Chapter 2
Chapter 2
“This is actually very simple. I understand what Noble Consort Lin is thinking now.”
Late at night, in Fengyi Palace, Consort Liu explained it to me by the dim yellow candlelight.
“Here’s the thing. Your world is inside a novel-uh, what do you call novels in your world? You know, the kind where people write stories…”
“Storybooks,” I supplied.
“Right, you can think of it that way,” Consort Liu said. “And you are the Emperor’s white moonlight.”
“Do you know what white moonlight means?”
I did not, but I made an educated guess.
“A sweetheart from his youth. The first person for whom his feelings began to stir.”
“Exactly!” Consort Liu made that gesture again-sticking up her thumb. “That’s what it means!”
“In short, the women the Emperor falls for later all resemble you a little.”
“This novel is super cliché. Basically, a transmigrator ends up in the body of an unfavored consort, so she does her best to imitate the Emperor’s white moonlight. In the end, she becomes the ultimate winner in the palace intrigue.”
I understood.
I had found the reason Noble Consort Lin was imitating me, and I had also found the reason she wanted me dead.
As long as I lived, everyone who resembled me would be nothing but an imitation.
Only when the genuine article was completely shattered would the imitation have a chance to rise.
For the position of Empress, this woman, who had no feud or grudge with me, had decided to kill me from the very start.
I said to Consort Liu, “You are a righteous and generous soul, but I will not let you help me for nothing. If you have any wish, you may tell me.”
“Really?” Consort Liu hesitated. “Then I’m really going to say it?”
“Please speak freely.”
“I’m really saying it?”
“Go on.”
I gritted my teeth, hoping she would not ask for the Empress’s seat. If she truly did, then as long as my clan’s lives could be spared, I could perhaps…
“I’m really, really saying it?!”
“Just say it!”
Consort Liu opened her mouth with a grave expression.
“I want to touch some abs.”
A handsome young man stood before me, his black hair tied high, his brows and eyes as fine as a painting.
“Eldest Sister summoned me here in the middle of the night. What is the matter?”
“Your eldest sister is now in peril. There is something very important I need you to help me with.” I looked at the young man solemnly.
“Who dares harm Eldest Sister?” The young man immediately reached for the sword at his waist. “Zhuo’er will face ten thousand deaths without hesitation!”
This was my younger brother, Lu Zhuo, known as The Capital’s Most Beautiful Young Man.
“Do not get worked up just yet.” I beckoned. “Come here.”
Lu Zhuo strode forward.
“Remove your armor.”
Lu Zhuo immediately took off his gleaming silver armor.
“Take off your outer robe.”
With a swish, Lu Zhuo yanked off his robe.
“Very good. Now, lift your inner garment.”
Lu Zhuo looked at me with some hesitation, but still did as he was told.
I turned and asked Consort Liu beside me, “Is this what you wanted?”
Consort Liu’s face flushed scarlet.
What was going on? When I actually let her see, she became shy instead.
“Did you not want to touch them?”
“No, no, no.” Consort Liu waved her hands frantically. “Um… I was just saying stuff. Really… This is way too pervy.”
Like me, Lu Zhuo could not understand all the words Consort Liu used, but he could roughly grasp seventy or eighty percent of the meaning. He stared at me in shock.
“So Eldest Sister actually wants me to sell my looks?!”
“What is wrong with selling your looks a little?!”
I slapped the table.
“If Noble Consort Lin truly defeats us, the entire clan will suffer. How many people will lose their heads then?”
“What, are only we women allowed to serve others with our beauty? Is you men’s dignity worth more than gold?!”
Lu Zhuo was stunned by my scolding. He closed his eyes, steeled his heart, walked up to Consort Liu, grabbed her hand, and placed it on his stomach.
“Is this acceptable?”
Consort Liu hurriedly tried to pull her hand back.
“Yes, yes, that’s enough…”
But Lu Zhuo was unexpectedly strong, and Consort Liu could not pull her hand free. In the end, even I could not bear to watch anymore.
“Since you feel that is enough, then let that be enough.”
Lu Zhuo released Consort Liu’s hand, performed a proper salute, then put on his long robe and armor again.
“So long as Lady Liu can protect Eldest Sister, summon Zhuo’er whenever you need me.”
After Lu Zhuo left, I looked at Consort Liu and said softly, “Consort Liu?”
Consort Liu finally snapped out of her blush. “Oh, oh, I’m listening, I’m listening.”
She took a sip of tea to calm herself. “But what you said just now was way too exaggerated, wasn’t it, Empress? You’re the Emperor’s white moonlight. How could your family be in danger?”
I gently picked up my teacup. The heat of the tea seeped through the porcelain, but it could not warm my ice-cold palms.
“What you know is not the whole story.”
I lowered my voice.
“The person the Emperor truly loves is not me.”