After Entering The Abusive Novel, I Became The Empress - chapter 4

The room was thick with the smell of wine, blurring Lu Jingchuan’s face.

Qin Yuqing felt as if she really might be drunk; otherwise, why was her body growing hot?

“I’m not drunk!” With only a fleeting moment of dizziness, she pressed down the odd heat rising inside her. Pretending to be tipsy, she glared at Lu Jingchuan in dissatisfaction. “You haven’t even drunk yet!”

Lu Jingchuan looked at her over the wine jar she held. Then, as though sighing, his shoulders loosened. He accepted the jar from her hand and took a long drink.

A trickle of wine slid from the corner of his lips, down the line of his throat, disappearing into the loose folds of his robe. The room seemed to grow even warmer. His flushed face made him look all the more dangerously attractive.

Qin Yuqing shook her head hard. What was wrong with her? She wasn’t drunk!

“Sixth Princess.” Lu Jingchuan walked toward her step by step, tossing the empty jar aside. From his sleeve he drew a small, delicate wine flask, his gaze dark and unreadable. “It’s time you were drunk.”

His fingertips brushed her cheek. With his teeth he bit open the flask’s seal, then gently tilted her chin up. Wine poured from the flask into her mouth.

Qin Yuqing’s eyes flew wide. Since childhood, no one had ever dared treat her like this! Did Lu Jingchuan even realize what he was doing?

Yet the skin he touched itched faintly, sending a strange, spreading sensation through her whole body. Her gaze on him grew hazy, her mind muddled.

“No more!” Qin Yuqing suddenly realized there was something wrong with this wine. She shoved him back. The corners of her fox-like eyes were tinged red, tears shimmering in their depths. Pressing against the wall, she gasped for breath, her body heating further.

“What did you make me drink?” She felt hot, though not otherwise uncomfortable—neither thirsty nor fevered. Still, she knew this wasn’t the moment to question him. Half-acted scenes must be carried through to the end. She forced a smile. “Pour me more. I still want it.”

“Medicinal wine.” Lu Jingchuan lifted the flask and drained the last of it. Then he looked at her again, repeating slowly, “You’re drunk. You can’t have any more.”

Medicinal wine? Qin Yuqing eyed him suspiciously. Was this emotionless man plotting something?

Well, wasn’t this convenient. Riding the drug’s effect, she swayed toward him. “And who might this handsome brother be? I happen to like this type.”

It was payback, pure and simple. If he dared feed her wine like that, then she’d get her revenge. “How much for one night? This princess will buy you out.”

Lu Jingchuan’s icy mask cracked. Clearly he hadn’t expected that. His flush deepened, but before he could speak, two small hands clutched at his chest.

“Mmm, firm. I’ll give you a good review.” Qin Yuqing smirked, tears glittering in her fox eyes as she squeezed harder in dissatisfaction. “But I like them softer.”

Lu Jingchuan recoiled several steps, momentarily tongue-tied, stammering, “Princess, please conduct yourself with dignity.”

Inside, Qin Yuqing nearly burst out laughing. Outwardly, she only looked a little forlorn before once more stalking after him. “This princess has money! I can pay.”

Lu Jingchuan rubbed his temple. He truly hadn’t expected Qin Yuqing’s drunkenness to take this form.

“Ah Ruan.” He drew in a long breath, steadying himself. “Answer me a few questions, and I’ll agree to your request.”

So. He couldn’t hold it back after all. Let’s see what he wanted to know.

Qin Yuqing caught his hand with both of hers. “Ask away. Once you’re done, you’ll be mine.”

“Yes. Yours.” He retreated another step. His breathing was shallow and strained, as though holding something back. “Who are you?”

What kind of question was that?

“This princess, who never changes her name nor conceals her identity—Qin Yuqing. My childhood name is Ah Ruan.”

His face betrayed nothing. He asked again, “Are you alive?”

Alive again? Could the system’s “Main Task One — Live” mean something more than survival? What was Lu Jingchuan’s connection to the system?

“In the harem, life and death aren’t mine to choose. Do I seem alive to you, or dead?” She let the wine loosen her tongue, letting spill the resentment of the original heroine. “All these years I’ve been penned up in that tiny corner. Living is no different from dying. There’s no difference at all.”

“Though I am a princess, I live worse than a servant. At least they have hopes, a place to return to. I have nothing.”

Lu Jingchuan pulled out a handkerchief, gently wiping her tears. For once, his voice was soft. “Then what do you want?”

“I, Qin Yuqing, will be Empress. And I’ll kill them all!”

“Kill who?” he pressed.

A flash of murderous intent lit her eyes before she masked it. She was no saint. If she weren’t powerless now, Chen Momo and the false Chuntao would already be corpses. And even the real Chuntao, loyal though she had been in the original tale, was still a ticking bomb in Qin Yuqing’s eyes. Anyone not truly hers might betray her. That alone was enough to earn death.

“Who will you kill?” Lu Jingchuan pried open her clenched fist, repeating the question gently, “Who will Ah Ruan kill?”

“Of course—” She had meant to name those who tormented her, those who betrayed her. But when she lifted her gaze and met the reflection of herself in his dark eyes, she abruptly changed her mind.

She would gamble. For this moment, she would gamble.

“I will kill anyone who stands between us.” She gripped his hand in return, her fox eyes serious. “Lu Jingchuan, only I can save your Lu family. Only if I ascend the throne will your clan truly live.”

He didn’t pull away. “But Ah Ruan, right now you’re the weaker one.”

“My fate is already decided. To the world, I am nothing more than a worthless life. But you are different.” Rising on her toes, she whispered in his ear, “You can’t afford to gamble, handsome brother. Your beginning is the Lu family. You bear all its weight. Your end will also be the Lu family. But the Lu family’s end cannot be you.”

Cupping his face, she pulled him down until their foreheads touched. “Only when I enter the court can this realm be reshuffled. Only when a woman steps into power can the ships be burned behind us.”

“After all, what could be more shocking than a woman taking the throne?”

“There are other paths for women.”

“No. Those women are all pawns. Even the Empress’s daughter, Qin Qinqin—so long as she stays in the harem, she is a chess piece. She may be sent to seal an alliance by marriage, or married off to steady the court. But I—only I, the Sixth Princess Qin Yuqing, discarded from the start—am the one you can choose.”

In the flicker of candlelight across her face, Lu Jingchuan finally understood. Qin Yuqing had truly come alive.

“How can I help you?” he asked, abruptly.

“No rush.” She handed him another wine jar. “As you said, everyone must see that I, Qin Yuqing, live. If I don’t, I can’t even protect the Lu family. Isn’t that right, handsome brother?” She clinked jars with him and winked before drinking deep.

He drained his jar in one gulp. “I will help you.”

Qin Yuqing tottered closer, poking his cheek with a finger, tilting her head mischievously. “So, handsome brother, how much for one night? This princess has plenty of money.”

He shook his head softly, catching her restless finger in his hand. A rare smile tugged at his lips. “Already paid.”

“What—?” Her words cut off as his fingers pressed lightly at her nape. A wave of tingling weakness swept through her, and she collapsed into his arms unconscious.

“Lu Jiu. Clean up.” His voice turned cold. Carrying her to the bed, he set her down, his gaze lingering on her flushed lips. Bending low, he brushed a kiss across her fingertip. “Leave no trace of tonight.”

“Yes, Master.”

Outside, his men wordlessly slit the throat of the Daoist priest, disposing of the body and scrubbing the room clean. By the time Qin Yuqing stirred again, not even a whiff of wine lingered.

“Sixth Sister! Wake up! We have to copy scriptures today!”

She woke to the sound of someone scolding. Opening her eyes, she saw Qin Qinqin berating the servants.

“If the Sixth Princess doesn’t wake, it’s your heads that will roll!”

Qin Yuqing’s mind still lingered on the memory of poking Lu Jingchuan’s cheek, of his fingers pressing her nape. She coughed hard, then said weakly, “Thank you, Fourth Sister, for your concern. I was simply too frail, and the bed so soft—I overslept. I beg your pardon.”

Qinqin flushed, turning her head aside with a huff. “Who cares about you? I’m worried about myself. After that birthdate charm was made with my horoscope, if I don’t show enough sincerity, I won’t be rid of the curse. So don’t drag me down.”

Such a tsundere little girl.

Qin Yuqing chuckled softly and nodded. She began to rise but felt something under her hand. She quickly looked up at Qinqin with a smile. “Sister, could you wait outside? I’ll wash up and be right there.”

“I’ll wait at the door.” Qinqin stepped out. Just as the door was about to shut, she muttered, almost covering her words, “I just don’t want yesterday’s mess repeating. Whether you die or not doesn’t matter. But if you drag me down, that’s trouble.”

Amused, Qin Yuqing nodded. Growing up pampered under the Empress, no wonder Qinqin had turned out like this.

She drew out a sachet from the bed. Beneath it lay a slip of paper, bold strokes scrawled across it:

Take care of yourself. Change your medicine with Chuntao.

Not a word more. Clearly, her new ally was the cool and reticent type.

Qin Yuqing crushed the note into a ball, tossing it into the lamp flame and watching it burn. She narrowed her eyes at the fire. She would uncover Lu Jingchuan’s secret. She could feel that once she did, she would also learn the truth of her own strangeness.

The system never answered her except to issue tasks and settle scores.

She had a premonition—her arrival here was no accident.

And then there was the dream. The hazy boy, and those words:

“I will wait for you.”