Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 74

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Xie Nuange did not dare gamble. What if the Emperor decided that because nothing had happened between them, her bedchamber service did not count as successful?

As soon as she finished asking, she hurriedly bent her knees and begged forgiveness. “Please forgive this concubine, Your Majesty. She…”

The Emperor turned. His gaze fell on her lowered neck—the red gauze robe, her fair skin…

And the hairpin in her hair.

“It’s all right. Since I gave you my word, I will certainly come see you.”

The Emperor paused, then turned to the young eunuch beside him.

“Noble Lady Xie rendered meritorious bedchamber service. Reward her.”

Xie Nuange let out a huge breath of relief.

The young eunuch asked again, “Your Majesty, shall it be recorded?”

Continuing to walk, the Emperor answered quietly, “Record it. Have someone escort Noble Lady Xie back later.”

“This concubine respectfully sees Your Majesty off.”

The doors closed. Xie Nuange remained in her curtsy and listened as the footsteps gradually receded.

She was now alone in the bedchamber.

Slowly, she straightened and stood barefoot on the carpet.

Pfft.

The candle flames swayed and went out with a soft sound, plunging the hall into darkness.

Xie Nuange’s breath stopped for a beat. Darkness surged over her, swallowing her whole.

[Rule Two: While attending the Emperor in bed, the candles in the bedchamber must not go out. If they do, relight them as quickly as possible, or something bad will happen.]

Drip.

After the candles went out, the sound of a drop of water striking the floor broke the silence.

Xie Nuange turned to relight them, but as her gaze swept past the bed, she stopped abruptly, every muscle in her body tensing.

A figure with hair swept into a broom-like coiffure now sat on the bed that had been empty moments earlier.

The dark figure sat rigidly upright.

Drip.

The water was falling beside the bed, striking the footstool with a series of dull taps.

Drip.

Xie Nuange’s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. The shadow on the bed was watching her.

Moonlight filtered through the carved lattice windows and fell faintly across the figure’s face, making it look deathly pale.

Yet those black eyes stared unblinkingly at Xie Nuange.

“This is news to me.”

The figure spoke in a delicate, soft voice, carrying the sweet cadence of Jiangnan. “When did I acquire a younger sister?”

Once Xie Nuange saw the figure’s face clearly, she relaxed by half.

It was Jiang Fan.

“I’m helping you meet the Emperor,” Xie Nuange said softly. “Don’t you want to see him?”

Jiang Fan tilted her head slightly, staring directly at Xie Nuange. “Didn’t you enter the palace because you wanted his favor?”

“I didn’t…”

The words had barely left Xie Nuange’s mouth when Jiang Fan rose stiffly and walked toward her one step at a time.

“Dressed like this, you lay on his bed. His arm encircled your waist, and his lips pressed against your collarbone.”

“You don’t want his favor? Then why did you enter the palace? Are you trying to harm him?”

Xie Nuange watched her approach. The platform soles of Jiang Fan’s shoes landed on the flagstones, leaving wet prints behind.

Jiang Fan’s body began to swell. Something pushed her skin outward until it turned translucent and glowed a bluish white.

Water seeped from every pore and ran along the texture of her skin.

Her features sank into the swollen flesh and began to rot. The fabric of her palace candidate’s uniform stretched taut, emitting faint creaks as though it might split open at any moment.

“I do want it after all.”

Xie Nuange hurriedly corrected herself. “The Emperor is such a wonderful man. Since I entered the palace, how could I not want his favor?”

Jiang Fan stopped.

It worked.

When Jiang Fan had eliminated the bullies in the Palace of Gathered Elegance, she had partly been screening the imperial harem’s palace candidates for the Emperor.

Her heart and soul were devoted to him.

To her, the Emperor was the best man beneath the heavens.

If the selection in the Palace of Gathered Elegance had been driven by the power of the rules, then the Emperor himself was Jiang Fan’s reverse scale—her absolute taboo.

Jiang Fan stood motionless as water streamed from her body and pooled on the flagstones, flowing all the way to Xie Nuange’s feet.

The chill raced from the soles of Xie Nuange’s feet to the top of her head.

“But I’ve witnessed the love between you.”

Looking into Jiang Fan’s eyes, Xie Nuange explained, “I can’t bear to destroy a love as wonderful as yours.”

“Especially when I have the power to help you. How could I possibly bring myself to come between you and the Emperor?”

Jiang Fan’s body stopped swelling. Her semitransparent, distended skin slowly began to shrink.

Her features emerged from the bloated flesh and regained their original delicate beauty.

Xie Nuange watched the change and silently made a note of it.

Jiang Fan would not allow anyone to look down on the Emperor.

No one could say a single bad word about him in her presence, display the slightest reluctance, or let her think they despised that man.

She wanted Xie Nuange to be like her—to regard the Emperor as the best man in the world, someone worth waiting a lifetime for.

Jiang Fan’s hairpin offered both benefits and drawbacks.

The benefit was that Jiang Fan could help her.

This time, Xie Nuange had also discovered the drawback.

At least outwardly, she had to adore the Emperor just as Jiang Fan did.

“I can borrow your body,” Jiang Fan said, her voice returning to its delicate softness, “and be with the Emperor.”

Xie Nuange shook her head. “No.”

“Why not?”

Jiang Fan stared at her. “Didn’t you say you would help me?”

“The Emperor wouldn’t know you were inside my body.”

Xie Nuange’s mind raced. “The person he would see is me. The face he would touch would be mine, the lips he kissed would be mine, and the body he held would be mine.”

She coaxed Jiang Fan gently. “If he fell in love with this body, would he love you or me?”

“Are you willing to let him forget you? Don’t you want to see him again and renew your old love?”

Xie Nuange remembered that whenever Jiang Fan appeared, the candles went out.

The rules said something bad would happen if the candles were extinguished.

Did that simply mean a ghost would appear?

She also recalled that during the palace selection, Jiang Fan had appeared only after dark. When she took that palace candidate away, the sun had likewise been obscured, leaving the world beneath a gray haze.

“Since you can appear in darkness, why don’t you come out to see him the next time he visits?”

Xie Nuange proposed, “I’ll stand guard at the door for both of you. How does that sound?”

“You wouldn’t mind?” Jiang Fan frowned.

“I can change the sheets afterward.”

Realizing that might provoke Jiang Fan, Xie Nuange hurriedly added, “I’m already perfectly content to accompany the Emperor during the day.”

“It would only be unfair to you, Sister, to have to accompany him at night.”

She gazed at Jiang Fan expectantly. “I ask only that you not blame me for damaging your relationship with the Emperor merely because I accompany him during the day.”

Jiang Fan watched her for a very long time.

Then, without warning, she said something seemingly unrelated.

“There is Benzoin Incense in the Noble Consort’s palace. Take some and burn it the next time the Emperor comes at night.”

She looked at Xie Nuange. “Once he falls asleep, I can meet him in his dreams. When he wakes, he will think he was with you.”

Xie Nuange’s lashes fluttered. The Noble Consort’s palace?

“Would the Benzoin Incense work for anyone?”

Jiang Fan shook her head. “Of course not. The incense merely calms his mind and helps him rest. Its greatest purpose is to let me…”

“It settles my soul, allowing me to maintain my normal appearance.”