Chapter 28: The Splendid Country Part 2

At the mention of her chest, Xiao Luo once again felt weak all over. She suddenly remembered what Xia Lingyu had done to her behind the screen.

Despite being the Empress, Xia Lingyu’s methods of dealing with her were utterly wicked.

“Your Majesty, it tickles~” Xiao Luo drew out her final syllable and nestled her head against the Empress’s neck, nuzzling like a clingy kitten.

Xia Lingyu caught her restless hands and said in a low voice, “Princess, if you keep this up, I will eat you.”

“But Your Majesty said you wouldn’t eat me.” Xiao Luo raised her head and gave her a sly, curved smile.

Xia Lingyu said, “Hm? Then I suppose I misspoke.”

So saying, she rose and carried Xiao Luo to the Dragon Bed, kissing her enticing lips.

Xiao Luo was kissed until breathless. She lifted a pair of glistening eyes and said, “Your Majesty, a gentleman’s word is as swift as a team of horses; it cannot be overtaken.”

Xia Lingyu braced her hands on either side of her neck, her long hair cascading from her shoulders. Her eyes flickered, deep and unfathomable. Hearing this, she smiled ambiguously. “I am certainly no gentleman, nor do I care to be one of those hypocrites.”

What was that about Liu Xiahui remaining unmoved even with a woman in his lap? That was just a lie.

If looks could devour, Xiao Luo would have been consumed completely.

Xiao Luo, unwilling to be outdone, reached out and wrapped her arms around Xia Lingyu’s neck, her gaze turning alluring and soft. “Your Majesty, you’re so bad~”

“The Princess surely likes this too?” Xia Lingyu laughed lowly…

An hour later, Xiao Luo’s eyes were red-rimmed. She cast a deeply resentful glance at Xia Lingyu.

It was truly too much. She was nearly dehydrated, yet Xia Lingyu still refused to eat her.

Xia Lingyu looked at Xiao Luo, who was like a ripened peach, very satisfied with tonight’s achievements. She wrapped her arms around her and lay down, saying, “Does the Princess want it very much? No, you must still endure. We’ll discuss it on your eighteenth birthday.”

“Why wait until that day?” Xiao Luo didn’t quite understand.

Xia Lingyu didn’t fully understand it herself. She attributed it to some sort of mysterious sense of ritual.

“Is the Princess getting impatient?” Xia Lingyu asked with a smile.

Xiao Luo’s breath steadied. “I’m not! It’s all Your Majesty’s fault.”

“The Princess is so adorable.” Xia Lingyu’s heart stirred, and she couldn’t help but kiss her cheek again, her eyes growing deep.

The first time she saw this princess, she only felt a strange familiarity. She couldn’t help wanting to observe her, explore her, to satisfy her own curiosity.

In less than a day, she had become increasingly infatuated with Xiao Luo. She even fantasized about their days together in the future.

She didn’t know whether such a thing was good or bad for her.

Before sleep, Xia Lingyu said, “Today, Prince Heng came to the Imperial Study to see me, saying he wanted me to bestow you upon him.”

Xiao Luo shrank closer and wrapped her arms around Xia Lingyu’s waist.

Sensing her clingy behavior, Xia Lingyu’s heart again surged with tenderness. She held her and continued, “I beat him up and docked him half a year’s salary. Right now, he certainly won’t dare leave his manor.”

Xiao Luo couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Her mood lifted greatly. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for standing up for me.”

Xia Lingyu said, “You are my woman. In this palace, no one dares to touch you.”

For several days in a row, Xiao Luo spent her nights at Frostfall Hall.

Each time, a sedan chair would carry her to Frostfall Hall, and the next day she would emerge in fresh clothes, glowing and exuding alluring charm.

Rumors flew through the palace—that she had used tricks to catch the Empress’s eye, that she was favored night after night without cease, and might even become the Empress’s sole favored consort.

Others said she was a Fox Spirit reincarnated, sent specifically to bewitch the Empress.

At Sweet Spring Palace, Xiao Luo sprawled lazily on the Imperial Concubine Couch, squinting as she enjoyed Chuntao feeding her grapes one by one.

Watching her so languid, Chuntao couldn’t help but worry. “Princess, are you sure you want to keep living by selling your body?”

Xiao Luo opened her eyes and knocked her on the head. “Silly girl, what nonsense are you spouting? Selling my body? How awful that sounds.”

Chuntao shrank back and continued, “Isn’t it though?”

In just a few days, Sweet Spring Palace had been completely transformed, as if heaven and earth had been remade. All the fine things were gifts from the Empress. But wasn’t the price paid too great?

Every time she saw the Princess bullied until her eyes were red and her limbs weak, she truly ached for her.

“Alright, I know what I’m doing. Don’t look at me like that.” Xiao Luo felt strange under that gaze. Anyway, she felt no shame; she was thoroughly enjoying it.

Her Majesty’s fingers were long and slender, and the pads of her fingers had a thin layer of calluses. Every time she kneaded her big white rabbits, it felt especially comfortable.

She thought that if those fingers were used elsewhere, it would surely be utterly intoxicating too.

Chuntao looked at the corners of Xiao Luo’s lips, which couldn’t help but curl upward, and couldn’t bear to look any longer. It was over. The Princess’s last shred of integrity was lost.

If the System could speak with her, it would surely tell Chuntao: Integrity? Don’t worry. Your master never had that thing in the first place!

A moment later, a familiar voice rang out in the courtyard: “Princess Xiao, the Empress Dowager requests your presence!”

It was Cui Momo’s voice. Hearing it, Chuntao’s face paled. She nearly lost her footing.

“Your Highness, Cui Momo is here to make trouble for us again.”

Xiao Luo said, “It’s not Cui Momo. It’s the Empress Dowager.”

She patted Chuntao’s arm and calmly rose. “Don’t be afraid. You stay in the palace. I’ll go and be right back.”

“Your Highness!” Chuntao called out to her, but she didn’t look back.

Xiao Luo stepped outside and was met with Cui Momo’s arrogant, aged face. This Cui Momo was an old Female Official and counted among the Empress Dowager’s people.

News of Xia Lingyu favoring her had likely spread through the Imperial Harem and caught the Empress Dowager’s attention. So the Empress Dowager had sent someone to deal with her, this Fox Spirit.

“Come along, Princess Xiao.” Cui Momo gave Xiao Luo a cold glance and let out a heavy snort through her nostrils.

She had originally thought that, fortunately, the Empress was a woman and wouldn’t be bewitched by such a seductive vixen. She never imagined Xiao Luo would still manage to enchant the Empress. She really was a Fox Spirit reincarnated.

Cui Momo had two palace maids escort Xiao Luo out of Sweet Spring Palace, all the way toward the Palace of Pure Tranquility, where the Empress Dowager resided.

Along the way, many palace maids and eunuchs saw Xiao Luo being escorted and pointed and whispered among themselves.

“See that Hostage Princess? She actually seduced Her Majesty and climbed onto the Dragon Bed.”

“Both women, how could they commit such an ethical transgression? A woman and a woman, how could they…”

“Tsk, the Empress Dowager tried so hard to find men to produce an heir for Her Majesty, but Her Majesty wouldn’t touch any of them. That’s already given the Empress Dowager enough headaches. Who would have thought a Princess Xiao would burst onto the scene midway?”

A group buzzed and chattered, gossiping incessantly.

Lin Qiao’er also happened to witness this scene. Her heart ached, and she bit her lip, holding back. Finally, she couldn’t endure it any longer. “Shut your mouths! If you keep wagging your tongues, I’ll report you to Chief Lady Fang!”

Chief Lady Fang was the Female Official who managed all the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace, and she was one of Her Majesty’s people.

They all promptly shut up.

A spark of inspiration flashed through Lin Qiao’er’s mind. Right! Find Chief Lady Fang!

So she immediately rushed in the direction of the Imperial Study…

Xiao Luo was brought to the Palace of Pure Tranquility. The moment she entered, Cui Momo shoved her to the ground.

“Empress Dowager, the Hostage Princess has been brought.”

Sitting within the hall was an elegant and noble woman who bore some resemblance to Xia Lingyu. This was the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager glanced at Xiao Luo, her eyes cold. “Her Majesty should establish an Imperial Consort, continuing the family line with a man. You, a woman, dared to seduce the Empress and obstruct Her Majesty’s lifelong matters. What crime do you plead?”

Xiao Luo smiled and raised her head to meet the Empress Dowager’s eyes, looking directly at her. “Why doesn’t Her Grace the Empress Dowager personally ask Her Majesty whether she likes men or women?”

Her own child, shackled since childhood and robbed of her freedom, and now even being forced to accept a man and bear children?

“Insolent!” Frost covered the Empress Dowager’s face. She slapped the table. “Cui Momo, slap her mouth!”

Cui Momo: “Yes!”

But just as she stepped before Xiao Luo and raised her hand, a pebble flew out of nowhere and struck her wrist, making her cry out in shock.

“Let’s see who dares?!” A dark, menacing female voice came from outside the hall. Then the Empress strode in, her pressure so overwhelming it was hard to breathe.

Everyone in the Palace of Pure Tranquility knelt and trembled uncontrollably.

Xia Lingyu kicked Cui Momo, sending her flying far away, then bent down and gently lifted Xiao Luo into her arms. “Princess, rest assured. No one can bully you.”

Seeing this, the Empress Dowager’s expression grew extremely ugly. “Yu’er!”

“Empress Dowager, I respect you only because you are my birth mother. Beyond that, I want no connection with you…” Xia Lingyu stared at her with icy eyes, as though looking at a stranger, making the Empress Dowager feel utterly suffocated.

“Yu’er, must you treat your mother this way? For this woman?”

Xia Lingyu said, “In my heart, she is far more important than Her Grace the Empress Dowager.”

She then smiled slightly, a trace of coldness flashing through her gentle eyes. “After all, it was Her Grace the Empress Dowager who taught me how to be a man. And isn’t a man supposed to like women? Now that I’ve learned, you should be pleased.”

Hearing these words, the Empress Dowager’s face drained of color.

Xia Lingyu turned back and said mercilessly, “The Empress Dowager needs to recuperate in peace. From this moment on, without my edict, the Empress Dowager is forbidden to take a single step outside. All palace servants in the Palace of Pure Tranquility are demoted three ranks and sentenced to ten strikes of the great board!”

Chief Lady Fang nodded and acknowledged, “Yes!”

…

“Your Majesty.” Though Xia Lingyu had carried Xiao Luo the whole way, Xiao Luo could see that she was deeply suppressed and anguished inside. She couldn’t help reaching out to touch her face. “Don’t be sad.”

The baleful aura around Xia Lingyu dissipated somewhat. Her eyes regained their gentleness. She put Xiao Luo down and said, “Did I frighten you?”

Xiao Luo shook her head, wrapped both arms around her waist, and said with aching heart, “No. Your Majesty is wonderful. It is I who have caused Your Majesty trouble.”

Xia Lingyu rubbed her head. “It was I who failed to consider things. And it’s a good thing I arrived in time. If you had been struck, it would have grieved my heart.”

This little face was too tender. Even she massaged it carefully. How could she tolerate anyone else striking Xiao Luo?

She thought for a moment, then said, “Princess, how about I make you my Imperial Noble Consort?”

Establishing an Empress required many formalities, far too troublesome. So she would first make her an Imperial Noble Consort.

With the title of Imperial Noble Consort, those in the palace would show Xiao Luo a bit more awe and respect.

“Mm. I am willing to be Your Majesty’s Imperial Noble Consort.” Xiao Luo smiled and leaned close, nuzzling her neck.

Xia Lingyu’s eyes were gentle. She couldn’t help but kiss Xiao Luo’s cheek.