Illyad trailed off and left hastily. Her unusual pace made Linet follow her quickly.
Rebel’s longing gaze followed her departing figure, unnoticed by them.
What was she thinking on her way back to the Empress’s Palace? She might need a fan and an ice pack more than headache medicine now.
“Take this medicine first.”
“I’m much better now. I’m sorry for showing you my worst side.”
“It happens to everyone. We can’t always be strong and perfect. Sometimes we stumble and fall.”
Linet reluctantly handed Illyad the headache medicine and a glass of water. The pill was to prevent possible recurrence of pain. As Illyad swallowed the medicine, Linet added,
“The regular medical check-up is due soon, so I postponed the doctor’s visit to another day.”
“Thank you. But what happened? Why was that mercenary by my side…”
“You couldn’t be left alone, so as I hesitated, the mercenary appeared.”
Illyad always chose overwork to forget her fatigue. She gathered everything from unnecessary tasks in the Empress’s Palace to minor details. Without work, she created things to do, keeping her hands busy.
The accumulated weight of labor inevitably brought all sorts of ailments.
After losing her child just three days after birth, Illyad became increasingly emaciated. She should have rested for a month or so. Despite everyone’s dissuasion, the Empress worked with bloodshot eyes.
Unable to guess her heart, no one in the Empress’s Palace dared to stop Illyad. Every time Linet saw her like that, she had to swallow the tears welling up in her eyes.
“Rest in bed today. You were so pale during the ceremony, do you know how worried we were?”
If Illyad insisted on going to the office, Linet seemed ready to drag her back and change her into pajamas. Ultimately, Illyad couldn’t break her old friend’s stubbornness and had to lie down early.
Isn’t it said that one only understands the hardships when experienced firsthand? Old sayings never failed. Selina barely opened her eyes to greet the maids in the morning.
As the new Empress, she had to wake up at a fixed time. Unlike her ‘Shadow’ days, where she woke up at her leisure and headed to the Emperor’s Palace, her new regimented schedule was a burden.
“Keep your comportment, even when unseen.”
Yawning lazily and stretching, Linet immediately received a warning from the chief maid. Selina frowned and glanced at her. The chief maid stood firm, monitoring every action of the Empress.
Why so strict? Selina wanted to complain, but the chief maid’s stern appearance made her hold her tongue. How long must she live like this? It didn’t sit well with her.
When the chief maid stepped away for a moment, Selina casually spoke to the maids.
“You must be having a hard time under such a meticulous person.”
The maids looked at each other and kept their mouths shut. Was there something they shouldn’t tell the Empress? Their reticence felt slightly annoying.
“Coming from the countryside, I’m clueless about royal etiquette… Has the chief maid been working here long?”
Selina baited them, waiting for a nibble. Finally, one of the maids took the bait.
“I heard her mother was a maid of the former Empress Dowager. Then she returned to the palace on the current Empress’s recommendation…”
Selina’s eyebrows subtly moved, but the maids, busy with the sleeves and knots, didn’t notice.
‘So, she’s the Empress’s person? But I thought the Empress’s influence was completely eradicated from the Empress’s Palace?’
Selina had received direct assurance from the Emperor after the ceremony. Claudius promised to make it so that the Empress couldn’t interfere, but was it not fully realized?
After getting ready, Selina headed straight to the Emperor’s Palace. It was time for morning greetings, but she anticipated having to air her grievances afterward.
“Good morning, Empress. You’ve been radiant these past days. Is something wrong? You look like someone who had a nightmare.”
Claudius, reviewing documents, greeted Selina with a light laugh. Selina immediately approached him, attempting to sit on his lap as usual.
“Empress, forgive me, but that behavior is inappropriate at this time. His Majesty is working, so please restrain yourself.”
Selina, frozen in her awkward stance, glared resentfully at the chief maid. But the chief maid stood her ground firmly. Claudius, too, didn’t add any comment to the chief maid’s rebuke and continued focusing on his documents.
Eventually, Selina hesitantly stepped back and sat down on a nearby chair. She looked around at the maids and attendants.
“I have something to discuss privately with His Majesty. Please leave us.”
Once they hurried out of the room, Selina quickly got to the point.
“Your Majesty, did you know that the chief maid of the Empress’s Palace is a person of the Empress?”
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
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