ye. I was about to appoint two to take care of your personal needs and assign the rest to general duties."

Wang Ye turned to look at us from the corner of his eyes. Way too intimidating to have his eyes look straight at us. I look to the ground, wondering what was going to happen next.

Wang Ye's light steps guided him down the line. Peeking up, I saw that he wasn't even looking at any of the new servants, just kept his eyes to the front.

When he reached the end of the line, I cowered and tried to make myself small. Staring at his black shoes, I noticed the light embroidered designs on the cloth.