Chapter 269: A Monarch

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You're right about this account—pair up, and not a single one of them says a word.

Before reconciling the accounts, Yuan Qingcheng believed that the five of them had done much for Zhao Yu and sacrificed greatly for him, and that Zhao Yu's deception—hiding his identity as a transmigrator and pretending to be a native while living among them—was deeply unfair; they had suffered great injustice.

After reconciling the accounts, Yuan Qingcheng was stunned to realize that without Zhao Yu transmigrating alongside them, they wouldn't have survived a single episode; over these years, their ability to enjoy wealth and honor, to fully express their talents, and to gain both fame and profit in this patriarchal feudal era was entirely due to Zhao Yu protecting them, caring for them, and tolerating them—and yet, they had been ungrateful, once plotting against Zhao Yu, even attempting to murder him; fortunately, Zhao Yu was magnanimous and refused to hold their actions against them.

Speaking of which, Yuan Qingcheng carefully reflected and realized that for a woman to transmigrate into this patriarchal feudal era was a hellish-level difficulty, especially as a palace maid—far harder still. Without Zhao Yu, they wouldn't have enjoyed wealth and honor or fulfilled their talents for fame and profit; instead, they would have spent day after day within the deep palace walls performing the most humble, menial tasks, enduring endless toil and humiliation, struggling at the edge of survival, facing ceaseless labor and harsh reprimands, their lives like candles flickering in the wind, hanging by a thread.

'Perhaps we would have been mercilessly beaten to death on some freezing winter night for a minor mistake, expending our last breath in silence, vanishing in some forgotten corner of this deep palace.'

'Or perhaps we would have angered some powerful figure by careless misstep or been swept into the whirlpool of court intrigue, becoming a pawn in someone else's scheming—forced to labor endlessly in the dark, sunless laundry bureau, washing clothes day after day until our youth was spent, our bones turned to dust, unknown and unasked-about.'

Yuan Qingcheng shuddered involuntarily, recalling how out of place they had been in this era, and felt a surge of dread, along with deep gratitude and shame toward Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu helped Yuan Qingcheng to her feet and said, 'Though you five were the ones who ran me over and killed me, we're both strangers in a foreign land, and we've lived together for twelve years—you've all borne me several children. I don't know what you think, but I've long regarded you as my women.'

In the past, if Yuan Qingcheng had heard Zhao Yu call them his women, she would have found it perfectly normal—a ruler should have three thousand concubines; though they were transmigrators, becoming the emperor's favored concubines wasn't shameful—wasn't one of the best outcomes for female protagonists in novels and films who transmigrated to ancient times?

Well, others were one woman becoming the emperor's favorite concubine; we were five. That's different.

But so what? No one from our past life knows about this, and who in this life would care about such a thing?

But now it's different.

Zhao Yu is also a transmigrator—and he's completely played us all.

Even if Yuan Qingcheng didn't think about it, in their past life Zhao Yu was just a food delivery guy, while the five of them were well-known internet celebrities; in their past life, Zhao Yu couldn't even match one of them, let alone all five.

Not to mention, Zhao Yu will remain their man, and he'll keep playing with them—they'll likely continue bedding him together, and it won't just be them; just like last time when Zhang Chun threw that unrestrained gathering, they all joined in with their maids: Li Shishi, Zhao Yuannu, Cui Nianyue, Xido, Xu Poxi, and Wang Zhongduan, all of them indulging with Zhao Yu.

Just the fact that Zhao Yu is from their past life gives Yuan Qingcheng a 'third wheel' vibe.

The key is, Yuan Qingcheng isn't even just a third wheel anymore—she doesn't even know what number she is.

Most crucially, because they assumed no one from their past life existed in this world, and no one would judge them by their past life's moral standards, they had acted without any bottom line, indulging with Zhao Yu—now that she thinks back, everything they did with Zhao Yu could fill hundreds of Japanese porn films, and the sheer extent and breadth of it all makes Yuan Qingcheng want to crawl into a crack in the ground the moment she imagines it.

'How could I have done these absurd things?'

'What does Zhao Yu think of me?'

'Zhang Chun, you've ruined me!'

Honestly, no one knows Yuan Qingcheng participated in those things—no, more accurately, no one understands just how depraved she truly was; Yuan Qingcheng had been perfectly at ease, since everyone else was doing it, and most palace women didn't even get the chance to join in.

But now, Yuan Qingcheng can no longer feel as calm as before.

Gazing at Zhao Yu's familiar yet slightly alien face, Yuan Qingcheng's heart churned like turbulent waves, unable to settle.

Recalling the nights spent with Zhao Yu—the laughter, the pleasure, even the indulgence and passion—Yuan Qingcheng suddenly realized that what she once thought were merely palace secrets, the emperor's private affairs, now felt unbearably awkward and unspeakable after learning Zhao Yu was also a transmigrator. Their former laughter, their whispered midnight confessions, their absurd, joyous moments—all surged back like a tide, engulfing her completely.

Yuan Qingcheng's heart was now filled with complex emotions: regret for her past recklessness, shock and unease at Zhao Yu's sudden revelation. She began reevaluating her relationship with Zhao Yu and the roles they had played in this alien world.

In other words, Zhao Yu wasn't just the emperor of this era—he was also a transmigrator from their same world. This sudden truth, like a boulder dropped into a calm lake, sent ripples through her soul, filling her with tangled feelings—shame for her ignorant past actions, resentment at Zhao Yu's prolonged deception, and a renewed scrutiny of this cross-temporal bond.

Though Zhao Yu's smile remained as warm as ever, did that smile also hide his weary tolerance for their past absurdities? Yuan Qingcheng dared not probe deeper—she feared the answer would make her even more humiliated.

Yuan Qingcheng felt that the emotional entanglement between Zhao Yu and the five of them had transcended time and space, becoming extraordinarily complex.

Thus, Zhao Yu's words—'I've long regarded you as my women'—now sounded to Yuan Qingcheng as far more than imperial tenderness; they were layered with too many complicated, unspoken emotions. She began to question: had everything been wrong from the start? Was their bond with Zhao Yu a clever twist of fate—or a ridiculous farce?

Yuan Qingcheng secretly observed and noticed that Zhao Yu no longer carried the ordinary, self-deprecating aura of a food delivery guy; instead, he radiated the dignity and confidence of an emperor. His gaze was deep, as if piercing the soul, yet carried an inexplicable tenderness—making Yuan Qingcheng's heart even more chaotic.

Yuan Qingcheng thought to herself, 'Power really is the best cosmetic for men—the same person, with a different status, can undergo such a radical transformation in demeanor.'