Chapter 1
On my first day here, I was sweeping when the Empress’s procession came straight toward me. My mind went blank, and I forgot to kneel.
Heavens above, I was such an idiot. Game over before it had even begun!
“Impudent slave! Why have you not knelt before Her Majesty?” The senior matron beside the Empress snapped and strode over to slap me.
I was too frightened to move, much less speak.
I was still debating whether to kneel first and then cry, “This servant knows her fault,” or apologize first and kneel afterward.
“Stop!” Just before the matron’s palm landed, the Empress intervened.
She ordered the eunuchs to lower her palanquin and walked toward me, her pregnant belly prominent.
“Perhaps there is more to this.” The Empress glanced at me, then signaled her personal maid to investigate.
“Your Majesty, someone poured oil over the stone path ahead! Even after sweeping, it would be far more slippery than an ordinary path. Someone means to harm the imperial child!”
The maid rushed back in alarm. Palace maids and eunuchs dropped to their knees in scattered rows. I hurriedly followed suit, trembling all over.
“Investigate! Turn the palace upside down if you must, but find the vicious soul behind this!” The Empress’s phoenix eyes blazed with fury, yet softened when they turned to me.
“To think there was such a bold and perceptive maid in this harem. What is your name?”
“Your Majesty, this servant is called Ah Shuang,” I answered with lowered eyes.
“By my decree, Maiden Ah Shuang is appointed a first-rank supervising maid of the Palace Administration Bureau and shall oversee all its affairs.”
On the very first day of my transmigration, I became a supervising maid. Absolutely baffling—and bafflingly wonderful.
Now I sat in a senior maid’s quarters by candlelight, calculating each consort’s allotment for summer clothing.
Seriously, who could understand my pain? I’d landed a government job on day one. Didn’t that make me even more likely to die?
The Empress truly was terrifying. A supervising maid was the easiest person in the palace to frame. Death by a thousand cuts—that was the real danger.
Early the next morning, sporting two enormous dark circles, I delivered clothes to every palace.
After running around all morning, I was so hungry I saw stars and nearly collapsed.
At last, I reached my final destination: the Empress’s Phoenix Ceremonial Palace.
The Empress amiably stroked the fabric in her hands, then turned to me. “Ah Shuang rendered meritorious service yesterday, yet I have not rewarded you. Since we meet today, tell me if there is anything you desire.”
I had spotted the plate of osmanthus cakes on her table first thing. Beaming, I knelt. “Your Majesty, this servant has one presumptuous request.”
The Empress’s expression changed at once, her phoenix eyes narrowing.
“May this servant taste the osmanthus cakes on your table?”
I received special permission to sit in the inner chamber, sipping cool tea and eating osmanthus cakes.
“Cough, cough!” I ate too quickly and choked.
I hastily washed it down with tea. But why was it so bitter? Why did it taste so strange?
Before I could figure it out, a dull pain twisted through my stomach, and I lost consciousness.