Chapter 464 - Proper Palace Intrigue (3) (2/2)
Or…could it be that she’s just trying to catch my attention?’
“It’s an heirloom recipe of my family’s. It’s really effective, so it’ll definitely be able to cure the young prince’s ailment.” Naturally, Lu Ruo didn’t have any ‘family heirloom recipe’—she was relying on her system.
She figured that she could find a way to endear herself to the little prince first before approaching Yuwen Xun.
Of course, the most imperative thing now was to be spared from the 30 strokes.
“What nonsense! How could a palace maid like you treat the young prince?!” De-gonggong snapped in his high-pitched voice. “Your Majesty, this maid is simply too undisciplined! This one thinks she should be put to death!”
Lu Ruo, “…” ‘What a wicked eunuch, to call for my head the moment he speaks! Wait till this big sis becomes your superior! See how I’ll deal with you then!’
“Your Majesty, the little prince has been suffering from this ailment since he was young. The doc—the physicians don’t dare to properly treat him because they’re afraid the herbs will be too strong for him to handle. But my heirloom formula is definitely harmless!” Lu Ruo patted her chest and promised. “If it’s no use, I’m willing to atone with my life!”
‘Yuwen Xun should believe me now right?’
“If anything happened to the little prince, what use would that be?”
Lu Ruo shot De-gonggong a subtle glare. ‘This damned eunuch! Just how have I offended him?’
……
Shi Sheng looked at the blurred figures through the plum forest. ‘Oi, ML-sama, your Shu Fei’s about to freeze to death and you’re still dallying with the FL? Have you even considered your beloved concubine’s feelings?’
“This palace maid is really quite daring…” The concubines at the side started discussing. “She actually dares to have designs on the young prince! If anything happened to him, she wouldn’t be able to atone even if she had several lives to lose!”
The little prince’s mother was the deceased Empress. She had died while giving birth to him—there was pretty much nothing to be done about excessive blood loss in this time period.
The little prince had fallen into a frozen pond when he was two years old, which resulted in a long-term ailment.
“If you wanted to seduce His Majesty, at least pick a smarter option…”
“A petty palace maid wants to seduce His Majesty? What nonsense!”
“Jiejies, don’t you find that she looks rather familiar?” One of the concubines finally caught on.
“She does indeed.” Another concubine agreed. “But I can’t remember from where…”
“Isn’t this that An Jie Yu[3]? You know, the one who broke Xian Fei-jiejie’s mandarin duck jade pillow?”
Lu Ruo had been sent to the cold palace for breaking Xian Fei’s mandarin duck jade pillow. Since it had been a gift from the Emperor, breaking it was an act of great disrespect.
Lu Ruo had actually caught the Emperor’s interest when she first entered the palace. She’d not only been given the rank of Jie Yu but also a title, An.
Although this wasn’t the first time someone got this treatment even before they served the Emperor, it was still something that stirred envy in the hearts of others.
These concubines were all afraid Lu Ruo would earn the favour of the ML. Fortunately for them, some things happened after that made the ML too busy to visit women, so he forgot about Lu Ruo.
Hence, the An Jie Yu who had been awarded a title but never had the chance to serve the Emperor became a thorn in the sides of certain people, who had to get rid of her to feel secure.
“Wasn’t she in the cold palace? Why is she here?”
“She snuck out of the cold palace and still dared to show herself to His Majesty? This An Jie Yu is really bold!”
“What do we do now ah?”
“Gui Fei-jiejie…”
The group of concubines all turned to look at Shi Sheng, who had just been watching the drama unfold.
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘What’re you looking at me(bbb) for? I(bbb) just wanted to watch a show in peace.’
[1] Jie Yu is a rank in the imperial harem that has no direct translation. I’d know, I tried looking for one. In the end, I settled on pinyin for all the harem titles. Hopefully it’s not too confusing. I’ll include a section in the glossary to break down the hierarchy for those who need it to keep track of who’s higher than whom.
[2] I regret searching up what this is. You have been warned:
[3] That’s two different nouns that don’t really translate well into English. An, or “安” means peace/stability and is a common title handed out to nobility but it is not a rank. Meaning they are stylised as An (rank). Sometimes it is paired with another word like Ping, or “平”, or just some other adjective-ish character. I think the intention behind it is to wish them to embody said attribute.