The Empress Wants It All: The Empire and Me - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

How fragrant.

A peculiar fragrance permeated the air—not heavy, and even faint if one tried to sniff it intentionally, yet it possessed a scent that seeped deep into the lungs and organs.

Lin Yanran felt groggy, her eyes heavy as if trapped in a chaotic dream. Yet, the scent swirling at the tip of her nose was indescribably pleasant, carrying a lingering, flirtatious quality that tugged at the most secret desires of her heart, making her itch with an unbearable restlessness.

What exactly was this fragrance?

As a dual Ph.D. in Agronomy and Pharmacy and the youngest Academician of the National Academy of Sciences, she was familiar with countless plants. Whether domestic or wild, she could list their details like the back of her hand; she was practically a walking botanical encyclopedia. Yet, she had never smelled a scent so unique and mysterious.

She struggled to see clearly, and unexpectedly, her eyes snapped open.

What met her sight was a primitive courtyard house. The double main doors were tightly shut, and seven round wooden pillars, as thick as a person’s torso, supported a U-shaped corridor. The corridor was paved with blue bricks, and in the courtyard, a cross-shaped path was laid out with the same bricks—one path led straight to the gate, the other reached the side galleries.

She was lying under the corridor facing the main gate, reclining in a rattan chair with her feet propped up on a wooden table, legs crossed.

By her feet sat a copper-spouted teapot.

This was a posture she utterly detested. How could she be having such a strange dream?

In the next instant, her eyes widened in shock.

At the end of the corridor lay a woman dressed in a green gown. Her arms and legs were curled inward, her body bent like a bow. A black dog lay beside her, occasionally nudging her with its head and letting out whimpering, pitiful cries, but she remained motionless.

Inky black hair covered her face in a mess, obscuring her features. Her gown was wrinkled and covered in many filthy footprints—footprints scattered haphazardly all over her body… In the spot where her face pressed against the ground, a small puddle of blood had pooled.

Lin Yanran’s heart suddenly constricted, and she stood up as if by reflex.

This scene was so realistic; it felt as though she had traveled to an unfamiliar time and space.

She didn’t hesitate to pinch herself. It hurt.

“System?”

She called out three times, but there was no response.

She walked uneasily toward the woman on the ground. A faint, profound fragrance drifted into her nose—subtle yet deep, like a tiny hook snagging all her desires and pulling them outward.

The restless itch she felt earlier resurfaced. Inexplicably, she wanted to get closer, to possess… to crush the woman on the ground into her own body. A sudden surge of desire violently eroded her reason.

But soon, another, more pungent smell overwhelmed her.

Strong, irritating, and foul—it was the smell of cheap alcohol, the kind usually found on a street drunk. Lin Yanran sniffed and realized the smell was actually coming from herself!

She immediately realized that the fragrance she had smelled earlier was emanating from the woman on the ground.

While she was still shaken, a commotion suddenly erupted outside.

“Lin Yanran! Lin Yanran!”

The main gate was pounded loudly. The black dog jumped up in a fright, ears pricked and fur standing on end, yet it didn’t bark; it only whimpered as it retreated to stand guard in front of the woman, eyeing the gate warily.

Lin Yanran didn’t open the door immediately. Instead, she scanned the courtyard alertly, looking for a handy weapon.

On a large stone mill in the center of the yard lay a bow and a quiver. There were about seven or eight arrows left in the quiver. She looked closely—they were actually iron arrows. Then, her gaze stopped at the left corner of the wall, where several clusters of plants were growing.

She recognized them all! “King of Hell’s Umbrella” (Amanita verna) and “Morning Glory”—all were top-tier hallucinogenic poisons!

The door was kicked open with a “bang.”

Three people walked in one after another, acting as bold as if they were entering their own home.

Lin Yanran frowned inwardly.

These three were all young women, but they gave off a loitering, ruffian-like vibe.

The leader wore a long robe with a hairpin stuck askew in her hair. She had a pair of sinister-looking “phoenix eyes.” At this moment, her brows quirked up as she glanced toward the corridor. Seeing the woman lying on the ground, she wasn’t surprised; instead, she let out a snickering laugh.

“Lin Yanran, did you get drunk and beat your wife again?”

The second person wore a narrow-sleeved, belted long dress and looked relatively capable, but her hair was tied in a loose bun with the rest hanging messily. She had a blade of grass in her mouth, looking every bit like a street hoodlum.

This woman poked her head in to look and also chuckled: “Heehee, she deserves a beating!”

The third person squeezed in beside her, peering at the woman on the ground. She had a round face and round eyes, but there wasn’t a hint of innocence in her; instead, her eyes darted about, making her look crafty and mercenary. She chimed in: “Exactly! How dare she be disrespectful to her own qilang (husband-wife). An unobedient Kunze like this needs to be taught a harsh lesson!”

Lin Yanran stared at the three of them with a frown. She didn’t know them, but the moment she saw them, three names popped into her head: Zhang Zhen, Li Qing, and Zhu Shiyu.

“What is that smell? It’s so fragrant.”

The three of them twitched their noses like dogs, sniffing wildly.

The black dog let out a pitiful whine, its whole body trembling. It was clearly terrified of them, yet it still stood its ground in front of the woman.

Zhang Zhen followed the scent toward them, an ill-intentioned smile on her face.

“Yanran, what good stuff is your Kunze hiding on her body? Let me see.”

Lin Yanran was startled and instinctively blocked her path.

To her surprise, Zhang Zhen hooked an arm around her shoulder and laughed with a lecherous expression: “Yanran, are you acting like a stranger with me? The three of us are so close; shouldn’t your Kunze be brought out to be shared a bit, eh?”

“Exactly.” Li Qing also squeezed over, leaning on Lin Yanran’s other shoulder, a wicked grin appearing in her squinted eyes. “Yanran, you’ve been married for three months, right? You’ve kept your Kunze hidden so tightly that you won’t even let us have a look. Sniff this… it’s truly fragrant. Maybe this Kunze you picked up is top-quality goods…”

Her words trailed off, her eyes turning fixed as she let go of Lin Yanran’s shoulder.

Lin Yanran followed her gaze.

The previously unconscious woman had woken up at some point and was using the wall for support to slowly stand up from the ground.

She wore a green cloth gown that had been washed until it was pale. Her inky hair was disheveled, but the moment she stood straight, the hair slid from her cheeks, revealing her face.

The entire courtyard seemed to brighten for an instant.

That wrinkled, faded green cloth dress suddenly seemed to become magnificent and precious, as if it were a celestial garment woven from the finest silk.

A phrase involuntarily surged into Lin Yanran’s mind: “A beauty that could topple kingdoms.”

Her breathing subconsciously became light.

How could such a beautiful woman exist in this world?!

But soon, her heart ached. A trickle of blood was slowly seeping from the corner of the woman’s mouth.

Her skin was snowy white, radiating a coldness like ice, and the color of her lips was very pale, making the streak of blood look shockingly vivid.

Their eyes met.

Lin Yanran couldn’t stop her whole body from shivering.

It was a bone-deep cold—a gaze colder than ten-thousand-year-old ice. Those inky pupils, like a bottomless pool of freezing water, looked at her with extraordinary calm, devoid of even a shred of emotion.

She had never imagined a human could possess such a cold gaze; it was so cold it made her bones ache.

Beside her, Zhang Zhen, Li Qing, and Zhu Shiyu all hissed, their breathing quickening as they stared at the woman with glazed eyes.

“Well now, Lin Yanran, you actually hid such a peerless beauty and didn’t let us feast our eyes.”

“How could Lin Yanran bring herself to strike such a delicate beauty?”

“That’s where you’re wrong. The more beautiful a Kunze is, the more they need a beating. The harder you hit them, the better they are to play with!”

“Well said! No matter how beautiful, she’s just a Kunze, born to serve a Qianyuan. If no Qianyuan marries her, she’d either be a slave to a rich family or a prostitute for everyone to toy with!”

The three of them continued their boisterous remarks while circling the beautiful woman, eyeing her up and down.

“Lin Yanran, have your Kunze cook up a feast. She’s drinking with us tonight!”

“Heehee—great idea. A Kunze who’s just been disciplined is usually more obedient. Looks like we’re having fun tonight.”

“Beauty, go prepare the food and wine. We won’t stop until we’re drunk tonight.”

The beautiful woman’s face remained expressionless. Her cold gaze swept across the three women and Lin Yanran in turn, as if she hadn’t heard a word they said.

Zhang Zhen’s expression soured, a flash of malice appearing in her eyes.

“This Youqin Mingyue is truly a tough nut. I heard Yanran beats her three times a day, yet she still hasn’t been broken. Now she dares to give her own husband a cold face in front of us? What Qianyuan could stand this? If I were Yanran, I’d beat her senseless too!”

Youqin Mingyue? Qianyuan and Kunze? Husband-wife?

With a “boom,” Lin Yanran’s brain exploded.

Isn’t this the ancient ABO GL novel she read last night?

The great villain of the book, Youqin Mingyue, possessed a beauty that could topple empires but had a heart like a scorpion—gloomy, cold, and poisonous. To seize the throne, she didn’t just kill all her siblings; she even cut off the limbs of her most loyal personal guard to make a “human pig.”

And the most memorable part was that when she was weak and in a wretched state, a low-level Qianyuan had used despicable means to become her “husband.” This woman looked decent but was actually a beast at heart—a scoundrel who indulged in drinking, gambling, and visiting brothels. Because she failed to “mark” Youqin Mingyue, she flew into a rage and began a period of inhumane torture and humiliation. Finally, after squandering the family fortune, she drugged Youqin Mingyue and sold her to a brothel to pay off her debts.

But a villain is a villain because she is ruthless enough. She carved out her own scent gland, risked her life jumping off a cliff to escape, and as soon as she gained the power to protect herself, she immediately launched a frantic revenge against this scummy “husband.”

According to the original text: “Youqin Mingyue watched with her own eyes as her guards sliced the scummy husband three thousand and six hundred times, until she died in agony.”

Lin Yanran’s hands and feet went cold because she suddenly remembered that this scummy husband’s name in the book was, by some terrible coincidence, the same as hers: Lin Yanran.

When she read that part, she had been so angry she cursed out loud. She never expected that upon waking up, she would have transmigrated into that very same scummy husband.

She slowly turned her freezing neck and looked over.

The villain before her, the future Empress, was currently disheveled, blood staining her lips, staring at her with cold eyes.

So, the footprints on her body… the original owner had kicked her? The blood on her lips… the original owner had slapped her? Even the torn collar… the original owner had ripped it?

What an animal!

No, wait. That animal… was now her.

She had arrived just in time to have the villain’s hatred for her at its absolute maximum!

Lin Yanran felt the world go dark.

“Bitch, didn’t you hear us Qianyuan talking?”

“Lin Yanran, you’re really pathetic. You can’t even handle your own Kunze. Let me do it!”

Zhang Zhen rolled up her sleeves and walked toward Youqin Mingyue with a cruel grin.

“So fragrant!” she cried out, her eyes gleaming.

“Where is this scent coming from? Could it be from Youqin Mingyue’s body?”

She approached Youqin Mingyue impatiently, her gaze gradually becoming lewd.

Lin Yanran’s face paled. She suddenly remembered the villain’s identity.

She was the Eldest Princess of the Shenyao Kingdom, born of noble blood. Not only was she the highest-level Kunze in the book, but she was also born with a unique fragrance—any Qianyuan who smelled it would lose all control and want to possess her like a madman! Therefore, her mother, the Empress, had secretly commissioned a specially made pill for her to wear, suppressing her fragrance to protect her.

Just now, the original owner’s domestic violence and tearing of her clothes might have damaged the pill, allowing a sliver of her scent to leak out.

If that scent continued to leak, every Qianyuan within a hundred miles would lose control and swarm this place. It would lead to unpredictable trouble and completely derail the plot.

And she wouldn’t be able to live either!

Zhang Zhen reached Youqin Mingyue. “Beauty, why don’t you come with me? I’ll make sure you’re comfortable tonight.”

“Wait, this scent is getting stronger. Can you guys smell it?”

“Lin Yanran, your Kunze is hiding a secret!”

“Let me see!”

The three of them had fire in their eyes, staring at Youqin Mingyue like hungry wolves.

The black dog began to bark: “Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Even the tiniest leak of a top-tier Kunze’s fragrance was enough to make three Qianyuan lose their minds.

Just as Zhang Zhen was about to grab Youqin Mingyue’s wrist, her collar was suddenly seized, and a sudden, powerful force nearly flipped her onto the ground.

Lin Yanran’s face was as dark as water. Zhang Zhen was extremely displeased: “Yanran, what is the meaning of this?”

“Heh.” Lin Yanran suddenly gave a meaningful laugh. “I say, what’s the rush? Come, let’s go inside and sit. I’ll have someone bring over the best wine and meat. We’ll eat our fill first, then savor the rest slowly…”

She pointedly raised an eyebrow. The three of them understood immediately and laughed as they leaned on her: “Yanran, you’re a real pal!”

However, they still stared at Youqin Mingyue, unwilling to move an inch.

How could ordinary Qianyuan resist the allure of a top-tier Kunze?

Lin Yanran coaxed and pushed, dragging the three into the house. She immediately shut the door and found the wine the original owner had hoarded.

“Come, come. This is my private stash, I’ve been saving it. Today I’ll risk my life to accompany you ladies; we won’t stop until we’re under the table.”

The three were in no mood to listen to her. Their eyes kept darting toward the door. Zhang Zhen, being the most arrogant, said dismissively: “This wine smells average. No rush to drink; let me look at that beauty again. Tsk tsk, I’ve never seen such a beauty in my life—”

Lin Yanran stood in front of her, holding a cup.

“Zhang Zhen, if you’re a friend, drink this.”

Her voice carried a strange authority. She handed the cup to Zhang Zhen, who instinctively took it and downed it. Seeing this, the other two followed suit.

Soon, she had coaxed them into drinking several cups. She said: “I’ll go out first to discipline my wife a bit. I’ll have her change into decent clothes and do her makeup so she can serve you all properly later.”

The three were delighted and urged her to go quickly.

“Yanran, you really know how it’s done! Go, go! We’ll pour our own wine. Oh, and bring some snacks.”

Lin Yanran turned and left the room.

Youqin Mingyue was leaning down, reaching out her arm to grab a silk pouch in the distance.

Her snow-white fingertips, contrasted against the deep black of the brick floor, looked exceptionally white—a white that radiated a coldness like ice. She stretched her fingers bit by bit, trying hard to reach the pouch.

The pouch seemed within reach, yet it remained just out of her grasp.

Only then did Lin Yanran notice a thin silver chain leading out from under Youqin Mingyue’s ankle. As she moved, the chain stretched tight and straight.

The original owner had actually… locked her up!

In that moment, a massive wave of shock crashed through Lin Yanran’s heart.

She hurried over and picked up the silk pouch.

That was indeed the item Youqin Mingyue wore; inside were the secret pills that suppressed her body’s fragrance.

“Here.” She tried her best to sound calm as she handed the pouch over.

Youqin Mingyue’s outstretched hand suddenly snapped back.

Her red lips moved slightly, spitting out a bone-chilling word:

“Get out.”