God, why the fuck did he have to come here now?

Her nerves felt like they were burning, both with need and now with anger.

“Can you ask him to wait for a few moments? I have not finished yet.”

There was a pause.

“My lady,” Su started hesitantly. “It is not good to make the Emperor wait for long. And especially … if a concubine does it, there may be trouble.”

Goddamnit.

Now that she had been interrupted, it would definitely take her quite a bit of time to get back to where she had been and find release after that. And if she got out now, she would have no space or time to do it again today since Manu would be back soon.

Ugh. God fucking damnit! She wanted to strangle someone.

The Emperor, preferably.

She exhaled softly, trying to shove down her anger and irritation.

“Fine, let him know that I’ll be there in a moment.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Only once she heard Su hurrying away did she reach down again. But this time, she did not touch herself. Instead, she took some cold water and splashed it on herself to try to calm down the throbbing down there as well as wash the wetness off her.

Not that her horniness would go away this soon.

But once she felt it was enough, she stood and got out of the bath.

She donned the robes left out for her. It did not take long as they were only the inner robes. They were off-white in color and made of soft silk. She had to admit, these were the most luxurious clothes she had ever worn. The clothes stuck to her damp body in several places. She took one of the towels put out for her and started to dry her hair as she walked out.

She could see the man sitting at the table through the partition. She walked around it and greeted him.

“Your Majesty,” she bowed her head and brought her hands up in a salute. It looked a bit comical with the towel still in her hand. She straightened and handed it off to the nearest maid. “I apologize for my disheveled state. Your visit is quite unexpected.”

She made no effort to hide the annoyance in her voice. Why the fuck have you come here without a heads up? Are you supposed to do that?

The man glanced at her and paused, his eyes roaming over her. “I suppose it is Our fault for coming unannounced. But do make sure to follow the etiquette when you have been informed of Our arrival beforehand.”

She tilted her head, almost innocently. “Etiquette?” She turned her head to look at Su. “Is there such an etiquette?”

The girl bowed. “Yes, my lady. It is a well known decorum for concubines to dress properly and beautifully for the Emperor.”

She thought for a moment before chuckling softly as she allowed Su to put an outer robe on her. She waved her away as she tied it at her front.

“Is something funny, beloved concubine?”

“Ah, no,” she shook her head, a smile still playing at her lips.

“Then what makes you laugh so?” The man’s gaze was as unreadable as ever. The most she could compare it to were to those of researchers in labs staring at a fascinating new specimen.

She hid her unease and smiled. “I was just thinking … what’s the point of the concubines dressing themselves up? Doesn’t it all come off at the end, anyway?”

She saw Su and Min sputter from the corner of her eyes and chuckled again.

“May I?” She asked as she gestured at the seat opposite to his.

“Of course.” The man smiled. It did not reach his eyes. “We could never make Our beloved concubine keep standing, could We?”

Liar.

Samaya bowed and walked to the seat opposite the man. Sitting down there with her still throbbing privates was definitely … a test of her endurance. She could not help but wince slightly as she sat, exhaling softly as she tried to settle down.

She looked up at him after she took her seat. “May I ask what prompted the Emperor to visit me today?”

“Do We need a reason to visit Our beloved concubine? Are you displeased to see us?”

Yes.

“No. I was only wondering since Your Majesty did not inform me of your visit beforehand”

“Ah,” he leaned forward. She leaned away, just a bit. Fuck, the proximity wasn’t helping. “We were hoping to have dinner with Our newest concubine and my son.”

Samaya frowned. That could not be it. This man did not seem like someone who would just come to spend time with a concubine he did not even want to take. But then again … maybe he was here for Manu. He was his son, after all.

She sighed softly. “Of course, Your Majesty. I am afraid you will have to wait a bit, however. Manu will come back soon. I can ask for dinner to be arranged, meanwhile…”

She turned around to call the maids but the man interrupted him.

“No need. We have no trouble waiting for my child to come back.”

Samaya paused. “Alright.”

“You seem to be tense, Lady Qing.”

Yeah, no shit. She felt wound up, nervous tension running up and down her body. She was wringing her fingers under the table, while the hand on the table was clenched tightly.

“Whatever gave you that idea, Your Majesty?”

The man slid his arm across the table and leaned in further. It was close enough that she could see herself in his eyes. “Do you take Us for a fool, beloved concubine?”

She raised an eyebrow at him in reply before scoffing and averting her eyes. She had to consciously unclench her fist. “It is only natural for someone like me to be tense when the Emperor himself visits unannounced.”

The man stared at her for a long moment before finally leaning back. “I see.”

Yeah, he definitely did not believe her.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence. She was not a great conversationalist unless it was with people she knew or people she had to get something out of. Something told her that trying small talk wouldn’t exactly fly here. Luckily for her, the quiet was broken by the man himself.

“We heard some interesting things today.”

She looked up at the man and raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

The Emperor stared at her, unblinking. “Something about the Empress summoning you upon the complaint of Concubine Han.”

“Oh.”

So, that was why he was here. She sighed softly.

“Concubine Han claims you bullied her. It has barely been two days since you entered the Harem, Lady Qing.”

And you are already stirring up trouble, went unsaid.

He came here to warn her.

She smiled softly and tilted her head. “Exactly, Your Majesty. It has barely been two days and they are already coming after me.”

“You mean to tell Us you are faultless?”

She shrugged and stared back at the man, unashamed, as she crossed her arms. “I give back what I get.”

The man stared at her for a long moment before shaking his head and chuckling. “Your impudence astounds Us.”

Samaya kept quiet, only raising an eyebrow.

Huang Yasheng leaned forward. “Even Our highest ranking ministers do not dare raise their heads to look at Us when they are questioned. And here you are, a mere commoner, staring at Us in the eyes with no remorse for what you have done.”

“What have I done, exactly?” She asked. “It was her choice to come shout at me. It was her choice to insult me and the man who saved my son’s life. It was her choice to try and slap me when I spoke the truth. She cannot expect to touch fire and not get burned, Your Majesty.”

“There you go again.” She could hear the anger seeping into his voice. It seemed to be the only emotion he was capable of manifesting. “We have beheaded people for lesser insolence than you are showing Us now.”

Samaya knew she should back off. She knew angering this man was not a good idea. But every word he said, his tone, his arrogant eyes that looked down on her, and the way he spoke to her … everything made her veins burn … with irritation at the very least and unadulterated rage at the very worst.

Samaya scoffed. “If you wanted to behead me, you would have done so the moment I put forth that challenge. I will not cower in front of those pampered little ladies and give them a chance to harm my son because they think I am spineless. I did not survive and protect my son all these years only to lose him to dirty politics.”

She leaned back. “I will not stir any trouble by myself. Just tell your ladies to stay out of my way. The only thing I care about is my son. As long as they don’t try to harass me, they will be perfectly fine.”

The Emperor frown’s deepened ever so slightly as she spoke. It seemed that he wanted to say something but then she heard a familiar voice.

“Mama!”

She immediately wiped the frown on her face before standing up and turning around with a smile. She opened her arms as she always did, allowing the boy to jump into her embrace.

“There’s my sweetheart. Did you have a good day?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! Teacher Chen said that I am improving slowly and will soon be neater in my calligraphy. He wanted to teach me counting today but I told him I knew multiplication and he was so surprised!”

Before she could answer, the Emperor spoke up, surprise coating his voice. “You know multiplication?”

Manu stepped back from her embrace and tilted his head to see who had spoken behind her. Eyes widening, he quickly stepped away from Samaya and bowed.

“Your Majesty!”

The Emperor paused and nodded. “It seems Chen Zhongqing has been teaching you proper etiquette.”

Manu nodded, grinning. “Teacher Chen is amazing!”

“I am glad you like him, Prince Xu,” he said softly. “Now, you said you already know multiplication.”

The grin on Manu’s face had a hint of pride as he nodded. “Yes!”

Samaya wondered if this was a good line of conversation. While she did not mind Manu showing off his knowledge, it was almost unheard of for poor commoners to be educated. This could lead to a line of questioning the answers of which she could never give.

Sure enough, the man was curious.

“Who did you learn it from?”

Manu did not hesitate one moment to point at her. “Mama!”

Huang Yasheng’s eyes pivoted to meet hers and Samaya had to hide the apprehension she was feeling. She remained relatively calm as she gave an innocent smile.

“You are full of surprises, Lady Qing.” The smile he had on as he spoke did not reach his eyes at all. “Would you mind telling me where you learned?”

Samaya quickly cast her mind about for an answer. She did not expect to be interrogated so early. This man was surely suspicious, surely trying to find her origins. Not that he would find much, but whatever he did find might make him try to separate Manu from her. She would never allow that, of course. But having an Emperor on her ass would be a hassle.

She let out a soft sigh before she settled on an answer.

“Some traveling scholar,” she said softly. The notion of eccentric scholars traveling around and sometimes teaching commoners was not that uncommon. “I met him when I was abandoned in the streets. He taught me a lot of things, including how to read and arithmetic.”

“I see. May I ask for the name of the scholar?’

She paused, and then said, “Xin Yue.”

Samaya had to stop herself from smiling. That was the codename of her mentor. Crescent. Well, she was not really lying when she spoke to him. The best lies were ones with a few grains of truth in them.

She did not know if the man bought it but he would have no way of verifying it. Roaming scholars rarely used their real names and she had not even been in this world in the time frame she was talking about. He would just have to trust her word.

The man’s eyes then turned to Manu. “Come, child. Tell Us what you learned today.”

Manu turned his head towards Samaya, who smiled and nodded. Upon receiving her assurance, he quickly ran over to his father’s side, and Samaya watched quietly as the man started to subtly interrogate her son.

---

Nothing.

Huang Yasheng strode out of Yongyagong, his Eunuch scurrying behind him, a frown marring his face.

No matter how much he poked and prodded, Huang Yasheng could find nothing about the woman.

She had clearly been in the middle of something … unspeakable when he came. If her wound and tension filled figure did not convey it, the soft gasps and moans his sharp hearing picked up when he entered the room definitely did,

Most noble ladies couldn’t even think of doing such things. She, however, had no qualms about it. The woman saw nothing wrong in only dressing in the bare minimum in front of him. Huang Yasheng was unsure if she was trying to seduce him or if she simply did not care. He suspected it was the latter, from her response when he tried to unsettle her.

He hated the fact that his imagination ran wild at such thoughts. He had experienced enough to realize the reaction they evoked in him. He also knew he could not afford to give in to that reaction. He thanked the Heavens the child came when he did. He was sure that presence doused both of them with cold water.

Still, he was frustrated that he could not get any information out of them. Even the child was clever enough to keep his mouth shut or avert his question whenever he asked something about the past of the woman.

Not that he could not find out. He only worried that if this woman was a spy or a traitor planted by his side, it would be too late when he did find out.

This was no ordinary woman, he could tell that much.

His Empress could too.

When he had gone to pay the Empress a visit today, she had recounted everything that happened. From the conflict between the concubines to how the newest concubine avoided punishment to how she was unafraid even after the veiled warning the Empress gave her.

And now he found that she was educated. Not only that, she had been educating her son even before coming to the Palace., teaching her strange methods of multiplication and times tables that he had not heard of.

All children started with counting sticks for addition and subtraction and then moved onto rod calculus for multiplication. The Prince did not know how to use the rod calculus but could apparently multiply any amount of numbers, having completely memorized time tables upto fifteen. He had used a brush and parchment to multiply, but Huang Yasheng could understand none of the words or symbols written on it. Manu had gotten the correct answer most of the time, and when he did not, his mother would gently guide him through his mistakes.

There was one thing he could glean from their interactions so far. This woman was not only extremely sly, but she was also intellectual and would excel in academics given the chance. She was not someone who would be limited to petty schemes.

The Empress’s words came to the forefront of his mind.

“She was merely humoring the Consorts. The excuses she made up were lackluster. She knew it but made them anyway. She is a fox … no, a wolf. And we do not know when she might go for someone’s throat. Your Majesty, I do not like her being in the Harem. You could have just taken the child and thrown her out.”

It would not have worked, if the result of that challenge indicated anything.

Huang Yashang knew his Empress was not saying these things out of jealousy. She was the daughter of that old codger the Grand Perceptor, and had inherited his wit. She had seen her command the entirety of the Xie Household with an iron fist when he had been hiding there. He considered her a friend and an advisor. Her words held weight. The Empress did not throw about baseless accusations.

The real question was, what was this woman, to have prompted the unshakeable Empress to speak so? To have occupied his mind from the moment she won that challenge? To have made the likes of Han Qin admire her? To have learned and known things no commoner should ever know?

“Who are you?” He whispered, his voice fading into the wind.