Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I spent my whole life in the palace as a training matron, and Pei Yunruo was the first girl of her kind I had ever seen.

She was someone His Majesty had carried back from outside the palace.

A tiny face no bigger than a palm, pitch-black brows, eyes glistening as if wet with water-and most exquisite of all was that little peach-blossom mouth, set in that snow-white face like a single point of sunrise on an ink-wash painting.

Utterly elegant. Utterly alluring.

When she smiled at His Majesty, she could hook a person’s soul right out of their body.

They said His Majesty had met her at Guanyin Nunnery while offering incense.

Her parents were both dead, and she had been living in the Buddhist temple. The abbess had meant to entrust her to someone who could find her a good marriage. Who could have known the girl was so capable that she had already found herself a future on her own?

After several days of lovemaking at Guanyin Nunnery, His Majesty truly could not bear to part with her. He carried her all the way back to the palace and only considered the matter settled after personally arranging her accommodations.

To commit such depravity on sacred temple grounds-were they not afraid of soiling the Bodhisattva’s eyes?

I thought this with contempt in my heart.

But I was merely a palace maid. Though I looked down on Pei Yunruo’s sordid methods, I did not dare wag my tongue carelessly. I hid all my disdain and, on the surface, behaved with the utmost respect.

The moment Pei Yunruo entered the palace, she was showered with favor.

She was only a commoner girl, and upon entering the palace, she held the lowest, most humble rank of Cainü. Apart from the dark monastic robe she had worn in, she did not even own a plain silver hairpin.

But His Majesty’s favor was more than enough to overcome that.

If her family background was unremarkable, then he would ennoble it. Starting with her deceased parents, he posthumously honored three generations of her ancestors, forcing a scholarly lineage into existence for her.

Naturally, sensible court officials stepped forward to claim kinship and took her in as a foster daughter.

If she had no wealth, then he would bestow it.

Silks and brocades from the national treasury, rare treasures and precious curios-day after day, they poured into Pei Yunruo’s Qixiang Residence like the sea.

Within a single year of entering the palace, His Majesty had promoted her all the way to Jieyu, chief among the nine concubine ranks.

His Majesty had ascended the throne at a young age, and the position of Empress remained vacant. All matters great and small within the inner palace were handed over to Jieyu Pei to manage.

She was neither arrogant nor modest. Since His Majesty told her to manage things, she managed them properly.

All day long, she wore a bright smile. She dared to reward and dared to punish. With her rank standing highest in the inner palace, everyone gradually grew used to taking orders and doing their work under Jieyu Pei.

It was almost as if they regarded her as the Empress.

His Majesty, too, had more or less tacitly allowed it.

Whenever he looked at Pei Yunruo, his eyes always held that special light only the young possess-brilliant and clear.

He would prop his chin on his hand and watch Pei Yunruo. Watch her do anything at all. Watch her read, watch her write, watch her go over accounts.

Once in a while, Pei Yunruo would look up and meet his eyes, then laugh softly. “Why does Your Majesty keep staring at me like that?”

His Majesty would tilt his head and smile. “Because I like looking at you.”

The indulgence in His Majesty’s eyes was like the tide. Anyone who saw it would drown in it.

Anyone except Pei Yunruo.

As her personal female attendant, I saw it very clearly.

Even at the height of their passion, Pei Yunruo did not love His Majesty.