The Silent Concubine Mga Nobela at Kwento

" Silence fell on the other side of the camera. I gave a wry smile and picked up my tray to continue working. It wasn't until 2:00 am that I dragged my exhausted body out through the bar's front door. The woman approached me again. "Julian, do you need the money because you're in some kind of trouble? I might be able to help you." The moment I looked up, blood suddenly gushed from my nose. A cry of alarm came from behind the camera. "Julian!"

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX The word slices through me. My lips tremble before the question even forms. “So… that’s what I’ll be? A concubine?” My voice cracks. I hate how small I sound, how desperate. I never asked for any of this. I never wanted him like that. And I definitely didn’t want to be kept like some hidden ornament in a golden cage. My lips tremble as I whisper, “So… that’s what I’ll be? A concubine?”

Cecilia’s POV The silence was deafening; for a long while, nobody moved. Did he really cancel the consort selection ceremony? This was the last day before he made a choice. I looked around the room at the devastated, pale faces. My father and Diana looked furious, while Sophia had her lips pressed in a thin line. Her eyes flickered towards me for a brief moment, a scowl on her face. I swallowed, turning away from her. Madam Isa was there, rounding up the concubines, keeping her tone low and her movements hurried.

Far from anywhere important. I was meant to be seen but not heard. Displayed but not significant. I sank into the chair with relief, my legs finally giving out. The fan in my hands trembled as I fought to control my breathing. "Well, well," a female voice purred from beside me. "If not the famous concubine."

Silvester left the room with tears streaming down her face. Mr. Silvester, seeing the severity of the situation, summoned Alex and Revilla for assistance. Thirty minutes later, when Alex and Revilla arrived, Eryx remained in the same place. Mr. Silvester escorted Mrs. Silvester away to provide them with privacy. Both Alex and Revilla were taken aback by Eryx's condition. Revilla knelt in front of him and gently touched his shoulder. He hugged her tightly and began to cry, his heart heavy with sorrow. Revilla felt her own heart sink, trying to comfort him while Alex attempted to console him as well.

And yet, amidst this whirlwind, my eyes locked onto the woman who had remained silent towards me since the first day I stepped foot in this palace - Xanthe. I watched as Xanthe approached me, her delicate footsteps barely making a sound on the marble floors. Her eyes held a glimmer of excitement, concealed beneath a veil of confidence. Little did she know that I was not as oblivious as she believed. I smiled politely as she extended her hand towards me, introducing herself in a sweet and innocent voice. "Good evening Melina, I am Xanthe by the way. The third concubine of his highness." She said, smiling broadly.

In its place was the quieter, more complicated reality of two women using each other for comfort, relief, and a temporary sense of being chosen. Nights remained the hardest. After lights-out the institutional silence amplified every unmet need. Sometimes Tania would risk the short corridor between their rooms. The encounters were necessarily brief and nearly silent—mouths sealed together, hands moving under the thin standard-issue clothing, the sharp peak of orgasm reached and released before any night staff completed a round. Other nights they stayed apart and the restlessness simply had to be endured until morning meditation gave it a container.

While the females in the garden fawned over her gown, which she had commissioned the best seamstress in the city to make, and her beauty, Concubine Su pouts discretely at the young Queen’s absent. How dare she make her wait. She had planned to make an entrance, to make the Queen wait and then show up having every attention on her, and the Queen dared to deny her this. Her fist tightens around the fan in her hand as he heart pounds with rage. She would make her pay. While she plots to make the Queen pay for her wrong doings, she smiles artificially to the women fawning over her, her smile broadening when she overhears a few of them talking about the Queen’s illicit affair with her servant.

Has she done something to offend the Queen? No, it can't be! Ever since she angered the king and was stopped from burning coal, she had been completely silent. She was like a firework, just emitting a dazzling light and then dissipated. I have seen her weeping in her room on a cold winter's night, in her overstuffed cotton-padded coat and quilt, and I have seen her heartbreaking despair at the cynicism of the other concubines.

Later, she married a man who was a hopeless gambler and beat her constantly. We visited her home in our capacity as local officers. While no one was looking, I planted a tiny hidden camera in her house. When I got back, Lara told me Fiona had taken two days off to visit her parents. I almost laughed. What parents? Her file clearly listed her as an orphan.