Leaving the maid outside, Miki returned to her room alone.
The moment she shut the door, she heard the clinking of chains. After a brief silence, she said, "You'd better behave. For the sake of our shared homeland, I'll treat you a little better."
She walked over to the table and sat down, picked up a banana from the table, put it in her mouth, and began her daily practice.
"You're a princess, for heaven's sake. Don't you think you're being disgraceful?"
"If it means living a better life, there's nothing disgraceful about it. Let me ask you instead—after being ravaged and chained up like a dog, don't you feel ashamed?"
"The physical body can be ravaged and destroyed, but one's spiritual will must never crack. Your Highness, he dotes on you only because you have value to him."
Miki suddenly turned around and stared directly at the woman chained to the bedpost.
"Samui, stop making snide remarks in front of me. I was sent to Peach Country in the first place to please that man. My father... forget it. Just mentioning him makes me sick. Anyway, in men's eyes, women are merely tools for venting their desires and bearing children."
"At first, when that man didn't take an interest in me, I thought it was a good thing. But later, I realized that the real hardship was surviving. Do you know? Every day, I had to get up at three in the morning and stand outside my master's door, waiting for orders. When those nobles got up, I had to kowtow and greet them. Though my work during the day was fairly easy, I couldn't afford the slightest mistake. Even one wrong word or accidentally breaking a teacup could earn me a whipping at best and death at worst."