Rules of Horror: Survival Begins in the Haunted Harem - Chapter 83

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The Phoenix Carriage of Spring Favor waited outside the courtyard gate.

Xie Nuange boarded while Su Ye stood holding a lantern and watched her disappear into the distance.

Xie Nuange was not entirely certain. What if the Calming Incense was not Benzoin Incense at all?

What if, instead of making the Emperor dream, it filled him with energy? How would she get through the night then?

Last time, she had used Jiang Fan’s Jade Hairpin to stall for half an hour before the Noble Consort’s illness drew him away.

The Noble Consort would not summon him away again tonight. Xie Nuange was entirely on her own.

Once again, tall red candles burned in the bedchamber.

A gold-painted lacquer tray rested on the long table, holding a pot of wine and two white jade cups.

Xie Nuange looked at the cups, then at the red candles. Tonight, she needed to extinguish them.

She had to violate the rules.

Ambergris incense was burning in the bedchamber’s censer. She opened the packet she had brought and placed its contents inside.

Then she took out Jiang Fan’s Jade Hairpin and secured it in her hair once more.

Green smoke curled upward. The fragrance was sweet and identical to the scent in the Noble Consort’s palace.

Standing beside the censer, Xie Nuange watched the smoke rise toward the ceiling and disperse among the curtains.

She had done everything she could.

Whether the incense was genuine Benzoin Incense or merely ordinary Calming Incense—and whether Jiang Fan would enter the Emperor’s dreams—remained unknown.

The doors creaked open.

Xie Nuange glanced over, then lowered her head and bent her knees. The hem of her gauze robe pooled around her ankles.

“This concubine greets Your Majesty.”

Before she could complete the curtsy, a hand reached over and caught her wrist.

“No need for formalities.”

The Emperor’s eyes held a smile as his gaze settled on her.

He drew Xie Nuange upright and led her toward the bed.

“When I visited Consort De yesterday, I heard you played marbles with the prince and princess?”

The Emperor wore an imperial-yellow night robe. Sitting on the bed, he looked up at her. Candlelight fell across the side of his face, sharply defining his brow bone and the bridge of his nose.

A trace of amusement lingered in his eyes.

“Mm.”

Xie Nuange had barely spoken when he pulled her into his arms.

The Emperor encircled her with both arms, holding her with one hand while toying with her fingers with the other.

Xie Nuange tried to ignore the discomfort of being embraced and continued.

“This concubine didn’t know what to use to entertain the children. She could hardly let the prince and princess play beside the lake. That would have been far too dangerous.”

She raised her head slightly, only for her gaze to land on the prominent line of the man’s throat.

“Consort De has raised the prince and princess very well.”

The Emperor’s fingers paused over the bone of her wrist, then pinched her fingertips.

“Are you unhappy that I haven’t visited you recently?”

Xie Nuange lowered her head, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

The Emperor laughed at the sight. His hand slid down her back and encircled her waist.

“Your Majesty…”

Xie Nuange swallowed with difficulty. “Put out the lights.”

“Weren’t you bold enough to insist on leaving them lit last time?”

His voice sounded above her head, carrying a lazy smile.

Leaning against his chest, Xie Nuange’s heart pounded so violently she could barely contain it.

Last time, she had kept the lights on because of the rules.

Tonight, she was asking to extinguish them because Jiang Fan could not emerge otherwise.

“Last time, we didn’t…”

Xie Nuange buried her face against his chest, her voice muffled. “This time, this concubine wants the lights out.”

The Emperor rested his chin atop her head and rubbed it lightly. A laugh vibrated through his chest. “Very well. Go put them out.”

Xie Nuange slipped from his embrace and walked barefoot to the long table.

Her fingertips trembled slightly as they closed around the copper snuffer.

She turned and glanced at the hourglass in the corner.

What would she do if she extinguished the lights and Jiang Fan did not appear?

Xie Nuange took a deep breath and gently lowered the copper cap over the red candles.

Thick darkness surged in from every direction.

She stood beside the table, fingers still clutching the copper snuffer.

Then she heard an extremely faint sound, like fabric rustling against fabric.

Xie Nuange turned. At some point, another figure had appeared by the bed.

The figure bent and gently laid the Emperor flat.

He had fallen asleep without Xie Nuange noticing, his breathing long and even.

She retreated to a corner of the hall. Jiang Fan had appeared. What would the Emperor dream of?

And what might Jiang Fan say to him?

Xie Nuange slowly crouched. Her gauze robe pooled around her ankles as she hugged her knees and rested her chin on them.

Did this count as watching a ghost movie?

Should she mention the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet after this ended?

Half a month remained—not long, but not short either.

If she did not ask tonight, she had no confidence she would get another chance to meet the Emperor alone.

If he refused, she would have to focus entirely on the Noble Consort’s route.

Then she thought of Jiang Fan again.

Ghosts probably could not become pregnant, right?

If Jiang Fan could, whose child would it count as?

Would she give birth to a ghost or a human?

Xie Nuange startled herself with her own wild imagination. She had no idea how much time passed before she looked up and found Jiang Fan standing in front of her.

Her body tensed sharply. She rose and took a guarded step backward.

But none of that wariness entered her voice. Instead, she sounded close and familiar. “Finished?”

Standing before her, Jiang Fan’s ashen eyes uncharacteristically shifted to the side.

Then she softly answered, “Mm.”

Xie Nuange stared at her. A ghost who had been dead for many years was standing in the bedchamber of the Palace of Receiving Grace, looking bashful.

She doubted she would ever see anything more absurd in her life.

“Next time…”

Jiang Fan spoke in her delicate, soft voice. “You can lie directly on the bed.”

“Huh?”

Xie Nuange felt embarrassed too. “There’s no need for that. Wouldn’t I be getting in your way?”

Jiang Fan looked at her. There was no disgust or fear in Xie Nuange’s eyes, nor was she agreeing aloud while secretly calculating against Jiang Fan.

“No. I enter his dreams. You won’t interfere.”

Jiang Fan lowered her lashes. “You should return to the bed now, before he notices anything.”

Xie Nuange acknowledged her and walked barefoot toward the bed.

Halfway there, she remembered something. “Sister Jiang, can you become pregnant?”

Jiang Fan lowered her head and looked at her stomach. “I don’t know either.”

“It doesn’t matter if you do. You can… um, give birth to it. I’ll help you raise it…”

Xie Nuange thought of the fastest condition for clearing the scenario: a child.

Jiang Fan stared at Xie Nuange from behind. As a ghost, she could sense every kind of emotion in the living.

At that moment, all she sensed from Xie Nuange was complete sincerity.

“Right… There’s something else…”

Xie Nuange started to speak again, but Jiang Fan glanced at the bed. “He’s about to wake. The incense has almost burned out.”

Xie Nuange stopped asking questions and hurried to the bed, scrambling onto it in a flurry.

Before she could pull up the covers, Jiang Fan had followed her over.

Xie Nuange watched Jiang Fan extend a hand and flick one finger upward.

Every muscle in Xie Nuange’s body tightened. She thought Jiang Fan was attacking her.

Fabric tore with a sharp rip.

“Oh my—”

A sudden chill across Xie Nuange’s body cut off the spell she was about to cast.

“Good grief, what are you doing?”

The sash had snapped in two, and the gauze robe fell open around her.

Xie Nuange frantically pulled the fabric over herself, trying to cover the important parts.

Jiang Fan raised her eyes and gave her the sort of look one might give a child who had asked an exceptionally stupid question.

“You attended him in bed with your clothes this neat?”