Scum Consort

chapter 9- decree

"Your highness !"

Consort Afreen stands up happily seeing Zixuan entering her palace.

Zixuan looks at his consort with indifferent eyes. Zixuan married Afreen for a kingdom relation. He almost forgot about Afreen until concubine Jia-li mentioned her one day.

Speaking of Jia-li, she is also present in Consort Afreen's room. Zixuan's cold eyes fall on her. Not only did she not greet him but also she has turned her eyes elsewhere. Like she is not wrong and Zixuan has accused her falsely.

Zixuan ignores her. He can't punish her because she is pregnant. He turns his attention to consort Afreen. "What's your position in this palace, consort Afreen?"

Afreen who was expecting the emperor to coax her friend Jia-li , was shocked with the sudden attention towards her.

"I .. I am a royal consort in this palace, your highness."Afreen bows a little.

Out of all consorts only Afreen was a princess before. That's why she is called Royal consort. Though she is not consort head , yet she handles the allowance and distribution of harem as she is familiar with harem matters.

Afreen gulps seeing emperor's indifferent attitude. "Is anything wrong, your highness ?"

Zixuan tilts his head "Remind me what are your duties , consort Afreen."

Afreen frowns. She looks back anxiously at Jia-li. But Jia-li has a worse expression on her face than the emperor.

"I ..  I collect harem allowance from chief minister. I distribute the allowance in between concubines and consorts.

I distribute maids and guards to all women of the harem.

I solve the internal quarrel and maintain peace in harem."

Zixuan squints his eyes "So you are in charge of distribution. Then who is in charge of allotment? Who fixed the allowance and maids ?"

Afreen hesitates with so many questions back to back. "your highness himself fixes the digits and numbers."

"And do you have the power to change my decision?"

Afreen widens her eyes "never , your highness. I would never dare to....

"THEN WHERE ARE THE MAIDS I ALLOTTED FOR CONSORT YUZU ?"

Afreen falls on her knees " Your highness !"

Zixuan stays silent. He didn't ask her to stand up.

Afreen bites her lips in horror "Your highness , he tried to poison my friend . So I was angry with him that time...."

"HE TRIED TO DO WHAT ? ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY YOUR FRIEND DIDN'T CONSULT YOU BEFORE SCHEMING AGAINST CONSORT YUZU ?"

Afreen bows lower while staying on her knees. She can't do anything else now. "I am sorry , your highness. She never told me. If she had told me, I would've never let that happen."

Jia-li who was still expecting his highness to console her, turns at Afreen abruptly. Fucking liar !

Afreen slowly looks up to meet emperor's eyes. It's still indifferent. She panics. She needs to make it right.. but how...

She bows again "your highness , I am giving all the maids back to consort Yuzu and I will personally visit him asking for an apology. I will do anything you say as punishment. But I swear, I never deceived you like Jia-li."

Zixuan smirked "Is that so ? I see ! Then you are better."

Afreen breathes a sigh of relief as his highness comes back to his normal tone. But she didn't stand up. She knows better than that.

She is existing in this palace on her own. His highness hasn't even spent a night with her. If it was any other consort, she would have turned into a subject of ridicule by now. But she held her head high without the favour of his highness.

She deliberately became Jia-li's friend as she was favoured by his highness. She used Jia-li.

When Yuzu entered the palace , she heard the news how his highness was excited to see his new male consort. And she knew if she did nothing , it would take Yuzu a blink to get the favour.

That's when she pushed Jia-li and made her jealous of Yuzu. She brainwashed Jia-li to fake illness on Yuzu's wedding night. Because Jia-li was just a concubine. She can never surpass Afreen but Yuzu is consort.

That's how she played her cards. Though she didn't calculate Jia-li's pregnancy in her game but she had a perfect plan for it too. First she convinced Jia-li to fake getting poisoned and blame Yuzu. Then she has planned to actually poison Jia-li. And when she will do it , nobody would doubt anyone except Yuzu again.

But now she doesn't understand why that madly in love Yuzu decided to go against the Emperor for an inquiry instead of just begging for his forgiveness.

"Your highness !"

Afreen comes out of thoughts hearing the eunuch's voice. She looks up a little.

Zixuan nods at the eunuch and gave him a scroll that he was holding since he came into this room.

"Announce my decree to the palace ..
From today onwards , Every harem related business will be maintained  by noble consort Yuzu instead of consort Afreen.

Noble consort Yuzu is to be recognised as head of harem of Zi kingdom from now on and he will have the autonomous power of any decision regarding inner court.

Lastly, For misusing the power of royal consort without zhen consent, zhen demotes royal consort Afreen to the position of royal concubine for the upcoming six months. Zhen hopes in these six months concubine Afreen will look upon her mistake and try to improve herself."

Afreen bows low enough to hide the expression on her face. "I will reflect , your highness and I will personally apologize to consort Yuzu."

"Noble consort Yuzu." Zixuan corrected before leaving the room. Now , he needs to prepare for tonight.

The eunuch also leaves the room behind the emperor and runs behind him "your highness !" The eunuch shouts.

Zixuan stops irritated "What ?"

"Your highness ; should I announce this decree to noble consort Yuzu first ?" The eunuch asks hurriedly.

Zixuan frowns "ummm....yeah do that first and also add that he can't reject."

The eunuch bows and heads for the abandoned champer of Zizi Palace.

Yuzu was sipping his tea with closed eyes to ease his headache , when the eunuch reached to him. Yuzu heaves a sigh seeing the eunuch "thank God you are here , take back all these maids to your Emperor and tell him I don't need them."

The three maids who were standing at the corner look at the eunuch helplessly. They are here on the Emperor's order. They can't just leave like that.

The eunuch smiles at the maid before turning at Yuzu " I am here to announce a decree on behalf of his highness the emperor."

Yuzu sighs "go on."

Yuzu listens to the eunuch with closed eyes. With each word of the eunuch a vein pops in Yuzu's head.

"I Reject !" Yuzu shouts as soon as the decree finishes.

The eunuch bows to Yuzu "There is one more sentence to report from his highness."

"What ?"

"You can't reject."

Yuzu presses hard on his nose bridge.
"Ok ! I will talk with his highness. You leave and take the maids away."

The eunuch bows again "I am sorry , your highness but you can't reject."

Yuzu looks at the eunuch in disbelief  "this too ?"

The eunuch nods "You can't reject."

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