Offending the Empress

Hearing those words, Code X instinctively recoiled. "You're speaking to me?" She pointed a shaky finger towards herself in disbelief as her voice came out as a hoarse croak.

The little man, a eunuch, looked to be on the verge of crying, his face reddening as he huffed, "Nanny Rong, now is not the time to lose your senses again. The Empress will be here any moment now!"

Code X stood there, her mind blank. It was almost as if the old age impaired her thoughts as well since the words took a moment longer to fully register in her head.

"The Empress is coming!" Seeing that Code X, or rather Nanny Rong, stood unfazed, the eunuch shrieked shrilly once more as he hurriedly patted the dirt off her patched robes. "We must get ready to greet her by the garden entrance!"

"Who?" She turned to the eunuch, but by the time she made the rotation, he was already in the distance.

"Oh, where is that cursed cane when you need it," he grumbled, scrambling around the garden and peeking into the bushes. Finally, he decided to look in the most obvious location — yes, the roughly carved wooden cane was lying right in the middle of the field of grass. Next to it was a thinly bound book of parchment, and he picked it up as well. "Oh, why is there litter on the ground now. The Empress will not be pleased!"

Shoving the wooden cane into Code X's hand, the eunuch motioned to tuck away the parchment. "What kind of junk is this?" he muttered.

Very vaguely, the parchment book looked familiar to Code X. Or at least, the style of the paper vaguely did.

"Wait, give me the paper!" she suddenly exclaimed, snatching the paper from the eunuch.

Surprised by the old lady's sudden outburst, he let go with wide eyes, thinking that she had finally truly lost her mind.

On the cover was a single marking, a giant red X. Something tingled her instincts, telling her that this document could explain a lot about her current predicament.

With the paper in her grasp, Code X had no time to care about the eunuch. She scanned her surroundings, seeing that the garden had a side gate along the stone walls.

"Now is not the time to look at that piece of trash!" He gestured towards the main garden entrance. "Let's go greet the Empress!"

In response, Code X tucked the parchment into her robes and hurried in the opposite direction, her wooden cane tapping to the pace of her steps. She needed a bit more time to familiarize herself before she could meet her target. It was always a horrible idea going into a mission blind, and she wanted all the details so that she could fully prepare herself. Especially, she had no idea what world she was in.

If she could escape from the side gate, she should be able to perfectly avoid the so-called Empress without being detected, she reasoned. But before she could take a few more brisk steps, a protruding brick caught the hem of her robes, and she stumbled backward.

"Nanny Rong!" the Eunuch squealed.

She wavered back and forth, trying to catch her balance. If before, she could easily catch herself. But now, she feared that there might be multiple broken bones if her body hit the stone from behind. With her current body, she was hardly even a match for a wooden stick.

With the thought of a wooden stick, her shriveled muscles sprang into action, the countless hours of training engrained into her mind kicking into gear as she used the wooden cane to swing her body slightly forward and to slow her descent. As long as she fell sideways into the tall grass, Code X knew that she could break part of the otherwise fatal fall.

Thump.

Her left arm hit the grass, and she felt every muscle in her arms scream with protest as the rest of her body stopped mere inches from the floor. She let out a sigh of relief. The worst that could happen was now a bruised arm.

Now, if she could only have a moment to plan out her next step in the escape plan…

"Empress!"

Hearing the familiar squeaking voice of the eunuch, she no longer bothered to hide her bubbling frustration, screeching and waving her cane around threateningly with her undamaged right arm. "I don't care! Who is this Empress?"

"Well, I am the Empress." A voice calmly declared. The exclamation was graceful, smooth but laced with a hint of power and control.

Code X barely flipped herself over in the direction of the voice, flinching from the pain.

There, next to the garden entrance, a woman stood poised among a crowd of servants and armed guards.

Donned in the brightest yellow silk and a matching golden hair set, everything about her seemed to radiate light under the noon sun.

"And you must be Nanny Rong. I see that your temper has grown with your age." The woman smiled brightly, but there was no amusement at all in her eyes. "Or perhaps, you have truly lost your senses."