Love In The Palace

Imperial Edict

First of all, a quick thank you to all of you who brought this story to its highest #8 in Historical Fiction! All of you are the best! I really can't believe this... I mean there are tons of stories which are better and this story beat them and was at #8! Just wow...

So.... This is chapter 23. Read on! :)

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Author's POV:

"What is this?! You call this food?! Make it again! This tastes horrible!" She flips the plate, it drops onto the floors, the snacks on it shattered into pieces, leaving unpleasant sight before her. Her eyebrows only furrow deeper, getting annoyed by unsightly scene splattered beneath her.

"What are you doing?! Keep these away, immediately! Are you a fool?!" Her pitiful servant only flinches as she suddenly screams at her, then immediately tends to the mess caused by her horrible and unreasonable master. She fights the urge to tear, it has been a routine to her.

The air stills for a moment and Concubine Leanne feels a moment of uneasiness, until the doors to her palace is suddenly slammed open, and a group of servants barges in and separates, lining into two. Then appears a woman dressed in bright orange dresses, her silky black hair is pulled back, up high, fastened with golden pins and hair decorations. A big bright red peony is positioned in the middle of her hairdo. Two strips of red cloth are placed over her phoenix hairpins, fluttering with every step she takes.

That woman's eyes are sharp as eagle, glaring at Concubine Leanne with contempt flashing clearly behind those eyes. Her bright red lips is pulled into a smirk, her facial expression is filled with danger.

"Your Highness Empress..." Concubine Leanne, taken aback by the number of people suddenly barging into her palace, gapes and stands up from her seat, secretly trembling behind those dresses thatc have successfully hidden her limbs.

"Concubine Leanne seems to have forgotten your position and status ever since your pregnancy. Quickly kneel before Her Highness Empress!" Lis voice erupts from the eerie silence that has engulfed the palace. All Concubine Leanne could do is simply blink her eyes as her heart beats faster then ever, then slowly lowers her body into a kneel, wondering whatever crime she might have committed now.

"Concubine Leanne is pregnant with Emperor's child. Of course she must be greatly looked after. I have personally asked for Emperor's permission to look after you and your child, and His Majesty has permitted me to do so. Your servants are inefficient. Starting from today onwards, all your palace servants will be replaced by servants from my palace. I have also assigned my personal physician and a midwife to take care of you." Empress words are carved deeply into Concubine Leanne's mind, herself trying her best to digest every single meaning of her words. But having lived in the palace for a while, Concubine Leanne has easily caught the wicked plans behind those acts. Her lips tremble in fear as she pushes her hands against the floors, supporting her body that has weakened in just a few moments.

"Your Highness Empress... Please...no... Let me go..." She wants nothing to do with the Empress, but the woman with the highest status in the harem has a trump card against her. She could not defy her or otherwise it would greatly harm her family's well-being, especially her father. Tears start to travel down her cheeks as she crawls, with her pregnant belly, towards the Empress, grabbing onto her dresses, begging.

"What are you doing?! I am being kind by taking good care of you and the child in your stomach. Why are you behaving as though I am going to harm you?!" Empress, irked by how low Concubine Leanne has stooped to, forcefully pulls back her sleeves and dresses, away from the woman she deems disgusting who is lying on the grounds almost lifelessly, crying.