Bad Beginnings

Her head spun.

Empress.

Eunuch.

Nanny.

Palace.

Bit by bit, the puzzle pieces fit together. If her measly understanding of history did not fail her now, her new life was already in grave danger, mere moments after it just began. And as much as she had no liking for her new body, she did not intend to immediately lose her head.

Sneaking a look at the little eunuch who had tried to warn her, she mimicked his position on the ground, pressing her forehead to the stone as she tried to ignore the pain rippling through her arms.

"Oh, Nanny Rong, how many years have you been in the palace now?" The Empress casually asked, settling down into a portable golden throne that the servants set up in the middle of the garden.

Code X had no idea how to answer, and she eyed the shivering eunuch in hopes that he could help. But his eyes were shut from fear.

"You just turned 74 this year, correct?" There was a slight pause. "And that makes you the most senior of all palace workers."

74 years old. Those words struck Code X like a bolt of lightning. She was 74 years old. Even if this Empress did not deal out punishment for improper behavior, she didn't know how many more sunrises she would be able to enjoy before failing the bargain with Death.

"Why do you keep glancing around? After all these years, have you forgotten your manners?" Despite how the Empress's words were calm and without any emotion, they were laced with the sharpest invisible daggers. "Did you turn mute?"

"No Ma'am." This seemed to be a polite enough response, and if she kept silent for any longer, she might not have a chance to speak at all.

"Ma'am?"

Code X cursed herself, thinking that she should have just held her tongue after all.

Just as she planned for her next step, the eunuch unexpectedly spoke out while repeatedly hitting his head against the floor. "Empress, Your Humble Servant assures that Nanny Rong is not purposely offending Your Highness in any way."

He temporarily paused, tugging on Code X's sleeves and motioning for her to join his actions. On his forehead, already, a red mark was forming as the hard rock path scraped against his skin.

"As Your Highness can see, Nanny Rong has not been completely in the right mind for the past year, and Your Humble Servant would say that it's utterly due to her old age. Please, if your Highness will, excuse Nanny Rong from the palace and send her off to retirement."

Confused as to why the obviously fearful eunuch was helping save her life, Code X could only hope that it was not because he accidentally hit his head too hard. The gestures of kindness made her uneasy, and she tried to think of every alternative reason for the eunuch's actions.

Did he not want her to be a hinderance to him? Did he want to appeal to the Empress by acting as a loyal friend? No matter what, it was difficult for Code X to believe that people would risk their lives for someone else, especially if that person was herself.

The Empress let out a low chuckle. "Oh no, I have different plans for Nanny Rong's… exquisite talents." She motioned for another palace maid to pull up a shorter chair made of braided tendrils. "How rude of me. With Nanny Rong's old age, how can I make her stay low on the ground for so long?"

Already, Code X's legs were numbing from kneeling too long, and the pain in her arms have long dulled to the point where she could no longer move her arm.

The Empress pointed to the chair, and then tilted her chin towards Code X. "Sit."

Struggling to stand up, Code X felt like there were a thousand mini needles pressed into her calves that tingled with her every movement. And whenever she tried to apply pressure onto her arms to push herself upward, the sharp pang of pain stabbed into her.

"What are you waiting for? Go help." The Empress chided the little eunuch, and he immediately scrambled from the floor to Code X. Offering both arms to Code X, he nodded for her to get up. He tried to pull Code X from the floor, but despite how Code X was a sack of bones, his little weak arms didn't have the strength.

The Empress was watching, waiting for her to make another wrong move, and Code X could feel the woman's piercing vision. Gritting her teeth, she tried to stand up once more, her joints squeaking as she pushed herself off the ground, and the eunuch helped her steady herself before he retreated to the shadows.

Finally settling into the tendril chair, Code X was sure that half of her soul had just flown away from the effort. But the Empress barely gave her a moment to breath.

"So, what is the a hundred and tenth rule of the palace?" The empress tapped her nails on the armrest. "I'm sure that an old nanny like you would have memorized the palace rules by heart."

There was no response. The Empress looked on expectedly, making no intention to move on with her inquisition if this question went unanswered.

"Uh… I… Your Humble Servant believes that the rule is…" Her voice faded off as she feigned a small cough.

The Empress was no fool. She knew what that response meant. Code X also knew what her own response would mean.

"Well, are you literate?" The empress signaled for a maid to hold up a scroll of words.

Truthfully, Code X answered that she was not. To her, at most, the words from this world looked like boxes upon boxes crossed together with circles and straight lines. Something told her that she was not going to make the cut with the Empress.

"Do you have any additional talents?"

Other than killing people, Code X couldn't think of anything else she excelled in. Taking in a deep breath and fidgeting in her chair, she admitted that she had nothing to share with the Empress.

"So you are old, senile, and handicapped." The Empress was smiling, all a bit too brightly, so brightly that it seemed to almost sizzle Code X. "And what's more, you've spent decades in the palace, but you can't remember the most basic of palace rules nor have additional talents."

Code X could feel the invisible sword hovering above her head, the thread so thin that it was finer than silk.

"Perfect. Perfect. Perfect." With each repetition of the word, the Empress slowly clapped her hands together.

Code X gulped. So this was the end of the end. She closed her eyes.

"As the most talented and experienced servant of the palace, I find you to be the most qualified to become the Crown Prince's personal nanny. I would not trust anyone else with his life."