Chapter 24
It was during the earliest dawn when Sakura was woken up by a flurry of servant girls, and she was scrubbed clean, trimmed and powdered for her visit. Although even they themselves doesn't seem to have an idea of what type of attire to dress her in because she technically is still in the status of a concubine. A common concubine. One that doesn't deserve to be seen with the Prince, and only slightly better than other common servant girls. She seem to have taken on most of the chores with the prince, however her position doesn't quite seem the same as other attending servants. It was in the air of how she's being treated by the housekeeper, by the elder maids, and by the Prince himself. The girls revered her, and it doesn't help that there was a rumor that someone tried to play a trick on Sakura a couple months ago was beaten and eventually killed. Or something of that nature.
However Sakura doesn't act smug. She acts the same and she treats everyone the same. She attends small gatherings with maids, and she talks to her friends and she even cooks sometimes for them, when the Prince is out and about and she has some free time. However she never got too close with anyone, and it's as if she treats the girls as her children rather than co-workers. This is probably true as we know, Sakura's mental age far exceeds her physical age. This advantage has probably saved her life and helped her adjust to this world on multiple occasions.
Sakura watched, while half asleep, two different maids hold each half of her hair and laced them with gel and wax to hold them in place of making an elaborate hairstyle that involves loops and different hair ornaments. then slathered on different types of conditioning oil, and painted her face with rouge and and darkened her eye with liner. She observed in fascination that even in this era, make-up is an art form and must be meticulously applied.
"Miss, your skin doesn't have any blemishes." A younger girl said while smiling.
Sakura smiled back at her and didn't respond. This isn't what she was used to look like. She used to be skinny, somewhat athletic, with elongated eyes, like a fox. In this life time, the girl she projected into have a slightly rounder and curvier body, large round eyes, and a soft and plump face. She looks-comfortable. She has a face that made other people smile when looking at her. When she speaks it's as if she's quietly advising purely for your consideration. It's a very lovely, wife-like, and well-behaved figure. She doesn't have high cheekbones, prominent features or even particular beauty. She's the type of girl who can't be picked out from a crowd of masses. Which is why it's such a wonder why the Royal Prince has taken a liking to her, instead of other girls who are beautiful in a traditional standard of glamour.
Sakura doesn't know either. It's not that she haven't thought about it. It's just that she assumed maybe the Prince has always been with extremely beautiful girls and now he's in the mood for something else. Something more ordinary and bland, like a change in flavor. She also knows, from past experience, when someone who way exceed your expectation and level of compatibility with you, it's probably not going to last, or from an angle of manipulation. Any girl would swoon and be way over their heads when a handsome young millionaire who drives a Ferrari waits by your door to take you on a date. It's in their nature. Those girls who are well adjusted and emotionally healthy during their childhood probably won't loose themselves that fast, but girls who had a childhood that was accompanied by strict teachings, stripped away of unconditional love and filled with anxiety would probably fall head over heels.
Sakura was one of the latter. She didn't exactly have an abusive childhood. It was normal. Normalcy does not mean good. her childhood consist of strict parents who give love when she succeeded and took it away when she failed. They did not encourage failure and second attempts. This caused Sakura to grow up in the same common and shallow state of mind as every other girl, chasing celebrities and wanting excess. At the same time she lived in a normal city, not one of those metropolises where money is made of. So she didn't encounter a gross misappropriation of love or mistrust. She simply... grew up. She has been through relationships, read books, traveled, and volunteers, and lost loved ones. She saw life as it is and asked herself if that's all there is, and apparently, it wasn't.
Even though she has seen excess on TV, she has never seen it on a national scale. She has seen buildings made by machines, but never ones that are made completely by hand and in such good preserved condition. She went to museums and saw these things after hundreds of years, never in their prime. When being shown through all its glory, she's mystified, and she is in awe of human intellect, capability, and developed this great respect for mankind in general. Sasuke observes her in amusement, assuming she haven't seen these things before and she's amazed with all the wealth. But every one of her emotions are brand new, without greed, and filled with reverence. He enjoys that. He enjoys her attitudes that approaches the world without fear or attempts of manipulation, rather a calm admiration. He has seen too many greed in too many people's eyes. It's disheartening.
When they exit the carriage, Sakura was extra careful not to trip over her robe, and Sasuke, adorned in embroidered silk robes and jade, walked on. She followed closely after. She looked at the palace, and was dumbfounded by its sheer size.
The front courtyard must've been able to fit four football fields side by side. the walls are so far from one another she suspect it would take her 10 full minutes to walk from one end to another. Even though, they're painted with the most intense red it's frightening, and not a single spot was withered away from erosion, it looks brand new.
Then they approach this huge gate embellished with golden knobs in a row all over the door, and huge statues of dragons on both sides, and a flight of stone marbles.
Sasuke already reached the bottom of the stairs, he turned around to wait for her as she quickly jogged a few steps to catch up. She's wearing ancient heels and they're not that comfortable.
She was still admiring the dragons adorned with red ruby as eyes when the gate opened by four guards on each side, and they pushed the heavy doors with all their might to open them. She has never seen a gate so humongous in real life, and her eyes widened as she stepped up to the top of the stairs and cross the threshold to another courtyard
There must've been close to a thousand people, kneeling and still down on the ground lying all in nice little rows . They were all wearing formal palace clothing, and buried their head down with their forehead on the ground. They left the middle row empty for Sasuke, Sakura, and the crowd that was following them to walk in, and they walked past each person, until they reached a set of marble stairs consisting 6 flights of stairs and 27 steps to each one. It goes all the way to the very top, where a huge building structure sits, with elaborate roof carvings, large golden pillars, and intricate door frame and windows. In front of the structure, stood a few figures in front which Sakura can't makeout their features because they're too far away, but she knew it was the Emperor and his mother. There's a crow of servants standing behind the Emperor diligently in succinct lines and places, and each mistep meant death.
Despite the crowds, everything is dead silent as they climbed the stairs.
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A/N: I'll update more, this time I promise. This story isn't difficult to write. I've also updated Apathy recently, you guys are welcomed to check that out. A reviewer was right. I was getting tired of writing Apathy, which is why it spanned 5 years. But I am determined to finish it, and hopefully finish this one. At the rate this is going, and the way I'm planning, I think this story will actually be longer in length than Apathy.
Love all around to my reviewers and followers. I love you guys so much.
