After Discovering The Emperor Was A Woman… - Chapter 12

Still dizzy and light-headed, Liu Jiuning had thought she was about to become intimately acquainted with the hard palace floor.

Instead, something not particularly soft swiftly caught her around the waist.

She hurriedly wrapped both arms around the lifesaving object, which felt rather like a crutch, and repeatedly said, “Thank you, thank you.”

She remained in that position for quite a while, waiting for the darkness before her eyes to recede.

Only then did Liu Jiuning look toward the other end of the “crutch” with a bright smile.

The moment she saw what it was, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

The person dressed in black was none other than the emperor of Great Zhao—Li Nanchu.

And what Liu Jiuning was hugging was not some enormous crutch.

It was the emperor’s noble and exalted…

Dragon leg.

Liu Jiuning immediately released it. She awkwardly patted away the nonexistent dust on the emperor’s trouser leg, straightened herself, and took two steps back.

She was only missing the part where she snapped to attention and saluted.

The surroundings felt unusually empty, so she discreetly glanced around.

Good heavens. They really were empty.

In this enormous corridor, only she and the emperor remained.

As for the large group of palace maids and eunuchs who had been following her, they had already retreated to a distant open space beyond the corridor. Every one of them was kneeling with their forehead pressed firmly to the ground.

Liu Jiuning felt that continuing to stand there was inappropriate, but kneeling like the attendants now seemed a little too late—and somehow equally improper.

After thinking for a moment, she performed a curtsy that did not require kneeling and offered her greetings.

“This commoner, Liu Jiuning, greets Your Majesty.”

That was how people greeted emperors in television dramas, so it should… probably be fine, right?

But the moment she said it aloud, something about it felt strange.

It sounded as though she had deliberately arranged a chance encounter with the emperor, then coyly greeted her while making sure to announce her name.

“You may rise,” Li Nanchu replied evenly.

Liu Jiuning straightened again and lifted her head to look at the expressionless, cold-faced emperor before her.

Putting everything else aside…

The emperor truly was beautiful.

It was a beauty that transcended sex. Her bearing was equally extraordinary, every inch of her radiating imperial authority. The actors portraying emperors in television dramas could not begin to compare.

It had been a long time since Li Nanchu had encountered someone so bold—especially someone who still dared meet her gaze after learning she was the emperor.

She was not angry.

She merely found it somewhat novel.

The two stared at each other for a long while.

Only belatedly did Liu Jiuning’s sluggish mind realize that her behavior was extremely rude and improper.

More importantly, it might cost her her head.

In ancient times, staring directly at the sovereign could be considered an offense.

The atmosphere also seemed far too quiet.

The sort of quiet that came before a storm.

Trying to enliven the mood, Liu Jiuning asked, “Your Majesty, where are you going? Why don’t we walk and talk?”

The moment the words left her mouth, she wanted to knock herself on the head.

What nonsense was she saying?

Was the emperor’s destination something an ordinary person was allowed to know?

And what did she mean by we?

Since when were she and the emperor a we?

Liu Jiuning quickly arranged a solemn and earnest expression on her face and tried to salvage the situation.

“Your Majesty, what I mean is that I would like to speak with you. We should find somewhere quiet and have a proper discussion.”

Yes—a discussion about how exceptionally well she could perform the duties of empress!

The emperor could safely entrust this heavy responsibility to her.

“Very well.”

Li Nanchu answered indifferently, swept her sleeve, turned, and walked away.

Liu Jiuning hurried after her while racking her brain for something she could say that would make her seem particularly useful.

Beyond the corner was a small garden with a large pavilion beside a lake.

The instant the emperor appeared, every palace maid and eunuch silently withdrew from the area. Their movements were so swift they looked as though they were fleeing for their lives.

Liu Jiuning followed Li Nanchu into the spacious pavilion and sat across from her at a stone table covered in pastries and freshly brewed tea.

She immediately poured the emperor a cup with an ingratiating smile.

After wrenching her gaze away from the fragrant pastries with great difficulty, she looked at Li Nanchu, cleared her throat, and said, “Please rest assured, Your Majesty. Since you trust me so much that you’re even allowing me to become empress, I will follow all your instructions and be a proper empress—a very good empress! If you tell me to go east, I will never go west! Of course, I’m not very good with directions, so you may have to point out which way is east first.”

Li Nanchu rarely heard anyone express loyalty in such…

Plain and unsophisticated terms.

Of course, very few people dared speak so much nonsense in her presence either.

As for the trust the girl spoke of, it had merely been a moment of softness on Li Nanchu’s part. She had sent shadow guards to watch Liu Jiuning and simply had not had time to deal with her yet.

And regarding the position of empress…

At the time, Liu Jiuning had been gravely ill and appeared close to death. The position of empress remained vacant, and the girl had saved her life, so Li Nanchu had simply followed the circumstances and issued the decree.

Who could have expected Liu Jiuning to survive?

Not only had she recovered, but now she was standing before Li Nanchu, innocently offering this peculiar declaration of loyalty.

Was this what the Imperial Preceptor had meant when he said they were bound by fate?

Li Nanchu lifted her gaze toward the frail young woman before her.

“What can you do?”

“I can do many things!”

Liu Jiuning immediately perked up.

Determined to showcase every aspect of her talent and prove that she was fully qualified to become empress, she declared confidently, “I’m highly skilled in arithmetic! I guarantee I can keep all the palace accounts neat, orderly, and calculated down to the last coin!”

She was, after all, a young woman from the modern era who had completed nine years of compulsory education.

Whatever else might be said about her, her mathematics was certainly respectable. She had fallen only thirteen points short of a perfect score on her high school entrance examination!

Equations with several unknowns, the Pythagorean theorem—none of them posed a problem!

Hearing this, Li Nanchu looked at her.

“How do you compare with Consort Liang?”

Liu Jiuning frowned as she tried to remember who Consort Liang was.

Then she recalled the beautiful older girl from Minister of Rites’ household next door, who had entered the Eastern Palace eight years ago.

She was Consort Liang now!

That beautiful older sister could work an abacus so quickly her fingers practically blurred…

There was no way a normal person like Liu Jiuning could compete with her!

In her previous life, the country had even begun recruiting exceptionally gifted children skilled in abacus calculation. That alone proved how formidable the craft was.

Liu Jiuning shook her head rapidly.

Still, she refused to lose heart. She would neither abandon nor give up her efforts and remained convinced that she could make herself useful!

“I’m also very skilled at managing servants,” she continued. “I guarantee they’ll all be perfectly obedient and harbor no disloyal thoughts! Nothing in the entire harem will ever trouble Your Majesty!”

Li Nanchu lowered her gaze slightly, picked up the teacup, and gently swirled it in her hand.

“Mm.”

Liu Jiuning was dissatisfied.

What kind of answer was that?

It certainly did not sound as though the emperor acknowledged her abilities!

She was about to argue when she remembered the palace maids and eunuchs who had fled so respectfully earlier, along with the consorts whose graves were probably covered in grass several feet high by now.

…

Fine.

She could not compete with the emperor in that area either.

What other talents did she possess?

It seemed she did not have any!

What was she supposed to do now?

Liu Jiuning thought and thought but could not come up with anything useful. Worried that keeping the emperor waiting too long might displease her, she finally gave up.

Perhaps what the emperor needed was a useless empress.

Staring at the pastries on the table, she said, “I’m good at eating, drinking, and sleeping. Once I take the empress’s position, I’ll be perfectly obedient. Every day, I’ll eat until I’m full, sleep, then wake up and eat again. I absolutely won’t cause Your Majesty any trouble.”

“Then eat,” Li Nanchu said carelessly, raising her eyes toward Liu Jiuning.

She had noticed long ago how the girl’s gaze remained glued to the pastries.

It seemed Liu Zhuoyi had spoken truthfully. She really was a child who had never grown up.

Whether that innocence was real or feigned did not particularly matter.

Having an empress would at least silence the ministers who nagged her endlessly every day—provided Liu Jiuning was truly as obedient as she claimed.

Otherwise, Li Nanchu would not mind having an empress who fell permanently ill.

Liu Jiuning had no idea what terrifying thoughts were running through the emperor’s mind.

The instant she heard that she could eat the pastries, she gave Li Nanchu a smile brighter than the sun and flowers outside.

After swiftly thanking the emperor, she grabbed a pastry and began devouring it.

It was sweet!

How moving.

At last, she could finally taste sweetness again!

“Your Majesty, you truly are such a wonderful person!”

As Liu Jiuning enthusiastically labeled the emperor a good person, she lost herself in the delicious sweetness of the pastry.

She was willing to risk life and limb for the emperor and become the woman behind the throne, quietly hiding her achievements and fame!

Provided risking life and limb did not hurt too much, was not too exhausting, and did not require her to drink such horribly bitter medicine.