(Consort Yu/Xiao Qingge in the image above)
"Greetings, your highness."
The head eunuch browsed before the male consort.
"You may rise. What brings Head eunuch in my palace?"
The noble consort asked calmly, already knowing the answer to his question.
"As there's no empress, the highest-ranked consort has to be the head of the harem."
The head eunuch gestured to the servants behind him.
"As your highness was promoted to noble consort, your highness will become the new head of the harem. Therefore I was sent to give the empress' seal and the palace records to your highness."
The male consort smiled slightly at the head eunuch as his maids took the head of the harem's things proudly with a smile.
"Also, Your Highness, it would be good if you would start to do your duties as new concubines will enter the palace in an hour.", The head eunuch spoke respectfully but warned the male consort not to be lenient.
"I understand, thank you for your advice."
Yaozu smiled softly at the eunuch, starting to like the man.
~~~~
"Did your Highness finish the work?"
Meihui asked her master calmly as she handed him a cup of tea.
"I established the new concubine's salary and clothes but I still have a few errors to fix. It looks like the royal consort had favorites."
Yaozu sipped from the cup of tea quietly, tired from the work.
"I'm sure royal consort didn't only have favorites."
Meihui responded with a hint of anger in her voice.
Yaozu put down the cup looked at the record with a frown and sighed before answering.
"You're right. There is a low-ranked concubine that resides in the palace of great benevolent."
"Huh?How come we never saw her before?.. Is she perhaps locked in her palace?",Meihui frowned, feeling sad for the the concubine and confused about the whole situation.
"The palace of benevolence is a deserted place. Even if she took a stroll around, we wouldn't have met her.", Yaozu put one of his fingers on his arm, slightly playing with it.
"..Is there even a Yu family in our kingdom?"
Meihui started thinking for a while before answering calmly.
"I never heard of a Yu family, Your Highness."
She never heard of a noble family or commoner family with that name.
"Hm. It seems she may not be from this kingdom, after all."
Yaozu had never met her in his past life. Well, it's not like he had the time, as he only found out about the isolated concubine before he was sent to the cold palace.
From what he heard, she was a princess of a defeated kingdom. And said to be dangerous.
But if she was truly dangerous, how come she stayed still all those years?
"What do you plan to do, Your Highness?", Meihui saw the look on her master's face. It seemed her master might have discovered who the concubine was, after all.
"I will give the salary that was cut off by the royal consort and the clothes she deserves. But I can't do anything about her palace without the emperor's permission."
Yaozu drank his tea quietly, more calm this time.
"Y-Your Highness! You shouldn't be disrespectful towards his majesty..", Meihui was taken aback by Yaozu's disregard towards the emperor.
"How much time until the new concubines arrive?", Yaozu deliberately ignored his gugu with a bored expression.
Meihui sighed at the male consort's childish behavior and answered diligently.
"It seems they should be entering the palace at the moment. Also, your Highness aren't your clothes too simple?", It's true the clothes worn by the male consort are made of expensive silk and beautifully colored, but still, Meihui thinks it's too simple for a noble consort.
"I may be a noble consort, but only the empress could wear flashy clothes.", Yaozu rolled his eyes, irritated by his maid.
"Your Highness...It seems the concubines have arrived.", Meihui looked out the door, seeing three ladies entering the door of the grand palace.
Yaozu rose from his seat and exited his chambers elegantly, with a calm face.
"May good fortune befall noble consort Yi.", The three concubines greeted the male consort.
"You may rise.", Yaozu smiled at them, as he should, to not seem unapproachable.
Two of them rose gracefully but one of them was quite clumsy, stumbling as she rose.
The two noble ladies glanced at the first-class attendant, raising their eyebrows.
"I have arranged your chambers as I thought to be your liking, I hope I didn't do too much of a bad job and you will like your chambers."
The noble ladies bowed their heads and the first class attendant copied them.
"We thank Your Highness, for your efforts."
"Well, then. Gugu please lead first-class attendant Jia to her chambers while I lead noble Lady Mei and Noble Lady Xun to their chambers."
At the order, Meihui went before the the first class attendant and showed her the way, before following behind her.
Yaozu led the noble ladies quietly to their assigned chambers.
After the two looked around their chambers they went before the noble consort.
"We thank Your Highness for your thoroughness.", The smiling faces of the two young girls made Yaozu realize he did a good job.
"I suppose you like your chambers?", he smiled softly.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"I'm glad to hear that.", Yaozu smiled once again.
****
"His majesty has arrived."
Yaozu knelt before the emperor with a bored expression together with Meihui.
"Greetings, Your Majesty.", The emperor seemed to have noticed the consort's ignorance and squinted his eyes at Yaozu before taking his seat.
"I wanted to see if you do your duty diligently.", the emperor spoke, letting the two kneel before him.
"It seems you do your duty quite well and also welcomed the new concubines, even first-class attendants, except for Consort Yu.", The emperor looked intensely at the male consort, searching for any emotion on Yaozu's cold face.
"It's only right I would welcome the new concubines that will reside in my palace. But why should I welcome consort Yu?"
Yaozu's reasonable words silenced the emperor for a moment.
"It would have been that way if she was a stranger but she's your cousin, isn't she?."
The emperor raised his eyebrows at the young boy.
"I don't understand why your majesty is so concerned about my family matters?", Yaozu spoke with a hint of anger in his voice, seemingly annoyed by the emperor.
"You're Zhen's wife. How could I not?", the emperor smirked at the young consort.
"I'm not his majesty's wife but his mistress. We're not wedded, Your Majesty.", Yaozu replied in a calm tone, unfazed by the emperor's words.
"Is that so?", the emperor rose from his seat and helped the male consort rise to his feet.
"Noble consort Yi is right. Only the empress is my rightful wife.", the emperor smiled at the consort before leaving abruptly.
****
"Don't worry, Your Highness. It's just a rumor, she's just a little favored.", Meihui spoke as she carefully put the cup of tea on the table.
Noticing the pale face of the male consort, the Gugu approached her master, touching his shoulder lightly.
"Your Highness, are you..?-Your highness!"
The young maid holds the limp body of the consort in her arms with a scared face.
YOU ARE READING
Scum Consort Guide (BL)
Historical FictionXiao Yaozu was the 'Scum Consort' of Xue Kingdom, that loved the emperor dearly and wished he would give him the respect he deserves as his consort.But the emperor never took a glance at him. After being framed for attempting to murder the heir and...
