The Eastern Court

After two whole days of hiding away in my rooms, going through a minor mental breakdown and arguing with the System I was now one hundred percent sure was shitty, I decided it was time I did a bit of exploration. My insides had taken a couple of hours to heal and I'd felt marginally better afterwards but still hadn't the courage to see outside of my rooms.

From what I gathered on Inner Court dynamics, and looking at Wang Yi Chen's memories, the Huang Hou stood at the top of the Royal Harem and was in charge of the Imperial Household. The current Huang Hou was Xu YanLi, the first princess of the neighboring Tàiyáng country. I was curious as to how she'd risen to Empress, as she'd only been Huang Gui Fei when she'd first come to the palace, little more than an important tribute bride. There was something not right about that as it coincided with my arrival a few months later. She even had the Phoenix seal and complete control over the harem despite the Empress Dowager being alive, which was decidedly odd. It didn't help that the system made these curious trilling sounds whenever I thought about it.

Currently, there was no Huang Gui Fei but there was Ye Qin and Ping Mei of the Ye and Ping Noble Clans. There were no other Gui Fei besides the two, so the Noble Consorts halls were mostly empty. Then there were five Fei, all of common birth, who lived in the Consorts halls, and almost 200 Pin who lived in the Concubine apartments. Then there was Wang Yi Chen.

He... I was the only man in the entire harem. And everyone was still mostly confused as to how to treat him...me.

At first, I'd thought there was a reason the Emperor had a cultivator in his household, perhaps to exorcise a ghost and to root out demons from his concubines discreetly. But Yi Chen had thought and eventually discarded that line of thinking when he was invited to the Emperor's private quarters. There was something going on and he... I was in the middle of it.

Now, to make sure I didn't die like Yi Chen, the cause of which was still a mystery to me, I needed to find out what the hell was going on. Then I would plan from there out.

I didn't really know how to find out what was going on, but I was going to try. Currently, my servants had set a brisk pace as they led me to the Empress's Hall, which was closest to the eastern palace grounds, where the Eastern Court holding the Emperor's private residences were found. I was trying very hard to keep the awe from my face, but the sheer size and beauty of the grounds stole my breath

.

It was so very neat, there wasn't a single errant leaf in sight, and it was almost devoid of anyone but guards and servants. I wasn't good at describing things, but the gardens were artfully arranged to complement the line of maple trees that led to the Empress's Hall. The Hall itself was quite massive in size, almost three times what had been given to Liang Li and the other Consorts.

"We must hurry, young master, lest we be late." Yi Chen's servant, Jiayi said. She was the mousy little thing scurrying around making sure I was comfortable when I first woke up here.

They were, Jiaya and Xuan, my other servant, flanking me as we finally made it to Empress's Hall. The other Consorts were already gathered outside, waiting to be announced.

I tried to meet their eyes, but everyone was staring at their white shoes.

"The Consorts have arrived." The steward announced, and then the red double doors were pulled open and we all filed in. Naturally, I stuck to the back, and prayed to the heavens I wouldn't be singled out. Or noticed. Though that was unlikely. The Empress had always followed Yi Chen with her shrewd gaze, I had very little doubts today would be any different.

And I wasn't wrong, her gaze was immediately on my person as soon as we made it to her solar.

'System, does the Empress want to have me murdered?'

[System believes she is mostly curious about what the Emperor is up to and where you fit into the puzzle.]

'And is she catching on?'

[(⁠◠⁠‿⁠◕⁠) Host is welcome to ask her and find out.]

'Even if that didn't sound like a bad idea, she doesn't look like someone enjoys talking. Or anything really.'

[ ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ ]

"Greetings to her Royal Highness." They said, and I mumbled along with them.

The Xu princess grunted softly in acknowledgement. "You will take your morning fast with me today." She said. Then to the servants, "And bring the ledger."

The servants bowed and scurried away.

"You may be seated." Xu YanLi said.

I tried to pick the furthest seat from her on the low table, yet coincidentally or by some stroke of bad luck, I found myself seated right in her direct line of vision. The table wasn't small, but everyone had left some distance between each other, which left me sitting where I was. I tried not to let my nerves show.

The servants were quick to return, and they laid different dishes on the table. I was ignorant of this of course, a notification icon had appeared in front of me, so I'd averted my gaze to my folded legs so I could check what it was.

[*Ding* *Ding* *Ding* Host da da da! A virtual store and inventory have been successfully assimilated into this System's database. If Host wishes to make purchases or store items, System will be most happy to assist.]

'What kind of stuff can I purchase?'

[Loading Menu....

*Ding* List compiled.

Available items:

Cultivation Manual — Ning Qi (250 B-POINTS)

Core Formation (350 B-POINTS)

Jie Dan (650 B-POINTS)

Yaun Ying (900 B-POINTS)

Hua Shen (6000 B-POINTS)

Health Rejuvenation Potion – Grade E (50 B-POINTS)

Sleeping Gas – Grade B (90 B-POINTS)

Rope (10 meters) (20 B-POINTS)

Sword (150 B-POINTS)

Spiritual Sword (1100 B-POINTS)

Compulsion Card - Grade E (50 B-POINTS)

Thank you for shopping with V-Shop ʕ⁠·⁠ᴥ⁠·⁠ʔ]

'That is quite disappointing.' I said, going over the list a second time. 'Why are there so very few options?'

[┗⁠(⁠•⁠ˇ⁠_⁠ˇ⁠•⁠)⁠―⁠→ upgrades~]

'Right.' I finally looked up at the others, and they were occupied with eating their breakfast, so I did the same. I purposely avoided looking in the Empress's direction. I was completely sure she was glaring at me.

I grabbed myself a bowl of congee, and had at it.

'System, why is the last cultivation manual so expensive?'

[System believes it has to do with it containing the last teachings before one is fit to ascend.]

So in a way, it was to discourage thoughts of trying to escape the situation. No, I wasn't allowed to have anything easy. I had a limited amount of B-Points with no clear metric on how to obtain more since I conveniently didn't have enough of them for an upgrade.

I also had very spotty memory of anything barring the last 10 weeks, courtesy of the annoying System. There were some things I could recall, but they had no context so they made very little sense. I was supposed to make sure that Yi Chen's death wasn't in vain, but I don't even know what caused his Qi to deviate.

"Concubine Wang."

It took a while for me to register my name being called.

"Your Highness..?"

"Are we boring you?" She asked.