-1It had been going on too long. Her Majesty, Kyou-Ou, never heeded my advice and was cruel to her servants. Moreover, she had no respect for me as a Kirin! She would verbally abuse me and out rightly insult all Kirin, as well as make me do menial, pointless tasks simply to show her superiority. I was worried for the kingdom of Kyou to have such a brat of a queen (though it was my fault for choosing her in the first place. Could I help it that she had the Ouki?).
I decided it was time to file a complaint to Mt. Hou. It read:
To whom it may concern,
I am very worried about Kyou-Ou. She does know accept any of my advice, and gives me no respect. In fact, may I file for Kirin abuse? We are holy creatures, but we are also delicate. She repeatedly calls me stupid and mocks my judgment, and speaks ill of all Kirin. She also does not give me tasks worthy of a Kirin. Just today, she purposefully kicked off her slipper and told me to fetch it like a dog!
I worry that if she continues to treat me like this, the Gods may be displeased with her treatment of a holy creature, and that she may lead the kingdom into ruin.
Save the Kirin,
Kyouki
I received a reply shortly. It read:
Dear Kyouki,
You seem to be in good health, so we are not worried. Kyou-Ou is ruling the way that she sees best, which requires reaffirming her superiority frequently in order to be taken seriously. It is an effective way to hold the Queen's God-given dignity as a ruler. You also should not forget that she is of higher status than you, or any Kirin.
Please stop complaining and deal with it.
Sincerely,
The Nyosen
I wanted to cry. Even the Nyosen who raised me weren't going to give me any respect. However, I did my best to heed their advice, and continue supporting Her Majesty. The her verbal treatment and menial requests were still unbearable! After the Hou princess ran away, though, I could not be patient any longer and sent another complaint to Mt. Hou. This one read:
To my beloved, beautiful Nyosen,
Kyou-Ou's behavior has me far more concerned now. Today, she went so far as to strike me! Being her Kirin, I cannot and would not strike her back, so I am defenseless. What if she were to strike me hard enough to draw blood someday? I would not in a good state to protect her if that happened.
Please, wise Nyosen, find a way to reprimand Kyou-Ou on her treatment of Kirin.
Your old Lord of Mt. Hou,
Kyouki
I was eager to open their next response. It read:
Dear Kyouki,
We sympathize with your situation, but there's nothing we can or would do. Even if your situation were to become as serious as you fear it might, the Gods would do nothing to punish Kyou-Ou. Not only is she successfully running the Kingdom of Kyou at your expense, but she is doing it wisely. You may not notice, but she does treat her deserving subjects tenderly. She rules in a way that is fair, and she makes her judgments and assigns punishments consistently. Her most important focus is to be a sound ruler, not to care for her Kirin.
But if you want the truth, it's because she is too cute. The Gods can't stand to say no to her. In fact, that's why they choose her in the first place. They didn't even know if she'd make a good ruler.
Please look on the bright side, Kyouki. Because that's how you're going to be stuck for a long time.
Sincerely,
The Nyosen.
P.S.: Flattery will get you no where. Save it.
I was livid. Kirin were only supposed to suffer if the reign of their king or queen was about to end, not through the entire reign itself! And did they mean to say that I should continue bending to Her Majesty's every whim not because she was my queen… but because she was cute?
I threw the letter away and stormed angrily through the palace halls. I accidentally passed by Her Majesty who said, "Kyouki."
I froze in my footsteps and didn't look back. "Yes, Your Majesty?"
She pointed to her feet. "Come here."
Reluctantly, I did so and bowed before her. I could hear her smirk without having to face her. "You seem irritated by something, Kyouki," she said in her usual happy tone. That tone either meant that she was amused, that she was worried, that she was thinking, or that she was angry.
I feared it was the last one and flinched. "I am." Great! Now I would have to explain myself. I was setting myself up for even more abuse. I waited nervously for her to respond.
She paused, then told me to stand. I did so, and she motioned for me to kneel down to her height. It was coming. She was going to strike me again! Tensing up all over, I clenched my eyes shut and waited for her hand to hit my face.
It did… but gently. I opened my eyes again and looked back at her. Her face was close to mine, and she had a soft expression as she ordered, "Hurry up and get over it."
Her Majesty then left with a smile on her face, and giggled to herself about my expression or something of the like. I was stunned, not only by her unusually gentle order, but by the face she used to give her. It was a sweet yet regal, caring yet wise. Her Majesty was certainly a sincere person with unworldly beauty.
The Nyosen were right. She was too cute for Gods to be angered by. I couldn't stand to stay mad myself.
Once again, as her Kirin, I couldn't help but obey her order.
