{...*What the hell are you doing?!!...}
The Emperor glanced at his mother at his side, she was facing forward and was unperturbed. He glanced at the other side and looked at the servants in the corner, none of them seemed to have said anything either. He knit his brows and looked perplexed for a bit and then sighed.
{...This can't b-...}
{...*What the hell are you doing?!!... She's leaving!!!!...}
{...What?...}
The Emperor frowned and glanced around again, and then put a hand up and rubbed his temple, shutting his eyes.
{...*Listen! Hurry up and do something!!! Now!! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!!!...}
{...Is this-...}
{....*Hurry Up!!! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!! STOP IT!!...}
"Stop!" The Emperor suddenly roared. Everyone in the room froze and turned in his direction.
"Emperor, is something wrong?" The empress dowager beside him asked. He opened his eyes and looked at her perplexed and then scanned the room and saw that all eyes were on him, and realized he had spoken out loud.
As he scanned the hall, his eyes stopped at the failed candidates who were almost at the entrance, and his eyes locked on one of them.
{...*Yes! Her! Go!... Do something!!...}
{...Do what e-?...}
{...*I said Go!!...}
The Emperor sighed with a frown and got up, walked down the platform, and approached the entrance, everyone watched him confused at his actions.
Lei Xing watched as the Emperor got closer along with the other candidates and started feeling slightly panicked.
{...What is this about now?...}
To Lei Xing's annoyance, the Emperor ended up stopping right beside her. He looked at her and then frowned, and seemed to be scrutinizing her.
Lei Xing, at first looked at him cautiously with a guarded expression and then looked away, feeling an impending sense of doom.
{...He's not looking at me, he's probably cross-eyed...but he's standing right there...then he must be cross-bodied too, Okay!!...Go away, go away, Go AWAY!! Shoo, shoo, GET LOST!!!...}
Lei Xing looked down to hide her confusion and annoyance with this situation and pretended like he wasn't there, hoping that he would go away if she did.
The rest of the spectators were also deeply puzzled by what the emperor was doing. The Emperor was just standing there scrutinizing Lei Xing with a frown and seemed to be in deep thought.
{...Why her?...}
{...*If you let her go, you will definitely regret it!...}
{...Regret?...}
{...*Definitely will regret it! Definitely!...}
{...I'll regret it...If you say so, then...I guess...}
The Emperor stretched out a hand in front of her. Lei Xing, who was looking down, saw the hand appear in front of her and froze, then deeply frowned at it.
{...No way! This is not happening! I FAILED ALREADY!! GO AWAY!...}
Lei Xing was hopping mad on the inside and felt the urge to strangle someone. The two of them stood like that for a while, one looking down and the other with a hand outstretched. The people looking at them all went wide-eyed in shock, some in the hall frowned in anger or sadness at the turn of this situation.
But there was no one angrier at this moment than Lei Xing.
The Emperor laughed a bit and grabbed her hand, "I guess you must be frozen in joy."
As soon as he grabbed her hand, Lei Xing looked up, glared at him, and instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but he tightened his hold.
The Emperor saw her reaction and raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk.
{...Ah, she is really glaring...very daring...}
"I'll help you." He said with a smile, then he pulled Lei Xing along with him against her will to the front and up the platform stairs.
He stopped at the end of the line of the selected candidates and then looked at Lei Xing and counted down the line from her, "One, two, three, four will be the four noble consorts." It was best to put her in a highly visible situation while he figured out this mystery, would have been helpful if he had received more of an explanation.
The other three appointed noble consorts felt complicated, it seemed as if they got the promotion simply because they happened to be standing next to Lei Xing, which was a bit unsettling, but they still smiled and all bowed and chorused, "Thank you Your majesty for your grace."
The Emperor looked at Lei Xing, who was looking down and still seemed to be in disbelief with her eyebrows knit and asked, "You're not thanking me?"
Lei Xing looked up at him and he thought he saw anger in her eyes, but he couldn't be sure. She realized that her hand was still in his and forcefully pulled her hand back, lowered her head and slightly bowed and said in a somewhat unenthusiastic tone, "Thank you emperor for your grace."
"You're welcome." Lei Xing cast a quick annoyed glance at him and quickly looked away. He smiled in response, then climbed up the stairs, and sat back on the throne. Then he turned to the Empress dowager and said, "The rest of the ranks will be assigned by my mother."
The Empress dowager watched the whole episode with a frown, she was annoyed with the Emperor's behavior, how could he just offhandedly appoint the noble consorts and without consulting her of his choices? She was planning on discussing the rankings with him tomorrow, and now he does this.
Not only did he appoint the noble consorts, but he also brought forward someone she had failed and someone who also disrespected the royal family.
{...Isn't this disrespecting me?...}
The Empress dowager looked at Lei Xing, and she was also annoyed with her. But she didn't want to address this matter here, so she controlled her expression and smiled, "The rest of the ranks will be assigned later on, for now, you all introduce yourselves."
The candidates began excitedly introducing themselves one after the other from the other end. Lei Xing was so angry that she didn't know what to do with herself.
{...How could this happen? To make it worse, why did it have to happen like this?!! Isn't this the worst case scenario?! I just got bumped to Harem enemy #1...How am I going to live in the future? Also, why do I even have to go through this?!... What the hell is up with that bastard?!... He did this out of spite, didn't he? Yes, that must be it! This must be his way of getting back at me for rejecting him, right? But he wasn't even serious!... Why be so fricking PETTY?!... What an ass-...}
Lei Xing felt someone nudge her and so shot an annoyed glance at the perpetrator, who turned out to be Lady Yu. Lady Yu slightly motioned her head up and directed her eyes up.
Lei Xing corrected her expression and looked up to see the Emperor calmly looking at her and the Empress dowager glaring at her. She quickly realized that it was her turn to introduce herself, so she bowed and flatly said, "Lei Xing, daughter of the Defense minister."
The Emperor's eyes widened in shock and disbelief, and then he sent a questioning glance at his friend in the crowd and then smiled lightly.
{...She's actually Yong's sister...why didn't he tell me?...}
Lei Yong saw the Emperor looking his way and lightly bowed.
{...Please take care of her...}
The Emperor was shocked and somewhat excited at this revelation.
{...Was this why I would have regretted it? Because she's Yong's sister?...}
The Empress dowager at his side deeply frowned, she was not pleased with Lei Xing's blunt manner of introduction, especially when compared with the enthusiastic, grateful ones of the other candidates. She also did not like her father particularly. While he was not the most hateful of the ministers, they had unreconcilable differences.
{...His daughter will definitely be trouble...}
The Defense minister and his wife watched the whole exchange with bated breath, glanced at each other, and sighed, they were not sure if this was a good or bad development.
Xiao Ting, on the other hand, watched the whole performance with wide-eyed enthusiasm. While she had not witnessed her sister's performance in the competition, from what she heard from her brother and father, her sister wasn't doing too well.
Also, she had heard from a friend the day before that the Emperor also proposed to her to be his Empress in the last round, and she had actually boldly rejected him. Now the Emperor personally walked down to stop her from leaving.
{...Jiejie is truly amazing, she had actually got the Emperor to fall so deeply in love with her in just a week, so much so that he overlooked her public rejection and still pursued her...she won his heart without even trying...She is the Best!...and the Emperor definitely has eyes to recognize a true master, I approve...}
The rest of the night was a blur to Lei Xing, she was seething and didn't know whether to laugh hysterically or cry in her rage.
The last thing she wanted to do was to be involved in the royal family's mess of a life of political struggles.
{...And what I detest even more is being stuck in a bloody harem vying for one idiotic man's attention...what's even worse, I can't even go anywhere, I'm stuck in this bloody place with no freedom....this is truly a punishment, this conniving ass**le...Just Drop Dead!... Wait, that's actually a good idea...No, no, no, can't do that...It'll too hard to get away with it, probably end up dead myself...}
After some more words of congratulations, the newly appointed noble consorts and concubines were escorted out. They bowed and made their way out. As they left, Prince Yi frowned as he watched them exit the doors, and then turned and glared at the emperor.
The Emperor felt his glare, glanced in his direction, inwardly sighed, and smiled at him.
{...You should really try harder to hide your emotions, it won't serve you well, older brother. It would have been impossible for you to have her anyway...}
Prince Yi seeing that the emperor was looking at him, quickly smiled, got up, and raised his cup of wine, "Emperor, now I don't have to worry about your heart being lonely anymore. I would like to congratulate you on welcoming your first set of beautiful wives into the harem. I hope you speedily have an heir." He finished and then downed the cup.
The Emperor smiled and also downed a cup of wine, "Royal brother is too kind, I gladly accept your good wishes. Speaking of which, it is time you marry a Princess consort to manage the household affairs for you, especially considering how busy you have become lately. While I know that you are not lonely, it's not good to be lacking structure. Be sure to tell me if you have any young lady in mind, I will immediately decree your marriage." The Emperor said as he picked up his refilled cup of wine and raised it to Prince Yi with a smile.
Prince Yi held out his cup as a servant refilled it, smiled and downed it, "Thank you Emperor, if I find someone suitable I will immediately let you know. I have some tasks to handle, and it is already so late, so I request to take my leave first."
"Of course, work comes first, you should go." The Emperor said with a smile.
Prince Yi smiled back, bowed and left.
As soon as he exited the entrance doors, his smile fell. When he got to the bottom of the steps to the main hall, he turned back and looked at the hall radiant with bright lights and extravagance.
{...Since you keep pushing me, don't call me cruel for ignoring your pleas later...}