Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 70

—————————————-

The Noble Consort’s voice rose sharply, filled with hysterical, irrepressible rage.

“How many times have I said it? Do not hang this kind of thing on me!”

The hall was deathly silent.

Biyu hunched her shoulders and retreated to a corner, her head bowed almost to her chest. She was clearly accustomed to the Noble Consort’s intermittent fits of madness.

Xie Nuange sat with her hands on her knees, fingertips icy. She stared at the Noble Consort’s sudden fury and drew in a sharp breath.

The danger might have passed, but why was she even more frightened now?

The Noble Consort stood before her, looking down at the red sachet she had thrown to the floor.

She drew a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

Returning to the principal seat, she picked up her teacup and took a sip.

Everything returned to how it had been before.

Yikun Palace was once again a chamber filled with a perfectly balanced fragrance—neither too strong nor too faint.

The shape Xie Nuange had mistaken for a human figure was nothing more than a vase, standing exactly where it had been all along.

Xie Nuange watched the Noble Consort’s entire sequence of actions and swallowed against her dry throat.

What… had just happened?

How could someone fight with herself?

“Noble Lady Xie.”

The Noble Consort’s voice had regained its former gentleness, as though nothing had happened. “Why have you come to Yikun Palace?”

Xie Nuange’s lips moved.

She stood and bent her knees in another curtsy.

“This concubine has only just entered the palace and came especially to pay her respects to Your Ladyship. She brought a packet of tea from home. It is nothing valuable, but she hopes Your Ladyship will honor her by accepting it.”

The Noble Consort watched her for two breaths, then nodded. “Very well. I’m tired. You may withdraw.”

Xie Nuange breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to leave with Su Ye when the Noble Consort spoke slowly behind her.

“Noble Lady Xie.”

Xie Nuange’s heart tightened, and she quickly turned back.

“Noble Lady Xie, I know why you came. I will help you.”

Xie Nuange glanced up at the Noble Consort, but the woman clearly had no intention of elaborating. She could only curtsy and take her leave.

By the time she stepped out of Yikun Palace’s main hall, the inner garment covering her back was soaked through.

Su Ye walked beside her, looking equally unwell.

The two followed the palace path until they had passed through Yikun Palace’s main gate.

“What happened just now?”

Xie Nuange looked at Su Ye. “Where did you go?”

Su Ye’s expression was ghastly. “I don’t know anything. I blinked, and the Noble Consort was suddenly standing in front of you, tearing at that sachet.”

“What exactly happened?”

Xie Nuange took a deep breath. “We’ll talk when we get back.”

Once they had returned to her residence, Xie Nuange recounted everything that had happened.

“So the moment she put on the sachet, she attacked you?”

Su Ye looked incredulous. “Without any rules at all?”

“There may have been one, but I didn’t know about it and violated it without realizing.”

Xie Nuange played with the beads around her wrist.

Ten remained. She had lost another one.

What had triggered the attack? Was it because she tried to leave?

Or because she gave the Noble Consort tea?

“I don’t know what the Noble Consort meant when she said she would help me. I didn’t dare ask if she meant taking me to the birthday banquet.”

She sighed. “It never occurred to me that the Noble Consort could put the sachet on afterward.”

Su Ye’s expression was troubled too. “The rule says the one wearing the sachet is a false Noble Consort.”

“But the Noble Consort was the same person from beginning to end.”

There had been no switch, no replacement, and no transition whatsoever between false and real.

“It felt as though she were resisting something.” Xie Nuange looked at Su Ye.

“Could the real and false Noble Consorts be… two personalities?”

At dinnertime, the two were in the middle of their meal when Xiao Yunzi reported from the doorway, delight evident in his voice.

“Your Ladyship, people from the Palace of Receiving Grace have arrived.”

Both Xie Nuange’s and Su Ye’s hearts jumped at the name.

The Palace of Receiving Grace did not sound like a good place at all.

What sort of grace was one supposed to receive there?

They rose and saw a eunuch enter the courtyard. He wore the dark-blue uniform of a chief eunuch and carried a horsetail whisk.

At the sight of Xie Nuange, he put on a practiced smile and bowed.

“Greetings, Noble Lady Xie. This servant has come to congratulate Your Ladyship.”

“His Majesty selected Your Ladyship’s plaque tonight.”

The eunuch straightened without letting his smile waver. “Congratulations, Your Ladyship. This is an immense favor.”

Under the covered walkway, Chuntao clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes brimming with delight.

Xiao Yunzi stood by the courtyard gate, his smile broader than usual.

“This concubine thanks His Majesty for his favor.”

Xie Nuange’s lips curved into a perfect smile. Refusal was not an option.

If the Noble Consort’s path led nowhere, Xie Nuange would still need the Emperor to take her to the birthday banquet.

“The Phoenix Carriage of Spring Favor will arrive shortly to take Your Ladyship to bathe. Please prepare yourself.”

The eunuch bowed again. Su Ye promptly handed him a reward. Only after accepting it did the eunuch depart with a smile.

Su Ye returned to Xie Nuange’s side and lowered her voice. “What do we do?”

Xie Nuange shook her head.

She had no idea.

From the moment the eunuch from the Palace of Receiving Grace delivered the news, at least seven or eight ideas had flashed through her mind. Every one of them ended with the same four words: violation of the rules.

If she refused to go, she would defy an imperial decree and lose a powerful patron.

If she went, she would attend the Emperor in bed—and possibly complete her mission.

A low-ranking consort could not disobey the command of a higher-ranking consort.

The Emperor might not be a consort, but he held the highest rank in the entire palace. The rules did not say what would happen if she defied him, but she did not intend to gamble her life to find out.

She sat back down at the table and stared at her half-finished bowl of polished rice.

Xie Nuange looked at Su Ye. “What do you think my chances are if I kill the Emperor, usurp the throne, and attend the birthday banquet as Emperor myself?”

Su Ye’s hands froze in the middle of clearing the table.

Then she slowly raised her head and looked toward the rafters. “I think…”

“You’d be better off hanging yourself right here. At least then you could leave me an inheritance.”

“Why don’t you go back to Yikun Palace and ask the Noble Consort?”

Su Ye suggested, “Didn’t she say she would help you?”

Xie Nuange sighed. “Isn’t it possible that by ‘help,’ she meant arranging for the Emperor to select my plaque on my very first night?”

“She might think helping means ensuring that I attend him in bed without trouble.”

She turned to Su Ye. “But when I think of helping, I mean luring the Emperor away and then taking me to the birthday banquet.”

Su Ye considered that and found it reasonable.

The Noble Consort belonged to the imperial harem. By helping, she most likely meant helping Xie Nuange establish a foothold there, not helping her avoid attending the Emperor in bed.

“Then close your eyes and endure it.”

Su Ye stood and walked to the wardrobe to prepare her clothes.

“As long as he isn’t a ghost, it’ll be manageable. The worst that can happen is you give birth to a ghost baby. If it comes to that, I’ll help you raise it.”

Xie Nuange lifted her face from her palms and gave Su Ye a look that said, What a wonderful sister you are.

Su Ye laid out the garments one by one: a moon-white inner robe, a lotus-root pink dudou, and a brand-new pair of underpants.

“You have to go through this sooner or later. Look at the bright side—there are advantages to meeting the Emperor first.”

All she could do was try to comfort Xie Nuange. “At least you won’t have to worry about failing to see him for the next month.”

“Perform well tonight, and you might complete the mission right away.”

Xie Nuange nodded. “You have a point.”

The rumble of wheels over flagstones sounded beyond the courtyard gate.

Xie Nuange’s shoulders went rigid.

Su Ye walked to the window, opened it a crack, and peered outside.

A carriage with vermilion wheels had stopped before the gates of the Palace of Eternal Spring. Its curtains were imperial yellow, embroidered with phoenixes.

The eunuch driving it wore a dark-blue robe and held a whip wound with red silk.

It was the Phoenix Carriage of Spring Favor.