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I Became the Crown Prince, and Everyone Thinks I Love the Emperor's Consort

I Became the Crown Prince, and Everyone Thinks I Love the Emperor's Consort

RomanceCompleted70 Chapters

562.82 k

People: Consort Su, the Crown Prince

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Synopsis

Late at night, sweet voices echo from the Eastern Palace.

Soon, the entire imperial harem believes a shocking rumor-

The Crown Princess and the Emperor's beloved Consort Su are secretly in love.

The maids are shipping them.

The concubines are cheering them on.

Even the Empress Dowager joins the fun.

But the truth behind this "forbidden romance" is far stranger than anyone could imagine.

When the furious Emperor finally breaks into the Eastern Palace...

He discovers a scene that leaves the entire palace speechless.

A chaotic palace comedy about transmigration, misunderstandings, and a romance that was never what it seemed.

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Chapter 1

"One more time."

"Last time."

"Pleeease."

Deep in the night, inside the Eastern Palace bedchamber, a woman's voice drifted out in spoiled little scraps.

The maids and eunuchs on duty outside went scarlet to the ears. Nobody dared look up. Nobody dared speak.

Everyone knew the open secret that had been running through the inner palace for months—

The Crown Prince and Consort Su were involved.

Not a fling, either. Glued together. Meeting every night. Couldn't bear to let go.

Someone had even seen Consort Su stay in the Eastern Palace for seven days straight without taking a single step outside.

The story had already burned through all Six Palaces.

The consorts shipped it. The maids and eunuchs shipped it. Even the Empress Dowager was shipping it on the sly.

They'd even founded an organization with a name so embarrassing it hurt to say out loud—the Crown Prince–Consort CP Support Club.

Their job: pass messages, run cover, and clear the path.

And the Emperor was the only person in the entire inner palace still in the dark.

Of course, that had been before.

Now. Outside the Eastern Palace.

The Emperor stood in the dark, his face so black it looked ready to drip ink.

Chief eunuch Fu Hai knelt on the ground, shaking like a leaf. "Y-Your Majesty… this servant thinks… there may be a misunderstanding…"

The Emperor laughed, cold. "A misunderstanding?"

Inside, the woman's voice came again.

"Faster."

"A little faster."

"Ah—"

A vein jumped at the Emperor's temple.

A misunderstanding? What part of this was left to misunderstand?

He had never, in his entire life, been handed a humiliation like this.

"Bang—"

One kick. The palace doors blew open.

The wooden panels crashed down. The whole Eastern Palace went dead quiet.

A second later, the Emperor's fury tore through the night.

"You ungrateful son—"

Then he saw what was actually in the room, and the rest of the shout died in his throat.

In the middle of the wide hall, Consort Su was sitting on the Crown Prince's back.

One hand fisted in his collar. The other waved a wooden sword. Her face was flushed bright with excitement.

"Giddyup! Faster, horsey! Charge—"

The Crown Prince was soaked in sweat, on his hands and knees, crawling the length of the hall.

He crawled. He wheezed. "Kid. Last lap. Last lap. You promised this was the last lap!"

Consort Su was not having it.

"No."

"One more time."

"Last time."

"Pleeease."

The Emperor: "..."

Fu Hai: "..."

Every servant in the hall: "..."

The air went graveyard still.

I stiffened, lifted my head, and met the Emperor's eyes in the doorway.

Two words left in my brain.

I'm so dead.

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Catalog

70 Chapters

  1. Chapter 1

    "One more time." "Last time." "Pleeease." Deep in the night, inside the Eastern Palace bedchamber, a woman's voice drifted out in spoiled little scraps.

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  2. Chapter 2

    The story starts three months earlier. That day, I had just transmigrated into the book. I opened my eyes and found out I was the Crown Prince of Great Zhou. Eighteen years old. Heir apparent.

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  3. Chapter 3

    Maybe the inner palace was just that bored. The Emperor's consorts had started shipping me and Consort Su. Our "forbidden love." My son sleeping in the Eastern Palace?

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  4. Chapter 4

    The cold sweat on my back didn't start to dry until I was out of the Imperial Study. That probe just now had not been ordinary elder-to-junior concern. The measure of it was vicious. No interrogation.

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  5. Chapter 5

    Lord Li's residence. Three rounds of wine in, I lifted my cup, slung an arm over Lord Li's shoulder, and put on a little drunk. "Lord Li. I hear you're well-versed in past and present.

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  6. Chapter 6

    Of course, not everyone could follow what I meant. Take the Vice Minister of Works. I was inspecting a project and found him checking the riverworks. So I asked, offhand, "Vice Minister.

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  7. Chapter 7

    That day, I was ordered to visit the Minister of War. His Lordship had just shown me into the study when he cupped his hands, a little apologetic. "A moment, Your Highness.

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  8. Chapter 8

    Meanwhile, on the other side of the throne hall. Someone had already started sweating.

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  9. Chapter 9

    Lately, the Emperor had started summoning me. A lot. How often? I even started wondering whether this Crown Prince of mine had finally committed some sky-splitting crime, and the Emperor just hadn't d…

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  10. Chapter 10

    Until the third time. The Emperor called me straight to the hunting grounds. Reason: "The Crown Prince's mounted archery is still lacking. More practice is required." I went silent on the spot.

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  11. Chapter 11

    Hold on to what? Hold on to you? I didn't get a chance to speak. Next second, the horse shot forward. "Ahhhh—!" Wind slammed into my ears. I was so scared my soul nearly left. Every thought vanished.

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  12. Chapter 12

    The first to notice the Emperor was off were the old foxes at court. An eight-hundred-li emergency dispatch from the Northern Frontier.

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  13. Chapter 13

    They finally realized something. This was no longer as simple as "His Majesty dotes on the Crown Prince." The way His Majesty looked at the Crown Prince. Wrong. Too wrong.

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  14. Chapter 14

    The next day. The Imperial Study. The Emperor looked at the ministers kneeling all over the floor and lifted a hand to press his temple. "Speak." The Minister of Rites steeled himself. "Your Majesty.

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  15. Chapter 15

    The news hit the inner palace. The whole inner palace exploded on the spot. "His Majesty is going to Consort Su's tonight?" "What do we do?" "We can't let His Majesty find out the truth!" "No.

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  16. Chapter 16

    He'd finally shaken Consort Shu. The Emperor had just walked out of the garden when he ran into Consort Xian. This time, Consort Xian was carrying a stack of account books. Her face was grave.

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  17. Chapter 17

    Half an hour later, Consort Su's palace was right in front of him. The Emperor was about to go in when an old voice came from behind him, sudden. "Emperor." His feet stopped. He looked back.

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  18. Chapter 18

    "Admit Consort Su." Fu Hai's voice landed. The whole of Shoukang Palace went still on the spot. Still enough that you could hear the candles burn, clear as anything.

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  19. Chapter 19

    The side hall. The door shut, slow. The sound outside cut off at once. The Emperor went to the main seat and sat. Xiaoman sat across from him, cat in his arms.

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  20. Chapter 20

    The Emperor: "So you came to find me?" "Mm." Xiaoman straightened his back. "To negotiate." The Emperor finally got interested. "Negotiate?" "Yes." Xiaoman put up one finger. "First.

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  21. Chapter 21

    The next day. Eastern Palace. I was up late studying the court relationship chart. Then an imperial decree arrived, sudden: "His Majesty summons you." My scalp went numb. Again.

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  22. Chapter 22

    I shut myself in the study and wrote on paper, drawing, connecting. Every detail strung together like beads. First bead: day one of transmigrating.

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  23. Chapter 23

    Late-night Eastern Palace. Dead quiet. A youth on his knees playing horse. A consort on his back, making a fuss. Spoiled little scraps of voice drifted out of the hall, clear as anything.

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  24. Chapter 24

    "Come here." He said it again. The tone was flat. You couldn't read a feeling in it. I pushed up off the floor, slow. My knees were numb. When I got straight, my body tipped a little.

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  25. Chapter 25

    My question dropped into the air. The hall went quiet for a beat. The candles burned very light. Once in a while a wick popped. The tiny sound was extra clear. The Emperor's eyes were down.

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  26. Chapter 26

    "The System wouldn't let me." I went completely blank. "The original task terms explicitly forbade me from acknowledging you first." "I could only wait, passive.

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  27. Chapter 27

    The next morning. Sky just going light. I got kicked awake. A bare foot came through the brocade quilt into my waist. Not hard. Extremely accurate.

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  28. Chapter 28

    "At morning court today, I'm going to do something." "What." He looked at me. The tenderness in his eyes receded a little, swapped for something settled and grave.

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  29. Chapter 29

    When I reached Shoukang Palace, the hall doors were shut tight. Two nannies stood outside. They saw me, looked at each other, and one of them bowed. "Your Highness, please wait.

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  30. Chapter 30

    I couldn't help looking at Consort Xian. She sat properly, tea in her hands, posture gentle and correct.

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  31. Chapter 31

    The next morning. The sky wasn't fully light yet when Fu Hai came in person with the Crown Prince's court robes. Black ground. Dark-gold cloud pattern. A four-clawed python embroidered at the collar.

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  32. Chapter 32

    The Emperor made an "mm" and looked toward Works. "What the Crown Prince said. Is it so?" The Vice Minister of Works steeled himself and stepped out.

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  33. Chapter 33

    The Empress Dowager—how much had she actually seen? "Someone in his heart." Those words, out of the Empress Dowager's mouth: who did they point at? Did the Emperor have "Consort Su" in his heart?

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  34. Chapter 34

    While my head was still fuzzy, the man suddenly bent. Forehead to my forehead. Nose brushing my nose. The Crown Prince's body was shorter. The pose forced him to curl his waist a little.

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  35. Chapter 35

    I was about to speak when a muffled thump came from the inner room, then the slap of bare feet on the floor. We both turned at the same time. The bedchamber door got shoved open.

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  36. Chapter 36

    Morning. I woke up because I couldn't breathe. I opened my eyes. A stunning face filled the frame, so close Consort Su's lashes were about to brush my nose. Xiaoman was stuck to me like an octopus.

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  37. Chapter 37

    Word that the Emperor was spending every night in the Eastern Palace didn't take long to run the inner palace. I didn't know until midday meal. Consort Shu showed up.

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  38. Chapter 38

    The air in the Imperial Study was wrong. When I went in, Consort Xian stood to one side. Three ministers knelt on the floor, foreheads to the ground.

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  39. Chapter 39

    After the Regent news went out, the Eastern Palace threshold almost got worn through. People bringing gifts. People paying respects. People testing the water. Nonstop.

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  40. Chapter 40

    The Empress Dowager looked at him a long time. At last she waved a hand, like she'd aged ten years in a blink. "Enough. Eat." That meal tasted like wax.

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  41. Chapter 41

    Urgent dispatch from the Northern Frontier. The Turks had hit the border and taken three cities in a row. Court exploded into a mess. The war party wanted troops out. The peace party wanted talks.

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  42. Chapter 42

    The weather was good on the day they marched. The Emperor was in full black armor, on horseback, a hundred thousand troops behind him. I stood on the city tower in the Crown Prince's court robes.

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  43. Chapter 43

    The whole way back to the Eastern Palace, I kept thinking about that back of Fu Hai's. That old eunuch had followed the Emperor for three months, at his stirrup, front and back, attentive past reason.

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  44. Chapter 44

    I decided to go see Consort Xian myself. I didn't get out the door. Consort Xian came on her own. No palace maids. One person, a food box in her hand, standing at the Eastern Palace gate, face pale.

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  45. Chapter 45

    When Xiaoman got brought in, he still had half a piece of sweet cake in his mouth. "Mom, what happened?" "Nothing." I picked him up. "You sleep with Mom tonight." "What about Dad?" "Dad's at war.

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  46. Chapter 46

    Shoukang Palace was lit up bright. I went with a sword in one hand and Xiaoman in the other, Consort Xian and Ying Qi behind me, cutting a path the whole way. Fine. Not cutting. Walking.

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  47. Chapter 47

    The next seven days I was so busy my feet barely hit the ground. Cleaning out Prince Rui's people. Taking over the city defenses. Settling the court. Reading memorials.

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  48. Chapter 48

    The Emperor lay in the palace for half a month. That half a month, I was Regent by day and sat at his bedside by night. Xiaoman slept between us, like a little heater.

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  49. Chapter 49

    The day the Emperor's wound was well enough to get out of bed, the capital's first snow fell. I opened my eyes in the morning and found the space beside me empty. Xiaoman was gone too.

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  50. Chapter 50

    "What about anyone?" He didn't move. "I'm courting my wife. That's only right." My face burned. I reached to pull him up. He used it, stood, and drew me into his arms. The cloak wrapped once.

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  51. Chapter 51

    Turns out my worry was right. First thing the next morning, I went to Shoukang Palace to pick up Xiaoman. I pushed the door open. The Empress Dowager sat in the main seat, face iron-blue.

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  52. Chapter 52

    The Emperor cooking shook the whole inner palace. The Imperial Kitchen people knelt all over the floor, thinking His Majesty had come to audit them for embezzlement.

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  53. Chapter 53

    That pan of braised pork made it out of the wok in the end. It looked terrible. The taste was barely edible. Xiaoman bit, swallowed with his face wrinkled, then stuck a thumb up.

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  54. Chapter 54

    On the twenty-eighth of the twelfth month, Xiaoman threw his third pillow in the Eastern Palace. "I'm not doing New Year!" He sat cross-legged on the couch, the consort skirt piled in a flower.

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  55. Chapter 55

    Xihua Gate. I had changed into a cyan scholar's robe, hair bound in a man's knot. In the mirror I looked like a student who'd just passed the exams.

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  56. Chapter 56

    "Please," I said. The scholar opened his folding fan. "A beauty pretends she's drunk and asks to be held—one character." My brow pulled. This one was a little vicious. The Emperor spoke, sudden.

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  57. Chapter 57

    At morning court I was dying of sleep. Last night this bastard had slipped into the Eastern Palace, calling it "reconciling the books.

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  58. Chapter 58

    Seven days. A full seven days, I didn't see him. The Eastern Palace gates went from a stream of carriages to a place you could catch sparrows.

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  59. Chapter 59

    I drank three jugs of wine. This Crown Prince body had a terrible head for it. Three cups and down. I forced three jugs anyway. My head swam like I was walking on cotton. Double vision.

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  60. Chapter 60

    The Crown Prince's body was young, sensitive. I shook. A sound spilled from my throat, shame and grievance both. He stalled. Forehead to my forehead, breathing hard. "Don't make a sound.

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  61. Chapter 61

    The memorials impeaching me piled into a mountain. They said that while the Crown Prince was Regent he had "ruled by himself.

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  62. Chapter 62

    The sound of an arrow punching through black armor into flesh was extra clear in the noise. The Emperor made a sound and went down on one knee, Xiaoman still locked in his arms. "Dad!

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  63. Chapter 63

    The Emperor lay on the dragon bed seven days. The night of the seventh day, he ran a high fever. The whole of him hot as a coal. Mouth running. One moment my name. One moment Xiaoman.

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  64. Chapter 64

    His eyes went round. My face filled his pupils, huge. Half the decoction made it in. The other half spilled from the corner of his mouth, down his chin, into his neck. I scrambled to wipe it.

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  65. Chapter 65

    The next morning at court I sat by the dragon desk in the Crown Prince's court robes. The look in the ministers' eyes had changed. Not the old wariness or the old currying. A complicated weighing.

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  66. Chapter 66

    By the time I finished the memorials it was the third watch. I rubbed my temples and walked toward the bedchamber. Passing the Imperial Garden, someone came from behind and covered my mouth.

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  67. Chapter 67

    After the Chancellor fell, court was half empty. I stared at the new roster the Ministry of Personnel had sent up. My head felt like it was going to split. Thirty-seven vacancies.

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  68. Chapter 68

    Court steadied faster than I'd thought. Consort Xian's father's old military men, plus poor-family sons pulled up from the provinces, filled the Six Ministries in half a month.

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  69. Chapter 69

    The day the spring exam results went up, the System chime rang, sudden. [Ding! All tasks detected complete.] [Task One: Reunite the family of three. Complete.] [Task Two: Survive one year. Complete.

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  70. Chapter 70

    I opened my eyes. Familiar hanging lamp. Familiar ceiling. Familiar… coffee. "Awake?" My husband sat at the bedside in that gray home shirt from last life, a cup of coffee in his hands.

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