Chapter 16 - Interested.

After Rei had her dinner, Ben came to her room as usual for a daily body check-up. Since their misunderstanding had been cleared, Rei did not reject him this time.

"The bruise around your neck had totally gone, fortunately, it did not leave any scar or mark, if not, we will need to proceed to a much more complicated treatment," said Ben as he briefly checked Rei's neck without having any direct skin contact with her.

Rei nodded without saying anything, but her curious eyes that keep peeping at Ben successfully caught the doctor's attention.

"If you have anything to tell or ask, you can just say it out, I don't mind having a little chat after work," said Ben in his usual serious tone.

"Uhm… Jade told me that His Majesty does not have a queen yet and His Majesty told me that he has no intention to build up his harem for now... I am just wondering if he had any concubine and consort before. Or maybe a harem?" Rei asked, she sounds a bit awkward.

"Not really. But right now we do have something that is similar to the harem system in Qin Empire," said Ben, who does not seem to have any issue with that question.

"Ah… I see… Uhm… Dr Ben, do you know Jade well? His Majesty seems to be trusting her a lot, is she anyone special to His Majesty?" Rei asked again.

"Well… Yeah, I certainly know her well, and no, she has no special relationship with the King, she is just like everyone else, but she is a capable person and had been working with us for quite a long time. And for the trust issue… Actually, it's not just Chri… His Majesty, Jade is well trusted by almost everyone in the castle, she is the last person you need to worry about the possibility of betrayal, as for the reason… Well, I am not a person that is fond of opening someone else's scar, but you should be able to find out by yourself when you are close enough with her." said Ben, who sounds troubled when talking about Jade.

Once again, Rei nodded without saying anything.

"Anything else you want to ask?" said Ben as he stared at Rei.

"Mmm… One last question. Is it… Is it your own intention or the King's command that you came here every night to do body checks for me?" Rei asked, she sounds slightly demanding to know the answer.

"That's an interesting question. But does that even matter?" said Ben with a rare smile without giving a direct answer…

***

That night, Rei was sitting on her own bed, reading some books, while An Er was helping her to tidy up her long silky hair into a hairstyle that is suitable for sleeping.

"My Lady, I wondered how you feel about Dr Ben?" An Er asked, out of the blue.

"Well, he is a good man who is very responsible towards his own job. But why are you asking about him all of a sudden?" said Rei, a bit curious.

"My Lady, forgive me for my rudeness, but don't you think that he is actually interested in you?" An Er asked, in a slightly teasing tone.

"Heh?... An Er! What are you talking about? Stop saying such nonsense. Dr Ben is not just any random person you can joke about." Rei exclaimed, a bit mad and awkward.

"Aww… My Lady, don't be shy. All of us had noticed how he treated you differently compared with other people in the palace." said An Er.

"Mmm… Mr Satoshi said that he usually only does daily body check-ups for the King since he is supposed to be His Majesty's personal doctor," said Xi Er.

"Xi Er, not you too? Hmph! I am not going to listen to your nonsense anymore." said Rei, who slightly blushed and covered her own ears with both of her hands.

"Haha… My bad, My Lady, we were just joking." said An Er as she gently moved Rei's hands away from her ears, she seems to be having fun teasing her lady.

"But the jokes aside, I think there is an important thing I need to discuss with you, My Lady." said An Er as she retracted her playful tone and returned to her usual serious self.

"What is it? You sound serious and concerned." Rei asked.

"It is about the new head court lady assigned by the King. My instinct told me that she is not an ordinary person. I am kind of feeling suspicious about her, I was thinking that could she be a spy sent by the King to monitor our movement?" said An Er, in a near whispering voice.

"Well, I don't really agree with that opinion of yours. I might know nothing about that court lady, but I know that His Majesty has no reason to do so," said Rei, who sounds rather defensive of the King.

"First of all, he is not a wicked person that will use such a move to monitor a person's movement. Furthermore, he doesn't even need a spy to monitor our movement. Or rather, it's more like he is capable of monitoring everyone's movement without even needing a spy." said Rei.

"My Lady, what do you mean by that?" An Er asked, she was slightly confused by that reaction from Rei.

"An Er. Through my observation these few days, he is a very capable person with really high efficiency in handling matters. I have a feeling that he might be ten times more capable than any scholar in Qin Empire." said Rei in a slightly excited tone.

"Hmm… Is he really that good?" An Er asked, slightly teasing.

"Mhmm… I just realised that he knows everything about us. He had confessed to me that including that wolf's attack, he found out every little thing about us in such a short time frame, which is quite amazing." said Rei.

"Hehh~~? My Lady, are you actually interested in the King?" An Er asked again, and this time, the teasing feeling is very obvious.

"Ah… An Er!" Rei exclaimed as she threw a pillow towards An Er.

An Er perfectly caught the pillow and looked at Rei with a provoking smile before slowly raising the pillow in her hand…