Everyone in the Harem Has a Cheat Except Me - Chapter 8

Qin Jun was right: the Noble Consort was fascinating. She was also easy to fool. She seemed to take to me at once, and thereafter visited whenever she could. As time went on, I learned many strange new words from her.

Bored one day, she began writing storybooks. Her first starred an emperor’s unattainable love who left behind a scoundrel and his substitute and found a wonderful new life. She showed it to me, then handed copies all over the harem. Eventually one reached the empress.

When the empress summoned her, the Noble Consort hurried to me. “Lianyi, if she gives me trouble, you must help me,” she pleaded.

“You’re a Noble Consort. I’m only a Palace Beauty.”

“But you have someone powerful behind you,” she said as if it were obvious.

Fair point. Helplessly, I went with her.

The empress gave her no trouble. She only asked about the book and finally said with evident approval, “It’s well written. If you enjoy it, Noble Consort, you should write more.”

The Noble Consort’s eyes shone. She rushed forward and took the empress’s hands. “Your Majesty, you’re wonderful! I used to complain behind your back that you were so fake. I judged a good person by my own petty standards.”

The empress was speechless. I put a hand to my forehead. Poor girl. She hadn’t needed to confess that.

Fortunately, the empress let it pass. Apart from her feud with the Virtuous Consort, she was kind to everyone. Even before this rebirth, she had been a good mother of the nation.

Qin Jun was right about one thing. He would have had to lose his senses to help the Virtuous Consort persecute the empress and drive her to die full of resentment, only to return bent on revenge.

I looked at her. Was her former life a delusion, or was there something more to it? She seemed to feel my gaze and looked up. I smiled kindly, and after a moment’s surprise, she smiled back.

The question stayed with me. When Qin Jun came to see me that evening, I asked him, “How much have you heard from the empress about her former life?”

“Why the sudden interest?”

I said nothing, merely kicked him lightly. He answered at once.

“She says I took the Virtuous Consort as your substitute, then gradually fell in love with her. I wanted to make her empress, and I resented the power of the empress’s family. So I destroyed her entire family, executed her, and raised the Virtuous Consort in her place.”

What? A delusion seemed the only reasonable explanation.

As if hearing my thoughts, Qin Jun grew uncharacteristically serious. “It isn’t a delusion. Since her rebirth, she’s remembered other major events too. They happened exactly as she recalled.”

As he spoke, pain flashed in his eyes. I had the sudden feeling he was hiding something from me. But he quickly covered it with a grin.

“Don’t worry. With her brains, the Virtuous Consort won’t accomplish anything.”

I was not reassured. The empress’s rebirth might change the course of events, and history need not repeat itself. But the Qin Jun in her memories was too strange. Surely there was more to the story.

Before I could work it out, everything changed. A conspiracy aimed at Qin Jun and stretching from the outer court into the harem caught us unprepared.

None of us had anywhere to escape.