The piece of parchment fluttered in his hand, illuminated by the dim candlelight.

It wrote:

“Cuojue has currently withdrawn themself. They will no longer be accepting any mission for the foreseeable future.”

Siwang chuckled. His little enigma had slipped through his hands. Not that she had ever been truly his. He doubted anyone in this world could claim ownership of that girl unless she wanted them to.

Cuojue. Illusion. He didn’t know why she chose that as her code name, but it suited her.

He had known the Emperor’s men had been snooping around Lord Fei’s mansion. That man was bound to get caught one day or another, conducting business with and supplying funds to traitors. He had left it alone when they lingered, thinking they were tying up loose ends or ensuring no one who fell with Lord Fei escaped. Samaya had conducted a mission or two for Lord Fei, not that she knew that.

Imagine his surprise when he got a report of Samaya being visited by them. By then, Samaya had already left. And she had taken the brat she saved with him—that ungrateful brat. Siwang was the one who raised him. But he had no doubt that the boy would happily lunge for his throat for Samaya. She had a certain charm about her, after all. In the past few years, she had gathered a few more such brats from the streets, and they were now her informants. Her influence did not extend beyond QingHu, of course. But it was still impressive.

Siwang had seen many who lost themselves once they stepped into the world of darkness and mindlessly followed orders. In his mind, he had relegated the woman to the same category as them. But she proved him wrong. She had no problem walking the fine line between working in this nasty world under the surface and keeping herself from succumbing to its madness. It was as if she had been born for it. Whenever he tried to ask, she directly evaded the topic. There had never been any need for him to pry when she was doing her work well and bringing him profit. But now… he wondered if he should have.

“My Lord,” his manservant spoke up from beside him. “The client is waiting.”

“Ah, there was that special client today.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Entertain him,” he ordered. “I shall be there shortly.”

The manservant bowed without a word and left.

His eyes ran over the words once again. After a moment, his hand tilted and pushed the edge of the parchment into the candle nearby. Siwang watched patiently as the entire thing burned.

It was irritating. As far-reaching as his network was, even he couldn’t enter the Palace willy-nilly. He couldn’t reach her there, couldn’t grab her and pry all her secrets off her lips. His only solace was the thought that she was not one to spill secrets, hers or anyone else’s. She would not speak her secrets even if someone tortured her to near death, this he was sure of. If anyone targeted her son, however ..... She might spill or she might kill, whichever was convenient.

Siwang sighed, deciding to leave some messages for her to find when she inevitably came back, which he had no doubt she would. That kind of girl could never stay away from the action for long. He then stood, striding to the guest room that accepted special clients for him.

A figure sat on the floor on one side of the low table in the middle of the room. They wore long, flowy clothing that made it hard for him to distinguish whether it was a man or a woman. He couldn’t feel any qi either, so this was either a mundane person or just very good at hiding qi. They wore a veiled hat that covered the entirety of their face down to their neck.

Siwang made his way over to the other side and sat down. “So, I hear you want my help to kidnap some noble children?” He leaned forward. “For what? Ransom? Why do I find that hard to believe?’ After all, they wouldn’t come to him directly if it was for mere ransom.

“No,” a distinctly masculine voice spoke from under the veil. “The kidnappings will be a mere distraction. What we want is the treasure of one of those families.”

“Oh?” He tilted his head. “This will be interesting.”

—

Samaya woke up to find Manu snuggling up to her. He did it more often than not, so it was not a surprise. She smiled and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Wakey, wakey, little guy,” she whispered as she shook him gently.

He groaned and buried his face further into her shoulder. She chuckled and then her fingers crawled up his leg toward his sides. “Weellllll … if you don’t get up, the monsters are going to come and… GET YOU!” The next moment, Manu’s groans and giggles started to echo in the room as Samaya started to tickle him.

“Mama, stop, s-stop! I’m up, I’m up!” He gasped out between shrieks of laughter.

Manu then scurried out of bed. He opened the curtains, took one look outside, closed them, and ran back to her. Letting out another chuckle, Samaya patted his back. She took his hand and walked forward, pushing aside the curtains that separated the bed from the rest of the room. A row of maids stood with their heads bowed. Samaya allowed a look of surprise to come over her face.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Were you standing here the whole time?”

They were. She could hear them breathing and shifting as soon as she woke. The oldest of the bunch stepped forward and bowed. “Yes, Your Highness. His Majesty has instructed us to not disturb your rest today.”

“I see. Thank you for waiting,” she walked forward, ignoring the uneasy looks on their faces. “What’s the time?”

“Shishi has just started, Your Highness Qing,” the maid answered. Around 7 am, then. Later than she usually woke.

Qing. That was still weird. She hadn’t revealed her last name. Commoners weren’t supposed to have last names anyway. So the Emperor had ‘bestowed’ the name of Qing on her, after the place she had been ‘brought’ from.

The maid then spoke up, “Shall we get your breakfast ready? You and Prince Xu must greet the Empress Dowager today.”

Her eye twitched at that. Xu. She hated that name and so did Manu. But apparently, the Prince couldn’t have a name without an origin. She wondered if she should be offended. The name that she had given her son - ‘Manav’ - had a more profound meaning in her opinion.

“Alright.” Samaya said, “then let’s eat. It wouldn’t do to keep the Empress Dowager waiting.” She did remember the Emperor telling her about it.

One Day Earlier

Samaya didn’t expect the man to stay for longer than a few minutes. But surprisingly, he stayed for lunch. He waited while they prepared the lunch, an awkward silence permeating between them.

Manu was a bit more open than the last time. It was mostly Manu who interacted with the Emperor. The man had softened his hard exterior just a bit when speaking with Manu. However, his words were formal and silted, as if he was not used to being gentle. It was a good thing Manu was starting to warm up to him. The man was asking him about his life before the Palace, no doubt trying to gauge what kind of hardships she put the Prince through.

Tough luck, though.

Manu had an involuntary smile on his face - a touch of excitement in his eyes - as he spoke about their life together.

"Mama works while I play beside her! The tavern's uncle is nice and lets me stay with her.”

“She scolded the children who bullied me. They’re mighty scared of her.”

“She also doesn’t let bad customers stay.”

“She sings me lullaby when I have nightmares…”

“When I won the fight against those big boys, mama told me that she was proud!”

“I stole that man’s money pouch hehe … But, but it was because he didn’t pay for his food and drink!”

Samaya couldn’t help but laugh as the boy tried to cover his slipup in a fluster. The Emperor glanced at her and she met his eyes, unashamed. Life had not been roses and rainbows for them on the edge of society. She taught her son to survive. So what?

Manu continued speaking, and Samaya let him. This was not something she could give him - a father. This was a place where she did not have the right to interrupt. Manu was sensible enough to not talk about her extended missions, Siwang, Ah-Liu, and her connections with the Underground, even without the warning she gave him before entering the Palace.

By the time lunch arrived, Manu had come back to her side. He was probably exhausted. While Manu had a habit of chattering away when he felt comfortable, the past two weeks must have been a lot for him. She tucked him against her side as the maids brought in the lunch and started to set the table under the guidance of Eunuch Li.

The maids then moved away. Samaya tilted her head… weren’t they supposed to serve? She shrugged and started to plate the food for Manu and herself. Once done with that, she smiled at him. “Go on, eat.”

Hearing some uneasy shuffling around her, Samaya turned around and frowned when she saw the Emperor’s plate empty. She looked up at him. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“Virtuous Lady Qing, you must…”

The Emperor raised a hand. “It matters not, Eunuch Li. This is Our beloved concubine’s first day in the Palace. She has grown up in a harsh environment. We doubt she has had any education on the etiquette of a noble lady. She will learn eventually.”

Samaya couldn’t help but bristle. But she’d been through enough shitty situations in her life that she could paste a bland smile on her lips. “I shall surely try my best, Your Majesty,” she said, even though she had no idea what she did wrong here. But she knew that she couldn’t just go off like she did last time.

“So you shall,” he said, smiling. Somehow, it made her want to punch it off his face. “Let us eat now, shall we?”

He waved a hand and a maid came forward to serve him the food. Samaya sighed as she began to eat as well, occasionally feeding Manu something or other that she found delicious. Her entire focus was on Manu, making sure he would not overfeed himself out of excitement. He tended to get a terrible stomachache if he did. She was also acutely aware of the eyes on her but she ignored them until they finished eating and the Emperor finally spoke up.

“As a new woman of the harem, you must go to greet the Empress Dowager tomorrow and offer her tea, as per etiquette,” he said. “You must also be sure to give morning greetings to the Empress every day after that. We shall ask her to excuse you tomorrow.”

He looked her in the eye, a warning in them. “Behave yourself.”

Now

“Your Highness Qing,” a young girl, around 14 or 15 years old, followed by two more of similar ages. “I’m Su, these are Yu and Min. We shall help you and His Highness wash and dress up.”

Samaya nodded and allowed them to help her. Manu followed her lead. He was clearly uncomfortable with the maids dressing him, however. Samaya sighed and knelt in front of him to help him dress, waving off the protests of the maids. Once she was done, she then dressed up, the maids bustling about her.

“Breakfast is ready,” the oldest maid - perhaps the head of the bunch - spoke as soon as she finished.

Well, being waited upon was not all that bad.

“Thank you,” Manu piped up before skipping to the table.

“Don’t run!” Samaya shook her head as Manu started to uncover all the bowls. “This boy, I swear.”

“Mama…” Manu called her. Samaya frowned at the strange tone of his voice and walked forward to see what was wrong.

“There are maggots.”