10. The Mask

"Did you hear?"

"There's a rumor going around-"

"I heard through the grapevines-"

"Oh! How very humiliating!"

"You don't say! This really happened!?"

The Women's Pavilion was buzzing with the latest gossip from the wee hours of the morning, most likely spread from the maid's quarters. Before the sun had even completely risen, the whole Pavilion was aware of the rumors, and whispers accompanied every nook and cranny of the walls and the floors and the ceilings. So much, that when Empress Sera had been on one of her usual morning rounds at the Pavilion, she was greeted with the sight of all the maids and ladies in waiting alike huddled in groups of five to six, whispering and murmuring to themselves. Once their eyes would fall on her, they would scurry away, but the deed was already done. Empress Sera had already noticed the shift in the atmosphere.