After Transmigrating Into A Eunuch, I Became Famous In The Harem - Chapter 6

This was the greatest provocation against imperial authority.

The Emperor listened in disbelief as the Empress spoke.

How dare she!

His hands, resting on the Imperial Desk, clenched into trembling fists. The Imperial Study was so quiet that a pin dropping would have been audible, save for the occasional whisper of wind through the window, marking the passage of time.

The Empress lowered her gaze in a final show of deference, avoiding eye contact with the Emperor, refusing to meet his glare.

She even softened her voice. “Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager shares this sentiment.”

Guan Zhixian’s gaze shifted to Shao Yin, who remained kneeling on the floor. “I believe Eunuch Shao will also understand Your Majesty’s helplessness and the Empress Dowager’s painstaking efforts.”

Shao Yin lowered her head as far as it would go, desperate not to become a casualty in this power struggle.

But the Empress’s proposal stirred something within her.

She had always wanted to find the female lead of this book. And since the female lead had to be one of the women in the Imperial Harem, constantly at the Emperor’s side—never seeing other women, yet enduring his sexual harassment.

“This servant understands,” Shao Yin said.

This was the first time the Emperor had ever felt so clearly that his imperial authority was being violated.

Even when his ministers had encroached on his power before, he hadn’t felt such humiliation.

After all, the governance of the realm still depended on those ministers. But what did these women of the Imperial Harem count for?

What right did they have to interfere in his personal life, even to the point of forcefully intervening?

Though he burned with anger, he couldn’t bring himself to resist.

The Emperor wasn’t entirely foolish. It was simply that, having grown up in such lofty surroundings, he had been taught to disdain many worldly concerns.

He knew well that his reckless debauchery displeased the court ministers and had even strained his relationship with the Empress Dowager.

Now these people were using this pretext to control him, even to take away the woman he loved.

The Emperor found this deeply unacceptable.

Yet what could he do? Even as the most powerful man in the world, he couldn’t truly act entirely as he pleased.

Moreover, he couldn’t simply ignore his mother’s words.

The Governess had already been sent by the Empress Dowager, and the Empress herself wouldn’t dare lie, not while invoking her mother’s name to rebuke him.

He looked down at the softly curved figure of the woman kneeling before him, at the snow-white, tender nape of her neck exposed to view, and felt the anger in his heart melt instantly into tenderness and pity.

If she leaves my side, she’ll be vulnerable to humiliation. And if she’s humiliated and no one protects her… what then?

Yet this woman stirred in him an infinite love.

Even if the path ahead was a mountain of blades or a sea of flames, she would still agree to accompany him.

Thinking of this, he realized that as Emperor, he truly should do something to please the Empress Dowager and his ministers.

Later, he could propose restoring Yin’er to his true gender and taking him into the Imperial Harem. That way, he could keep him by his side for a long time.

Still, the Emperor found more passion in the relationship between an Emperor and his personal eunuch than between an Emperor and his concubine.

Despite these thoughts, he ultimately agreed.

The Emperor’s response brought Shao Yin relief as well.
Shao Yin stood up and followed the Empress out of the hall.

On the way back to Cining Palace, the Empress sat in her sedan chair, gazing at the straight, lonely palace path.

A gentle breeze brushed her calm face, stirring her hair.

Even seated in the sedan, her back remained ramrod straight.

Shao Yin looked up and saw only the Empress’s straightened back, taut as a bowstring, never relaxing.

Beneath the glittering facade of the Inner Palace, behind the splendor and wealth, lay a profound loneliness.

Under the Emperor’s strict control and the unreasonable weight of imperial power, the women of the palace led lives of misery.

She understood why some women in the Imperial Harem rose to become Empresses.

A desire sprouted in her heart to help this woman navigate her life path more smoothly.

When they arrived at Cining Palace, Guan Zhixian instructed Shao Yin to follow her as her personal eunuch.

Inside the palace hall, the Empress sat in the place of honor, with her personal maid Ruyi standing beside her.

Ruyi’s eyes crackled with electric fire as she glared at Shao Yin, her gaze carrying the impulse to slash her a thousand times over.

Without orders from the Empress or Ruyi, Shao Yin dared not move a muscle or act on her own.

However, the Empress had two or three errands that needed running, and she asked Ruyi to handle them.

Ruyi hesitated, unwilling to leave. “This servant is still attending to the Empress here,” she said.

As she finished speaking, she turned to shoot Shao Yin another venomous glare.

Yet every time she looked at Shao Yin, a flicker of jealousy arose within her, mixed with a torrent of loathing.
The eunuch before her was even more beautiful than most women. With his downcast eyes and obedient demeanor, he looked like a delicate piece of glassware on display, ready to shatter at the slightest mishap.

Ruyi envied the eunuch’s exquisite beauty and fair skin, yet he despised someone like him who dared to use his feminine appearance to seduce the Emperor. It was utterly shameless.

How could she possibly feel at ease leaving the Empress alone in a room with this eunuch? Who knew what he might do next? What if he angered Her Majesty?

Guan Zhixian waved Ruyi forward. “Go ahead. These matters can’t wait. I really don’t trust anyone else with this.”

Being entrusted with such an important task lifted Ruyi’s spirits. She even shot Shao Yin a smug glance, clearly flaunting her favor.

So what if you’re the Emperor’s favorite? her gaze seemed to say. In Cining Palace, you’re nothing. Here, I’m the one the Empress trust the most.

After Ruyi left, the palace atmosphere grew much quieter.

A gentle breeze swept past the door, carrying a few fallen leaves.

Inside, the incense smoke drifted aimlessly, like wisps of fog.

The prolonged silence made Shao Yin uneasy.

She felt like a condemned criminal pushed to the Meridian Gate, with a sword hanging above her head, ready to fall at any moment.

Finally, Guan Zhixian spoke: “I know you were reluctant to be transferred to the Inner Palace under my command.”

Shao Yin bowed even lower than before. “This servant wouldn’t dare. I understand the Imperial Consort acts for the sake of the nation and its people.”

Guan Zhixian’s gaze lingered on Shao Yin’s slender waist, barely the span of a hand.

A fire of anger blazed through her heart.

Even a eunuch, stripped of his manhood, should have some masculine dignity. Why else would he starve himself to such a pliant, supple waist? Isn’t it all to seduce the Emperor?

She rose and slowly approached Shao Yin.

Only then did she notice that this eunuch was actually half a head shorter than herself.

No wonder he could dress and act like a delicate, fragile woman, stirring the Emperor’s pity.

Guan Zhixian knew she wasn’t jealous because the Emperor was being coveted; she simply found the eunuch before her was utterly repulsive.

Her voice turned as cold as ice, carrying the biting chill of a frozen tundra, as she murmured to the eunuch, “Look up. I want to see just how bewitching your face is to have captivated His Majesty so completely.”

Shao Yin raised her head but dared not meet the Empress’s eyes.

She, too, wanted to see what this Empress, the supreme ruler of the realm, looked like.

Yet she feared her gaze might betray her, and before she could even find the great Empress or become her trusted confidante, she would be sentenced to death by the Empress herself.

Unexpectedly, her downcast eyes only accentuated her fragility and vulnerability.

Her fair skin, tinged with a soft pink glow, appeared even more delicate than that of ordinary women.

Guan Zhixian gripped Shao Yin’s chin, her grip firm. She had expected to feel stubble or the firmness of a man’s jaw, but instead her fingertips encountered a soft and smooth skin.

The sensation only deepened her distaste.

This neither-man-nor-woman eunuch… no wonder the Emperor is so obsessed with them.

She forcefully lifted Shao Yin’s chin, forcing their eyes to meet.

In that moment, she found herself gazing into eyes that shimmered like a tranquil lake, far cleaner than she’d imagined. They held a nervous unease, framed by a face that was delicate and exquisite, as fragile as a dew-laden flower petal.

The fragrant incense in the hall, its white smoke curling upward and dispersing throughout the room, enveloped the two women. It seemed to soften their breaths, creating an indescribable atmosphere that slowly filled the space between them, less than a foot apart.

Guan Zhixian even thought she could smell a faint fragrance.

Her heart pounded with unusual force in her chest, underscoring the strangeness of the moment.

In that instant, Guan Zhixian had only one thought: Why doesn’t this eunuch before her reek of the usual eunuch stench? Instead, she carries a subtle, fragrant scent that mingles with the room’s incense, lingering in the air around them.

Her eyes, like clear water, stirred a flicker of pity in the Empress’s heart.

The Empress’s eyes flashed, and she abruptly shook off Shao Yin’s hand.

Shao Yin’s head tilted slightly with the force of the Empress’s gesture, then swiftly lowered in obedient submission.

Guan Zhixian spoke coldly, “I am not heartless. Considering what happened that night… you may remain in my palace. As long as you never engage in those repulsive acts again, you should be able to live out your days here as an ordinary eunuch.”

Shao Yin immediately expressed gratitude. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

The Empress turned and walked to her seat of honor, where she sat down and picked up a book to read.

One hand held the book, while the other remained hidden beneath her sleeve. The two fingers that had gripped Shao Yin’s chin earlier now unconsciously rubbed against each other.

She couldn’t focus on a single word of the book, her mind consumed by the memory of holding Shao Yin’s chin.

She felt increasingly certain that this eunuch was unlike any other.

She had a strange sense that, though she could clearly see Shao Yin’s features, they were somehow obscured by a veil. Beneath that veil lay the eunuch’s true appearance.

This was one of the reasons the Empress had decided to bring Shao Yin to her palace. She was determined to tear away the eunuch’s facade.

The Empress grew wary.

Yet Shao Yin proved to be remarkably perceptive and skilled at attending to others’ needs. In the short time since her arrival, the tea in the Empress’s cup remained perfectly warm, ready to drink, every time she picked it up. When drowsiness overcame her while reading, she dozed off on the daybed by the window. Upon waking, she found a light blanket draped over her legs. Though she hadn’t slept deeply, she couldn’t recall when the blanket had been placed there.

Guan Zhixian looked up and saw Shao Yin standing nearby. Though the eunuch’s presence was unobtrusive, Zhixian knew Shao Yin was responsible for all of this. No wonder the Emperor, who had always favored women in his harem, had suddenly taken a fancy to a eunuch. This person possessed extraordinary skills in pleasing others.

No, that’s not right, she thought. The Emperor’s harem has always been filled with women. Even before he took any official concubines, he slept with numerous palace maids. I’ve never seen him show any interest in men.

Could it truly be that this eunuch’s beauty surpasses that of women, enough to change the Emperor’s most fundamental preferences?

In that moment, Guan Zhixian recalled that night when she had accidentally stumbled into Shao Yin’s arms. She couldn’t ignore the softness she had felt beneath her hands.

Though the sensation had been subtle, she was certain she hadn’t imagined it.

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