The Heavenly Jade Empress was the sovereign over the Middle Empire. She was the centrepiece of the heart of Asia. She was the commander over the inexhaustible armies, supre general of a thousand banners raised loyally in her na. She was the chosen of tradition. She was the face of the mightiest realm in the hemisphere. She was the voice that negotiated the prosperity of her people. She was the greatest diplomat, the sovereign, her every word moved the feathers of a thousand scribes.
That image had been easier to maintain when Daiyu had been ho. The Jiang estate was nice and big and away from anything noisy. They were lesser nobility, descendants of people that had once rerouted a tributary of the yellow river for the sovereign at the ti. They had then been tasked with keeping the health of that tributary. A simple job, a honourable job, a job with minimal interaction with people.
It was heaven!
Too bad her family had decided that one of the children had to go to the Forbidden City for the honour and importance of the clan.
‘Why did it have to be eeeeeee?’ Daiyu lanted, not for the first ti. She looked back at her mories of her quiet ho fondly. Then she looked back at the mories of being just another woman in the Forbidden City. She had been just another servant girl, running between the various ministries in service of the empire. Then, one day, the heir to the throne had pointed at her and said four words.
“I want that one!”
And just like that, the series of events had unfolded that had seen Daiyu transfer from a small corner of the servant’s quarters to the luxurious apartnts of the Imperial Court City. Life as a regular servant girl was simple enough. Try to lay low and do what she was told when a person of importance gave an order. No laying low when wearing the hairpin of the royal house. Everyone always looked at her. Even after four years in service, she had not gotten used to it.
Which was why she preferred to move about underneath people’s noses.
Daiyu had been blessed with a bit of talent in water magic. Not enough to reroute rivers as her ancestors had done (not like Gaia let that pass in this day and age) but good enough to allow her to breathe underwater. A spell few bothered to master, sothing Daiyu did not understand. Maybe it was because most people preferred to talk as they walked.
Daiyu did not prefer that; she, indeed, blushed at the re idea!
‘W-what if a man steps up to a-and a-asks what my favourite flowers are?!’ the question surfaced in her mind, making her cheeks burn in the water. ‘I would answer… what would I answer… I don’t know, but he wouldn’t care and chuckle and then pull out a bundle of flowers! “Truth is, little lady, that I have been observing you looking at these pretty flowers,” h-he would say and then give a charming smile and then--- AHHHHHH!!’
Daiyu hid at the bottom of the channel. Few people ever bothered to look into the waterways that cut through all of the Forbidden City. Still, she was thankful for the presence of the seagrass, fully enveloping her. There, she squird in embarrassnt and giggled to herself while the little romantic fantasy played out in her head. It was just like one of her favourite novels.
Her mind was distracted with writing out the third arc of the story, wherein the heroine (no longer resembling Daiyu herself in more than a level of shyness) was captured by a second handso man, creating a love triangle. Her mind was so distracted, in-fact, that the rest of her body reacted instinctively when her nose picked up the scent of delicious kelp. It was carried downstream. She slowly moved down the channel, swimming with the grace of an eel or… sothing less squirmy but still fluid.
Before she could stop herself, she was chomping at a piece of kelp.
Daiyu returned to reality when she was suddenly yanked upwards by the snack. She dangled from it, surprised, like a fish from a line. “See, I told you I can call her,” her mistress said.
Lu Zhi let go of the snack and Daiyu dropped back into the water. Too curious not to look, she kept her eyes above the waterline. She began to chew on the dried kelp. She was always hungry. This ti about, she munched because she had to do sothing to deal with the nervousness.
The foreigner was staring at her!
Well, not staring staring. His nose pointed in her general direction while he talked to Lulu. His eyes totally darted to her once though! Twice even! ‘Oh heaven and earth, please don’t make him pull out flowers! The foreign conqueror is a rival of the main guy in the fourth act and no sooner! B-b-b-but what if I’m his next romantic interest in a male oriented novel?!’ She narrowed her gaze, trying her best to look intimidating. ‘Pervert! Pervert! Total… handso pervert!’
Daiyu shooed the thoughts away. She was too prone to them. Imagining her life with random handso n she t was just another reason not to use regular walkways. She wanted nice and curated stories to read. No one talked to her in those, which was nice, and safe.
Her heart slowly stopped pounding and she got an actual read on the situation. The Gar stood behind Lu Zhi, flanked by a woman with orange, bright hair and a pinkette with cat ears. Like the protagonist of a harem story, he had his arms around both won, squeezing their butts with a degree of casual confidence that made Daiyu blush all over again.
The foreigner radiated more than confidence – he radiated power. His clothes were expensive, his won exquisite, and he was steeped in magic so thick Daiyu could almost sll it (alongside his incredibly alluring cologne). ‘Curse my good nose!’ she thought.
Daiyu forced herself to keep her eyes on her mistress, lest she was pulled into his tale. Then again, he was probably past the chapters where a lowly servant of his imperial love interest was in the cards. If Lu Zhi even was a love interest of his.
Lu Zhi squatted by the waterside. The Heavenly Jade Empress was her own stunning woman. They had spent the last couple of years together, and in that ti, the beautiful adolescent had beco a gorgeous sovereign. She insisted Daiyu had grown cute alongside her – the two of them were of about equal age. Daiyu had to disagree. All she had gotten as she got older was more buoyant.
And Lu Zhi definitely was attractive and powerful enough for her to be a love interest… plus there were all the other signs. Signs that Daiyu politely ignored. She was here to feed ducks, change sheets, and try to get the night shifts. Speaking of which, it was late enough in the day that it was technically her shift now. No wonder she had been called.
They were by one of the channels adjacent to the empress’ preferred residence. It was the primary outflow from the great lake in her park, where she kept all of her cute pets. Taking care of those was among the few joys in working for the Heavenly Jade Empress.
That and the abundant free ti to read.
Also all of the free food.
And access to all of the libraries.
Why did she dislike this position again?
“Daiyu, I need you to deliver a ssage for ,” Lu Zhi said.
Ah, that was why. Talking to scary people on behalf of the strongest woman in the world.
“W-why , Luluuuuu?” Daiyu lanted. “Ack!” A quick flick to the forehead reprimanded her for the casual use of the nickna.
“Because I order you to,” the Heavenly Jade Empress spoke with black jade under her casual smile. That was always the difference between the sovereign and the imperial tomboy – the threat that bad things would happen if she did not get what she wanted.
“R-right away!” Daiyu answered, then sank under the surface. She was two tres down when she rembered she had not asked what or to who. When she went back up again, she heard the laughter of the Gar.
“What a stupid servant,” the dragon-horned one said. Nathalia, was that her na? Foreign nas were so difficult to rember. They had been briefed on all of them, but Daiyu hadn’t expected to need them.
“My Daiyu is not stupid, just scatterbrained,” Lu Zhi defended her. “Not a people person.”
“Then she is a Gno?”
Daiyu did not know what this Gno was, but it sounded vaguely reassuring.
“Kinda,” Lu Zhi answered, then returned her attention to Daiyu. “Find Vinh Phuong…”
Already Daiyu was internally screaming,
“…and tell her I grant her audience with the Gar… in my throne room. Imdiately.”
“Uhm, uh… Lu- My Heavenly Jade Empress!” Daiyu imdiately corrected herself, forehead still hurting from the flick. “She… won’t take that well…”
“I know.” Lu Zhi grinned predatorily. “Tell her I am goading her.”
“I… will see what I can survive?” Daiyu chuckled nervously at her joke, then sank under the water. Then, she let the stream take her.
Vinh Phuong was housed in the east wing of the Forbidden City. A subtle insult – east was the direction leading away from the empire’s heart and so guests that were situated there were considered outside the empire. That was fine for foreigners, but the robber army was part of the empire and had been for thousands of years… well, with many interruptions.
Daiyu knew every part of the Forbidden City’s channels like the back of her hand. She had spent years perfecting her art of avoiding people and she would not stop now. When she eventually did leave the waterways, she did so in the complex belonging to the Ministry for Pulp. Apparently they had been a trend so 600 years back where commoners preferred their food to co as ground down paste. A ministry had been created to assure the proper fineness and quality of the pulp after accusations that rodents were caught in the millstones.
The trend had fallen out of favour or maybe so bureaucrats had legislated it out of existence… Daiyu wasn’t fully aware. She had a lot of trivia about the empire’s history swimming around in her head, but most of it ca from the romance novels she read. Fact about the Ministry for Pulp was that it still officially existed, but had a mber count of 0. The complex was left to the elents.
In the word’s of Lu Zhi’s predecessor: ‘a city is more lively for its dead parts’.
Whether the current Heavenly Jade Empress disagreed with that or not was yet to be seen. Restoration of the entire Forbidden City was a project for a healthier empire.
Daiyu drew the water out of her clothes and made herself presentable. ‘I wish I got to wear more clothes…’ she thought and pulled at the short skirt of her dress. Not the first and not the last ti she would lant serving a slightly pervy mistress.
She made sure no n with flowers (or n in general) were around and then made her way to where Vinh was housed. Once she approached the actual complex, avoiding the n was impossible.
Loud laughter and the scent of roasted at filled the otherwise serene quiet of the Forbidden City. The robber army had a feast, like they always did, keeping the servants running. They did not even order finished food, just ingredients that they then threw over an open fire.
They were a rowdy bunch, greeting Daiyu’s arrival with loud cheers. Had she not been given the task by an altogether scarier person, the black-haired woman would have run away imdiately. Tanned n and won were engaged in all manners of fights. Lovers between them just coupled right out in the open or, if they had minimal decency, in the bushes.
Vinh Phuon throned above them all. The ash-grey, low twin tails of the robber general were over her shoulders, partly hiding the elaborate tattoos that marked them and most of her arms. She wore only a strip of cloth for her top, barely hiding her decently-sized breasts. Daiyu wanted to call them large but in comparison to herself and Nathalia, they were at best dium. The loose pants the orange-eyed woman wore hid the thickness of her thighs, but not the width of her hips.
Daiyu liked looking at Vinh. She had the kind of fiery attitude and design that made her the perfect candidate for the protagonist of a particularly saucy romance story. Too bad that Daiyu wasn’t reading about this. She was standing right there, surrounded by rowdy people and fire, looking up at Vinh. The general’s throne was a simple cushion on a wooden platform.
“So, my cousin sends her first insult of the night!” Vinh shouted. Exaggerated boos ca in response. People took deep gulps.
“I… uhm.. I h-haven’t said anything… yet?” Daiyu managed to stamr out.
“Yeah, but the fact that she sends you is the insult.” Vinh put an elbow on her knee and her chin on her wrist. “Everything you are ant to say, another one of her ladies-in-waiting could get out in a third of the ti. What trivial matter is she aiming to waste my ti with then?”
“T-t-t-the… the Heavenly--- the Heavenly Jade Empress… she, uhm… she agrees to let you see the guest of honour.”
“How gracious of her!”
“R-r-right now… in fact… in her throne room. S-s-she also said that… she is goading you.”
“That bitch!” Vinh shouted. “When was ‘right now’?”
“Like… five minutes ago? T-ten tops?” Daiyu answered. “C-can I go now?”
“How do you get around this blasted labyrinth of a city so fast anyway?” Vinh wanted to know.
“I… have my ways?” Daiyu answered quietly. She preferred not to tell people what those ways were. It was bad enough that Lu Zhi had found out. Before then, she had moved about with absolute impunity. Now, the Heavenly Jade Empress knew how to reel her in… usually with kelp. Delicious, delicious kelp.
“Well, consider goaded!” Vinh shouted, then leapt off her throne. Before Daiyu knew what was really going on, the robber general was gone. She decided to follow the example and disappear before any of the rugged single n could decide they wanted to try and get a submissive housewife.
Her heart yearned for the books.
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