Seducing a Eunuch - Chapter 1

“Outrageous! This is outrageous!”

I had backed the man on the bed into a corner.

If he hadn’t been afraid of waking the emperor asleep in the main hall, Li Huai would probably have shouted by now.

“Take a good look at me! His Majesty is in the main hall!”

He was beside himself. His expression said he wanted nothing more than to throw me out.

No wonder he thought I had come to the wrong room.

Earlier that day, the emperor had visited Consort Shu. At her instruction, I had waited at his side.

Service was the pretext. Seduction was the purpose.

Consort Shu was pregnant and could not attend the emperor in bed. She needed someone she trusted to climb into it and keep his favor for her.

As her senior palace maid, who had served her since childhood, I could hardly shirk such an important duty.

Today was the opportunity she had arranged for me.

Every other maid in her palace wore pink. I alone wore pale green.

“Refreshingly different,” the emperor praised me. “A lotus rising from clear water.”

My mistress ordered me to serve him tea, and I “accidentally” spilled it on his dragon robe. I took out a handkerchief to dab at the stain.

“Such slender, lovely fingers,” he said. “Like peach blossoms just opening.”

In my previous life, I had been delighted to please him, thinking I could finally become my mistress’s trusted right hand.

I had never noticed the hatred in her eyes as she watched me.

I thought I was serving her faithfully. I never imagined that once I was no longer useful, my mistress would discard me like a worn-out shoe.

On the day of the little prince’s one-month celebration, Consort Shu was raised to Noble Consort, with standing equal to the empress’s.

I was given a cup of poisoned wine.

My life, an offering to celebrate the birth of her son.

As the poison tore through my guts, pain seared into my bones. My insides burned.

The entire palace was congratulating Consort Shu on her imperial son. The baby’s cries and my mistress’s laughter filled the halls.

No one spared a thought for me in the corner, blood streaming from my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Except Li Huai.

The man who had defied Noble Consort Shu’s orders to secretly retrieve my body in my previous life now looked like a poor, bullied little wife—as if I would devour him if I took one more step.

“Du Qinghe! Don’t come any closer!”

Li Huai’s eyes widened, his words tumbling out.

Unlike the emperor’s, his voice had the soft, fine pitch of a eunuch.

Impatient, I stripped off my outer clothes right in front of him, leaving only my red dudou undergarment.

I couldn’t help moving closer, my face flushed. “Won’t you be kind to me, Eunuch Li?”

He was the chief eunuch for a reason. He soon noticed something was wrong.

“Have you… have you been drugged?”

“Her Highness was afraid I’d lose my nerve. Of course she took precautions.”

The emperor was over fifty. In an ordinary family outside the palace, he could have been my grandfather.

To prove my resolve, I had swallowed the aphrodisiac my mistress prepared without a moment’s hesitation.

Li Huai frowned and moved to get up and dress. “I’ll… I’ll take you to His Majesty. Put your clothes back on!”

“But I already have someone I love.”

He sighed. “Once you enter the palace, you’re His Majesty’s woman, whether he favors you or not. Whoever this sweetheart is, you had better forget him.”

Even after two lives, I was still a little shy. I gathered my courage.

“It’s you I love.”

Li Huai went rigid. His face turned scarlet.

“But I’m… I’m a…

“You’re a young girl. You don’t understand anything.

“His Majesty is the only man in this palace. With your looks, winning his favor wouldn’t be difficult.

“And if you need it, I could help you a little…

“He may be much older than you, but becoming an imperial consort is a respectable future.

“Besides, I can’t do anything about that drug. I’m… I’m a eunuch…”

He kept talking, looking more and more downcast, his voice growing quieter with every word.

He still wouldn’t come a step closer. At the memory of all I had suffered in my previous life, my shoulders began to tremble. Great tears splashed onto his bedding.

The sight of me crying flustered him.

After a moment’s hesitation, he edged closer and tossed me a handkerchief. “Why are you crying? I haven’t done anything to you.”

I cried harder. “I’m scared. I don’t want to serve the emperor, and you won’t save me.”

We stared at each other for a long time. At last, Li Huai softened.

The emperor had compared my hands to opening peach blossoms. But to me, Li Huai’s hands were like exquisitely carved jade.

Long-fingered and strong.

He leaned close to my ear, a trace of exasperation in his voice.

“For pity’s sake, keep your voice down. Don’t let anyone hear.”