I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 17

“I, I will kill you.” The emperor was so furious he was losing his mind.

Wei Ying hadn’t yet snapped out of the joy of hitting the jackpot twice. Dazed and happy, she went along with it, “Good, good, kill me, kill me.”

The emperor: …

How infuriating! How can such a person exist!

Yet the girl’s smile was so gentle and sweet, her eyes curved like the crescent moon in the sky. As she smiled, she audaciously took another deep breath.

Wei Ying: “Ah~”

She felt like she had finally shed her “unlucky” status.

Yun Shao’s face was cold: “Have you had enough of hugging?”

Wei Ying tilted her head, then realized she had been forcibly holding and inhaling from the person. She quickly let go, offering an embarrassed smile.

It wasn’t her fault; it was a habit she had formed. Her good friend used to have a grumpy and arrogant Garfield cat. Whenever she visited, the cat would rub against her leg, but when she tried to pet it, it would refuse. She could only forcibly hold it to bury her face in its soft fur and take a sniff or two.

Involuntarily, she had just treated the person in front of her like that arrogant Garfield cat.

She felt bad and quickly apologized. Hearing the tapping footsteps, she followed behind the ghost girl.

The ghost girl let out a cold “Hmph,” but she didn’t draw her sword to kill her, nor did she chase her away like she did when they first met.

Wei Ying’s lips curled up. She thought, “Actually, she’s a lot like that cat, with just a little bit of arrogance.”

After a day of dancing that left her feeling like she was about to cramp, she couldn’t help but gasp and “Ah, ah, ah~” while rubbing her sore legs, as if she were at a torture scene.

Hearing such a miserable sound, Yun Shao involuntarily frowned: “You… what’s wrong?”

Wei Ying waved her hand, leaning weakly against a pillar, “Don’t even ask. It’s just awful. All this dancing for the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet has exhausted my old bones.”

Yun Shao clenched her sleeve, whispering, “You’re not old.” She paused, a look of shame and annoyance on her face: “Why were you like that just now? So flighty and wanton. How can you be like that in the deep palace!”

Wei Ying rubbed her hands together, exhaled a puff of white air, and then opened up to her like a flower.

Yun Shao: …

The girl’s smiling eyes made it impossible for her to stay angry!

How infuriating! How could such a person exist?

“Ma’am, aren’t you surprised I passed the selection and stayed?” Wei Ying leaned in, holding a lantern. The flickering light from the lantern blurred the features of the person opposite her. She sighed wistfully; she still couldn’t see the ghost girl’s face clearly.

Yun Shao: “No, I’m not surprised.”

“Why not?” Wei Ying scooted closer, hoping to absorb more of the “European luck” from the ‘O-huang’ (European King) in front of her. “Did you help?”

Yun Shao was silent for a moment before saying, “How could I help? It’s naturally the Emperor’s grace. ‘Thunder and rain, all are the monarch’s favor.'”

Wei Ying laughed like a pig, clutching her stomach and roaring with laughter: “Hahahaha.”

Yun Shao: “…What are you laughing at?”

Wei Ying’s cheeks turned red from laughing, “Hahaha, why are you saying that too? Hahaha, it reminds me of the horse named ‘Thunder’.”

Yun Shao froze, a single sentence completely breaking her defenses.

The autumn wind was desolate, making her feel particularly cold.

Wei Ying laughed for a long time, even promoting the accomplishments of the “dog emperor”: “Hahaha, as soon as he saw Little Pear Blossom, his eyes lit up. I thought he would be devoted to her from then on, but I was mistaken. This man with thick eyebrows and big eyes turned out to be a horny old pervert. He saw another horse on the road and fell in love with it. He loves horses so much, I’d call him ‘Hermès’ (the brand, which sounds like ‘ai ma shi’ – horse lover).”

“Hermès” was silent, her face icy.

Wei Ying didn’t get a response from the ghost girl and leaned in: “Hey? Why aren’t you talking? Is it not funny?”

Yun Shao: “It’s not funny.”

Wei Ying’s eyes curved, and she covered her mouth, giggling to herself like a hamster again.

“…Stop laughing!”

“Okay, okay, I won’t,” Wei Ying, with her rich experience of petting cats, knew that the right choice at this moment was to stroke the cat’s fur. She took a lock of the ghost girl’s hair, stroking it. The hair in her hand was as smooth as satin and as cold as water.

Yun Shao’s face was grim: “What are you doing now?”

Wei Ying: “Grooming you.”

The Palace Struggle System groaned in her mind as she saw the killing intent in the emperor’s eyes: “It’s over, it’s over, the host is definitely dead!”

But a quarter of an hour later, the host was not only not dead but was also bouncing around happily next to Yun Shao.

“I’m telling you, my luck has been especially good since I met you.”

She had discovered that her luck only improved after she left this place. What did that mean? It meant that the ghost girl was her lucky star, her “luck-absorbing machine.”

Palace Struggle System: You really do treat her like a machine.

Wei Ying: Hehe.

She heard the ghost girl say in an “I’m not happy” tone, “Follow me inside.”

Wei Ying was startled for a moment, hesitated, then obediently followed the ghost girl into the palace building. The threshold was very high, and she stumbled, almost falling into a familiar embrace.

Yun Shao held her steady: “Be careful.”

Wei Ying looked up, her smile brilliant.

Yun Shao looked away, tugging on Wei Ying’s sleeve, leading her. After opening a few doors, they arrived at a bed. “Lie down.”

Wei Ying blinked, covering her chest: “Isn’t this… a bit improper!”

Yun Shao: …What is she thinking?!

“Lie down.”

“Okay.” Wei Ying reluctantly lay down, then listened to the ghost girl’s instructions to roll over. “You, you be gentle. This is my first time~”

Yun Shao fell silent. Her hand twisted the girl’s shoulder blade, and naturally, she heard a cry of pain: “Ahhh, it hurts!”

Wei Ying was in so much pain she was about to curl up: “Ah ah ah ah ah!”

Yun Shao: “Bear with it. Once I press these points, the pain will be gone tomorrow. Otherwise, it will hurt even more when you practice dancing in the future.”

Wei Ying: “Wuwuwu, sobs.”

Yun Shao skillfully massaged her acupuncture points and meridians, completely ignoring her piteous screams.

Wei Ying, lying on the bed like a dead person, could only silently shed tears. But after a while, the pain subsided, and another feeling washed over her, a mix of pain and pleasure. She closed her eyes, her lips slightly parted: “Ah~~~~”

Yun Shao: …

You don’t have to sound so… ecstatic.

Wei Ying said with a grin, “Ma’am, you’ve also mastered a skill. Do you want to join our ‘Disgraced and Reemployed Squad’? That way, even if we fall out of favor and are banished to the cold palace, I can do ventriloquism, Qianxue can apply medicinal plasters, and you can give massages. We’ll thrive in the cold palace.”

Yun Shao’s mouth hung open, unsure of what to say. Finally, she only managed to say, “You’ve just become a noble consort, why are you already thinking about falling out of favor and being sent to the cold palace?”

Normally, no new concubine would think about such a thing, but this person… perhaps she couldn’t be judged by normal standards.

Wei Ying: “Yay!”

Yun Shao’s hand exerted pressure, and that “Yay” turned into a sharp scream: “Ahhh, big sister! Be gentle!”

Yun Shao felt a dull anger in her heart but couldn’t help but lighten her touch. She then asked, “Are the people in the palace good to you? Have they given you any trouble?”

Wei Ying quickly shook her head, offering a flood of compliments: “No, there’s nothing like that. Everyone is so good to me. Consort Xian makes good food for me and even pulls me along to dance, hiss—” Thinking of the splits from the day before, she gasped, then declared: “Big Sister’s training is a sign of her love for me, and I have no regrets.”

“You two get along well. That Consort Xian is gentle and respectful; she’s easy to get along with.”

Wei Ying nodded repeatedly, thinking that since the ghost girl praised Consort Xian so much, she must have been a high-ranking concubine or even a grand consort. “And there’s Qianxue, she’s also very good to me. Oh, right, a few days ago, I also saw the Empress and the Grand Empress Dowager!”

Yun Shao: “Mm, you have to pay your respects to the Empress and Grand Empress Dowager on your first day in the palace.”

Wei Ying leaned against her, and her vacant eyes suddenly lit up with brilliance: “The Empress is so cute! Ah, and she likes listening to ventriloquism. How can such an extraordinary fairy sister exist?”

Yun Shao’s hand instinctively tightened.

Wei Ying: “Ahhh, it hurts, it hurts! Big Sister, be gentle!”

Yun Shao sneered: “You have quite a lot of ‘fairy sisters’.”

Wei Ying took her hand, her expression sincere: “How can anyone compare to you?”

You are my “luck-absorbing machine.”

After a moment of silence, she heard the ghost girl cough unnaturally and pull her hand away.

Wei Ying sighed in disappointment: “Don’t go. Let me touch you more. One touch brings a burst of ‘European luck’!”

Palace Struggle System: …You’ll stop at nothing to turn your luck around.

Wei Ying: Sigh.

You don’t understand.

Next, Wei Ying praised the Empress, the Grand Empress Dowager, and various other concubines, even calling the Gong Beinu sisters natural and very cute. Yun Shao listened with a stir of emotion, pursing her lips, and couldn’t help but ask, “Then… what do you think of the Emperor?”

Her tone was cautious and very humble.

Wei Ying fell silent.

Yun Shao also fell silent.

Wei Ying: “…Spit!”

Yun Shao: ???

After a while, Yun Shao calmed down and said gently, “He is the Emperor after all, and your husband. How can you be so disrespectful?”

Wei Ying looked up, her expression so murderous she looked like she was ready to sharpen her knives: “Have you heard the first page of the Palace Struggle Manual?”

“What’s that?”

Wei Ying: “‘With no men in your heart, your palace struggle will be divine. On your first day in the palace, kill the one you love most first.'”

Yun Shao froze.

Then thank you for not killing me, she thought to herself.

She looked at the girl again, her eyes curved in a smile, half-reclining on the bed, her hair disheveled, laughing breathlessly.

Yun Shao looked away and let go of her hand: “How dare you be so… so disrespectful.”

Wei Ying jumped off the bed, did some stretches, and felt that after the ghost girl’s massage, her meridians were indeed much clearer. Her legs no longer hurt, her back wasn’t sore, and she had the energy to do anything, even run up six flights of stairs in one go.

Yun Shao: “If anyone else had heard that, you would have been beheaded.”

Fortunately, she was magnanimous. Even though she had been offended and treated lightly, she…

She was angry at her own helplessness. She had sworn to kill her whole clan, but she couldn’t kill anyone. She could only let out a cold “Hmph”: “Be careful with your words from now on. Do you think the deep palace is the outside world? That you can say anything?”

Wei Ying grinned: “Okay, okay, I’ll only say it to you,” she winked her right eye at Yun Shao, her lips curving up: “Only to you.”

Thump, thump.

Yun Shao’s heart started to pound again. Only to me? Is it because she trusts me?

This person trusts her. It seems like she’s saying these disrespectful things in front of me, but in reality, she’s showing her softest side, completely defenseless, to me.

It had been many years since she had experienced the feeling of being trusted. Yun Shao’s emotions were very complex, a mix of joy and bitterness. She looked up at the girl smiling so innocently and thought: …If only she wasn’t scolding me, that would be even better.

“Come learn with me,” Wei Ying said excitedly, pulling her hand. “Dog emperor, spit!”

The dog emperor felt her imperial majesty had been offended and stormed off with a huff. Halfway there, the cold wind whipped around her, and she suddenly felt she shouldn’t have left.

This is my territory, why should I leave?

So she huffily returned and chased Wei Ying away.

Wei Ying happily ran off, her back filled with such cheerfulness that Yun Shao couldn’t help but clench her fists.

…Is she that happy?

Wei Ying was indeed very happy.

Two purple cards! It was more than she could ever have imagined!

She suddenly remembered something and turned back, running back to the ghost girl, her eyes curved in a smile.

Yun Shao was expressionless: “Why are you back?”

Wei Ying continued to act like a hamster, her cheeks puffed out with a smile, “Can we make a deal, ma’am, um…”

Yun Shao: “What deal?”

Wei Ying looked embarrassed, “Well, can you give me a token of some kind?” It was so intimate and abrupt that she quickly added, “Anything is fine, even a stone you pick up from the ground.”

In Yun Shao’s heart, a small animal seemed to be rolling around, its soft fur gently brushing against her heart.

Why does she want my token? She was so disrespectful just now, spitting at the dog emperor, and now she’s… she’s like this… She heard herself ask in a very quiet voice, “What do you want my token for?”

Wei Ying scratched her head, embarrassed: “Well, I feel like I’m too unlucky, my luck is just terrible, and your luck is so good, so I wanted to ask for something to take back. I’ll put your token on a pedestal and worship it every day!”

Before she could finish, the two doors slammed shut in front of her.

Wei Ying sadly pulled up her sleeves and sighed, “Oh well, she’s already so generous to let me absorb her luck.”

Palace Struggle System secretly thought, It’s already very gentle of her not to have killed you.

She turned away in dejection, walking in the west wind, thinner than a yellow flower, looking miserable and forlorn.

After sneaking back to the Jade Dew Palace, Wei Ying didn’t get into bed immediately. Instead, she eagerly and excitedly looked at her two purple cards.

New Favor: The court maid helps her up, delicate and weak; this is when she first receives the emperor’s favor. When she walks, she is like a lotus emerging from water, graceful and alluring, swaying with every step.

Duration: Five minutes.

The other one was a Modification Card: Can be used to change one character in a task. Cannot skip the task or change the general content of the task.

After reading the purple cards, Wei Ying was silent for a few minutes. Then she suddenly walked to the eastern corner of the wall, bent down, and seriously bowed a few times.

Palace Struggle System was puzzled: “Host, what are you doing?”

Wei Ying: “I’m bowing to my lucky star. I’ve decided, from now on, I will bow to her every night before I go to sleep.”

The Palace Struggle System looked at her sincere expression and was at a loss for words.

By the time she finished bowing to her lucky star, the sky was already faintly light, tinged with a bruised blue. The stars had faded, and a pale crescent moon hung in the trees. Outside the door, the sounds of palace maids getting up and washing could be heard.

Wei Ying quickly scurried into bed, pretending to be asleep. Not long after, she really did fall asleep.

She had stayed up too late last night, causing her to sleep until noon. Consort Xian and Xiao Qianxue, out of pity for her delicate health, hadn’t woken her up. So when she saw the bright sun hanging in the sky, she was a bit dazed.

Green Wax came up with food in a flurry, muttering, “Mistress is finally awake. Consort Xian and Noble Consort Xiao have already gone to the back garden to practice dancing. Mistress, eat something quickly and join them.”

Wei Ying: “Can I go back to bed?”

Green Wax smiled and said, “No, Consort Xian said that after you finish your meal, you must go to the back garden to practice dancing. The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet is coming soon, so you must work hard and stun everyone at the banquet to win the emperor’s favor.” She watched Wei Ying eat, her eyes gradually becoming fervent: “Mistress is so beautiful, just a few wiggles are more graceful than anyone else’s! You can definitely do it!”

Wei Ying put down her chopsticks, “Oh my, you can praise me, but why are you putting others down? I’m telling you, that’s not right. The sisters in the palace all have their own outstanding qualities. How can I compare to them? I just happen to have a more flexible tongue, that’s all.”

Green Wax obediently listened to the lecture, but in her heart, she thought: Mistress is both beautiful and humble, oh she’s so wonderful.

But when Wei Ying went on and on, refusing to finish her meal obediently, she finally started to critique the dried scallops in front of her. The naive little palace maid finally realized something was wrong.

“Mistress, are you trying to stall for time?”

Wei Ying: Hehe, you caught me!

Palace Struggle System: Your actions are so obvious. To resist practicing dancing, you’ll do anything! The food on the table is getting cold!

Wei Ying picked up a cold piece of cream fish fillet with her chopsticks, sighed wistfully, and took a small sip of the Dragon Well tea offered by Green Wax.

Green Wax: “Mistress, Noble Consort Xiao is learning so fast, and Consort Xian is growing to like her more and more.”

Wei Ying held her tea cup: “Oh, that’s a good thing.”

In the original book, Consort Xian was always very kind to Xiao Qianxue, so the blackened female lead was also very good to Consort Xian later on.

Green Wax: “Mistress, aren’t you worried and don’t you want to take some action?”

Wei Ying tilted her head: “Huh?”

Green Wax said anxiously: “If this continues, Consort Xian will favor Noble Consort Xiao even more and won’t make good food for you herself.”

Thinking of Consort Xian’s excellent cooking skills, Wei Ying instantly straightened up, “This won’t do!”

Green Wax was relieved to see her mistress’s newfound ambition and nodded.

Palace Struggle System: …Wait, shouldn’t your maid be trying to get you to win the emperor’s favor? Why is she trying to get you to win Consort Xian’s favor instead? Even the maid’s thought process has been involuntarily skewed by her. This woman is terrifying!

But then Wei Ying thought of the difficult splits and the ghost girl’s torturous massage from last night, and she withered instantly. She slumped on the low table, feeling like she was a delicate flower that had just perked up, only to be hit by a downpour, making the entire flower wilt.

She sullenly resisted practicing dancing: “No! My whole body hurts, I’m injured, I can’t go dancing.”

Green Wax: “But Mistress was so nimble when you jumped up to eat just now.”

She didn’t look injured at all.

Wei Ying cried inwardly: It’s all because the ghost girl gave me a massage last night. She massaged me so much that I can’t even pretend to be sick now.

The back garden of the Jade Dew Palace was not as large as the Imperial Garden, but it was small, delicate, and charming.

A desolate autumn pond, beside which were piled up artificial mountains and a small pavilion shaped like a bird’s wing. Consort Xian and Noble Consort Xiao, two beauties, were practicing their dance beside the pavilion. Watching them rhythmically sway their slender waists, Wei Ying wanted to sing a brainwashing square dance song for them.

But she thought it would be too much of a mood-killer to sing it out loud, so she “hmm-hmmed” and forced the song back down.

Xiao Qianxue’s eyes lit up when she saw Wei Ying. She ran over and gave her a big hug with open arms: “Yingying, you’re up so late today. The Consort taught me a new dance today. Let’s practice together.”

Wei Ying quietly stepped back, a look of pain on her face: “Ah, my body hurts, my whole body hurts. Just moving a little hurts.”

She recalled the ghost girl’s massage from last night, and her face instantly turned pale. She took Xiao Qianxue’s hand, her eyes welling up with tears: “Q^Q I don’t want to practice dancing.”

Xiao Qianxue was the softest-hearted and looked at Consort Xian in a dilemma, “Consort, Yingying is not feeling well, so why don’t we just call it a day?”

Consort Xian: “Learning to dance is always a bit difficult at the beginning. It will get better with practice.”

Wei Ying: Q^Q.

This Consort Xian, who was so gentle and cute, would turn into a devil coach when it came to dancing.

Consort Xian held Wei Ying’s shoulders, still smiling gently and speaking softly, “Then I’m going to press down, okay? It might hurt a little, so bear with it.”

Immediately after, another shriek rang out: “Ahhhh!”

Dong E looked out the window and quickly wrote: “Reporting to the Mistress, today the Jade Dew Palace is peaceful and tranquil, but the autumn wind remains loud.”

Faint sunlight leaked through the gaps in the leaves, sprinkling speckles of light inside the room.

She looked up at the gilded leaves and whispered, “Peaceful and tranquil.”

“Aunt Dong,” Green Wax called out crisply from outside the window, “It’s time to eat!”

Dong E quickly stuffed the note into her book and ran out. Outside, several palace maids were gathered around, warming up a pot, chatting and eating.

Red Pearl: “My mistress has been working hard at learning to dance lately. She’s learning so fast, even Consort Xian praises her talent!”

Green Wax glumly poked at her white rice with her chopsticks: “My mistress… has been trying to avoid practicing dancing lately. To stall for time, she even told us which sea and which fish the cream fish fillet on the table came from.”

Red Pearl laughed like a pig: “Hahahaha, Noble Consort Ying is so funny. I want to serve her!”

Green Wax continued to poke at her rice: “Noble Consort Xiao is both diligent and beautiful. She will definitely receive the emperor’s favor.”

What servant doesn’t want their master to do well so they can benefit from it?

But her own mistress was so unmotivated, just living a life of leisure every day. Green Wax thought about it, pursing her lips, and then said, “But my mistress is very, very good. Even if you wanted to switch with me, I wouldn’t.”

Red Pearl: “Who said I wanted to switch? My mistress is also very good.”

At this moment, a little palace maid said mysteriously, “Did you know? The palace is haunted again.”

Dong E heard this and turned her head, initiating a conversation: “Haunted?”

The little palace maid nodded: “Yes, yes. Last night, that little eunuch on night duty got scared by a ghost again. He had already been scared by ghosts twice in a row, so he specifically asked the manager to give him a different job so he didn’t have to run around at night. He just had to stay in the storeroom for the night. Who would have thought he’d get scared by a ghost again?”

Dong E’s face turned pale: “What kind of ghost did he see this time?”

The little palace maid: “He heard a very shrill scream, a woman’s voice, at night.” She lowered her voice: “It came from there, that place the Emperor ordered to be sealed off and forbidden to enter.”

Dong E’s hand trembled.

Red Pearl: “So scary, so scary.”

Green Wax: “So scary, so scary.”

…

Wei Ying had no idea that her screams from the ghost girl’s massage last night had become a new spooky tale in the deep palace.

She followed Consort Xian’s dance for half an hour, then completely collapsed in the pavilion, watching Xiao Qianxue energetically bend over to do the splits.

As expected of the female lead, her waist was soft, her face was beautiful, and watching her dance was undoubtedly a visual pleasure.

Wei Ying: “Inh…”

Forget it, I won’t inhale. I’ll only inhale from my ‘luck-absorbing machine’.

After practicing a whole dance, Xiao Qianxue was still full of energy and pulled Wei Ying to continue. Of course, Wei Ying refused, and after a bit of back and forth, they compromised: no more dancing, they would go to the Imperial Garden to admire the flowers together.

When they walked out of the pavilion, they found that Consort Xian, who had been playing the zither, had stopped and was smiling at them gently.

Consort Xian: “Your friendship is truly enviable.”

Wei Ying felt that when she said this, her eyes were a little too bright… so bright they were green, with a strange glow, like a big bad wolf!

Consort Xian gave a brilliant smile: “You must continue to maintain it in the future.”

Xiao Qianxue: “Consort, would you like to come to the Imperial Garden with us?”

Consort Xian shook her head: “I have to look at… I received a famous painting and need to appreciate it. You two go and enjoy the flowers.”

So the two girls left arm in arm.

Consort Xian watched their backs as they walked side by side, a happy smile on her lips.

She must protect this precious friendship!

The Imperial Garden was filled with the fragrance of chrysanthemums and cassia, a brilliant golden spectacle.

Xiao Qianxue: “Yingying, you can’t keep this up. If you don’t practice your dancing, what will you do at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet?”

Wei Ying pursed her lips, deep in thought.

Actually, the moment Consort Xian mentioned the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, she had already received a new mission: to stun everyone at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet.

Perhaps the Palace Struggle System had been scared by the previous “stunning everyone” and had specially circled “stunning everyone” in red, with a note: “This is just a regular ‘stunning everyone,’ please do not misinterpret it.”

Wei Ying thought to herself that with her square dancing level, even with Consort Xian’s intensive training, she wouldn’t be able to achieve a stunning effect. But… it wasn’t a big problem.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here.”

A familiar voice came from under a flower tree. Gong Beinu walked over with a few palace maids: “Noble Consort Ying, Noble Consort Xiao, don’t you have something to say to this Jieyu (a title)?”

Gong Beinu’s status was high; she became a Jieyu as soon as she entered the palace, a much higher rank than theirs.

Xiao Qianxue’s expression was unhappy: “You…”

Gong Beinu had long wanted to show off in front of them. She saw Xiao Qianxue’s reluctant bow and showed a typical villain’s smile. But when she turned her head, she saw Wei Ying was also looking at her, smiling…

Smiling with a gentle and pure expression.

Like a kind old mother.