The Emperor.
Samaya stood, bowing to the man. The rules here were strange. If you were standing, you had to kneel to bow unless you were of a certain status and position. If you were sitting comfortably, you had to stand and bow ninety degrees with a salute. Thank fuck she was good at adapting to new environments and rules.
He strode inside, going straight for the Empress who was bowing to the man, albeit shallower than Samaya.
“Beloved Wife,” he breathed out softly, straightening her from her position and pressing a soft kiss to her temple. “Are you alright?”
Samaya did not straighten, couldn’t straighten until and unless given permission. But she had good peripheral vision so it mattered not when she wanted to see something.
“I am fine,” the Empress replied. “Thanks to Lady Qing.”
Oh, thank god she remembered.
The man turned to her. “Rise, Lady Qing.”
She finally straightened from her bow and looked at the man, and found those golden eyes staring at her intently. After a moment, he seemed to exhale softly and spoke.
“We are grateful to you, Lady Qing.” He nodded. “For protecting Our beloved wife and unborn child. Who knows what might have happened? How can We repay this favor? You may wish for anything and this Emperor shall grant it.”
Samaya frowned. As much as she would have loved to snatch the opportunity that fell into her lap for something, she detested thinking that saving someone’s life was doing them a favor and what she detested even more was the fact that they thought she wanted something in exchange for it. She had seen people like those, of course. They did more harm than good. And she despised being lumped with such sort. Though that was probably not the intention behind the man’s words, the very thought left a bad taste in her mouth.
She shook her head. “It was not a favour, Your Majesty. I was just protecting a mother and her innocent child who has not even seen this world yet. I would have done the same had it been a commoner in her place.”
“You are quite generous,” the Empress commented. It should have sounded like a compliment. It did not.
“It is not generosity,” Samaya replied. “I would never wish harm on an innocent child, especially an unborn one, no matter whom they were borne from.”
She could not help taking that dig. After all, she was sure the woman had at least suspected what was happening with Manu but did nothing to intervene.
There was a pause. For a moment, she thought she saw the Emperor’s lips quirk up a bit.
“Even so,” he replied. “I wish to grant you a reward for your brave and decisive actions. What do you want?”
Man. Why was he so stubborn? Even if he said that, there was not anything in particular that she wanted.
She sighed softly. “Then, may I think about it, Your Majesty?” That should give her time until she cooked something up or the man forgot about it. Though the latter was unlikely, a girl could hope.
“Of course, beloved concubine.” He nodded. “Now, I shall like to converse with my Empress alone. You are dismissed.”
She bowed to the two, muttering her “Your Majesty”s before walking out of the room as quickly as she could without running.
It was only when she walked out that she wondered if the man had heard what she had said in her conversation with the Empress.
----------------------------------------
“You are truly alright?”
The Empress - Xie Taiying - looked up at her husband. The man - with his golden eyes both the colour and coldness of which he inherited from his mother - looked down at her. There was a rare softness in his gaze. You wouldn’t know it unless you knew him for a long time. And she did. She had known him since he was a child, carefree and open. While the beginnings of a cunning strategist had been seen in him even as a child, he had been a child who once knew how to smile, how to rejoice, and how to maintain friendship. He was not the warmest of children, but he was warm to those he deemed his and kind to everyone unless they crossed him.
It seemed that child had been buried underneath the weight of the dragon robes and the crown, and the bodies and bloodshed required to retake it from his usurper of an uncle. Some days, she could see a glimpse of that child, like now. But most of the time, he was the stoic, ruthless Emperor who would cut down any opposition. Of course, she knew that this was an image he carefully cultivated to ensure those in his ranks would think twice before turning their cloaks. But she was also aware that her husband did not hesitate to take actions when needed. If she had been a lesser woman, if she had not been the daughter of the Grand Preceptor Xie Cheng who meticulously taught every single one of his children the art of war, manipulation and strategy, she suspected she would have collapsed under this man’s pressure a long time ago.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Of course that was not all that made their relationship. Their childhood friendship - distantly amicable as it was - was only one aspect. They truly got to know each other when the man took shelter in their villa in one of the safe towns around the border. Xie Taiying remembered the day she had been sent to that villa, with the words that a guest had been waiting for her there. She had been confused. What guest was so important when a usurper was sitting on the throne? And why on earth would she - the daughter of one of the Grand Nobles of the Capital - go to serve him? When she had voiced these questions, her father merely shushed her and told her that she would understand when she got there, handing her a letter to be opened when she reached her destination. She had been truly sceptical but trusted her father and so, she was sent away from the Capital with the excuse that she had fallen severely ill and had to go to the countryside to recuperate.
The surprise of an unconscious yet alive Huang Yasheng was not what she had expected.
When she opened the letter, it was basically her father telling her that they were planning a coup and she must remain by the side of Huang Yasheng and not only nurse him back to health and give him company at this lonely villa but also aid him in his endeavour to regain his throne.
It had been too incredibly reckless a plan for someone of her father’s acumen and cunning. She’d had no idea what he had been thinking. But she was a filial daughter and she would obey.
So obey, she did.
She nursed Huang Yasheng back to health. Huang Yasheng had lost much of his childishness after the death of his father, who had been killed by his uncle. His eyes no linger sparkled with joy and happiness, but rather glinted with murderous intent. She did not know what he had gone through during his disappearance, but the numerous scars on his body told a horrific tale. But whoever did this to him, they had not been able to break his spirit.
And so they began planning. It was hard at first, the man did not trust her and refused to speak with her. That was … until she gave him a firm talking to.
“If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. You have known me since we were children, I do not dally when I have a task to do. If I was going to kill you, nursing you back to health would have been a waste of my time and effort. We, the Xie Clan, are loyal to the previous Emperor and his lineage. As his heir, you must take back the throne. But you cannot do it alone and you know it too! Now, stop sulking and work with me!”
The young man back then had been a bit dumbfounded. It would have been comical had it not been such a serious situation.
So, they planned. They gathered allies in secret, loyalists and neutral parties alike, and even some of Huang Chenghuan’s ranks, swaying them to their side with promises of a peaceful reign, wealth, prosperity and, in some cases, the acceptance of their daughters in the Imperial Harem. Xie Taiying herself curated the list of allies, with their weaknesses in place for them to exploit.
They gathered forces, armies, not only private armies but also strong commoners who had been growing resentful in the recent tyrannical reign. They found ways to infiltrate the Imperial Palace, and sway some well-placed servants to their sides while putting some of theirs in as well. The process took well over a year. During that time, Xie Taiying and Huang Yasheng became companions - friends, truly - who were extremely synchronized with each other in their planning and strategies. In the span of a year, it became unthinkable for Huang Yasheng to make a plan without consulting Xie Taiying first, and vice versa. Before they had a vague friendship, now they had trust and, more importantly, their lives on the line. There was quite nothing like risking your lives together to build a strong relationship.
Xie Taiying had no problem admitting that she loved this man. Oh, it was not the romantic kind, and it certainly was not the fiery passion that she seemed to notice in the man in recent days. It was more of a love for a lifelong friend, for a companion with whom she had been through thick and thin, for someone she trusted with her life. It was affection and a deep-seated belief that this man would always be there if he needed her and a conviction on her part to do the same. She was a witness to everything he had gone through and that carried more weight than any passionate night a wayward concubine may spend in his bed.
“A-Ying?”
She blinked, and pulled out of her own thoughts. The man’s brows had furrowed ever so slightly, a sign of his worry.
She sighed and smiled at him. “I am quite alright, A-Sheng. Stop worrying. Your newest little fascination did well on her part.”
The man’s frown deepened. “Did you know?”
“I had suspected. That little girl was not exactly subtle.” She nodded. “I would have had the girl imprisoned and the cup sent for testing. But then Lady Qing seemed to notice something so I wanted to see if she would do anything.”
“And she did.”
Xie Taiying nodded. “Yes, she did. She had an interesting way of going about it too.”
“Oh?” Huang Yasheng raised an eyebrow.
“Oh do not act clueless,” she smiled. “You heard, did you not?”
The man chuckled softly. “Some, not all. Come, sit with me, beloved wife. Let us speak before the Physician comes.”