Gold Medal Mediator [Quick Transmigration] 22p1

Chapter 22: The Empire This One Conquered For You (12-1)

Hua Baihe was enveloped in the steamy hot spring water, her mind completely blank, leaving only a few questions:

—Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

But Jiang Yao paid no mind to her daze. Unlike her usual teasing, ambiguous advances that left her spinning in circles, this time she came on strong and direct, determined to achieve her goal.

Once the authority and majesty of her high position were fully unleashed, it was impossible not to feel a sense of submission. Hua Baihe found she had no desire to resist.

Of course… she wasn’t actually very keen on resisting anyway.

The steam filled the hall, blurring every scene as if the act of ‘insubordination’ unfolding within was taking place on some deserted island, far from the strictly regulated imperial city.

A quarter of an hour later—

Jiang Yao looked at the utterly shocked and speechless handmaiden before her. She gave the poor soul no time to recover, instead pressing her advantage by leaning in and placing a light kiss on the tip of Hua Baihe’s nose.

At this moment, Hua Baihe was like a little chick that had fallen into the water. Her feathers were all soaked, and after being scooped out, she was left shivering.

Because the water level in the pool didn’t reach her chest, she couldn’t perform a dramatic kneel into the depths. Hua Baihe could only ask with a trembling voice:

“How… how could this be… Y-Your Majesty…”

Her gaze was a mixture of surprise and disbelief, her eyes wide as if this were all a dream.

In reality, she was secretly speculating. Logically, if Jiang Yao had been interested in her for a long time and had never been with the Emperor, why would she act on it now?

Her intuition told her it had something to do with the family letter Jiang Zhenhai had sent from the front lines.

But Jiang Yao seemed to enjoy her state of utter confusion. Though she was the one who was stark naked in the water, she was far more at ease than the fully clothed Hua Baihe.

She placed a hand on Hua Baihe’s right shoulder. The thin garment was already soaked through, revealing the pattern she had personally inked beneath.

Jiang Yao smiled and pressed her forehead against hers. The gentle facade of the past was gone, and a hint of mischievousness appeared in her ink-black eyes. She smiled and repeated Hua Baihe’s words:

“Yes, how could this be? Hmm?”

Hua Baihe clearly remembered the high and low sounds that had come from the inner chamber that night she was on watch.

That’s what she was thinking, and that’s what she asked.

Jiang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly, her hand moving to her collar as she said nonchalantly, “You mean that day?”

She paused, the smile on her lips reaching the corners of her eyes. Though she was usually a gentle and refined person, now that her true nature was exposed, she exuded a myriad of charms that made it impossible to look away.

Then, she tilted her head, leaned close to Hua Baihe’s ear, and whispered, “You mean this sound—”

“Mmm…” A low, restrained moan flowed into the handmaiden’s ear, then rose and fell, as melodious as the finest music.

It truly lived up to the line: the heavy strings strummed like a sudden downpour, the light strings murmured like a private whisper.

Hua Baihe’s entire ear went numb. She said to the System in a daze, “I suddenly want to recite a middle school text for you.”

The System, on the verge of collapse from this yet again derailed plot, noticed that Hua Baihe wasn’t as engrossed as last time. Thinking she had finally turned over a new leaf, it replied encouragingly:

“What text?”

The System thought, if the Empress insists on forcing her, I’ll just comfort Hua Baihe. After all, it’s a matter of status. I’ll be sure to arrange a less restrictive identity for her in the next world.

The next second, Hua Baihe cheerfully announced the title of the text: “‘Oral Skills.’”

System: “…”

Hua Baihe: “Oh no, I think I’m getting wet just listening.”

The System silently applied a voice changer to Hua Baihe’s voice, and every subsequent sentence that polluted its audio system was censored into ‘ribbit, ribbit, ribbit.’

Its world was finally harmonious.

**

But Hua Baihe’s night was just beginning.

She maintained her ‘too much information to process’ dazed expression. Inwardly, she was reluctant, but on the surface, she had to continue her act.

She took a sharp step back in the pool but, losing her footing on the slippery bottom, almost fell again. She frantically grabbed the side of the pool, her head bowed so low her face was almost in the water, her voice hoarse as she spoke:

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you mustn’t! If the old Lord and Lady Jiang were to find out, not even nine lives would be enough for this servant to repay! Your Majesty! Since you are with the noblest person in the world, you should serve him with all your might! H-how could you, to me…!”

Her voice rose, filled with a deep sorrow, as if she couldn’t understand how she had sparked this kind of ‘interest’ in Jiang Yao.

But that didn’t stop her from her direct admonishment:

“This servant is of humble status, and my death is insignificant. But Your Majesty must not, for this servant’s sake, become estranged from His Majesty. The entire court is eagerly awaiting the birth of the crown prince. Your Majesty, you must not be foolish—”

Hua Baihe was cut off halfway through by Jiang Yao. “The noblest person?”

Jiang Yao let out a low laugh, as if she had heard the greatest joke in the world.

Hua Baihe looked at her blankly, as if she didn’t know what she had said wrong.

“Qing Jia, you are mistaken,” the Empress said. “The noblest person in this world may not necessarily be him.”

In that instant, a possibility occurred to Hua Baihe:

Since Jiang Yao was reincarnated, she must have known about the future Di Rong war in the northwest and the invasion of Japanese pirates on the southeast coast. If she had made some moves in between…

Then, it wasn’t out of the question for her to have orchestrated the early outbreak of those events right after Liu Ye’s ascension.

By that logic, it was possible that even Liu Ye’s personal expedition was within Jiang Yao’s calculations.

But, what did she want?

‘The noblest person in this world may not necessarily be him.’

Could it be that Jiang Yao intended to… herself?

Seeing the astonishment in her eyes from the dawning realization, Jiang Yao smiled, then slowly waded through the water to her. She wrapped her arms around her neck and smiled openly at her.

“Clever.”

She praised.

But then, she gave Hua Baihe no more time for nonsense. Like peeling a bamboo shoot, she stripped off her outer clothes layer by layer and raised an eyebrow at her.

“This One will now grant you an opportunity to serve the future ruler of this world. You should be grateful, Qing Jia.”

As her handmaiden, Hua Baihe dared not defy the Empress’s command. But, under pressure from the System, she had to put on a show of a ‘last-ditch struggle.’

She trembled all over and boldly took Jiang Yao’s hand. “Your Majesty, w-why…”

Why me?

Jiang Yao let out a soft breath, turned her head, and bit her ear. It wasn’t until her entire ear was red that she spoke, “Have you forgotten the first time This One saw you?”

Hua Baihe was completely stunned.

Then she frantically sought help from the System. “System-boo! When did I first see the Empress? What was the backstory again?”

But the System, knowing that an R-18 scene was coming tonight, had already learned its lesson from last time and decided to avoid her post-mortem commentary the next day. It hadn’t yet lifted its censorship of her.

So, all the System heard was: “Ribbit, ribbit ribbit ribbit…”

Hua Baihe waited a few seconds for an answer, but got none. She froze in the water, but Jiang Yao continued, “You were the first servant by my side. From the moment you knelt before me and swore that your body and soul would belong only to me, that you would be loyal to me for life, I considered you my person.”

“You have always done well. But why, after Shen Qingyu entered the palace, did you all change?”

“I can forgive Liu Ye’s change. After all, he is destined to sit on the dragon throne. The three palaces and six courtyards will eventually become commonplace to him. This One had no intention of trusting him anyway. But you are different—”

“Qing Jia, why did you dare to take your eyes off This One, hmm?”

Hua Baihe: “…???”

How am I supposed to play this scene?

Now she seriously suspected the Empress had the wrong script. What happened to gentle and elegant? Why was she on a dark, villainous path?!

She couldn’t say a word. On one hand, she was completely shocked by everything she had heard tonight. On the other, she was blushing furiously from Jiang Yao’s actions. Her body, whether from being overly sensitive or something else, was now so hot it felt like it was about to melt.

She had felt something was wrong when the tattoo had been unusually painful, but she had no experience with tattoos and just thought it was normal.

Now it seemed her body was more sensitive than others, whether to pain, tickling, or… heat.

Jiang Yao gave her plenty of time to mentally prepare. Just as she was about to argue, she turned her head and sealed her mouth, which always seemed to say things that displeased her.

It wasn’t until she had stolen all her breath that Jiang Yao stroked the back of her neck and whispered softly:

“Since you have broken your promise, you should be punished, right?”

**

More than an hour later.

Huan Xi had been waiting in the side room for a long time but hadn’t seen the Empress and Qing Jia emerge, their relationship supposedly repaired. She was a bit bewildered. After confirming that she had been paying close attention to the movements there, she wondered in confusion:

Did I miss them? Did they already come out?

Or did Her Majesty summon Qing Jia inside to be rewarded with a bath as well?

But this was taking far too long.

Thinking of the many palace maids and eunuchs who had been rewarded with a bath in the lower hot springs by their masters and had fainted from staying in too long, Huan Xi hesitated for a long time before moving closer.

Hua Baihe had only latched the door when she went in, to keep the draft out, but hadn’t locked it. So, the moment Huan Xi approached the door, she heard faint, suppressed moans from inside.

She was startled, but then quickly thought, after all, His Majesty has left the palace, and Her Majesty has been alone in the Palace of Eternal Joy for over two months. Summoning Qing Jia to serve her seems… not entirely inappropriate.

But then she heard a rather desperate, choked sob from inside:

“Your Majesty, no, don’t—”

Huan Xi: “…!!!”

Did she hear that wrong?

Huan Xi shook her head. Before she could even reach the door, she nearly tripped on the steps. Just as she steadied herself, the door was suddenly opened from the inside.

The Empress emerged, wearing a loose, bright yellow soft robe, holding a person wrapped in a thin blanket in her arms.

Huan Xi was stunned for a moment but was met with a cool glance from Jiang Yao.

For some reason, she found that look extremely dangerous, different from the usual gentle aura around Her Majesty, so much so that her scalp tingled.

By the time she realized it, she had already knelt down respectfully.

Jiang Yao carried the person back to her own resting palace, her voice drifting back from a distance, “This One and the Empress Dowager are currently co-regents. If word of this gets out, you understand the consequences, don’t you, Huan Xi?”

Huan Xi was her servant; their fates were intertwined. How could she not understand Jiang Yao’s words?

Whether Jiang Yao had truly developed other feelings for her own handmaiden, or was simply using Qing Jia to relieve some stress, this was not a matter for a third person to know.

Huan Xi bowed her head low. Whether for the Empress’s sake, or for the sake of her friendship with Qing Jia, she decided to let this matter rot in her stomach forever. “This servant understands.”

**