It was time for the daily morning ritual where the royal consorts and concubines gather and greet the Queen Mother also known as the Devwata.

It has been two years since I find myself as one of the commoner concubines of one of the princes in the country. At first, it was hard to adjust due to the world's strict hierarchical order. There were three groups in the harem

consists of the consorts and concubines

: those on top where women with noble titles and are called castellanas, the second group were those who were able to give birth to a prince and called vallerinha, and the last group of which I am part of--are those from commoner and slave families called horlekas

In this current era, the Crown Prince has four royal consorts and because all of them are vying for the queen consort position, the royal harem is divided into four factions: the first faction is spearheaded by the Devwata's cousin and is represented with the color of red. The second faction is spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance's daughter and is represented with the color green. The third faction is spearheaded by the saintess of the country's religion and is represented with the color white, and lastly the fourth faction is spearheaded by the foreigner princess from the a small neighbouring country Kalyoss and is represented by the color blue. Some of the commoner and slave concubines pick sides in this battle but the majority still remain neutral as the Crown Prince still haven't shown any hints of favor towards his desired queen consort.

The women of the castellanas were well-educated in various subjects which can include martial arts while the women of the horlekas are not allowed to carry their individual names and was always referred as a collective. Those who were able to get impregnated by the princes--vallerinhas, were gifted and bestowed with individual names. Names hold sanctity in this world so it shouldn't be given away easily. This country of Ghalkar seems to be an accumulation of Asian cultures back in my world whether it be in the cuisine, architecture, cultural practices and etc.

I was brought back into my reverie when I felt a hard nudge at my side. It was time for us to kneel on the platform. " We greet the Devwata, may she live and rule forever". I am a horlekas of the third prince

there are currently twelve official princes

, and haven't seen him once in the two years I've been in this body. They said that he is the prettiest among the princes and known to be quite the playboy that was why his harem was reaching the fifties.

"You may leave, horlekas of Prince Jannahis" the eunuch announced. In which we hurriedly obeyed. We were thirty-five horlekas, most of us were tributes from small villages in the outskirts of the country.

The Devwata albeit was already in her fifties always carried an elegant air. She is the current crown prince's mother and has been ruling Ghalkar since the death of King Darion.

We are currently wearing a garment similar to the Chinese hanfu, we were ordered to wear the same colors as to not to bring attention to our group. In the earlier days of transitioning, it was hard to wear it as everyday clothes, even harder was the ancient makeup and hair accessories placed in our body. I was glad that I at least had a maid to help me with this daily routine. She told me I had a heavy fever and went to a deep slumber two years ago. Without the memories of the former owner of the body, I had to relearn the language and now I can at least do conversational ghalkanis

language of Ghalkar

and the usual phrases used in royal etiquette. The level of learning is common for the horlekas so I didnt seem to different from the others. In my free time, with no modern technology to entertain me, was spent reading children books to better gauge the language.

The last to bow their heads were the four castellanas. They were fully adorned with the most high-quality silk and the most elegant jewels

gifted from their noble sponsors

. The Devwata looked at them one by one and nodded her head which concluded the morning ritual.

It was time for us to eat breakfast, the horlekas of the eight princes

four of the princes are not of age and unable to manage their own harems

dined in one hall and share gossip with one another. It was always the usual: love affairs with royal guards or other nobles, disputes between the castellanas and vallerhina, and local commoner trends but today is unusual, a gossip about the crown prince.

"I heard the crown prince found a strange girl while he went out for hunting and fell in love at first sight." gossip the horlekas with the loudest mouth. " I heard that the strange girl wore unique clothing and carried contraptions we have never seen.", said the other one. "Well I bet she's some kind of witch from the land beyond the sea", chimed another