chapter 1

chapter 1

I stared blankly at the comments floating in the air.

[The emperor deserves an award. The supporting woman is still covered in blood, and he can actually pretend to love her. Poor guy.]

[The baby boy has Ming blood. Once the empress dies and his identity comes to light, the Ming clan will have no choice but to support precious Lulu.]

[Exactly! The emperor has gone to so much trouble just so Lulu can become empress. I ship them so hard!]

Pei Yangxi placed the baby girl in my arms. “She has your eyes and brows. One day, she will be a beauty capable of toppling kingdoms.”

The infant slept peacefully against my chest. Her features were remarkably plain.

If those comments were telling the truth, this child had been brought in from outside the palace.

That meant Wang Chaolu had never been pregnant at all. She had merely waited for me to carry a child for ten months, then switched the babies so she could claim my son as her own.

“My Ah Ci has worked so hard. Rest well for the next few months. Leave the palace affairs to Noble Consort Chu.”

[Aaaah! The male lead is so protective of his wife! He’s pushing Noble Consort Chu out to take the bullets for the female lead. That’s my man!]

[I love watching these women tear each other apart. Only baby Lulu remains pure and untouched, hee-hee.]

[This is hilarious. The female lead treats the noble consort as her imaginary rival while someone else is stealing her entire family right under her nose.]

So that was how it was.

I smiled serenely without exposing him. “The noble consort is far too delicate for such tedious work. I would hate to exhaust Your Majesty’s lovely beauty.”

Satisfaction flickered through Pei Yangxi’s eyes.

The comments were right. He delighted in watching the Chu clan and me fight.

He promptly threw another log on the fire. “Her father is the Grand Tutor. Scholars are bound to have a little pride. What harm is there in that?”

I feigned jealousy. “Her father may be the Grand Tutor, but mine is the Great General Prince. Your Majesty mustn’t favor one over the other.”

“If I favored her, would I have made you empress? You ungrateful little thing.”

More comments drifted through the air, every one mocking me for overestimating myself.

[If your family didn’t control the army, do you think he would have married you? You’re nothing but a stepping-stone.]

[Exactly. If the female lead’s family were stronger, she would have been empress from the start. What use would anyone have for this supporting woman?]

[The empress is unbelievably stupid. She’s still lost in her happy little dream. What a joke.]

[Once Lulu takes the throne and her son becomes crown prince, the Ming clan can finally die.]

Pei Yangxi and I played with the baby for a while. Impatience was already creeping into his eyes.

I knew when to stop and deliberately let fatigue show on my face.

It was precisely the excuse he wanted.

“Rest, Ah Ci. Lady Wang gave birth today as well. I should go and see her.”

His tone was impatient, as if he were visiting her only to preserve appearances.

Of all the women in the harem, Pei Yangxi supposedly disliked Lady Wang most.

She was a pure, fragile beauty with doe-like eyes that made anyone who saw her want to protect her. Pei Yangxi, however, claimed to find her weak and indecisive.

“The women I admire are dignified and splendid like Ah Ci, or dazzlingly beautiful like Yingqiu.”

Yingqiu was Chu Yingqiu.

Back when Pei Yangxi was crown prince, she had been his secondary consort and enjoyed boundless favor. If my father and elder brother had not repeatedly distinguished themselves in battle and pacified the realm, the empress might indeed have been Chu Yingqiu.

After Pei Yangxi ascended the throne, he made me empress and Chu Yingqiu a noble consort. The other women who had served him in his princely residence received only lesser ranks among the Nine Consorts.

Wang Chaolu alone appeared to have earned his distaste. She did not even receive one of those ranks and was made a mere jieyu, nearly invisible in the harem.

Yet now that I thought about it, although she was only a sixth-rank jieyu, she lived in the Palace of Lingering Immortals, the residence closest to Taiji Hall.

She occupied only a side hall, but the palace itself had been built by the late emperor for his most beloved Consort Zhuang. Every roof tile and timber spoke of luxury.

After Consort Zhuang was sentenced to death, the palace was left vacant, shadowed by its ill omen.

I had assumed Wang Chaolu had been placed there because she lacked favor.

Now I knew the truth was precisely the opposite.