Chapter 1: No Longer Concealing

The Supreme Harmony Palace was suffused with a delicate fragrance, soothing both body and soul.

Qin Xiao slowly opened his eyes from the gilded dragon couch. Before him stood a woman in a cheongsam, her willow-shaped brows arched like scimitars, exuding an exceptional charm, her peach-shaped hips jutting out with an alluring boldness.

But the most captivating feature was her slender waist, delicate enough to be encircled by a single hand—worthy of the world’s finest models.

A beauty beyond compare!

Even Qin Xiao’s three legs suddenly brimmed with vigor. He couldn’t help but wonder at her identity. Not even the most celebrated starlet in her prime could compare to a fraction of this woman’s allure.

“Your Majesty, when you fainted just now, I was so frightened that I wept. Are you feeling better? Should I summon the imperial physician?” the woman whispered softly.

Qin Xiao’s eyes widened abruptly. The gilded dragon couch, the beautiful consort addressing herself as “your humble servant,” the palace maids...

A pounding pain seized his mind as memories surged forth—scenes flooding his consciousness like an endless spring.

The year of Dingchou, the Great Qian Dynasty, Emperor Qin Xiao, styled as Greedy Wolf.

After a moment of silent assimilation, absorbing the strange memories, Qin Xiao finally understood—he had crossed over to another world.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, his heart thudded violently; blood burst from his lips as he clutched his chest and thrashed about on the bed.

The episode happened so swiftly that everyone present was thrown into panic.

The Noble Consort Hua’s face lost all color, her exquisite features twisted with worry. She stood by, at a complete loss, her voice trembling as she shouted outside the bedchamber, “Servants! Quickly—summon the imperial physician!”

After roughly fifteen minutes, Qin Xiao finally calmed down. Covered in sweat, he lay nestled in the consort’s embrace, his head resting on her springy, yielding thighs.

At this moment, he finally felt reassured.

So these were the aftereffects of transmigration—truly terrifying.

“How do you feel now, Your Majesty?” With a silken handkerchief, Noble Consort Hua dabbed the sweat from his brow, her complexion slowly regaining some color as she asked anxiously.

She feared that if anything befell the noble body of the emperor, everyone in Hua Pool Palace would be doomed.

Even her own family might be plunged into catastrophe.

The emperor’s life was the fate of the entire Great Qian Dynasty!

“My beloved, I am fine now. Do not worry,” Qin Xiao replied indulgently, stroking the consort’s delicate chin—it was so smooth!

Having received his reassurance, the consort was still uneasy and called for the waiting physician.

“Physician Li, examine His Majesty thoroughly!”

Qin Xiao made no pretense and immediately sat up, allowing Physician Li to conduct a full examination. He, too, wished to be certain there were no lingering issues.

After all, the body was the foundation of all endeavors.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness, the emperor’s condition is merely an excess of vital energy surging upwards, nothing out of the ordinary. Harmonizing yin and yang will suffice.”

Qin Xiao breathed a sigh of relief—so long as there was no real harm.

Consort Hua’s cheeks regained their glow, and she pouted, “Your Majesty, you frightened me so terribly. If anything happened to you, how could I go on living?”

Suddenly realizing her slip, she was seized with panic and fell to her knees.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty! I lost my composure in the joy of your recovery and spoke out of turn.”

“My dear, I know your heart. Rise, quickly.” Qin Xiao reached out, grasped her jade-like hand, and helped her up.

“Physician Li, you may withdraw. I have words for my beloved alone.” Dismissing the physician and maids, Qin Xiao drew Consort Hua to sit by his side on the dragon couch.

Outside the Supreme Harmony Palace, Physician Li hurried away, leaving the palace and entering a dilapidated courtyard within the city.

In the courtyard stood dozens of birdcages—carrier pigeons, upon closer inspection.

As daylight waned and night descended, a messenger bird flew out of the yard, rising into the moonlit sky until it vanished from sight. Bathed in silver light, Physician Li revealed a set of fangs and let out a sinister chuckle.

He strolled out, muttering to himself, “Everything is within my grasp. That dog emperor grows weaker by the day. To think he survived today’s fit—truly a life clinging to a thread! A chosen son of fate, perhaps, but what of it? He still coughed blood. The hour is nigh!”

Sinister laughter echoed in the night.

Meanwhile, in the Supreme Harmony Palace, Consort Hua was still brooding over her earlier indiscretion, tracing idle circles on Qin Xiao’s chest with her delicate hands.

As for Qin Xiao, although a beauty was nestled beside him, his soul seemed adrift; he had to make sense of this transmigration.

He had crossed over. The Great Qian Dynasty was not found in any history books, clearly a fictitious era.

The wheel of fate had turned at last. Who could have imagined? Thirty years by the eastern river, thirty by the west, and today, it was his turn to rule as emperor.

The true son of heaven, sovereign among sovereigns!

When an emperor is angered, even commoners die for it. To stand above all, what power and dominance!

This was what it meant to be emperor. Qin Xiao was now the hope of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Consort Hua suddenly spoke, her voice soft yet each word articulated with care.

“Your Majesty, tonight I wish to pray for your well-being. I shall not stay to accompany you; you must rest.”

“Where do you think you’re going? I never said you could leave.”

“Have you forgotten? Physician Li said my excess of vital energy requires harmonizing of yin and yang!”

Qin Xiao pulled Consort Hua to his side with a gentle but firm tug, their faces so close that their breaths mingled.

In this silence, words were unnecessary.

Qin Xiao’s hands moved like a musician tuning his instrument, deftly unfastening the buttons of her cheongsam.

The snow-white nape of her neck was unveiled, slowly coming into view.

But in the next instant, Qin Xiao froze.

Beneath her pale neck, shocking marks came into sight. He immediately sat up and looked at the back of her neck—bruises marred her skin.

He exhaled deeply, his heart weighted with dread. This was his woman, his beloved consort.

His composure was unnervingly cold, his entire presence radiating an icy chill.

“My beloved, did you think I wouldn’t notice? Were you not going to tell me? I am the true son of heaven, the sovereign above all. You are my consort—who did this to you? Tell me!”

Consort Hua trembled, unable to meet the piercing gaze that seemed to see through her soul.

She dared not speak. How could she? Though she and Consort Li held equal rank, Consort Li possessed the emperor’s unending favor, while she herself was but a dispensable ornament.

Whenever the emperor visited Hua Pool Palace, Consort Li would beat her. If she complained now, tomorrow she might be found floating in the Huaqing Pool.

Silence. A long, suffocating silence.

Seeing her kneeling, tears dripping onto the floor, Qin Xiao’s anxiety mounted. He demanded loudly, “What, am I not even allowed to protect my own consort? What are you afraid of? Tell me!”

“I will see justice done for you. Whoever dares lay a hand on my woman must suffer my wrath!”

“Answer me!”

Sensing the steel in his tone, Consort Hua finally decided to hide nothing more.

Tears streaming, she looked up at Qin Xiao, gritted her teeth, and mustered her courage to speak.

“Your Majesty, the harem is nothing but a living hell for me. Every time you visit Hua Pool Palace, Consort Li beats me!”

Once she began, it was as if a dam had burst; she could no longer hold anything back.