Reunion of a second chance

Chapter 2

The Blind Concubine was once again laying in his soft chair. The weather was getting warmer and warmer these last few days, it must have meant that the spring has come again. He wondered how long had it been since he had come to live here. Since his eyes could not see anything, he had no way of telling the passing time aside for the changing seasons. By that count, it had been over two years.

He could not even tell what time of day it was right now. He only knew that he was getting sleepier and sleepier. Which could mean that it was late in the night. Or it could also be because he had been eating less and less lately and was becoming weaker. He really could not tell.

He closed his eyes and left himself drift to sleep.

He did not know how long had passed and whether he was dreaming or not. However, quite suddenly, he thought he felt someone touching him lightly. The touch was in fact so light and brief that he did not know if he was not imagining it. Perhaps in his mind, he had wanted someone to come to him so much that his imagination tried to obey his wishes out of his sheer desperation?

He turned around and tugged away his wrist which definitely was not being touched by anyone when he checked by touching it himself. He did not want to torment himself like this again. He had told himself that this was what he had always wanted: a quiet and undisturbed life far away from the capital and the Emperor's palace.

He closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

However, he was disturbed once more. This time, he was sure he had heard something. Because of his blindness, he could only rely on his other senses and his hearing was the sharpest of them.

He stilled, not even breathing, and listened. He could not identify the sound which had roused him from his sleepiness so he wanted to check better this time. However, the only thing he could hear was utter silence, just like always. The sound, if it had been there in the first place and had not been just another product of his tired and confused mind, never appeared again.

At first, the Blind Concubine had hoped that someone had come to his house. How great would that be. He would not be alone all the time and would finally have someone to talk to. For a while, he even entertained the idea of getting up and going to search his small island for any living beings aside for fish and birds.

But as more time passed and he could not hear anything anymore, his hopes died down. Of course there would not be anyone coming to see him. No one had in the last two years, why would anyone come now?

The Blind Concubine turned to the other side, balling himself into a ball on the soft chair and he pressed his knees to his chest. It was as when he had been a small child. He felt lonely again. He hated his imagination now for playing such a dirty trick on him and stirring up his long forgotten hopes.

He was fine like this; he was used to it. It was better to be lonely than to have to fear for his life every second in the Emperor's palace. He closed his eyes for the third time and went to sleep. Nothing disturbed his exhausted slumber anymore.

***

The Emperor was sitting in his study, waiting for the imperial physician to come back. Overtaken by worries when he had heard that the Blind Concubine would no longer even go back inside the house for the night and would only ever remain laying on the divan, he had called for the imperial physician. Despite his promise to himself that he would never bother the Blind Concubine again, he found out he could no longer keep it. At least not entirely.

And so it had happened that he had called upon the imperial physician and had ordered him to go and check on the Blind Concubine despite the risks. He should have checked while the Blind Concubine would be sleeping.

The Emperor had reminded the man over and over again that he should make it so that the Blind Concubine would not notice him, otherwise he had promised a harsh punishment. Still, he could not be certain if everything worked as he had imagined.

And finally, there was a call from the outside: "The imperial physician has arrived!"

Of course, no one came in just like that. The Emperor's guards and servants were all well trained to follow his orders so they never entered his study without his permission. The only one who could do that was his little brother. And that only because he was still a small child and sometimes forgot his manners.

"Come in!" confirmed the Emperor the permission to entry impatiently.

He could not wait for the news. Not only about the Blind Concubine's health condition and what could help him, but also if the physician had managed to come and go unnoticed.

The Emperor was now on pins and needles to know what was wrong with his beloved Blind Concubine. If only being drenched in the rain for a while could make him faint, the Emperor was afraid what could be the problem this time. He already knew that the Blind Concubine had been gravely ill but that has been managed by medicine thus far. Only if the Blind Concubine was actually still taking it though.

The imperial physician kneeled in front of him and looked very nervous. There was suddenly a knot of anxiousness inside the Emperor's stomach. If the physician was this uneasy, it must not have been good news.

"Speak!" he prompted him, now even more impatient than ever.

The imperial physician did luckily not waste any more time and he quickly presented his report: "Your Majesty, I have followed your orders to the letter and sneaked inside the house in the middle of the lotus lake unnoticed. I could not find anything wrong with the Blind Concubine's health aside for the fact that his body is growing alarmingly weak due to him not eating properly. However, if this goes on, I fear for his life. His constitution has been weak to begin with..."

The imperial physician did not have to continue anymore; the Emperor had understood. If the Blind Concubine was no longer able to take care of himself, then there was nothing to be done but to send someone over to make sure he would eat all his meals.

The Emperor dismissed the imperial physician with a simple gesture of his hand. He was already thinking hard to whom he could entrust this important duty. He knew he would be breaking the Blind Concubine's trust in his freedom, perhaps even to the point that he would see through the small trick he has played on him.

The Emperor did not really want the Blind Concubine to discover that he was still inside the palace, but at this point, it seemed inevitable. There was no way the Emperor was prioritizing keeping this fact a secret over the Blind Concubine's health and perhaps even life.