It's Hard Being the Empress - Chapter 3

The Crown Prince was a man devoted to providing excellent service.

Whenever we met in that little courtyard, he began with my eyes. He would kiss the tip of my nose, move down to my lips, and then cover every inch of me with kisses.

His warm breath, faintly scented with sandalwood, brushed my legs. Long, elegant fingers stroked my ankles.

After every encounter, the bedding had to be replaced.

Sometimes, however, his devotion to service went too far.

Then it became torture for me.

Like now.

I sobbed until I could barely breathe, but I could not break free. All I could do was whimper through my tears and curse at him.

“Could you show a little decorum while you eat?”

He only applied himself with greater enthusiasm.

By the time he finished, my formal robes were beyond saving.

The moment he untied me, I raised my hand and slapped him hard across the face.

“Insolence!”

The Crown Prince lifted his head, his lips glistening. He touched the mark on his cheek and smiled with deep satisfaction.

“Thank you for the generous meal, Mother Empress.”

Then his usual spring-warm expression returned, as if the ruthless obsession of a moment ago had never existed.

At some point, he had untied the other half of the paired-heart pendant from my sash. He wound its cord around one finger, tucked it into his robes, and smiled.

“I shall accept this half as my payment.”

So the Emperor’s misunderstanding truly was not my fault.

His sons were the ones who had insisted on stealing my jade.

Inside Zichen Hall, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince had already been taken away to the ancestral shrine.

The imperial physician knelt on the floor, his voice trembling.

“Those foreign barbarians were vicious indeed. They used the presentation of tribute as an opportunity to infect Your Majesty with a gu parasite.

“But how are we to cure you now?”

Everyone knew the imperial bloodline was thin. In the Emperor’s generation, his only close relatives were his two sons.

Neither prince was a virgin. Who could possibly save him?

Every gaze in the hall turned to the Emperor.

I had been in the palace for a month, but this was the first time I had studied him closely.

He was a man in his thirties, with a mature presence that neither prince possessed. Straight brows framed bright, commanding eyes; his features were handsome and full of martial vigor.

He was an emperor who had won his throne from horseback.

He had pacified Liaodong, secured the northern frontier, and crushed rebellion beyond the passes. When the old dynasty left the realm on the brink of ruin, he had hauled it back with his own hands and cleaned up the wreckage.

Most of the peace we enjoyed today was his work.

After a long silence, the Emperor rubbed his brow. Looking profoundly reluctant, he addressed the physician in a low voice.

“Use my blood.

“I am still a virgin.”

The hall went so quiet that a falling pin would have sounded like thunder.

What could be more absurd than a eunuch with a house full of children?

An emperor who had reached his thirties untouched.

The Emperor clearly found the matter humiliating. His impatient tone brooked no argument.

“Hurry.”

The physician jolted back to himself. He drew a small bowl of blood from the Emperor’s arm, mixed it with medicinal herbs, and shaped the mixture into a pill.

The Emperor swallowed it, and color visibly returned to his face.

He swept an icy glance across the physician.

“If so much as a whisper of this reaches the outside world, I will not spare you.”

The physician went white and knocked his forehead against the floor.

“This subject would sooner die ten thousand deaths.”

The Emperor waved him away.

Soon, only the Emperor and I remained in the vast hall. It was so still that I could hear us breathing.

Every part of me felt awkward. I studied the ceiling, then the floor—anything but the Emperor. A fine layer of sweat gathered in my palms.

I feared he would mention his sons.

Even more, I feared he had noticed something.

The Emperor sighed. When he spoke again, his voice had softened.

“Sit.”

I edged forward and sat below him with great care.

“I will not tell others what I am about to tell you. But you are my Empress, and you have a right to know the truth.

“The Crown Prince and the Second Prince were born to my twin sister. Their father was my finest lieutenant and my most trusted brother-in-arms.

“Nineteen years ago, he died saving my life. My sister gave birth to the twins, then followed the man she loved into death.

“I had no interest in women, and I owed both their parents a debt I could never repay. So I brought the boys into the palace and raised them as my own.”

I could not help asking, “Then the former empresses and consorts…?”

“They were all forced upon me by the court,” he said mildly. “Those who behaved themselves could remain. Those who harbored schemes could not.”

His expression softened. The faintest smile touched his lips.

“There is, however, one woman I truly desired.

“Two years ago, while traveling incognito, an old wound reopened. I lost my sight, and the pain in my organs was unbearable.

“A young woman cared for me until I recovered.

“By the time my sight returned, she had vanished.

“All I remember is the faint scent of orchids on her.”

He smiled.

“I met her in Ye City. If I recall correctly, your maternal family also comes from Ye City?”

My heart lurched. I looked away guiltily, and even my voice began to shake.

“Yes, but this concubine has not visited Ye City in many years.”

I changed the subject with desperate speed.

“Your Majesty, I would like permission to visit my family for a few days.”

The Emperor nodded.

“Those two wretches made a spectacle of themselves today.

“Go.”

I thanked him and fled the palace as though the soles of my shoes were greased.

This was terrible.

What if the Emperor discovered that the woman he had pined for all this time was his own nominal wife—and that she was also entangled with both of his sons?

Exterminating my entire clan would not be enough.

Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away was best.

I would lie low until the danger passed.