Chapter 5

Consort Lin was sharp and eloquent. She needed to explain it only once for me to understand everything.

According to Zheng Xinyu, she came from a so-called modern age many years in the future. We were merely characters in a story she had read.

She did not know how she had entered that story. The only way out she could imagine was to spend her whole life with its hero, Qi Ke, as his one and only love.

“I specifically asked why she thought that was the only way out. She said all the stories she usually read were written that way, so that was what she had decided to do.”

“And she learned those methods of harming Your Majesty from something called a ‘palace drama.’ Clearly, she has never read anything worthwhile.”

In literary talent and learning, Jingyao stood among the very best in the palace. I knew well how she despised Zheng Xinyu, who misread simple characters and could not recite even half a book of poetry or scholarship.

“She wants the emperor to dismiss the Six Palaces and keep only her as empress.” As Susu added this, I slowly drank my pregnancy medicine. The more I thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.

I had thought such designs on my throne must spring from great ambition. I had even sent people to investigate whether she was a survivor of the former dynasty or an enemy spy.

Failing that, perhaps she came from a struggling family and hoped to lift her entire household to greatness through her own efforts.

I had never imagined that, in the end, all she wanted was to pair off with a man.

Let us suppose that everything she said about transmigration and novels was true.

To me, the months I spent carrying my children were real. More than ten years of love between Qi Ke and me had been real. And my struggle to survive in the depths of the palace, thanks to her, was real too.

As matters stood, she was the guest and I the host. With no divine powers to her name, she should have followed our rules. Instead, she had chosen the worst course: arriving here and refusing to live by them.

“No wonder she behaves as though no law applies to her. Even the people starving across Jiangnan meant nothing to her. She thinks we are objects without flesh or blood.” Jingyao and Susu both looked uncertain at my explanation.

I told them, “Whether we believe these fantastic claims scarcely matters. What matters is that she believes them. If I am to deal with her, I must know my opponent.”

She had stolen my favor, coveted my throne, and even tried to harm the child in my womb.

I had never meant to harm anyone. But since Zheng Xinyu would not leave me alone, since she insisted I would attack her sooner or later and used such filthy tricks against me, there was no reason for me to endure it any longer.

With all my power, could I really not deal with a frog at the bottom of a well?

By the time the crabapples waited for spring rain and pear blossoms lay white as snow, my pregnancy was beginning to show.

I went to the noble consort’s residence of my own accord, taking a box of red bean and yam cakes. I asked Zheng Xinyu’s senior maid to arrange them on a plate and bring them over.

Zheng Xinyu brought up Xiao Huaixin in a barbed tone. As one would expect of a childhood companion, she said, he guarded me very closely.

“Officials are only serving the sovereign who pays their salaries. You, dear sister, have what matters most—His Majesty’s favor.” Smiling, I patted her hand.

She looked at me in surprise. Seeing that I was more amiable than usual, she lowered her guard a little.

I asked whether she missed her home and offered her a yam cake.

Her guilty conscience made her fear I would turn her own methods against her. She did not take it.

She said she disliked cakes, then answered my question. “I missed home at first. But after spending so much time with His Majesty, I stopped missing it as much.”

“Now I’ve given him a son and a daughter. This feels like home.” Zheng Xinyu studied my expression. “His Majesty said I should settle here without worrying. He’ll protect me for the rest of my life.”

“The rest of your life?” I could not suppress a smile as I put the cake into my own mouth.

No one could be certain of tomorrow. How dared she believe a promise made of nothing but words?

“You really are his favorite. His Majesty has never said such things to anyone else.” My smile concealed its blade. I was stalling, waiting for the pain in my belly to begin.

“Has he never said that to Your Majesty?” Love and romance with Qi Ke were what interested Zheng Xinyu most. She even leaned forward to listen.

I held her gaze as the first threads of pain spread through me. “I don’t believe so. Are you curious about my past with His Majesty?”

Zheng Xinyu nodded. I bore the pain, a fine layer of cold sweat already gathering on my forehead.

I caught her and drew her close. My smile must have looked vicious. “All those countless ties that can never be pulled apart—all that history without which Qi Ke would no longer be Qi Ke. Do you really want to hear it, sister?”

A cramp struck. I flung myself backward and began screaming in pain.

Zheng Xinyu stared at me helplessly. Just as she put a hand on my arm, I deliberately toppled the other way, bringing the chair down with me.

“Help! Noble Consort Zheng is trying to murder an imperial child!” my senior eunuch shrieked. Xiao Huaixin arrived first with the imperial guards.

Without a word, he seized Zheng Xinyu and forced her to kneel before me.

She denied everything. I watched her coldly and, before Qi Ke could arrive, asked in a low voice, “Haven’t you wanted me to swallow an abortifacient for some time, sister? Now that you have your wish, why aren’t you happy?”