Once more you sat in your assigned seat, among the other concubines of the Emperor, with the Empress seated next to him on her throne. Fyodor-The general as the guard dog, stood menancingly tall next to the pair, features hard with his gaze icy cold.

You had just recently become a concubine–one of royal blood, gifted to the Emperor as a peace offering from your kingdom, your parents terrified of his military force, saw this as the only option to maintain some sort of agreement between you two countries. Because of your blue heritage you were treated better than the other concubines, most of them former servants or slaves.

However amid all the new customs you had to learn and adapt to the foreign tongue, you kept feeling a lingering gaze on you, burning into you from head to toe. Raising your head in search for that constant itch you felt from that penetrating stare, you were startled to meet the general's greys, staring at you with such harshness you shrunk into yourself, the whispers of the other concubines falling on deaf ears as your mind was captured by your arising confusion and uneasiness.