Author Fangirling: Yes, I had lots and lots of fun with this story! It was a relief to have Houki grow up a bit in it, too.

"Lady Houki, dear!"

She had gone out her way to find me, had she? She probably wasn't going to just sit back and continue playing princess to me. "Yes, Lady Kourin?"

"Listen, I'm sorry about how I was acting last night," she clasped her hands and smiled brightly. "I want to apologize by giving you a little something."

"A something?" I raised an eyebrow. Out of her sleeve, she pulled out a delicate necklace with a dark green stone and offered it to me.

"I figure that if this yakouju looks so good on me, it'll look just as fine on you," she started fastening it behind my neck. "There, now doesn't that look lovely?"

"Lady Kourin," blushed I. "You shouldn't have!"

"Oh no, I do believe I should," she continued smiling. "Why, it looks even better on you than it ever did on me! Promise me you'll wear it all the time to show that you've forgiven me, alright?"

Something didn't seem quite right, but I couldn't guess what she was up to. "Very well, Lady Kourin. Thank you very much."

It certainly was a beautiful necklace. I had never seen her wear it, though, but I suppose she has plenty of expendable jewelry to choose from. I couldn't help but wonder what Tendou might have thought of me wearing such a flattering item. Lost in thoughts I thought I had chased away before, I never saw what Lady Kourin had in store for me later that day.

"My yakouju!" she shrieked, in the presence a few other harem members. "Lady Houki stole it from me!"

"What?" the others quickly turned their attention me and the necklace. "But Lady Kourin, that's a necklace. Aren't you missing your other earring?"

"Look," she grabbed the stone from my neck and compared it to one in her hand. "It's the same. This little thief put it in a necklace so no one would notice. Too bad for her I can always recognize my mother's jewels!"

"Lady Kourin!" I gasped. "You gave me this necklace this morning!"

"Are you going to be a liar now, too?" chimed in the other harem members. "Someone of such character should never have been allowed into the imperial harem!"

"What nerve!"

"She has no class."

I immediately unfastened the necklace and handed it back to the scheming leader. "Keep it, then, Lady Kourin. I don't need to show you any forgiveness."

Women's rumors could be brutal, but I wasn't going to let such petty things make me loose spirit. A woman who can help lead and support Konan doesn't bend to personal problems, and certainly does not take part in such rumors herself. Whether for the rest of the country or not, I respected myself too much to let it bother me. Soon, most of the harem avoided me and whispered to each other when I was around, but I kept my head held high and still treated the others respectfully. Lady Kourin started to seem more bothered by it than I was.

"Awfully good at keeping up that act of yours, aren't you?" she taunted me alone one afternoon. "As much as you may act invincible, you know how much being treated like this hurts."

"I don't have an act to keep up," I met her in the eyes. "I am not a woman defined by popularity. You are the one who seems to be working hard to keep up an act."

She pursed her lips. "What kind of act?"

I had thought of many facades she might have been putting up, but only one came to mind at that moment. "When you first saw me, it seemed as though you were looking at someone else. You didn't have that confident, cool demeanor at that moment. I think those were your true colors."

"So? Maybe you did look like someone else."

"Like someone else named Kourin?"

"Like someone else named Kourin, yes." She folded her arms and looked away with her nose in the air.

"That's very strange, isn't it?" I said. "Someone else who looked just like you and even had your name? Not even I'm that similar to you."

"I took her name," she replied matter-of-factly, "after she died."

I felt a knot in my stomach. Little did I expect one of Lady Kourin's secrets to be about a tragedy. The look she first gave me did seem like she had seen a ghost. To take this other woman's name, though, Lady Kourin must have been very close to her. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for her death, or sorry to pry?" she glanced back at me. "If it's the first, don't be sorry. It happened years ago. If it's the latter, then you should be. I didn't like you as soon as you spoke to me because you could see what I thinking. It's only natural to be nervous of people who can see through you."

"If that's it, then, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to threaten you," I felt somewhat relieved that she didn't see me as simple competition for the emperor's love. Unfortunately, she continued.

"I did find more things not to like about you, though. You act so hussy and think that you're better than everyone else here just because you've had a hard life. I have news for you, Lady Houki. Just because you're rich doesn't mean you avoid hardship! I and everyone one of these girls has had to suffer. The emperor is the same!"

She did have a small point. I was holding myself on a higher pedestal than the others. "I didn't come here to find a perfect emperor. I came to love and support him as a human being and as a leader to my country."

Lady Kourin gasped and clenched her fists in anger. "Just because the emperor has had to suffer doesn't mean he's not perfect!"

"…You think the emperor is perfect?"

"Haven't you seen him? He's graceful, wise, has a gentle voice, is kind to his subjects…"

Lady Kourin all along did come because she was in love with the emperor, not for the riches like I expected of her. I felt guilty to have misjudged her and her honest fondness for Emperor Saihitei. "Actually, Lady Kourin, I have never seen the emperor."

"You haven't?! That is an utter injustice! Once you see him, you'll understand what I'm talking about!"

"I relieved to hear that you love him so much. I have to apologize, then. I thought you were only here to be the empress, and not for such sincere things."

"You thought I was only here for that?" her mouth dropped open. "Is that how I came off? How? Ohhh, I hope His Majesty doesn't think I'm like that! If he does, then I… I…!!" in a girlish gasp, she hugged a decorative column and whined, "no, no, no, no, no, Your Majesty! I'm only here to be your wife!"

The column then shattered in her arms. I took a few very nervous steps away from her. Lady Kourin was silent as she held the rubble, her mood quickly changed as she turned around to face me. "Hey! That means you couldn't see completely through me! You were wrong! Ha!"

"…I apologized…"

"No need, no need!" she trotted to my side and held my hands in hers. "I don't like people who think they can know everything about a person. I like keeping my secrets, you know."

"I see," I nodded nervously. "You're a far different person from what I expected, Lady Kourin. You keep your secrets very well."

"Better than you would ever guess," she smiled widely. "You're not so bad after all, Lady Houki."