I spent the rest of the day getting settled into my new cover role as a handmaiden for the Empress. I was given my own small room. It wasn't much, but it was a nice step up from having to share a bunk room with 5 other girls. I was given all new hanbok clothing as my new station required a different set of colors. While concubines like Lady Mi Cha typically wore magenta as their primary color, I was meant to fit in amongst the palace staff, so my new hanbok was purple with yellow accents indicating that I was in the employ of the royal family.
I learned to my surprise that the Empress's other handmaidens would also serve as my handmaidens, tending to my needs, cleaning and pampering me whenever the Empress wanted me to visit her bedchamber. Two of them helped me changed out of my old clothes and into the new. I didn't know what to do with myself as I'd been dressing myself all my life. I tried dismissing them but they insisted on me not doing anything. I wondered how this would play out if I wasn't supposed to do anything myself, but my cover was supposed to be acting as one of them. I was sure I'd find out soon enough though.
Moon, the Empress's head handmaiden, showed me around the Palace in the afternoon, helping me get familiarized with the Emperor's and Empress's quarters. They each had their own suites of rooms, separated but close to each other. One could easily spend all day in and around the Empress's quarters and not run into the Emperor. They might be married but they carried about their own lives as if they weren't. Some might think it an odd relationship, but for those who saw how marriages were among the royal and elite classes, that was the norm. Wives were for providing and raising heirs, and nothing more. Concubines were for pleasure, and men of high status had house staff to take care of all the things a lower class man's wife would normally handle.
That evening, the Empress already had an obligation to dine with some other noblewomen, so I ate with the Empress's 8 other handmaidens, getting to know them a bit. I'd expected, I don't know, some less friendly welcome than what I'd received, but instead they seemed happy to accept me into their group. Maybe it was all for appearances sake, but their friendliness towards me seemed genuine, so I decided not to question it anymore. They loved Eun Ae and were happy that she could now indulge in the same pleasures as the Emperor. Plus I was someone new they could pamper and take care of, and as odd as that felt, I was determined to be as appreciative as possible to them.
After dinner, three of the handmaidens, Da-Eun, Youra, and Ji-Ah took me into the bath house reserved for the women of the Palace staff. We went over to a secluded pool on the side, and they stripped me naked. I was no stranger to public bath houses, they are common in our culture, it's where much of the realm's gossip was spread, so I was not uncomfortable being nude in front of the other women in such a casual setting. I stepped into the warm pool and sank down, dipping my head underwater to wet my hair. I came up and sat on a bench around the rim of the circular pool, letting the warmth of the water relax me. Da-Eun and Ji-Ah stripped as well and joined me in the bath while Youra began to wash my hair. Da-Eun and Ji-Ah meticulously cleaned every inch of my body. I'd never had someone else wash me before, so I closed my eyes, enjoying the fingertips rubbing my scalp and skin, and the love and care they gave to my body. It was clear they wanted me to look perfect for the Empress.
When they were done washing me, I stepped out of the pool and let them dry me. Once dry, Youra spread scented oils and fragrances all over my bare skin, supposedly in the Empress's favorite floral scents. It was overwhelming at first, but I imagined it would dissipate by the time I joined the Empress in her bedchamber. Da-Eun draped a robe over me and the handmaidens led me to their dressing room to finish getting ready for the Empress.
The handmaidens brought out a beautiful chima skirt in the Empress's bright yellow colors, with a white jeogori top to go over it. They helped me get dressed in the beautiful embroidered silk garments, and I thought I'd never looked more beautiful, until they brought out the wonsam I was to wear over everything. I'd never worn a wonsam before, and it was a great honor to be adorned in one. The gorgeous overdress was a brilliant magenta, as was proper for my station. I felt a thrill as I stared in awe at the beautiful garment with wide sleeves and flared skirt covered in yellow embroidery and accents. No one save for the Emperor's own concubines were allowed to wear this combination of yellow and magenta, and I couldn't believe I was putting it on too. Too bad I would never get a chance to wear it to public ceremonies unless the Empress could change the way people viewed women laying together.
Once fitted in my wonsam, I sat patiently while Ji-Ah dusted my face with white powder and did my makeup, and Youra twirled my hair up into a fancy jjok meori bun at the back of my neck, pinning it with a beautifully carved cheopji. Traditionally a wooden tteoguji head dress and wig would accompany a ceremonial wonsam like this, but since I was to be spending the night in bed with the Empress, and my clothing would likely not stay on for very long, the handmaidens opted not to dress me with one. Moon told me tonight would likely be the only time I'd wear this at all, because it's my official presentation to Empress Eun Ae as her concubine, but no one else would be allowed to see me in it.
