Chapter 45 (Part 1) (2/2)

“I can draw up the official doc.u.ments tomorrow,” he conveniently drew closer to speak, laughing. “The imperial palace rushed to make some clothing to wear for the grand ceremony. It was a little hasty, but you should try them on and see if they fit.”

Ah…

A young eunuch wordlessly walked before me, kneeling while he slowly opened a wooden box. I quickly s.h.i.+elded my eyes with my hands…squinting as I peered over. I could only see a lifelike phoenix coronet[2], glistening and glittering yellow.

This was too much, right?

I took a deep breath.

Before I’d recovered, a circle of court ladies helped me off the bed and someone said in a low voice, “Master, please change clothes. This was carefully selected by his Majesty and only finished after multiple altercations.”

I felt a little dazed.

Did the emperor need to personally concern himself with such things? He only smiled harmoniously, the lamplight making him eminently handsome and filling his face with warmth. I stood blankly for a second, glancing at the servants’ deferential forms as they held various items above their heads.

A slim and graceful red robe was spread out before the bed. There was also a thicker outer robe made of some unknown material that made the embroidered gold dragons seem especially solemn. I could estimate that there were seven or eight layers of robes without even counting the beautiful collection of jade ornaments and gold hairpins.

The sight stupefied me.

These things were far from the rank of a paltry concubine, but nearly on par with the empress herself…the robes were quality robes and the gold was quality gold…so dazzling that my eyes were seeing afterimages. He leaned against the bed, comfortably observing my expression with a hand propped beneath his head, playing with his ring. A gaze like that made my back turn numb.

Perhaps they’d caught the emperor’s hint, but a few court ladies surrounded me and opened up my arms, preparing to take off my outer robes.

“There’s no need to trouble you, I’ll do it myself,” I declined.

“How could we tire out the imperial concubine? Zhen should take charge of such a thankless job,” a voice as warm and mellow as wine came from behind me, carrying it with the hints of a smile.

Not good.

Someone hooked around the edge of my collar and tugged. The sash that was wound tightly around my waist loosened as he took off a large portion of my outer robes. He drew closer and pulled me into his embrace, a finger resting on my remaining white inner robes as he smiled. “Usually, Zhen has others serving him. How about I serve you today and help you with your clothes?”

—

What kind of service was this? He’d mixed up the differences between “stripping” and “taking off” one’s clothes.

“Your Majesty…”

“Un?”

I looked down at the finger currently digging its way into my inner robes.

“This doesn’t need to be taken off if I’m trying on the outer robes.”

“…true.” he gave an embarra.s.sed smile and withdrew his reckless wolf claws. I covered myself up with the inner robes. It was a little chilly with the wind blowing, though the scent of incense was strong as ever indoors. The court ladies looked like they wanted to laugh, but held it in as they surged over, taking off the rest of my outer robes. The bright red robes were spread out and brought over…catching the light, it seemed to reflect dark red threads within the cloth.

I was a bit out of it as the hustle and bustle continued. The only thing I noticed was his exceptionally delighted expression.

In that moment of inattention, a smooth but slightly chilly fabric pa.s.sed over my fingers. When I came back to my senses, they’d already dressed me up. Surrounded by the bright red, my pale-skinned face seemed to reflect some of its jubilant cheer.

And then came another layer.

They turned me back and forth as they piled countless layers on me. These clothes looked fairly light, but their combined weight was enough to make it difficult to breathe and even move around in. Such a gorgeous set of robes. Pretty as they were…was I really expected to wear them when my t.i.tle was conferred on me?

My heart sank, and my scalp seemed to turn numb.

Standing before a bronze mirror, dressed resplendently with my hair hanging loosely about me, I looked nothing like the usual. Instead, there was a fatal attractiveness about the golden robes and scarlet red fabric lining my throat. The corners of my eyes rose slightly, and even my pupils seem to s.h.i.+ne with a softer, more graceful light.

I supported myself against the table and took a deep breath.

With a wave of a hand, an eunuch followed me with head bowed, raising a trousseau filled with glittering head ornaments and hairpins.

“Master, your required accessories.”

Tch, a joke…it’s not like they were conferring the t.i.tle on me today. I’m not going through with that kind of suffering. How many jin were those things?

Though they did look expensive and refined…

I circled around the box a few times, bending down to stare at that exquisite phoenix coronet. If I could, I’d pick it up and bite it with my teeth. It was probably pure gold. Turning towards the emperor, I spoke. “Your Majesty, does everyone have to wear these when they’re conferred a t.i.tle? It’s so heavy.”

I dragged my tediously long robes behind me as I approached him. Maybe I was tired, because I stepped on the hem of my clothes on the way and felt a little cold…

When I looked down, I realized someone had taken off my shoes without me noticing. In the chaos, I hadn’t noticed a thing until now. I stepped onto a mat placed on the ground, feeling my cold toes grow a little numb.

“The rest of you are all dismissed.” The emperor, who had been sitting with amus.e.m.e.nt on a soft cus.h.i.+on all this time, finally spoke. The retreating steps were so soft, there was barely any sound until the doors to the room shut, startling me.

The atmosphere immediately became extremely strange as the lights in the room dimmed. The golden lotus incense burners emanated thin trails of smoke that rose in the air, no longer buffeted by the breeze. Their ambiguous scent hovered in the air.

He slowly got off the bed and walked towards me, resting his hand on my shoulder. Before I could react, he’d lifted me up into his arms. Smiling, his gaze was firm as he took me to the bed and placed my stiff body there. I furrowed my eyebrows, but before I could curl up, his hand crept into my robes and found my feet, placing them on his legs. Those large, coc.o.o.n-like hands held my feet until they turned warm and numb to the point that my toes wanted to curl up.

He asked with a light smile, “Are you warm?”

Not just warm, but super comfortable. I was almost on the verge of crooning.

My entire body was warm, yet he didn’t stop. Head lowered, he took the time to play around with my toes. It was very strange…even doing things such as this, he didn’t lose a bit of a monarch’s natural poise or bearing. A sentence suddenly appeared in my mind: if the first place a man touches is your feet and he treats it like a treasured jewel, then he’ll truly love you.

Or in other words…he’d be a considerate husband.

But I couldn’t remember where I’d heard these words from, no matter how I tried.

My hair…and my ears both itched. I recovered my senses as my lips grew warm from his kiss. A figure pressed down against me, pressing me to the bed. Though the light was behind him, I could still make out his gentle face. I was a little dazed as I sputtered.

“Y-y-you…what are you doing!?”

-o-

[1] reign of terror (腥风血雨) －xingfeng xueyu, literally “foul wind and a rain of blood.”

[2] phoenix coronet (凤冠) －fengguan, crown worn by an empress or imperial concubine, also used formerly as a bride’s headdress. Very heavy!