Kayla rubbed her temples wearily, staring at the wall with a blank stare. It was her last night in this apartment. Just as well, there'd been a leaky sink and a roach infestation for months now, and Kayla would be more than happy to get a good night's sleep without the sound of her neighbors going at it loudly at ungodly hours of the night. The only problem-well, the only two problems, was that Kayla didn't have anywhere to move into, and she also wasn't getting back her security deposit.

"Fuck capitalism," she groaned. "Fuck landlords. Mao was right."

A roach skittered across the floor. Kayla ignored it. She wasn't going to do her landlord any favors by reducing the number of pests in this shitty hole of an apartment.

Kayla got up and shuffled across the floor to flop onto her bed. The cracked ceiling loomed over her, with the spiderweb she couldn't reach last time still stuck stubbornly in its corner. She was 25 already, but for the last three years, Kayla had no social life and had only gone from one low-paid job to another, wallowing in student debts and stacks of bills. Kayla was lonely, broke, and about to be homeless.

She let out a deep sigh. Maybe if I was born into a rich and powerful family, my life would be better. With that thought, Kayla shut her eyes and went to sleep.

/////////

"Young lord," a lilting voice called softly next to Kayla's ear. She blinked in confusion. That was not the alarm she'd set on her phone. Kayla's eyes shot open to a high ceiling and what looked to be like a lot of embroidered silk hanging from it.

"What the fuck?!" Kayla sat up and glanced around in shock. A young woman in what looked to be traditional Chinese robes stepped back, looking at her with a slightly frightened expression. "Wait, what the hell are you doing in here?!"

The young woman's face quickly slipped into an apologetic expression. She was pretty, and moved in an elegant way as she bowed. Her hair was braided and twisted into a bun, wearing light green robes with narrow sleeves as well as simple but classy jewelry. Kayla stared at the young woman in confusion before realizing the whole room was unfamiliar. The bed was not only huge, it was covered in a patterned silk duvet. When the hell could Kayla afford silk? Beyond the see-through curtains that surrounded the bed, she could make out a room bigger than her entire studio apartment, with mahogany furniture and porcelain vases.

"What the ever-loving fuck?!" Kayla demanded. She frowned and cleared her throat. Her voice sounded weird, but her throat didn't feel sore.

"Young lord, I apologize for disturbing your sleep, but you were to have lunch with the Grand Duke," the young woman said, head bowed slightly. Kayla gave the woman a the-fuck-are-you-saying-to-me look, touching her throat lightly to check for soreness. Kayla froze as she felt a lump. Holy shit I got throat cancer. She didn't even have medical insurance, guess she'd just have to die now. She swallowed deeply. The lump bobbed. Kayla jumped off the bed in surprise.

The young woman hurriedly took a few more steps back before kneeling on the ground with her head lowered. "Young lord, please forgive my rudeness, I deserve to be punished," the young woman said piteously. Kayla stared at her in shock.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kayla demanded. The young woman lowered her head further.

"Please punish me as you see fit, young lord."

"What is this?! A BDSM reality show? Real-life Squid Game? Seriously girl, what is all this? Where am I?" Kayla snapped. She whirled around, searching for a camera. There had to be a hidden camera somewhere that was filming all this to try and make her go viral as some sort of Karen. Her eyes landed on a mirror.

Kayla froze. A tall and handsome young man stared back at her with a look of surprise. He had long hair and a slim body, dressed in the type of white sleeping robes you saw in Chinese period dramas. Kayla grabbed at her shirt. The young man did the same.

"Young lord? Young lord, can you hear what this servant's saying?"

Kayla turned to look at the young woman who was still kneeling on the floor.

"What?"

"Are you feeling unwell, young master? You were rather drunk last night, so the servants escorted you back to your quarters."

"My quarters?" Kayla asked weakly. Thinking about it now, her voice didn't sound raspy. It sounded like a guy's. Holy shit, no way.

"Yes, young lord, this servant helped you into your bed last night," the young woman said.

"I didn't drink last night," Kayla said.

The young woman didn't reply, but only lowered her head further. Kayla looked back towards the mirror. The young man looked back.

"Do you know my name?" Kayla asked, still staring at what appeared to be her reflection.

"Of course, young lord."

"Well? What the fuck is my name?" Kayla asked, voice trembling as a sneaking suspicion began to dawn on her.

"Your name is Zhao Wenyuan, my lord," the young woman replied.

Kayla's legs gave out, and she unceremoniously crashed to the ground. The young woman hurriedly got up and rushed over with an expression of worry.

"Young lord, are you alright?!"

Kayla stared despairingly at her reflection in the mirror.

"Oh shit."

//////////

Kayla had liked reading web novels on the bus to and from work. It gave her mental fuel to get through another day of mind-numbing work and her manager's ceaseless micro-managing in the morning and offered her an escape from reality in the evening. One of the last novels she'd been following was Palace of the Six-Clawed Dragon, set in a fantasy version of ancient China. It followed the ascension of the main character to the seat of Crown Prince, and eventually the throne to become the Emperor, a combination of political intrigue, romance, military, and action genres, with random fantasy elements thrown in for just the heck of it. It had been quite a decent read if not a little cliche.

The main character, Zhou Xianchun was the son of the emperor and a lowly serving maid, but eventually grew into a politically-powerful prince who rivaled the Third Prince, Zhou Kuang for the position of Crown Prince. The novel focused on the showdown between the half-brothers, but the plotline started off with a power struggle between Xianchun and Grand Duke Zhao, one of the most powerful men in the Imperial court. The struggle ended in Grand Duke Zhao's crushing loss, with the old man losing both his title and his grandson, Zhao Wenyuan.

Kayla groaned, recalling that Wenyuan had died after getting tortured, stabbed multiple times, and then run over by a loaded wagon before being hung off a bridge until he bled to death.

"Wow," she said piteously, "I am so fucked."

赵侯爷 [zhào hóu yé]: Grand Duke Zhao, older brother of the current Emperor's paternal grandmother, i.e., older brother of the deceased Great Grand Empress Dowager. Due to his high status and being older than most members of the court, only his title is used and not his name due to ritualized seniority.

赵文远 [zhào wén yuǎn]: Grandson of Grand Duke Zhao, son of the late sister of the current Emperor. The name Wenyuan comes from Confucius' quote "言之无文，行而不远", or "If your words are not eloquent, they will not circulate far".

周显淳 [zhōu xiǎn chún]: Seventh son of the current Emperor. The name Xianchun means "to show pureness and honesty".

周匡 [zhōu kuāng]: Third son of the current Emperor, the character Kuang means "to correct or rectify". 

Note: Not all characters will have names with corresponding Chinese characters, mostly because I don't want my roommate who has a Master's in Ancient Chinese history to suddenly tell me twenty chapters in that the combination is anachronistic. Names with corresponding Chinese characters will be added as my roommate approves them for approximate historical accuracy since I will never catch a break otherwise.