The empresses and consorts of the Emperor in Heian-kyō's imperial palace were generally attended by daughters of noble ministers serving as court ladies. Fujiwara Kōko, Murasaki Shikibu, was one of them, as was Sei Shōnagon, whom they had met before. However, Sei Shōnagon seemed to have resigned from the post.
Thus, while their status might not seem particularly high, they could directly meet the nation's highest-ranking leaders. That kind of access was not something ordinary people possessed.
As the emperor of Great Tang, Shen Fei was fairly familiar with such matters. Although he had instituted many reforms in Great Tang—abolishing eunuchs entirely, for instance—palace maids and the like naturally still remained. That was not something he could change overnight.
"It's already late. Let's rest first. We can discuss everything else tomorrow."
After deciding what to do the next day, the group immediately turned in. Shen Fei and Sakata Kintoki went to the adjoining room, where the bedding and everything else had already been prepared by servants.
Perhaps because they trusted Sakata Kintoki and Murasaki Shikibu, neither Shen Fei nor Musashi noticed that their conversation had been eavesdropped on the entire time.
"Heian-kyō really is lively."
The next morning, just as Shen Fei, Mash, Ritsuka, and the others gathered for breakfast, Musashi returned with an excited look on her face. She had gone out early and had been the first among them to get up. After all, this was Heian-kyō—a place of legend to her—so naturally she had wanted to explore it properly.
Heian-kyō by day was utterly different from Heian-kyō at night. The streets were bustling, crowded with people coming and going, the complete opposite of the nighttime desolation. In a sense, daytime Heian-kyō was the true human world, while nighttime belonged to the demons—two sides of yin and yang.