There was a long pause.

Samaya waited for an answer.

“And here I thought you did not want Our attention.”

She blinked.

“What?”

The man tilted his head. “Is that not what you wished for when you asked Us to spend a day with you?”

“What? No!” She sounded as if even the notion was utterly ridiculous. She frowned. Did it really sound like that? Now that she thought about it, maybe it did. What else would a concubine ask the Emperor to spend a day with her for?

“Oh?” The man tilted his head. “Then why?”

“Well, I just-” she paused, frowning. Should she say it? She might end up sounding like someone who butts her nose to other people’s business. But more than that, would the man really be willing if she told him the real reason? The only thing that kept him hovering around her was the mystery that surrounded her. She could take advantage of it.

She smiled softly. “That is a secret. You will know when you come, Your Majesty.”

“And now you have made Us more curious.”

“Then, you will come?”

He let out an amused chuckle. “Very well. We shall come here after morning court.”

“Sounds good!”

The rest of the dinner was uneventful. The Emperor kept feeding Manu from time to time and the happiness on the boy’s face made Samaya forget all her worries.

It was only when the dinner was done and they were getting ready to see him off that the man decided to deal another bolt out of the blue.

“We shall stay here tonight.”

Samaya froze. “Excuse me?!” She asked, aghast. There was only one reason the Emperor would want to stay with a concubine and there was no way in hell that she was doing that.

“Why do you sound so shocked, beloved concubine?” The man asked, his lips tilted up in that insufferable smirk of his. “We can stay wherever We wish in the Palace. A concubine would usually be honoured, Lady Qing.”

“I think you and I both know that I do not wish to be your concubine in anything more than name,” she replied, frowning. “If this was some sort of joke, Your Majesty, it was a very bad one.”

“Do you think we joke?” The man stepped forward, closing the distance between them. “We have a right on our concubines. And as far as I remember,” One more step, she could almost feel his breath on her face. “You had no condition that you will not serve Us should We ask for it.”

Manu looked between the two of them, eyes furrowed in confusion at the strange tension.

“I never promised either. What of it? Are you going to force me?”

“No!” Manu’s loud voice echoed across the room and he quickly slid into the space between Samaya and the Emperor, pushing her back with his little body. She was momentarily surprised but it did not take her long to figure out what was happening.

Manu might be young, but he was not naive. He grew up just half a mile away from all the lowlives of the world and he knew what went on in the unofficial red light district of QingHu. He had seen what women and sometimes men had to do in order to survive. He had even seen a few who had been forced and whom Samaya had rescued.

Manu knew exactly what they were talking about. And he did not like what he was hearing. He did not like anyone making his mother uncomfortable. This was his reaction too when Siwang usually got up to these kinds of shenanigans in front of him. Samaya sometimes felt that he did this just to rile the mother-son duo up.

“Don’t touch my mama!” he turned around and wrapped his little arms around her waist, which was the most he could reach. “You can’t!”

Samaya wrapped an arm around Manu protectively and turned to see the Emperor’s reaction. To her surprise, there was no trace of anger. There was a bit of surprise in his eyes. Then, his gaze softened and a soft smile curled his lips instead of that thrice-damned smirk. He exhaled softly and looked at Samaya.

“It seems Our son is quite protective of his mother. “

Samaya took a deep breath to calm himself. “You heard him, Your Majesty. Now, I do hope you will not try to have your way here. You might be mistaken, but I do not wish for any kind of relationship with you. Besides,” she tightened her arm around Manu. “My son stays with me.”

The implication being that the man would have no chance of doing anything.

“We know.”

She tilted her head and frowned. “You do?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “Then why do you intend to stay here?”

“We said We would stay here.” He replied. “We did not intend to spend the night with you… that way. Prince Xu can stay there, between us. Sleep is the only thing we shall do.”

“Then what was that for?!”

“What was what for?”

“Your Majesty!” She might have let a growl of frustration seep into her words. This man had a way of riling her up, even more than Siwang.

The man chuckled. “We just wanted to see your reaction. It is so very amusing.”

“You-” She was about to say something, probably rip him a new one, before she had to remind herself that it was not a good idea to tear into the Emperor of one of the most power Empires in this world. She took another deep breath to calm herself before she turned to the man.

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“You promise not to cross any limits?” She asked.

“You have my word.”

She let out a soft sigh. The man might be an infuriating asshole, but he did not break promises.

“Very well. I will tell the maids to prepare extra cushions for you.”

When she told them, they looked at each other with sly smiles, which quickly turned into confusion when they realised Manu would also be staying with them. She just told them to get to work and returned to where Manu and the Emperor were now sitting. Manu was sitting a bit away from the man and he was coaxing the boy. Samaya hid a smile. It was only natural that he was angry after what the man pulled. And while Manu was a good child who rarely got angry, it took quite a bit of time for him to cool down once he did get angry.

Samaya left them to it while she watched the maids make the bed. Once they were gone, Eunuch Li came in with the Emperor’s servants in order to get him ready for the night. Samaya kept watching with an amused smile as Min took Manu to do the same. Father and son side by side.

“What?” The man’s voice pulled her attention.

“What?”

“Why are you smiling?”

“Is it a crime to smile?”

“It is when you are mocking the Emperor.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, it is far from mocking. I just find it fascinating how so many people are needed just to dress - or undress - one person.”

“We are the Emperor.” The man replied as if that was the obvious answer.

“So?” She asked, tilting her head.

“Surely, you do not expect Us to do such menial work Ourself.”

“Really, how much work is it? You just untie and pull off your robes. Like this.” She quickly untied her outermost robe and then pulled it off herself before holding it up. She wasn’t quite worried about ‘decency’ since most of the servants were female and she still had three more layers on. “See?”

The man shook his head with a smile. “We suppose We cannot expect you to understand. We are Imperial. We take care of the nation. And as such, Our body and mind must be taken care of. And it is the duty of Our servants and concubines to do so.”

“What an odd way to say that the entirety of the Palace must pander to you because you do what is your duty. Is it not your job to take care of the nation as an Emperor?”

The banter between them may have started comfortably but now it was developing some tension. The servants kept their heads down as they worked, not wanting to upset either of them. Samaya’s stunt with that Attendant had struck more fear into the servants’ hearts than she knew. Min was done with Manu by now and quickly moved him away.

“You have a strange way of thinking, Lady Qing.” The man finally chuckled, breaking the tension. “We are the Son of Heaven, bestowed with both divine duty and divine right. Just as it is Our duty to take care of the nation, it is Our right to be served by the nation.”

She gave a soft snort that showed exactly what she thought of that idea.

“You do not agree.”

“Not really.” She shrugged. “People claiming to be divine never quite flew with me.”

The servants were done with undressing the man and undoing his hair for the night and the man went behind the screen to put on his night robes. Once that was done, he dismissed them - with a warning to not utter a word of their conversation outside - and they quickly scurried out.

“You should really be careful of how and where you speak, Lady Qing.” The man said, the smile back on his face. “We might entertain your strange idea. Not everyone will.”

“You forgot the part where I don’t care, Your Majesty.”

She stood, going behind the screen herself to change.

“You should.” The man said. “I do not know what kind of life you led before coming here but that wildness of yours might become your bane one day.”

“This wildness of mine helped me survive.” She replied as she undressed. “I might be able to hide it but it will never go away.”

“Hide?” The man said, as if the utter notion was ridiculous. “When?”

Samaya chuckled. “Believe it or not, this is the tamer version of me.”

“I dread to think what a wilder version of you might do or say.”

“Maybe you will find out one day.”

“Oh, Heaven forbid.”

Samaya laughed softly. Tying her nightgown at the front, she came out from behind the screen. She found the man sitting on the bed. For the first time, she saw him with only one layer of clothing. It accentuated his body, his chest peeking out slightly. The man had more muscles than his regular clothing would lead one to believe, His black hair spilt down one shoulder like ink and his golden eyes glowed under the candlelight. It almost would have felt like he was a predator waiting for his prey, if not for his hand gently tapping on Manu who was now lying down on his side.

It was a strange sight. A beautiful one. When the man moved only his eyes to glance at her and their gazes met, she felt a very familiar shiver run down her spine. She stamped it down and approached the bed.

“Lady Qing, you should stay on the inside. We get up before sunrise for the morning court and do not wish to wake you so early.”

Samaya woke up about an hour after dawn usually so she did not argue.

She got on the bed and had to half crawl onto the other side that was pressed up against the wall, keenly aware of the man’s gaze on her. She laid down without meeting his eyes and looked at Manu, who was already sleepy but keeping his eyes open.

“Goodnight, honey.” She pressed a soft kiss on his forehead. “It’s getting late. Sleep, now.”

“But mama!” He whined. “I can’t fall asleep!”

She opened her mouth to scold him but the Emperor spoke up. “How about I tell you some stories of my battles? Will you go to sleep then?”

Manu’s eyes lit up and, for the first time since that bad joke, Manu turned his attention to the Emperor, nodding eagerly.

The man chuckled softly and launched into the tale of how he seized one of the most important cities of the Empire during the war against his uncle. She listened as he spoke, exaggerating, embellishing and engaging Manu at all the right points. She had to admit, the man was a good storyteller.

It was surprising.

What was more surprising was that she fell asleep to the man’s voice.