Villainous Emperor (24)
After this encounter, Song Xuyi finally understood: Jiang Ruoyu would not agree to let her leave the imperial bedchamber.
To maintain her pretense as an obedient palace maid, since Jiang Ruoyu wouldn’t let her leave the bedchamber, Song Xuyi didn’t insist and continued to stay: she figured that when Jiang Ruoyu eventually grew tired of her, she wouldn’t even need to ask – Jiang Ruoyu would probably drive her out of the bedchamber on her own.
Over the next few days, Song Xuyi continued to act meek and obedient, doing whatever Jiang Ruoyu said, while constantly flattering her…
Song Xuyi’s flattery was so exaggerated that sometimes even she couldn’t stand hearing it. If Jiang Ruoyu was to be called an incompetent ruler, then Song Xuyi thought of herself as the chief sycophant [a flattering court official] beside that ruler.
However, Song Xuyi didn’t understand what was happening. Perhaps it was because of Yinshen within Jiang Ruoyu had confused her mind. Before age fourteen, Jiang Ruoyu had been a clever and quick-witted girl, but the Jiang Ruoyu that Song Xuyi now interacted with seemed intoxicated by flattery. Whenever she heard Song Xuyi’s flattery, not only did she not feel disgusted, but her eyes would sparkle while looking at Song Xuyi, as if she truly believed the flattering words, and sometimes even blushed…
And seeing Jiang Ruoyu blush, Song Xuyi often couldn’t control the warmth rising to her own face and would blush as well.
Time passed quickly, and five days went by in a flash.
As time passed, Song Xuyi gradually felt a sense of crisis. She believed she had perfectly played the role of a sycophant, but not only had Jiang Ruoyu not grown tired of her, her gaze when looking at Song Xuyi had become increasingly clingy…
And Song Xuyi didn’t know what was wrong with herself, perhaps she had caught Jiang Ruoyu’s blushing habit, as she found herself blushing more and more frequently when seeing Jiang Ruoyu.
The sixth day was Jiang Ruoyu’s birthday.
On her birthday, she would ascend the altar amid the sound of maidens chanting prayers, receive blessings from thousands, and pray to the heavens.
Although Song Xuyi stayed in the rear palace, she had been paying attention to the situation in the front court these past few days.
This was Jiang Ruoyu’s first birthday since ascending to the throne, which should have been celebrated grandly. However, because of Jiang Ruoyu’s decree to arrange the marriage between Lin Zhu and Jiang Bai, Lin Zhu’s father was furious, believing this showed the puppet emperor’s disobedience. Therefore, except for Fu Sheng leading the Yinyue Sect in meticulously preparing the birthday celebrations, the officials and nobles led by Prime Minister Lin showed little enthusiasm for the event.
But Jiang Ruoyu showed even less enthusiasm than them, spending all day in the palace with Song Xuyi.
Until the day before Jiang Ruoyu’s birthday, Prime Minister Lin and others finally couldn’t sit still any longer.
Perhaps to maintain appearances, Prime Minister Lin came to the palace with an ashen face to inquire about the next day’s arrangements and procedures.
Jiang Ruoyu remained completely indifferent. As the nation’s prime minister, Song Xuyi had thought he would at least offer some advice, but Prime Minister Lin’s expression remained eerily calm and cold, barely exchanging a few words with Jiang Ruoyu before taking his leave.
Song Xuyi suddenly realized: in the original plot outline where Jiang Ruoyu would kill Prime Minister Lin, it wasn’t entirely due to incompetence. From the current situation, Prime Minister Lin showed almost complete disregard for Jiang Ruoyu, barely even bothering to put on a pretense – no ruler would tolerate such an insolent official.
Song Xuyi sighed: if things continued this way, there was no guarantee that Jiang Kingdom wouldn’t follow the path of internal strife as in the original plot. However, currently assuming Liu Yi’s identity, Song Xuyi couldn’t bring herself to advise Jiang Ruoyu.
After Prime Minister Lin left, Song Xuyi’s mood visibly dropped. She was never good at hiding her emotions, and Jiang Ruoyu naturally noticed all of this.
These days felt like a dream to Jiang Ruoyu.
She felt an unprecedented happiness in her heart, especially when hearing the little palace maid awkwardly flattering her. The girl’s words were amusing, and her guilty expression made Jiang Ruoyu’s heart flutter…
Since her earliest memories, Jiang Ruoyu had rarely felt such happiness.
The more they interacted, the more she grew fond of the little palace maid, wishing she could keep her by her side at all times…
But Jiang Ruoyu didn’t know why – perhaps because heaven had never favored her before – this happiness felt as illusory as a castle in the air, as if it might suddenly vanish one day.
What made Jiang Ruoyu even more uneasy was that she didn’t understand what was happening to herself. She had originally resolved to suppress her romantic feelings for Goddess Sister and live properly, yet she kept seeing Goddess Sister’s shadow in the little palace maid…
Could she really be someone changing one’s mind between three in the morning and four in the evening [fickle], not content with having the little palace maid by her side, still longing for Goddess Sister?
This made Jiang Ruoyu feel incredibly guilty and tormented: it was disrespectful to the little palace maid and sacrilegious to Goddess Sister.
Therefore, although Jiang Ruoyu had originally decided to confess her feelings to the little palace maid on her birthday, given her wavering heart, she abandoned this decision after much deliberation. She planned to wait until she had completely eliminated her yearning for Goddess Sister before revealing her feelings to the little palace maid.
Due to this guilt, Jiang Ruoyu became increasingly indulgent toward Song Xuyi.
She noticed the little palace maid’s silence after seeing Prime Minister Lin, and remembering how she had mentioned being saved by Lin Zhu, she secretly ordered an investigation into the relationship between the little palace maid and Prime Minister Lin’s family: if Prime Minister Lin had wronged the little palace maid, she would certainly help her seek justice.
To cheer up the little palace maid, Jiang Ruoyu put on the ceremonial robes meant for tomorrow’s birthday, applied light makeup, and took her to the highest mountain in the imperial city…
For tomorrow’s imperial birthday celebration, the imperial city was decorated with lanterns and colored banners. From the height, the entire city was brilliantly lit, creating a breathtaking view.
Jiang Ruoyu had arranged for some of tomorrow night’s fireworks to be set off early, taking the little palace maid to a secluded spot to watch them.
Amid the flowing lights and colors, Jiang Ruoyu saw the little palace maid’s gaze upon her, filled with both infatuation and joy. She couldn’t describe this look, but she seemed to understand why ancient emperors would light beacon fires for amusement [reference to a historical story of an emperor frivolously lighting warning beacons]. Her heart began racing uncontrollably, and this feeling carried into her dreams – after returning that day, she had an incredibly beautiful dream about herself and the little palace maid…
Before sleeping, Jiang Ruoyu prayed to Goddess Sister, as she had done on every previous birthday.
She couldn’t express those unspeakable feelings she had for Goddess Sister, yet desperately wanted to tell her about her current happiness. She didn’t even know exactly what she was saying—
“Goddess Sister, tomorrow I’ll be twenty-two. I think this will be my happiest birthday yet.”
“Please don’t worry, I understand your wishes. Jiang Kingdom won’t fall under my rule; it will prosper, and the people’s lives will surely improve…”
“I will work hard to fulfill your wishes.”
After Jiang Ruoyu expressed the determination she had long held in her heart, she still felt there was more to say. Somehow, she began talking about the little palace maid—
“The little palace maid is so endearing, she’s kind and gentle like you, but I know she isn’t you. Every time I see her, I feel incredibly happy. I think she must have some feelings for me too, otherwise she wouldn’t try so hard to awkwardly flatter me with sweet words…”
“These past few days, whenever I see her, I want to kiss her, but I’m afraid she’ll be shy. I’ve been holding back, though I don’t know how much longer I can…”
Perhaps because she had expressed her desire to be close to the little palace maid before sleep, Jiang Ruoyu had that romantic dream afterward. Song Xuyi didn’t know the content of Jiang Ruoyu’s dream, but just hearing her words was enough to make her want to abandon her horse armor [meaning: false identity] and flee in the night—
What should she do? Jiang Ruoyu hadn’t grown tired of her clumsy flattery; instead, she seemed even more obsessed…
Song Xuyi truly feared that on the next day, Jiang Ruoyu might get too excited about her birthday and impulsively kiss her, which would turn everything into an untangleable mess.
Moreover, amidst her worries, a voice in Song Xuyi’s heart quietly spoke, telling her that Jiang Ruoyu’s feelings weren’t mistaken. Although she didn’t want to admit it, after spending this time together, Song Xuyi had indeed developed feelings for Jiang Ruoyu: she would blush whenever she saw her, her gaze would unconsciously follow Jiang Ruoyu’s direction, and while much of it was due to being attracted to her appearance, facing Jiang Ruoyu’s endless indulgence, Song Xuyi had indeed begun to fall for her…
This can’t go on!
Song Xuyi told herself again: Jiang Ruoyu was her junior, and if she couldn’t control herself or maintain her resolve, Song Xuyi shouldn’t follow along in making mistakes. Now that the path of flattery and favor-currying wasn’t working, she had no choice but to try another way and continue with her original plan!
Although it was a well-thought-out plan, when the moment came, Song Xuyi felt an inexplicable hesitation in her heart. She spent the whole night tossing and turning without sleep, and when she woke up the next morning, she looked terribly pale. This startled Jiang Ruoyu, but after the imperial physician explained that Song Xuyi had no serious illness and just needed sleep, Jiang Ruoyu abandoned her plan to take Song Xuyi to the prayer ceremony, instructed her to rest well, and left alone.
For a long time afterward, the people of Jiang Kingdom discussed this imperial birthday ceremony. During the maidens’ prayer chants, a swift wind blew, and the emperor descended from the sky. Originally, the emperor was supposed to kneel and worship the ancestors, but as soon as she stood still, fresh flowers sprouted on the founding emperor’s tomb. Five-colored butterflies came from all directions, surrounding the emperor, and gathered behind her to form a crescent moon…
Everyone in Jiang Kingdom knew: the crescent moon was the symbol of Yinshen.
The emperor already had celestial beauty, and because of these miraculous signs during the ceremony, the common people became even more convinced: the emperor was Yinshen incarnate!
Everyone was awed by this sight, kneeling and crying out “Long live!”
Neither the Yinyue Sect nor the court officials and nobles had expected Jiang Ruoyu to win so much popular support through this single appearance.
The Yinyue Sect was fine with this, as Fu Sheng’s goal was the restoration of the Dong Kingdom. However, the officials and nobles led by Prime Minister Lin secretly ground their teeth in anger: they hadn’t expected to misjudge this previously unremarkable princess, who turned out to be the most formidable one…
But that was a matter for later.
Although she had gained popular support and strengthened her divine power as planned, Jiang Ruoyu wasn’t particularly happy. She had been worried about the little palace maid in her chambers, and after the ceremony ended, she hurried back to find that her beloved little palace maid’s complexion had improved.
The little palace maid smiled shyly at Jiang Ruoyu, saying she had a gift for her. She led Jiang Ruoyu through paths lined with flowers and willows [meaning: walking through a scenic garden path], arriving outside the palace where the prayer maidens lived. She took out a piece of paper and handed it to the expectant Jiang Ruoyu—
“Your Majesty, this is information I’ve collected about these maidens.”
“The Wang family’s younger sister has excellent embroidery skills and is extremely charming; the second daughter of the Liu family is delicately beautiful and writes with exceptional skill, her talent rivaling that of a top imperial scholar…”
It felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head, as Jiang Ruoyu’s smile gradually froze: so, the little palace maid’s birthday gift was to introduce other women to her?
…
Jiang Ruoyu’s lips curled into a mocking smile as she gazed at Song Xuyi with cold eyes, slowly pressing her lips together.
The author has something to say:
This small world will be completed tomorrow or the day after~
LP: Re-translated on January 04, 2024
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