There were many concubines in the Xia Kingdom's Imperial Palace. The current Emperor was even more beautiful than the previous monarchs, so there were countless beauties in the harem. To climb up, many beautiful girls didn't hesitate to abandon their dignity to seduce the Emperor. Many people succeeded, and many people failed. Xia Xi was raised in such a Palace and had long heard about those things. What's even more peculiar was that many concubines deliberately searched for beautiful girls to bring into the Palace to please the Emperor to consolidate their own status. They looked for beautiful young girls to stay by their side so that they could stuff her into the Emperor's bed when they got old.
To compete for favour the harem developed many methods, strange alliances formed. This kind of initiative of sending women to sleep with the Emperor, once successful, was equivalent to an extra layer of protection. After all, there were so many people in the harem, and the monarch loved the new and disliked the old. When it came to beautiful people, it was always better to let people close to you become favoured rather than strangers. Therefore, many noble concubines searched for court ladies who were very beautiful and would be very likely to become their own masters in the future.
And it wasn't only the masters who thought so, the maids also thought so. It's so that in that Palace, a seductive servant wasn't a disdainful thing, on the contrary, it was regarded as one of the first shortcuts that maids knew from the moment they enter the Palace, '"The shortcut to increase your value."
Although it was still early in winter, the weather was already very cold. The north wind whistled outside, only the inside of the Palace hall was warm and comfortable. Chu Lan was worried about the waning of Xia Xi's health amidst the wind and cold and made servants buy the best charcoal and send them in. The charcoal was smokeless and had no unpleasant smell. it was the most suitable for indoor use. Burning two pots of it wouldn't make anyone feel cold, even while wearing thinner clothing.
Xia Xi's physique wasn't very good, so he still wore a thick coat. The coat he wore was made of white fox fur, after a special process, the original smell had long been washed away. Spices had been added to it, making it have a particular fragrance. Even with the faint scent, it was still the warmest, whenever Xia Xi wore it even his hands didn't feel cold. He was originally making a pair of shoes. The base shoes had been finished, only the upper part hadn't been embroidered. But today, whenever he tried embroidering it, he either had the wrong colour or embroidered it in the wrong position. When he pierced his fingers, he finally stopped.
It seemed that he could only do nothing today.
Xia Xi thought blankly. After hearing Cai Huan's answer this morning, he only felt an emptiness in his heart. He didn't have an appetite, but to prevent others from noticing his strangeness, he reluctantly ate.
He never thought that his maid would seduce his King.
Cities away from the (Xia) Palace, he was almost alone, foolishly assuming that nothing from the past would follow him. He treated Cai Huan very well. He only saw her as the little girl from the beginning, but he never thought that she would have such thoughts when she grew up. He had ignored it. Cai Huan was seventeen years old, it was indeed no longer the age of a little girl. He should've planned for her early and found a reliable person to promise her to, it was better instead of letting her do it herself without even understanding her own thoughts. In the end, something like this happened.
What made Xia Xi the most uncomfortable was Cai Huan's saying that it was all for his own good. The little girl had said with tears in her eyes at the time: "This handmaid knows that Your Majesty is favoured, but how long can his grace last? A-and rumours in the palace are spreading, saying that you don't have the ability the continue the King's bloodline. I'm afraid that your body you have a hidden disease; infertility. They also s-said that the general also wanted to give the King a partner, a beautiful Hu Die¹. If the King's heart really is hooked, then he would have his first child with her. Ignoring such a big risk will greatly impact your future, what would you do then? On the other hand, I can share your burden. Once this maid successfully conceives a child, I'll make them recognize you as their mother, after I give birth, you can raise him by your side. W-we will share our King's heart..."
Those words rattled Xia Xi, even now, he felt as if they were still lingering in his ears, making him unable to forget about it. Other people didn't know about his physique, but Cai Huan knew about it, and she had also revealed what was worrying Xia Xi the most lately.
He felt that he might not be able to get pregnant.
In the imperial palace of Xia, there was good news (T/N: news of pregnancy) coming from the concubines from time to time. Sometimes there were even maids who were lucky enough to get pregnant with the royal seed. He did it with Chu Lan almost every night, the last time they did it yesterday he couldn't even gauge how much Chu Lan had shot inside him. If he was fertile, how could there be no news for months now?
He wanted to give birth to a child for Chu Lan, not because he was afraid of his position becoming unstable, but because if he had a child, the scenario he was most worried about would never happen.
For example, Chu Lan being intimate with other people.
If he couldn't give birth to an heir, Chu Lan would definitely have to marry another woman. This was originally something normally practised, but Xia Xi didn't want this to happen at all.
In the Xia Kingdom's harem, you could fight for favour and use different methods to seduce the Emperor, but there was one thing you can never act upon; that was "jealousy." There was a case of a concubine being jealous of the Palace maid who was favoured and had the maid cast into a well. Her family was prominent, but the punishment of death clapped down on them all the same.
Not allowing your husband to accept concubines out of jealousy, even among the common folks, was very much criticized, especially in the main wives. In the Xia Kingdom's folk customs, the most important qualities that made a good wife were "good virtues", and the initiative to choose a concubine for one's husband was classified as "good". If the husband wanted to marry a concubine and the main wife refused to allow this, the defendant would be accused. In Xia, the husband can divorce his wife directly and he doesn't even need to return the dowry.
These rules were all written in a book called "The Commandments to the Wife". Almost every family had one copy of the book, this book had numerous copies in the Palace. Every concubine had one, and it was stipulated that it was to be read every month. They must be familiar with it, and it must be memorized. It was so that even Xia Xi had read it many times and copied it when needed. When he got married, the Palace also prepared a copy for him in accordance with the rules, and it was still in his box till today.
Thinking of the commandments, Xia Xi desperately warned himself to not be jealous; to not lose his rationality just because Chu Lan appears to have great affection for him, to arrogantly imagine that he would be contented with being married to some intersex for life.
How can he forbid things that even the common folk could do in the King's house? Just like Chu Lan's parents. Xia Xi heard that they were extremely affectionate, but his father still accepted two concubines, it was not just Yue Ling'er.
He tried to persuade himself this way, but his mood didn't improve at all. Cai Huan's words had hit on his sore spots, doing such a thing with his sister-like maid made his stomach act up, and he felt terribly uncomfortable.
The words exchanged by the master and servant were ten times less than usual. Cai Huan left, she also knew that her actions made Xia Xi sad, so she didn't stay long after serving dinner. Xia Xi sat next to a brazier and continued to embroider shoes. This time he tried to calm himself down, but he still embroidered wrongly a few times. While he was removing the offending stitches, a big orange² thing accompanied with a strong fragrance suddenly appeared in front of his face.
Xia Xi was stunned for a moment. He slowly raised his head and saw his young King-husband looking at him with a smile on his face. His eyes seemed to be shining, bright as stars, and the joy in them was very obvious.
Chu Lan saw his stupefied look, he smiled and sat beside him. He kissed him loudly on the cheek and asked: "Embroidering so seriously? Didn't you even notice that I came in? You seemed a bit like you don't care about me." When he said the last sentence, his tone was a bit wronged, and his mouth was slightly pouted, but the smile in his eyes was still very obvious, indicating that it was obviously just a joke.
Xia Xi's heart began beating wildly. He put down the scissors he was holding and said softly: "I'm sorry, I... I didn't hear..."
Chu Lan leaned over, "I'll forgive you if you kiss me!"
The young King was obviously very majestic in the presence of outsiders, but he still acted like a child in front of Xia Xi. Only when he was in bed would he act like an unrestrained beast. Chu Lan tilted his head, he rode on horseback from somewhere far today. there was a bit of dust on his face. His eyebrows were thick, his eyes were big, and the bridge of his nose was very straight. Xia Xi didn't notice when, but the curve of his face was better than when he first came back. It was a lot more persevering and now truly had the outline of an adult. When he asked for a kiss like that, it made Xia Xi's heart thump, but the sourness of fear overcame it and he lost all joy.
Xia Xi slowly leaned forward and kissed his lips loudly. Chu Lan was satisfied and shook the thing he was holding in front of Xia Xi with a smile, "Look what I brought you."
Xia Xi forced the corners of his mouth to rise, suppressing the worries in his heart, and saying in a normal tone: "Is it an orange? I haven't eaten that for a long time." Oranges were also a product of the South. Some were planted in the Barbarian territory, but can't bear fruit, so Xia Xi could rarely eat it after he came here.
Chu Lan smiled happily: "I knew that you haven't eaten this for a while. I asked someone to buy some from the Kingdom of Xia. I ordered them to buy a few baskets; one for you, one for mother, and some for the courtiers. I went and tasted some but it was too sweet for me, but I thought that you'd like it." He wanted to peel the orange, but Xia Xi quickly said: "Let me do it." Chu Lan avoided his hand, "I'll peel it for you." He was neat in peeling the oranges, exposing the clear white veins on them, and then sending it into Xia Xi's mouth, "Come on, open your mouth."
Xia Xi blushed and moderately opened his mouth. Chu Lan put the orange inside his mouth and looked at him with shining eyes. After he finished chewing, Chu Lan immediately asked, "Is it sweet?"
The orange was very sweet. Xia Xi tasted it slowly. Seeing what he was expecting him to answer³, he nodded and praised: "It's so sweet. I have never tasted such a sweet orange."
Chu Lan was very happy and broke a few pieces off to feed to him. Xia Xi asked him to eat some himself. Chu Lan said: "I've eaten some." Xia Xi couldn't help laughing and said softly: "But the oranges that my King ate isn't the same as this one, there must be a difference in the taste."
Chu Lan stared at him and suddenly said, "I'll taste it then." He then kissed Xia Xi's lips.
The two shared a sticky kiss. It was confusing identifying which fluids were which. Chu Lan released his lips and said with a beaming smile: "It really tastes different, this one is definitely sweeter."
Xia Xi was kissed until he was left panting, his face was fully flushed. Chu Lan fed him an orange, kissed him three more times in the middle, and patiently waited until taking this person into his arms. He suddenly said, "Is Cai Huan not here?"
Hearing the name "Cai Huan", Xia Xi trembled all over. He tried to hide it and raised his head to look at Chu Lan, "What's wrong?" His heart tightened, and for a while, he felt as if his stomach was churning. making him even more uncomfortable.
Did this morning's lure... work?
Chu Lan didn't notice his strangeness, he frowned and said unhappily: "She didn't dress well this morning and wanted to seduce you. I saw through her and said a few words. Xi'er, if she does this again, you're not allowed to hold onto her; lay her off. I'll send you some other maids instead."
Xia Xi caught his main point, froze for a moment, and asked, "Seduce me?"
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Notes:
1- A name of a person\n2- Originally yellow, replaced it with orange to fit in more\n3- Added a bit for continuity
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<b>PastTimer: Ho ho ho, hope you enjoyed that roller-coaster. Also, comment if you want more of my art appearing in the future, or just comment on general. It'll boost my motivation, I swear ( bT^T)b</b>