Chapter 25: You've called me back

RINA'S POV

"My lady I would like us to make a deal." The servant, Teeka stated with a glimmer of excitement in her eyes. "One that will benefit us both in bringing down Lady Ayan."

I watched her quietly for a moment as I processed what she was telling me. Then I scoffed was this stupid servant looking down on me? Did I really look that pitiful? To the point of accepting the help of a mere servant?

" You seem to be mistaken, I am in no need of your help now leave my house before I punish you for overstepping your bounds," I firmly warned as my eyes gave her a nasty glare.

"I apologize my lady. It wasn't my intention to offend you." She said calmly and politely with a bow of her head. "I simply wanted to extend a helping hand.."

"And I'm telling you I have no interest." I brushed her off again.

"Of course my lady. I'll take my leave then." She quickly told me as she turned around and left the room.

I scoffed again as she left. Who did she think she was? What does she think she can offer me?

In the following days, the emperor finally returned from the palace and I was looking forward to making my attempt to grab his attention again. However, to my disappointment, he was too busy preparing for the emperor who was coming to visit. He didn't invite the Harem to dinner at that time, but he did invite Laika to the main house to see him at that time.

He also chose Laika and Samira to help him host the emperor. Once again he hadn't picked me. He never chose me to accompany him to events or to help him host a guest. In fact, when I thought about it, there was never a point in time when the General chose me to accompany him for something. The only time I accompanied him was when it was an event that the whole harem had to attend. Like a royal ball at the palace.

It wasn't until after the emperor had visited that the General called us to dine with him again.

I tried to make an opportunity for myself each night but it was no use General Kang didn't notice me at all. Did he hate me? Or perhaps he didn't see me at all. I had done nothing wrong so why did he treat me like this? It was hard to admit but at least he had reason for not liking Ayan. She did something that warranted the treatment she got.

But what did I do? The only thing I'd done so far was mess with the food Ayan received and he yelled at me for that. There were times when I thought of asking him about it then I would suddenly lose all the courage to approach him when I saw him.

To add salt to the injury he had also been inviting Ayan and though she didn't speak much, I would catch him glancing at her throughout the dinner. Why? What is it that she was doing that caught his interest like that?

He spent a night with Maris and Samira respectively, then Laika got two have 2 nights. He still didn't spend a night with me. It was beginning to get embarrassing because my house servants were starting to talk about it.

"Say, we haven't had to prepare the lady for a night with the general in a while."

"That's how the Lord has always been with her. He comes once in a blue moon."

"How sad."

I heard them talking amongst themselves in one of the rooms they were cleaning, unaware I was nearby. "I must not give you enough work if you have so much free time to talk nonsense." I said as I walked into the room to which they all turned around in surprise.

"My lady!" they all exclaimed as they quickly continued their work. Even my servants erre starting to look down on me.

But nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. The following night after he'd spent 2 consecutive nights with Laika he would be visiting Ayan's punishment home and having dinner with her there. In other words, the whole harem wouldn't be having dinner with the General. He was probably going to spend the night there as well. That was the last straw.

The General was never supposed to visit that punishment home. So I was losing to someone in a punishment home?

It was early in the morning and I was in a sour mood thrashing and throwing things around the room in frustration. I couldn't let this continue any longer Ayan was about to take back a position in this harem I thought she would never be able to take back. How was this possible when I couldn't even get the General to look at me?!

Suddenly a servant rushed into the room. "My lady, are you alright?" She asked concerned as she took a look around the messed-up room.

"Yes, I'm alright," I lied to her. "I just tripped on the table and everything toppled over."

She skeptically eyed the mess on the floor surely noticing that there was more than just what was on the table had fallen off.

"Sorry for the mess." I apologized knowing my servants were going to have to clean it up.

"Yes, ma'am" She responded as she proceeded to leave the room the concerned look still on her face.

What was I going to do? I was going to get left behind if I didn't hurry. 'I would like us to make a deal. One that will benefit us both in bringing Ayan down.' I remembered Teeka's words. Why was I thinking about Teeka? Don't tell me I was actually considering her offer. No. I quickly put the idea to the side.

However, as my day continued I randomly and unexpectedly found myself thinking of her. Was I that desperate or was my curiosity getting the better of me? Perhaps I had too much pride maybe I should have at least heard her out.

At the end of my servants' evening duties, I told one of them to call Teeka to come to me before she went to the servants' quarters for the night.

"I see you've reconsidered ma'am," Teeka said with a small smile as she entered my room.

"Shut your mouth!" I told her sensing she was gloating at the fact I'd called her back. Her eyes widened in surprise. "You said that you wanted to help me, what help could you possibly offer me?" I asked condescendingly.

"If you want to sabotage Ayan, you might have a difficult time carrying out the dirty work needed to be done. I was offering to do that considering a trustworthy servant to help you would be hard to find." She briefly explained. "Simply put I will be your eyes and ears my lady."

I contemplated it for a moment. She was right. As a servant, it would be slightly easier for her to get physically closer to Ayan in a way that wasn't suspicious. Not to mention she had worked for Ayan and so she knew more about her than I Did. I narrowed my gaze on her.

"Sit down" I motioned my hand for her to sit on the opposite end of the table.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you have a grudge against Ayan? What did she do to you?" I asked. I knew she was harassed by Ayan but I wanted details about what had happened.

"When I used to be her head maid the lady would often overwork me in her unreasonable demands to try to get the Lord's attention. It was to the point where I couldn't have any off days from work," She explained her eyes growing sad.

"My father who passed away recently had been sick for quite some time. I would go on my days off to visit and help my family take care of him. However, when I started spending more time attending to the lady I couldn't see him especially since his condition only got worse. He needed more attention but I couldn't be there for him... "

Her voice was colder and more emotional. " I will never forgive Lady Ayan for making me miss my last moments with my father. I will make her pay for what she put me through."

"I see." I slowly responded in understanding. A moment of silence then passed between us.

"Well then, why don't we start off by finding a way to ruin her dinner with the General tomorrow," I told her breaking off the silence.

"No, my lady. I don't think it would be a wise decision." She told me.

"Why not?"

"There's not enough time to plan for that, we can't act hastily and brashly or else our plans will easily be found out. Your plan to starve Ayan was quickly found out by the General and he reprimaded you showing Lady Ayan has the General's favor once again. I suggest we take our time and carefully devise a plan to ensure we really bring Ayan down." She advised. "

"Shut up!" I yelled at her angry that she'd mentioned my emabarrassing failure when I'd tried to starve Ayan. "And what do you suppose we do then?" I snapped at her. "The longer we wait, the closer Ayan and the Lord are going to get."

"But we could use that to our advantage my lady." She told me as my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"As Ayan is falling back in the General's favor there's a chance she might be moved back into her previous house. She'll need more servants again, so I plan to serve her once more. I can watch her from a close range and report my findings back to you."

Right. She said she will be my eyes and ears I recalled. "You're right we need to keep an eye on this seemingly new "changed" Ayan. But that's only if she does change houses."

"The Lord has already lifted many of the lady's punishments. It's only a matter of time before he lifts it entirely."

I let out a frustrated sigh. It was going to be annoying to have her live in the harem houses again, I would just have to make sure I permanently sent her back to her punishment home.

"Alright then. We wait for now," I agreed with Teeka.

Having reached an agreement we then decided how we would meet up in future to further discuss our plans.

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