The shadows swamping the empty pavilions grew darker and darker the fall of snow was no longer pocked with blue footprints, but untouched. The further south we traveled, the more deserted it became, until we were easily four li away from where I knew most of the royals dwelled.

To enter the palace means to walk a path stained in blood, our medical teachers had whispered. Uneasiness settled into my bones, and the warnings I’d been given echoed through my mind. I could almost hear the main gates rumbling shut it would be impossible to leave the palace now. It tolled, slowly and repeatedly, for the twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and finally, the twenty-eighth time. In long and quick strides, we left the Royal Apothecary, located in the eastern corner of the palace, and traveled in a line from courtyard to courtyard, the sound of the great bell rolling after us. Even royal children behaved like solemn and anxious elders. We kept quiet this time, when normally we would have complained about our growling stomachs or our limbs tired from working all day. Our long shadows stretched out, of her holding a tray and me a lantern. Jieun and I hastened our steps accordingly. His blue silk robe billowed like waves in a storm, his long apron as white as foam frothing atop a crashing sea.

“There isn’t a moment to spare.” The royal physician sounded breathless as he quickened his steps, his hands gathered within wide sleeves. This is very odd, I replied.īut what did we know of what was odd or unusual? We were both new to our positions as nae-uinyeos, nurses handpicked to serve in the palace. I flicked a nervous glance at the physician. Shouldn’t we be permitted to return home? By the twenty-eighth ring, the palace gates would be bolted shut for the night.Īs soon as the royal physician turned his back to us, Jieun and I exchanged wide-eyed stares. Silence reigned, except for the distant ring of the great bell, echoing through the capital and rumbling over Changdeok Palace. Floor lanterns spilled golden light across the frosted courtyards, and against the latticed labyrinth of doors and windows. Moonlight drifted as quietly as falling snow, illuminating the pavilion roofs and the animal-shaped statues that lined the swooping eaves. “Follow me,” Physician Nanshin whispered, “and ask no questions.”

The red palace book