“Song Yun Chu, you despicable, shameless dog! You deserve to be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!”
Hearing the shrill curses in her ear, Song Yun Chu’s steps faltered for a moment, and her brow twitched slightly.
It had only been ten days since she arrived in the world of this book, and she had already heard herself being called a “dog” dozens of times.
The Imperial Study was not far ahead. Just as Song Yun Chu was about to order someone to drag away the military official cursing her from behind, the red-robed female attendant by her side flickered and appeared before the man, kicking him in the chest.
“Insulting the Prime Minister is unforgivable. It would not be excessive to execute you on the spot. Men!”
At the woman’s command, several guards converged, and in an instant, six or seven longswords were pressed against the man’s neck.
Song Yun Chu quickly intervened, “Wait!”
The woman in red turned her head, her face filled with confusion. “Prime Minister, you wish to spare this man’s life?”
Song Yun Chu said, “Just take him into custody for now. This Prime Minister still has questions for him.”
The guards dragged the man away. Even as he was being hauled off, his eyes remained bloodshot as he roared curses, “You dog! Go on and kill me! I won’t let you go even as a ghost!”
Song Yun Chu sighed inwardly. Just as she turned around, she overheard two of her subordinates whispering behind her—
“This man truly has a foul mouth.”
“The Prime Minister wants to question him, so we’ll have to leave his tongue intact. Subject him to waterboarding and the nail torture. Let him have a taste of a fate worse than death.”
Song Yun Chu’s expression changed slightly. She quickly turned back and added another instruction, “There’s no need for torture. Just keep a close watch on him!”
The two subordinates were taken aback for a moment before replying in unison, “Yes.”
The man had been so insolent, yet the Prime Minister was exempting him from punishment. Could it be that he possessed some extraordinary quality?
Song Yun Chu saw the confused yet fearful-to-question looks on her subordinates’ faces and turned away expressionlessly.
It was no wonder they were surprised. The original owner of this body was the Right Prime Minister of the current dynasty, a woman who had disguised herself as a man to serve in the court. She was typically black-hearted, ruthless, and utterly unscrupulous.
Ten days ago, she had been scrolling through a novel app at night when her hand slipped and she opened a book titled Tangled with the Wicked Prince, My Beloved Consort, Don’t You Flee. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the character list in the summary, where she saw a character with the same name as her. On a whim, she started reading.
It was an old-school, angsty romance novel tagged with “chasing the wife to the crematorium.”
The male lead abused the female lead physically and emotionally, making it a headache to read. Her anger reached its peak when she read the part where the villainous Prime Minister Song, who shared her name, was stripped of her post and exiled for treason by the emperor, only to be later shot to death by a volley of arrows led by the male lead, Prince Yi.
How could this courageous and resourceful major villain die at the hands of the male lead she despised the most?
To vent her dissatisfaction, she, who was usually too lazy to even write reviews, spammed the book with countless complaints.
The original author replied under her very last comment: Dear, why don’t I give you the pen and you can write it?
When she woke up, she had become Prime Minister Song from the book.
She had reason to suspect that the author had cursed her into it.
As she was about to reach the Imperial Study, the Head Eunuch trotted over to her and said in a low voice, “Lord Song, His Majesty was attacked by assassins on his way back to the palace this morning. Although the dragon’s body is unharmed, the assassins were not caught. His Majesty is in a terrible mood. It’s already afternoon, and he still refuses to eat. Could you please go and persuade him?”
Song Yun Chu remained silent, maintaining her aloof facade as she continued forward.
The superficial relationship between Prime Minister Song and the emperor was a consistent theme throughout the novel.
In the early stages of the novel, Prime Minister Song was the ceiling of martial prowess, only to be surpassed by the male lead in the middle and later stages. She was highly regarded by the emperor for helping him seize the throne. However, this emperor, who appeared frail, sickly, and harmless, and was never without his medicine, was in reality just as insidious and ruthless as Prime Minister Song.
In the eyes of the world, the emperor saw Prime Minister Song as his right hand. Not only did he make an exception by creating an additional prime minister position for her, thereby dividing the power of the veteran Prime Minister Liu, but he also entrusted the palace’s most important intelligence agency, the Mirror Reflection Bureau, to her. This gave her the authority to monitor the words and actions of all civil and military officials, and to arrest and severely punish anyone who misbehaved.
As a reader, Song Yun Chu naturally understood that this was a case of being praised to death.
The mere thought of the upcoming plot where the emperor and Prime Minister Song would turn against each other, with that lunatic male lead chasing after her to land the final blow, made her eyelids twitch.
Stepping into the Imperial Study with a somewhat melancholic heart, she looked ahead and cupped her hands. “This subject pays his respects to Your Majesty.”
The man behind the imperial desk was as handsome as a painting. His fair, jade-like face was perennially tinged with a sickly pallor, but the beautiful phoenix eyes beneath his long lashes were remarkably clear. When his gaze met hers, they were gentle and harmless.
“Yun Chu, no need for formalities. Please, sit.” Jun Li Luo said in a warm voice, then turned to instruct the Head Eunuch to bring the fruits and fine wine that Song Yun Chu loved.
Song Yun Chu sat down before the imperial desk, complaining internally.
[Heh, if I didn’t already know your character setting, I’d really be fooled by this harmless act of yours.]
Jun Li Luo’s hand, holding a brush, paused. He glanced up at Song Yun Chu.
“Yun Chu, I was attacked this morning. Although I escaped unscathed, the assassin was not caught. I was just thinking, if you had been there, that assassin would surely not have escaped. It seems I cannot be without you. Next time I travel, will you accompany me?”
Song Yun Chu resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
[This is really hard on the dog emperor, being able to say such cheesy words.]
She adopted a steady tone as she replied, “To be able to accompany the imperial carriage is this subject’s greatest honor. In the future, as long as this subject is present, I will certainly not allow any miscreant to harm Your Majesty.”
“I am most at ease when Yun Chu handles matters… cough cough!”
Jun Li Luo hadn’t even finished his sentence before he covered his lips and let out a few coughs.
Seeing this, Song Yun Chu quickly stood up and handed him the teacup from the imperial desk. “Is Your Majesty’s throat feeling uncomfortable? Perhaps we should summon the imperial physician to have a look.”
Jun Li Luo took the teacup while still coughing.
Just as the tea entered his mouth, he heard Song Yun Chu’s silent complaint once more—
[This dog emperor is such a good actor. He clearly knows martial arts but insists on acting like a frail maiden all day long. If you could crawl out of this book, I’d get you into the entertainment industry. Winning Best Actor would be just a matter of time.]
Jun Li Luo: “…”
He calmly swallowed the tea and gave Song Yun Chu a faint smile. “It’s nothing, just an old ailment. The imperial physician has instructed that I just need to take my medicine on time.”
Having listened to Song Yun Chu’s inner voice these past few days, he had grown accustomed to the strange words she occasionally came up with.
He himself had been shocked when he suddenly acquired this ability.
It had happened at the palace banquet ten days ago.
As he and the officials were enjoying the song and dance, a stream of muttering suddenly entered his ears.
[This Gilded Fortune Crab is so delicious. The delicacies described in the book were no lie.]
[This Hibiscus Pearl Cake and plum wine are a perfect match. As expected of the imperial kitchen!]
It was Song Yun Chu’s voice.
Song Yun Chu ate these things all the time, so why would she be praising them so much?
Just as he was feeling curious, he heard Song Yun Chu ramble on—
[Tsk, to highlight the female lead’s singing and dancing skills, the author just used the words ‘dull and boring’ to describe the palace banquet’s performance. Now that I’m a character in the book, it really does feel boring.]
[This girl is so pretty, but this tune is really not to my taste. I could sing better.]
[Wind blows the sand, butterflies love the flowers, a timeless tale~ Like the moon in the water, infatuated with the flower in the mirror~]
Hearing Song Yun Chu actually start singing, Jun Li Luo was incredulous and subconsciously looked down to his right.
From his position, he could see Song Yun Chu’s calm profile. She clearly hadn’t opened her mouth!
But the singing continued—
[That midsummer, you packed your bags and left home, by the ancient road, my tears fell before I could speak~]
He felt that something was amiss and called out, “Yun Chu!”
Song Yun Chu turned to look at him at the sound of her name.
“What are Your Majesty’s orders?”
[Why is the dog emperor looking at me with such a strange expression? I don’t think I’ve provoked him, have I?]
Jun Li Luo’s pupils constricted—
Dog emperor?