“This servant does not wish to enter the Eastern Palace. I beg Your Majesty to grant me punishment!”
Inside the Fengyi Palace.
Shen Chao lay prostrate on the ground, while the Empress, seated high above, wore a look of displeasure.
The previous court had just established the Crown Prince, and the Empress intended to release a group of palace staff. Shen Chao had only just submitted her name when the Empress instead told her to serve as the Crown Prince’s bedchamber maid.
“The Crown Prince requires initiation in the matters of the bedchamber. Countless people are keeping their eyes on the Eastern Palace, hoping to stuff it with their own, yet I only trust my own people. You actually refuse?” The Empress’s voice was as majestic as a tolling bell, sending a heavy tremor through Shen Chao’s heart.
The Crown Prince was the future ruler, and outsiders often described him as gentle as jade, with noble character.
For an Attire Official like Shen Chao to be personally selected by the Empress to be the Crown Prince’s bedfellow was a stroke of immense fortune.
But in Shen Chao’s eyes, the Crown Prince was terrifying and sinister; going to the Eastern Palace would be like a lamb entering a tiger’s den.
Cold sweat broke out across Shen Chao’s back as she kowtowed. “This servant knows Your Majesty values me, but I have been in the palace for eight years and miss my mother dearly. Recently, news arrived that she is gravely ill. I only thought of leaving the palace so I could fulfill my filial duties at her side!”
As she finished speaking, Shen Chao felt a gaze from the shadows fall upon her, chilling her to the bone.
After a moment, the Empress let out a soft sigh. “You are indeed a filial child. Unlike me, who raised a debt-collector of a son.”
“I recall your father is Marquis Huaicheng?”
“Yes, my father is indeed Marquis Huaicheng.”
Although she was the daughter of Marquis Huaicheng, she was by no means a pampered young lady.
Her mother was merely a concubine of Marquis Huaicheng, and Shen Chao had struggled to survive under the thumb of the primary wife since childhood.
To her back then, entering the palace to become an official was the only way to escape the Marquis’s estate. Thus, she had begged the primary wife to submit her name.
Once one entered the palace gates, the depths were like the sea. The primary wife had thought she was going to her death.
However, no one expected that Shen Chao would not only survive in this deep palace but also become useful to the Empress.
Because she was useful, even her mother regained favor back at the Marquis’s estate.
“Marquis Huaicheng may be useless in other things, but he certainly produces many children,” the Empress said in a neutral, slightly sarcastic tone. She picked up a teacup from the table and took a sip. Looking down at Shen Chao, who was trembling and pressing herself as close to the floor as possible, she showed a bit of mercy. “Fine, go back for now. Before you leave the palace, make a few more outfits for me.”
Shen Chao’s heart, which had been hanging by a thread, instantly settled. She hurriedly kowtowed to thank the Empress for her grace and withdrew.
Once she had left, the Empress set the teacup down on the table with a sharp clack, signaling her annoyance.
“You heard that? She’s unwilling!” the Empress said, her tone sharp.
Xiao Yanli, who had been hidden behind the screen, stepped out slowly. He wore an apricot-yellow python robe with a jade belt cinched at his waist.
The Empress looked at him, her eyes filled with confusion toward her son and lingering anger toward Shen Chao for her perceived ingratitude.
But after looking at her son for a few more moments, her anger mostly dissipated.
Xiao Yanli had a brilliant, striking face. Only his phoenix eyes resembled hers; the rest of his features were very much like the Emperor’s. Perhaps because he was still young, his features hadn’t fully matured, giving him a slightly boyish and green appearance.
“Is Mother angry with me, or with Caichun?” Xiao Yanli asked ambiguously.
The Empress glared at him. “I simply don’t understand. Of all the palace maids I found for you, every one of them was beautiful and obedient, yet you looked down on them all. It’s one thing to insist on choosing for yourself, but you had to set your sights on someone by my side!”
The Empress had originally thought Shen Chao had seduced the Crown Prince. After all, Shen Chao was a capable official by her side, and the Crown Prince would always encounter her when he came to pay his daily respects.
But today, when she asked Shen Chao if she was willing to enter the Eastern Palace as a bedchamber maid, Shen Chao had refused outright.
There was no secret affair with her son, but the Empress was still unhappy.
Though the status of a bedchamber maid was low, once the Crown Princess entered the household, she would likely be promoted to the rank of Liangdi. Shen Chao was merely the concubine-born daughter of a declining Marquis’s house and was already twenty years old; could she possibly hope for a better marriage than this?
Entering the Eastern Palace was her best prospect, yet she had refused!
The Empress looked at her son again. Even though the youth lacked a full-grown man’s aura, his posture was upright and his bearing magnificent. Having been tutored by great scholars since childhood, his poise and temperament were top-tier.
Usually, when her son said even a few words to the young palace maids, they would blush furiously.
One might ask: how many maids in the palace didn’t want to be his bedchamber maid?
Yet Shen Chao had refused!
“Naturally, it is because those by Mother’s side are excellent that I value them,” Xiao Yanli said with a smile, though it did not reach his eyes.
“Aside from Caichun, is there anyone else you fancy? You are not young anymore. Other princes would have had their initiation long ago. I was only afraid of you hurting your body at a young age, which is why I delayed finding a maid for you. How is it that I am the one worrying now?”
Xiao Yanli picked up a tangerine from the fruit tray and began to peel it. “Mother, such things must naturally be done with someone who is pleasing to the eye. Some women—just looking at them makes me lose my appetite.”
The Empress refused to give up and asked, “Aside from Caichun, are there no other women who are pleasing to the eye?”
Xiao Yanli did not answer. He simply bowed to the Empress and withdrew.
The Empress was vexed, left to brood alone.
She knew the flesh of her own flesh better than anyone. Xiao Yanli had been raised with a temperament that wouldn’t stop until he reached his goal. Any object he took a fancy to would eventually end up in his possession.
Despite his young age, his schemes were so deep that even she, his mother, could not see through them.
Though she had promised Shen Chao that she could leave the palace when the time came…
Given her son’s temperament, there were a hundred ways to ensure she could never leave.
After exiting the Empress’s bedchamber, Shen Chao’s legs were so weak they wouldn’t stop shaking. Her heart was in a state of panic, yet she also felt the relief of a survivor.
“Caichun, what did Her Majesty want with you?” Zhixia, a fellow official, leaned in and asked. She was young and lively, curious about everything.
“It was nothing. I submitted my name to leave the palace, and Her Majesty called me over to make a few more outfits for her.”
“Heavens! Does that mean Her Majesty agreed to let you leave? That’s wonderful!”
Shen Chao made a shushing gesture. “Keep your voice down. Don’t let others know and get jealous.”
Zhixia immediately covered her mouth and continued her work.
Suddenly, a small palace maid ran over and shouted to Shen Chao, “Sister Caichun, His Highness the Crown Prince summons you!”