“Eunuch Van, what have you learned?” It was the morning after the banquet. After a restless night spent tossing and turning on my bed. Thoughts of her plagued me throughout the night, robbing me of sleep.

It was her straightforwardness that still held my attention. No one ever dares speak to me in such a fashion. Everyone, from the time I was born, has always gone out of their way to agree with me on every subject. As was to be expected.

The fact that she was so young ...