The Empress Can Read Thoughts

Part 1

1.

Noble Consort [1] Song's father accused my father of treason and colluding with the enemy.

He even presented a stack of confidential letters.

It is said that His Majesty was furious upon reading them and immediately imprisoned my father.

Meanwhile, he sealed the Prime Minister's mansion and sent my mother, brother, and sister-in-law to join my father in the Imperial Judiciary Prison.

In the evening, the royal carriage arrived at the Empress's palace.

Xie Xuan stood before me, hands behind his back, his cold gaze upon me.

Eunuch Li finished reading the decree to banish me to the cold palace [2], handing me the golden-yellow scroll.

As I knelt to receive the decree, I suddenly heard Xie Xuan's voice.

【How annoying! I can't sleep with the Empress tonight.】

【Why won't the Empress beg me? Hurry and beg me, and I'll revoke the order immediately.】

【Can I also live in the cold palace?】

I looked up in surprise, but Xie Xun still had the same expression as before.

As I lowered my head, the voice came again.

【What's wrong with the Empress! Beg me, beg me, beg me!】

【I've been standing here for so long, can't you see me?】

【The cold palace is nowhere as good as the Empress's palace! She surely isn't planning to actually go there, is she?】

So I tentatively spoke up:

"Your Majesty..."

Xie Xuan immediately looked at me, a trace of expectation on his face, "What does the Empress wish to say?"

"I gratefully accept your decree."

The next motherent, Xie Xuan's voice came again.

【What decree are you thanking for? Quickly tell me you don't want to go to the cold palace!】

【Empress, you mustn't be foolish! There's nothing in the cold palace! Especially no me!】

Yet, I hadn't seen him move his lips.

So, was I hearing Xie Xuan's thoughts?

2.

A maid silently gathered some bedding, preparing to accompany me to the cold palace.

Xie Xuan had not left yet, just standing aside and watching coldly.

As I passed him with my belongings, he suddenly reached out to stop me.

"Is the Empress preparing to enjoy her time in the cold palace?"

I turned to look back.

Each maid was carrying a load, with bedding, heaters, and food boxes.

I was supposed to reflect on my faults in the cold palace, bringing these...

Truly seemed somewhat inappropriate.

"Chun Tao, put the food box back."

Chun Tao reluctantly returned the food box to the palace.

Just as she left, Xie Xuan's voice emerged again.

【Bringing so much stuff and not taking me, am I not important?】

【No, wait, I've been dazed by anger, how can I compare myself to these items!】

【I'll push her a bit more! She'll beg me soon!】

"Empress, this gold-threaded quilt is a foreign tribute, it's not suitable to take to the cold palace, is it?"

I looked at the bedding Xia He was holding.

Hesitatingly, I said: "Your Majesty, I'll freeze to death in the cold palace."

After speaking, I slightly furrowed my brow.

【You're begging me just for bedding?!】

【Empress! Beg for something else! I really don't want to sleep alone!】

【I have a hundred gold-threaded quilts in my storeroom! I'll give them all to you!】

【It's all because of the Prime Minister! Why bother with colluding and treason!】

"Your Majesty, if there's nothing else, I shall head to the cold palace now."

I had been married to Xie Xuan since we were still young for ten years.

This is the first time something strange like this has happened, where I can hear someone's thoughts.

Perhaps if I just asked him, he would let me stay.

But my father committed the grave crime of colluding with the enemy.

I couldn't bring myself to ask, it's better to just honestly stay in the cold palace.

To be honest, I also didn't understand.

My father was doing so well as the Prime Minister...

How did he end up like this?

3.

As I exited the gate of the Empress's palace, I heard Xie Xuan's thoughts again.

【If the Empress won't beg me, I'll rely on myself!】

【Tonight, I'll climb over the wall into the cold palace!】

After nightfall, Xie Xuan indeed climbed the wall into the cold palace.

He probably didn't expect that I wasn't asleep yet, sitting on the bed edge watching him suddenly barge in.

We stared at each other, wide-eyed.

【It's over, it's over! The mighty Emperor caught climbing the wall into the cold palace!】

【Let me think how to explain this!】

He cleared his throat awkwardly, his face showing discomfort: "I just came to see if the Empress is reflecting properly in the cold palace."

【It's been two hours since we parted ways! Why does she look like she doesn't miss me at all!】

【The Empress's heart is so cruel, she doesn't care if I can sleep tonight!】

【Could it be the Empress who is colluding with the enemy? Maybe she has taken a liking to another country's emperor?】

【I must find a chance to destroy them!】

Hearing Xie Xuan's bold words, I almost laughed out loud.

I managed to hold it in.

"Your Majesty, it's getting late, please return and rest early."

【Rest? How can I rest?】

【Do you understand how hard it is to sleep alone on a cold pillow!】

【Heaven above, tell me! Is there any reason I can stay here rightfully?】

The window was open, and a breeze unexpectedly blew out the candle on the table.

Xie Xuan looked at me with eyes shining like stars, "Empress, I remember you're afraid of the dark, shall I..."

"Your Majesty, I'm not afraid of the dark, the candle was meant to be extinguished anyway."

【I'm afraid of the dark! If you don't then I will be the one afraid of the dark!】

【The Empress's chamber is both cold and dark without you! How can I sleep?】

【It's so tough for me, the ruler of a nation, to not even be able to sleep with the Empress!】

【What a sin I've committed!】

Xie Xuan left angrily.

He didn't watch his step on the way out and bumped into the door frame.

【I'll have that door frame removed tomorrow!】

【It's so annoying!】

That night I slept under the gold-threaded quilt, but not very well.

I dreamed that Xie Xuan was chasing me with a large cleaver, threatening to chop me up to make pillows.

He chased me all night long.

Footnote:

[1] Search for "Imperial Chinese Harem System" to know more about the hierarchy in the harem/rear place. Noble Consort is somewhere around the 2nd place or the 3rd place in the hierarchy.
[2] Cold palace (冷宫) is a place the Emperor used to lock someone in their harem who make some big mistakes.