1 CHAPTER ONE

"Alex?" I heard my friend call from behind me.

"Yes?" I answered, picking up my sculpting tools from the ground.

"I think you should stop making sculptures." He said in one breath. My head snapped towards him in an instant as I suddenly stopped myself from putting my tools into a wooden box.

"What do you mean stop? You know that I make a living out of this." I said to him as he looked back at me.

"No, not completely stop. What I mean is, I think . . . you should stop making lewd sculptures. People near the village already knows about the lewd sculptor, it's only a matter of time until it reaches the king of the North's ears." He explained with his eyes no longer on me, but behind me. I furrowed my brows in confusion.

I looked back and my mouth immediately formed an 'o' shape as my gaze fell on the thing he was staring at. It was my newest creation, the one I just finished a few moments ago. A wooden statue of a naked man sitting on the ground with his legs parted while his head was diverted to his left and kissing another man who was behind him, feeling his chest. On the sitting man's lower part was a woman kneeling in-between his legs and blowing his candle while the woman was being jammed by another man from behind.

I averted my gaze back to my friend Jin. Then I looked at him questioningly.

"Lewd sculptor?" I asked in confusion.

"Yep, that's what everyone calls you now. Ever since you turned eighteen a few months ago and showed your sculptures to the villagers, words started circulating. A beautiful lewd sculptor making a living out of selling perverted statues. . . " He said chuckling and shaking his head.

"I find it funny though, the fact that they're so impressed by statues made by a virgin." He added. I grimaced at the mention of the last word. So what if I'm a virgin? At least I'm not a whore. I thought silently.

"Quite you!" I whisper yelled, before going back to what I was doing before. "But what made you say that I need to stop? And what of the king of the northern kingdom? Shouldn't you be worried of our king finding out first?" I quizzed while closing the tool box.

"Haven't you heard?" He asked in shock, eyes widening and lips parting.

I put the box aside and faced him before shrugging "Would I be asking if I knew?" I asked back. He pursed his lips and rolled his eyes.

"Well news is, soldiers from the other kingdom has been raiding every village in the south. I heard that the Emperor made a decree about sex related jobs without permits being eliminated unless they are given the permission to conduct said jobs. Such as, brothel whores, male and women alike. Painters painting perverted images, people selling sex slaves and of course sculptors like you which are hard to find." He said as he started roaming around my small barely standing shed and touching my belongings.

This place was once filled with wooden sculptures of flowers and birds back then. But after the previous owner, this shed was handed to me so this is now the place where I make my statues.

"Then why is the northern king the one conducting the raid here in the south? We have a king too you know?" I exclaimed, now starting to sweep the floor. Jin with his back on me started speaking again while examining my creations.

"You mean the king who does nothing but get drunk and bring women to his palace? He's currently under investigation, so apparently, we don't have a ruler as of this moment."

"Huh?" I voiced in confusion, my sweeping coming to a halt. "Why?" I asked. I need to go out and interact with people more. I'm so clueless of my own kingdom's situation, such a great citizen I am.

"Rumour is that our king is secretly working with the rebels in order to take over the other kingdoms. Aside from that it is also said that he is having an affair with one of the rebel leader's daughter." He said.

"So the Emperor decided to temporarily put our kingdom under the northern king's surveillance?" I guessed.

"Yes, except that it's not going to be just temporary. If they find our king guilty in the future then the King of the north will have complete power over us since he is a great ruler." He explained. I stared at him in disbelief. Is this for real?

"The Emperor is going to replace our drunken king with another drunkard?" I questioned in bewilderment. The Emperor must be crazy to do this! You see the King of the North, although is a great ruler, is also said to have more concubines than servants at the palace. In the past, it was rumoured that after he married the emperor's youngest sister, he immediately got himself three concubines which didn't sit well with me truth be told.

"Unless of course there's another monarch somewhere out there, that will inherit the throne then no." I scoffed at him. "Impossible. The king is infertile, so it's highly unlikely that he has a child and his older brother passed away years ago so we're most definitely going to be placed on the Northern King's hands."

"Agreed, but everyone knows that he's a great General. He fought and won battles alongside the young Emperor and people from the north claim that their king is the most attractive being alive so I guess it's alright if he becomes our king too. Besides, he's not a drunkard Lex, just a woman loving man." He said justifying the northern king's action. I shook my head in annoyance. Of course he's going to say that, he's a bit shallow, and he becomes weak when it comes to handsome men.

"Woman loving man? Don't you mean a hymen destroyer?" I said blankly. I put the broom back to the corner of the shed and walked out of the door with Jin following behind.

"Doesn't matter, at least he does it legally. Every woman he beds, he turns into a royal concubine. Too bad he's not interested in men." Jin said dreamily, catching up and settling beside me as we started walking side by side.

"Concubines should be illegal, a man should only be faithful to one person." I stated. Jin ignored what I said like he always does. I figured that it might be irking him deep inside since I have always been against the idea of having more than one partner while he on the other hand have been supporting it.

"Alex." Jin called quietly after minutes of silence.

"Hmm?" I hummed in return.

"You should really stop that lewd sculpting of yours, you're going to get in trouble. You might be imprisoned or worse . . . hanged to death." He said quietly. I looked at him from the side of my eyes.

It was evident that he was bothered by the Emperor's new order but kept my mouth shut and acted as if I didn't hear him.

I will continue sculpting, it's what I do best.

But after a few days, I realized that I should've listened to Jin.