Attendance is the 74th chapter of the Kingdom manga, written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara.
Summary
A young girl is blindfolded and escorted by two other people as they walk in a corridor at night. The blindfolded girl is an “attendant” for the king, and she is being brought to his personal chambers for the night. The two men take off her blindfold and she shocked to see Ei Sei, the Qin king. She does not know what to say to his majesty and thinks of different approaches in her head.
The next day, the palace girl Kou is talking to her friend You while sweeping the ground’s outside. You sees that Kou is not in her usual self and asks her about it. You tells Kou that this is the third time already that she was summoned by the king. They start to discuss what happens at night and Kou finds the meeting very odd. You is surprised she hasn't done it, not even ones after all this time. It is bin told that the harem gathers all the beautiful girls across the lands to serve the king. They have over 1000 girls so far. You tells Kou how lucky she is as she can give birth to the first child of the king. Only a few dozen of girls in the harem give birth. The most girls in the harem become servants. If you are one of the lucky few, you have power in the harem.
The night falls and Kou is being summoned by the king for the fourth time. She tries to talk to the king, but she is too shy to be able to. Ei Sei has only been reading those nights he spends with Kou. The people around the palace have noticed the king’s interest in Kou. They are not happy about it and are calling names behind her back. They also claim that the king was dumped by a female merchant and Kou was brought in the get him over it. She was called Hi Ka. Kou overheard this conversation and falls into tears. Kou is being summoned by the king again, but this time she gathers all the courage she can muster and asks the king why he keeps calling her. It is then revealed that the rumors about Hi Ka are false however they did carry some truth. The name of the person however was actually Shi Ka.
Characters
Qin
- Unidentified village
- Kou’s father (flashback)
- Kou’s siblings (flashback)
Zhao
- Zhao Black Market
- Shi Ka (Mentioned)
High Points
- Kou is an attendance for the king while being blindfolded and brought to the king's chambers.
- You is 13 years old.
- Kou is 12 years old.
- Kou is summoned by the king three times.
- The harem gathers beautiful girls all across the land.
- The harem has over 1000 girls so far.
- Only a few dozen of women in the harem have given birth.
- Most girls in the harem become servants.
- Kou is from the countryside.
- Sei was supposedly dumped by a female merchant and Kou was brought in order for him to over it.
Trivia
- Character Statistics are introduce in this chapter and become a standard for the series.
- First appearance of Kou and You.
- Shi Ka is mentioned for the first time.