The Imperial City

Enan came into the room as I drank my tea. My mind was still hazy after not getting enough sleep and having that awful nightmare.

"My lady, my friend who's a guard has agreed to accompany you today. He's ready for you and is waiting by the stables."

"Alright then,"I told him doing my best to give him a genuine smile. "Thank you again for helping me find someone to accompany me. "

"It's not a problem at all." He replied sincerely his face blushing from the complement.

I was going out into the city for the first time today. Well it was 'my' first time but Ayan had been there before. I knew what the city looked like but I couldn't wait to experience it for real. From her memories it seemed like such a vibrant, lively place. As a wife of the harem, even though I was the least favored, I had to be accompanied by a guard. As a result of Ayans' reputation amongst the servants I was worried about those who would attend to me. Luckily, Enan said he had a friend who was unproblematic who might be up for the job.

I was going to find a few decorations for my house to make it look more cozy and fun. I had finished the needlework tapestries I had been working on and put them up as decorations in the house. One was on the wall near the entrance and it showed the image of a sunflower. The other was in the sitting room I was currently seated in and had the image of birds in a nest. Honestly, Ayans' needle skills were insanely good. I was planning to find some tiny plant pots to put the flowers Enan and I had been growing and place them around the house. That and a few other nice things.

As Yema and Kaylee helped me with the final touches of my outfit before we would leave the house. I was dressed quite simply and casually, like a commoner woman. I didn't want to draw to much attention to myself by dressing in the fancy way Harem wives dressed.

"My lady shouldn't we go dress shopping instead, whats the point of buying decorations you need to look your best for the General?" Kaylee asked me.

"Kaylee I already have more than enough dresses. In fact, I have some I've never even worn."

Literally, Ayan had millions of dresses. She only ever used her allowance to beautify herself. There were all kinds of jewelry and makeup as well. She really didn't need anymore.

"Yes, but fashion trends change you need to keep up," Kaylee argued.

"Even if I wanted I wouldn't be able to get the fancy dresses. My allowance has been reduced remember?" I reminded her.

"Oh, yes," She said realizing.

Each wife was given an allowance every month which they could use to spend on whatever they wished. Each of the wives' allowances was the same however because Ayan was reduced to the least favored wife her allowance was significantly cut. Her allowance was now three times less than the other wives.

Whilst the other wives' allowances were the same regardless of how much you were favored by the general and so it appeared fair. If for example if you were more favored by the General you would get extra gifts and other perks from him when he spent time with you which added to the allowance.

"Then you can save up the money until you have enough." Kaylee continued. There really was no stopping this girl.

"In that case, I'll just save up what's left after we go shopping, It's not like decorations cost too much," I said in order to end the discussion. It was too early in the morning to get into it with Kaylee, especially when it came to my impressing the General.

We left my house and set out for the stables. As we crossed the courtyard many servants watched as I passed by, but they looked away after a bit. They weren't gawking at me as much anymore. Slowly but surely they were starting to lose interest in me. I was making great progress.

Once we reached the stables we were greeted by a man who smiled and waved at us as we approached. "My lady," he said politely with a bow. My name is Ezra and I will be the guard who will accompany you into the city today."

" A pleasure to meet you, Ezra. " I told him." I will be in your care then."

He was a burly man of middling height, with curly light brown hair and an adorable face. Which was funny as his body didn't seem to match his face. He seemed kind though.

He then greeted my servants Yema and Kaylee. He greeted Kaylee normally but then when he got to Yema, he suddenly turned red and his voice shook when he spoke to her. Yema was completely oblivious to this and greeted him normally.

Kaylee and I immediately made eye contact. Letting each other know we'd both noticed that. I was starting to understand why he may have offered to accompany me today. Ezra helped us up into the small carriage we would be using and before long we set out heading for the city.

The Imperial City was the capital city of the Empire. It was also the biggest city of the Empire. All the nobles including General Kang lived near the city but not directly in it as they required large amounts of land for their estates. That included the royal palace which was located atop a hill that overlooked the city.

It was a short ride to the city, I'd say it took less than half an hour to get there. Once we entered it I stuck out my head of the carriage taken aback by what I was seeing. I felt like a child at a carnival that was in awe of all the bright colors they were seeing.

"My lady your head is sticking out far too much you could be hit by carriages that are passing in the opposite direction," Kaylee warned me. It was incredible. The architecture of all the buildings was so beautiful and unique. Though I had already had a sense of it from the design of the estate building to see so many smaller buildings huddled together I couldn't explain it there was almost an aesthetic to it, a vintage one at that.

It was a city bustling with life, with people constantly moving up and about. Yelling and shouting all kinds of things. "10 Yirr to travel around the city !" Yelled a man holding a wooden stroller by the handles and which had a compartment at the back where I assumed the passengers would sit whilst he pushed them along. "Get your hot steaming buns for 4 Yirr!" Another woman with a stall yelled out from a shack near the road to give to people walking on the sidewalk of the main road. Other stalls were set up and each vendor yelled out what they were selling.

As we continued on into the city and I recognized different parts of the city from Ayan's memories. That was the business district I realized as we passed one section where all the big businesses did their work. The next section I recognized was where a lot of luxury goods were sold, like the fancy dresses Kaylee wanted me to buy. Many department stores were located there. It's from Ayan's memories that I saw she visited this place a lot. Another section I realized was the 'pleasure' section where a lot of prostitution businesses were located.

It was hard to believe this was what my country used to look like 500 hundred years ago. It reminded me of the busy city life I'd experienced in my time. They were somewhat similar, despite the difference in technological advancement.

We finally reached the open market area, our target destination. This was the largest market of the city where all the vendors came together. It was the easiest place to find decorations as there would be so many options to choose from from all the different vendors. Ezra took our carriage to a secure parking area where many people with carriages would leave them and they were guarded and protected for a small fee.

Ezra helped us out of the carriage and we headed for the market. We went through each stall they were all selling different things from food to home tools. Before long I began to find all kinds of eye-catching things that I thought would look great in my house and they didn't cost much.

I bought them all without hesitation and unfortunately, Ezra was the one having to carry them all. As we went from stall to stall I soon got carried away and kept on going on buying things. I lost track of my surroundings and time having entered a buying craze. I was suddenly surprised when Ezra spoke

"My lady, would you mind if I went to the carriage to leave some of the stuff behind before we go on?" Ezra then politely asked.

I turned around and was surprised to see Ezra struggling to carry all the things I had bought. Yema and Kaylee also had looks of concern as they tried to help him a little. My eyes widened as I realized what I'd done and was brought out of my buying craze.

"I'm so sorry I completely lost track of my surroundings." I apologized for making him suffer. "It's alright, we'll wait for you here. " I allowed him to go ahead.

I then glanced at Yema and an idea came to mind. "Take Yema with you she can help you carry the stuff to the carriage." He glanced at Yema and blushed.

"Yes, my lady." Yema simply agreed with her usual blank expression as she helped Ezra. Oblivious to the way Ezra was looking at her. I hoped that would help Ezra forgive me a little bit. He could get some alone time with her.

As the two of them left, Kaylee turned to me. "I see what you did my lady. You're very smart."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I told her with a playful smile, pretending not to know what she was talking about. Whilst I found it cute that Ezra had a crush on Yema I wondered if he would get far with the aloof and emotionless Yema. I was rooting for them though.

As we waited for the two to return I decided to focus on the stalls that were nearby by seeing what they have.

"You thief!" I then suddenly heard someone yell from one of the stalls nearby. "I saw you, you stole some apples from my stall. You think I didn't see you! "

I turned round to see a young boy being roughly held by the collar of his shirt by the owner of the stall. He was literally floating as the man was pulling him up. The boy writhed around as he tried to free himself.