The harem has always been known as a gilded cage that Xiu Zhao was never eager to join as the only di daughter of her father's household she has to enter. Yet she is prepared to not only protect herself but find a stable position to protect her.
How...
Xiu groaned as she sat up, her head was pounding the antidote had worked the headache was the biggest indicator. As she looked around the room, she saw the Imperial physician staring at her in awe. Before he quickly took her pulse and nodded before racing out of the room.
It took a few minutes before the Emperor came rushing in and engulfed her in a hug "Beloved the plan worked" he whispered softly in her ear as he held her in his arms yet something felt wrong looking at the Emperor and glancing out of the window she realised what was wrong.
"Where is the Imperial Noble Consort's ship?" her voice soft and gravelly as she struggled to speak Daiyu seemed to hear her mistress's voice and immediately appeared and served her mistress. Xiu looked at the cup and slowly drank the cool yet sweet drink before turning back to her husband who only placed a kiss on her head and then left.
Daiyu took over from there helping her bathe and dress before styling her hair and gently guiding her mistress out of the ship and into the area they had gathered to eat. Many gasped when she entered and immediately got to their knees. What was going on why were they bowing to her? As Xiu was guided to her seat the Emperor instructed them to rise. Beside him, the Empress Dowager smirked while Noble Consort HuiXian had no idea what was going on she did after all there was no longer a head of the harem and the candidates for the position were quite clear but only one of them had both the backing of the Harem and the Court.
The Emperor watched as his beloved sat in the place of the Empress and Imperial Noble Consort and rose to his feet "Noble Consort HuiXian has given birth to three princes and a princess, she is the adopted mother of the fourth prince. She is virtuous and filial living up to all her duties as a wife and child. She has been the best example of a proper consort and wife as such I promote her to Imperial Noble Consort HuiXian until an auspicious date for her ascension to Empress is chosen".
The ministers immediately bowed and accepted the verbal decree while Xiu stared at the Emperor in shock before doing her bow and accepting the words of the Emperor. Why was he making her Empress had something happened for him to be able to wipe his previous Empress from the records?
Sensing her confusion Noble Consort Zhi leaned a bit and quickly explained what had transpired the previous night. Xiu could only sigh in disappointment she had thought that Zhi Jin had a brain, but the woman had only disappointed her deep meaning. Xiu then plastered on a small smile and pushed through the rest of the feast before leaving with the other women of the harem when the Emperor dismissed them.
She did not need to stay for the court matters as she was still recovering, she did give the ministers and the Emperor an encouraging smile before leaving. As she walked with the other women, she carried on polite conversation until she was only left with her inner circle, The three women followed her into her ship and sat down. "Did you know he would declare me to be Empress?" she asked the others with a small frown that only grew when all three nodded.
Turning to her sister she glared "Liling you are supposed to back me up" She watched as her sister giggled and then rubbed her bump before softly speaking "This is the best decision" Xiu raised an eyebrow before turning to Consort Zhang who smirked and leaned back drinking her tea.
"She is right we will need the help in the harem soon" Xiu knew they were right but something did not add up "Then why not Noble Consort Zhi?" the said woman gently placed down her tea and sighed "No, the empress and emperor are expected to grow in love and be the example to all couples of a good husband and wife. I am the woman who was meant to be his wife's advisor I am the friend I chose this life to escape horrors I do not wish for the power of an empress".
Xiu nodded in understanding and then turned to Consort Zhang "And why are you, not empress?" the woman laughed and leaned a bit on her sister who was also snickering "My family likes my position as it is, and I am pleased to just be a consort while the emperor is attractive neither one of us love the other. Our relationship is friends who spar and sleep together on occasion".
Xiu just sighed and leaned back her mind running through the list of candidates before she looked directly at Liling "Imperial Concubine Shu is not with you?" even though their relationship was shallow in comparison with these two women and her sister she did like the woman's company.
Liling glanced at the door "Daiyu guard the door please" The girl watched as her sister's personal attendant immediately did just that and then spoke softly but loud enough for her sister and her two other friends to hear "Imperial Concubine Shu may become a problem" Xiu sighed and blew on her tea "I expected so" the two other consorts also nodded Imperial Concubine Shu had fallen in love with the emperor.
A man that wholeheartedly loved Xiu, and while Xiu loved him, she placed her duty before love and could understand the challenges of the emperor. She loved him but still saw things as they were. Unlike Imperial Concubine Shu who was blind in love meaning soon she would end up heartbroken and angry. That was going to become a problem for all the women in the Imperial Harem.
Xiu looked at the three women before smiling softly "When she becomes a problem, we will deal with it officially and appropriately let's see if any of the other players in the harem are ready to step out of the shadows".
While Xiu did not want to be Empress, she would play all her roles properly while ensuring the survival of all her children they would thrive. The best way to protect them now was to become the head of the harem. She hoped that this would be the right decision.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
