Everything changed overnight, but it was all Laras’s choice.
The next morning, she began moving her belongings into her new room—the one at the very back of the entertainment district.
There were six rooms in that area designated for the servants. Unlike Laras’s previous room, these rooms were shared. Each one could accommodate seven or eight people, so they were made spacious enough to hold all their occupants.
When Laras first stepped inside, she found several mattresses arranged in rows with enough space between them to walk through. Each bed had a small cabinet beside it for storing clothes and personal belongings. The arrangement was simple but neat, making the room feel comfortable enough to live in.
Morning light streamed through the wide windows along the sides of the room, illuminating the well-kept wooden floor and clean walls. The air inside also felt fresher because the windows could be opened wide, letting in the breeze and driving out the stuffiness left by the long night.
Of course, the room didn’t offer the same privacy as Laras’s previous one. The sounds of other people moving, talking, or arranging their belongings could be heard clearly. There was no private space beyond each person’s mattress and small cabinet.
Yet compared with her previous room, this one actually felt more spacious. The only catch was that the space had to be shared with seven or eight other people.
Laras looked at the bed that would be hers.
Not bad.
It was even fairly comfortable, if she could get used to the crowd.
“Good morning, everyone. Let me introduce myself. I’m Laras,” she said awkwardly when Kirana asked her to introduce herself to her roommates. It felt like introducing herself on the first day of elementary school.
After Laras’s brief introduction, everyone called out their replies over one another. Laras smiled. At least her first impression in her new home seemed to be a warm one. Once Laras had arranged all her belongings in her cabinet, Kirana left her.
Kirana glanced around. Unlike the entertainers, who began working in the afternoon, the servants were already preparing to leave for their duties even though the sun had only just risen.
“Miss Laras, come on, you should get ready too,” said a little girl who looked to be around ten years old. Laras nodded. She was actually quite exhausted from deciding to move right away, but this had been her choice.
“What’s your name?” Laras asked the girl in front of her.
“Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Dewi, miss. Nice to meet you,” Dewi said with a wide smile.
“Nice to meet you too, Dewi,” Laras replied.
Dewi laughed. Laras found that rather amusing too. “Come on, let’s have breakfast first,” Dewi invited her.
“No wonder I never see you all eating. So you eat at the crack of dawn,” Laras said as she rose to her feet.
On the way to the dining hall, Dewi explained all sorts of things about the servants’ duties, when they took breaks, where they usually gathered, and even several hidden places Laras hadn’t known about.
When they reached the dining hall, it was fairly crowded. The clatter of spoons against bowls mingled with snippets of conversation from every corner of the room.
Laras sat at one of the tables with Dewi. The girl ate calmly, occasionally blowing on rice that was still hot.
From the table behind them, Laras heard two servants talking.
“...I’m telling you, that sack was strange.”
“Strange how?”
“Just strange.”
“Did you see what was inside?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know it was strange?”
“I was only told to deliver cloves. I wasn’t allowed to open it.”
The two of them chuckled.
At first, Laras paid them no attention, but she slowly began to listen.
“That time, I made it all the way to the eastern section. They said the cloves for the first-tier entertainers had run out, so I was told to get them directly from there.”
“And then?”
“When I arrived, some other people were unloading sacks.”
“Merchants?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Don’t know. They weren’t wearing merchant markings.”
Laras stopped chewing.
“They said the sacks were brought in through the back,” the servant continued. “Really quickly. Like they didn’t want anyone to see.”
“Wow. Maybe there was something illegal inside.”
“Who knows? I stayed out of it.”
They laughed again and started talking about something else.
Laras frowned.
“Why does everyone love sneaking things around so much...” she muttered.
Dewi, sitting across from her, immediately turned.
“Which people?”
Laras came back to herself.
“Huh?”
“The ones sneaking things around.”
“Oh. You know about that?”
Dewi nodded while continuing to eat.
“A little.”
“A little?”
“Yeah.”
Laras stared at her in disbelief.
“What do you know?”
Dewi thought for a moment.
“I once heard some people talking about it.”
“Who?”
“The older servants.”
Dewi put a spoonful of rice into her mouth, then said casually,
“They said things often get brought into the eastern section in secret.”
Laras lowered her spoon.
“What kind of things?”
Dewi shrugged.
“Don’t know.”
“Then why did you say things were being brought in?”
“Because that’s what they said.”
Laras fell silent.
It was such a simple answer.
Dewi then added,
“Sometimes they talk about soldiers too.”
“Soldiers?”
Dewi nodded.
“The ones wearing ordinary clothes.”
Laras immediately grew interested.
“How do they know they’re soldiers?”
Dewi looked at her for a moment, as if the answer were obvious.
“Well... because they’ve seen them before.”
“Seen them?”
“Yeah.”
“Do servants really meet soldiers that often?”
“If they work where the first-tier entertainers are, they do.”
Dewi swung her feet, which still didn’t reach the floor.
“I once heard Kak Rini tell a story. She said palace soldiers often escort nobles there. They wait in the front room or outside until the noble is finished.”
Laras listened.
“And then?”
“Then they talk to the servants.”
“Talk?”
“Yeah. Maybe they get bored waiting.”
Dewi giggled softly.
“Sometimes they ask for a drink. Sometimes they ask about food. Sometimes they just tell stories.”
“So the servants remember their faces?”
Dewi nodded.
“Not just their faces.”
She began counting on her fingers.
“The way they walk. The way they stand. Their voices.”
Dewi then said innocently,
“If you’ve seen someone often enough, you can still recognize them even after they change clothes.”
Laras stared at the girl.
“How do you know so much?”
Dewi shrugged.
“I’ve been a servant for a long time.”
As if that were the most reasonable explanation in the world.
Laras almost laughed, but the conversation from the table behind them could be heard again.
“They say some of those soldiers have been meeting outsiders a lot lately.”
“Where?”
“In the eastern section too.”
Laras and Dewi both fell silent.
“Meeting who?” the other servant asked.
“Don’t know.”
“Then why did you say that?”
“Because someone saw them.”
“Who?”
The servant chuckled.
“Servants.”
Laras slowly turned toward Dewi.
The girl was still busy finishing her meal.
“How do they know so much?” Laras whispered.
Dewi answered without raising her head.
“Because people love to talk when they think no one’s listening.”
Laras fell silent.
Dewi gave a small smile.
“But we’re always there.”
Laras kept listening to Dewi. It felt like she was hearing the opening prologue to the novel she had read.
Foreign powers and imperial forces. Unfortunately, Laras had been trapped inside this entertainment district for an entire week, so she had no idea what was happening outside. It wasn’t that she was forbidden to leave, but staying up all night entertaining guests had made her too lazy to go out during the day.
“Miss Laras!” Dewi called.
“What is it, Dewi?” Laras asked.
“Don’t space out. We’ll be starting work soon, so finish your food,” Dewi said. Laras immediately flustered and let out a small laugh. She quickly finished her meal.
Laras began her first day as a servant by cleaning the terrace of the entertainment district. She was actually quite excited, considering she had never left the building before.
With plenty of enthusiasm, Laras swept every corner of the terrace. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, but the streets here were already fairly busy. Several times, Laras saw peddlers pass by, calling out their wares.
While Laras was absorbed in sweeping, she happened to notice a man asleep beside the entertainment district. She walked closer and guessed that he was one of their drunken guests who had passed out there.
Laras planted her hands on her hips, unsure what to do. Should she leave him there or report him to the entertainment district’s manager?
“Sir, wake up, sir!” Laras said, shaking the man’s shoulder.
Laras sighed. The man only shifted slightly without opening his eyes.
“Sir, come on, wake up. Please move somewhere else,” Laras said, still trying to rouse the person in front of her.
Thunk! A circular wooden object fell from the man’s clothing. Laras furrowed her brow. The wood was carved with the same emblem as the horse-drawn carriage Laras had seen on her first day after waking up here.
“The kingdom’s emblem,” Laras thought.
The entertainment district she worked at wasn’t an ordinary place. Ordinary soldiers or officials couldn’t possibly enter it. Yet Laras clearly remembered that the object which had fallen from the man in front of her was the identification badge of an elite soldier—someone whose duty should have been at the residences of the royal family members they guarded.
“How could an elite soldier come here?” Laras thought. If he had been a head guard, she could have understood it, but someone of an elite soldier’s rank still shouldn’t have been able to enter this entertainment district.