6 ✽ Challenge Accepted

                                    

                                          
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Eun-bi's mother was driving her crazy.
The older woman was spending every minute, hour and day worrying about how her eldest daughter was coping in the palace. Whenever Eun-bi attempted to escape, that stubborn mother of hers would effortlessly find her in her hiding spots. From there she would yadda yadda yadda non-stop. 
How she had found Eun-bi was a mystery indeed. Perhaps it was really a maternal instinct after all.
Honestly, her mother should spend her energy on doing something useful instead. Like swatting the flies or chasing rodents out of the house. Or she could host a meeting with her lovely friends whose hobby was to gossip about the tiniest things. 
Even Eun-bi's father wasn't helping at all. On days where he didn't need to report to work at the palace as a royal historian, he would retreat to his office room and ensure that the doors were locked from the inside. Once he was inside, he would never step a foot outside unless necessary. 
To communicate with him, Eun-bi wrote down her message on a piece of paper before crushing it into a ball with her hands. She tossed it through the gap in his window from the outside, hearing her father's little squeak when the paper struck the back of his head.
"Father, can you please help me? Mother has gone nuts!"
A while later, a white, flying object flew out of the window and hit her head this time. Yes, her perfect aiming skill was an inheritance from her father.
Unfolding the paper ball, she scoffed at his skittish response.
"Sorry, daughter! You're on your own." Her father told her, before adding another line below, his scrawl was messier than usual as if he was shivering from fear. "Women are scary."
Deeming her father was hopeless, Eun-bi decided to flee from the mansion with the excuse of accompanying her maid, Da-hee, to the market to pick up a few groceries. 
In her eyes, Da-hee wasn't simply her maid, she was her best friend. They had met each other three years ago, when Da-hee's parents passed away and she was almost sold off to another household – a notorious noble family who was known to ill-treat their servants.
At that point of time, Eun-bi had witnessed everything by coincidence and demanded her father to intervene. They took Da-hee under their wings and ever since then, both girls had grown a liking towards each other and would always keep each other company. If Yoo-jung wasn't around, Da-hee would be there to lend her a listening ear.
As Da-hee walked behind Eun-bi, she bit her bottom lip nervously. "My lady, you really shouldn't be coming with me when I'm running my errands. You might get scolded by your mother again."
Eun-bi grinned and slowed her stride so that she was now walking side by side with the demure girl. "Of course, I should. My ears are about to bleed because of my mother. But don't worry, you don't have to care about me. I'll just walk beside you, unless I'm disrupting you from doing something...or meeting someone."
"T-That's not true! Who am I supposed to meet?"
Eun-bi narrowed her eyes. "You're growing nervous. Are you hiding something from me? Maybe something that's flat-chested and has long, hairy legs?"
"My lady!" Da-hee blushed and her voice went a pitch higher. A sign that she was hiding something. "Quit teasing me!"
Her hysterical response only made Eun-bi burst out laughing. "You better tell me before I find out," she warned Da-hee teasingly and cracked her knuckles. "You should know better than anyone else that no secrets can slip past me. I'll find out in no time. If he's a bad man, I'm ready to beat him up for good."