Chapter 50: Nightmare

Su Li could reluctantly admit - even if only to herself - that she had a lot of preconceived notions about the 'SYSTEM' and it's 'TASKS' therefore, in the early years in the first world she had tried to keep herself as distanced as possible from everyone around her.

Sure, she had tried to play her part well and go through the motions - mostly, helping Yu Jian with business matters, keeping up a facade of friendly relations with the few people around her but somewhere down the path, her emotional attachment to them had turned real. Keeping away from human interactions and the emotions that came along with them had been an ill-conceived plan from the beginning anyway.

Admittedly, she had been a bit surprised when she realised the depth of her own feelings and care towards Xun Zixi just a few short minutes before her death. The emotions had struck her out of the blue but that realization had further cemented her desire to protect him.

However, now that she was back in this midnight moonlit sky which had started the whole ordeal, she decided that she was going to firmly forget the whole ridiculous drama that she had left behind and instead, focus on her next task, as she should.

She was determined not to spare even a moment's thought about that idiot. She was never going to let her emotions take precedence over what was truly important and essential.

It was just that she found her mind wandering to how he was holding up after her demise.

She wondered if he was sad? Did he miss her? How was Yu Jian? Hopefully, none of them was feeling guilty.

She didn't think about Zixi intentionally. She didn't.

When her heart wistfully wished that she would be able to see him in the next world, just like he had promised to follow her, she didn't give a forlorn sigh. She didn't.

She couldn't deny the fact that she had become too invested in that person. She felt her heart just crack and shatter at the dawning truth that she couldn't hide from. She didn't miss him because she didn't damn well care, but all her denial crumbled when she talked to the system.

Trying to steer clear of the memories, she asked the system, "I have completed the first task. What do you want me to do next?"

System : [Host will be sent to the next world. Before that does the host want to suppress or remove the memories of the first task?]

Her answer to that question had been a vehement no. Moments later she told the system to send her to the second world and thereafter, lost consciousness albeit, not before feeling as if she was tumbling down the stairs at a rapid pace.

When Su Li blinked her eyes open, she made a decision to ask the system not to have her black out every time her soul was transferred to a new world. It would get real tiring real quick. Foremost, what if she landed in the middle of a dangerous situation at the time of her merging? Wouldn't it be akin to having one foot in the grave? Though, this time her innards didn't feel as if they had been squeezed out which was a plus in her book.

For a moment, Su Li had an errant thought that what would she do if she found her soul to be merged with the body of a newborn infant's squealing pile of pink flesh. Anyways, wrestling her thoughts back from where the had gone off the tangent, she inspected her surroundings.

She found that she was nestled in an enormous and opulent bed. Su Li also instantly recognised that the bed's frame was made of Redwood Pine with several carvings on its surface. Moving her eyes further away from her immediate surroundings, she saw that the room was lavish in its decorations and was brimming with the classical antique air.

Before she could leave the bed, she heard a voice from outside the door. She was dumbstruck by the first two words the other person said. She heard the other person call her, "Your Majesty." Those two words were akin to a bolt out of the blue to her.

Su Li "..."

She went so completely blank at those words that she didn't pay attention to the rest of the sentence the other person had said. When the person on the other side of the door didn't hear her response, he (she realised the other person was a male because he had the typical wheezy voice of a eunuch) thought that the esteemed existence in the room didn't want to be disturbed right now so he went quiet.

Inside the room, the so-called exalted personage was going out of her mind.

She was sent into ancient times?

Didn't these times have the rule of chopping off anybody's head at any time?

Didn't all those transmigrating seniors she had read about in her original world have to go through rear - courtyard politics of backstabbing etc?

Was she to be the illegitimate daughter of The Prime - Minister who would rise above all else or was she to be a cannon - fodder?

Don't tell her she was to be the Empress whom the emperor didn't pay attention to? She didn't want to be someone's household manager. At the end of the day, that was what an Empress was, wasn't it?

Before she could go through a full blown out panic, she heard a new voice talking outside.

"Is His Majesty still not awake?"

The voice that had called her earlier replied in the negative.

Wait. Wait.

'His Majesty'

Hold on a second.

That 'his' wasn't used as a 'generic he'.

No. No. In ancient times, it wasn't a standard practice to use a singular male pronoun to follow indefinite pronouns.

Moreover, 'Majesty' was an appellation used for The King or The Queen.

She came to a swift conclusion.

She was a royal family member in ancient times.

She was residing in the palace.

She was on the highest tier of power in this world, which didn't bode well for her.

She wasn't a female any longer. She was a male.

Don't misunderstand.

She still had the female body. (Thank god for small mercies.)

She was acting like a male.

Someone had plotted to substitute a living, breathing girl in place of a boy/man.

Damn. Wasn't this pushing her to where the winds and the storms were the fiercest?

If someone even had an inkling of this, wouldn't she become the fish on the chopping board?

As soon as Su Li's thoughts reached this point, she had trouble breathing properly.

No, it wasn't that she was afraid of dying.

By her last count, she had already died twice so it wasn't even worth mentioning.

What she was worried about was would it be a swift, clean break of her neck from her body or would she have to go through extensive torture if this truth came to light. The simple thought left her feeling cold from head to toe.

Nevertheless, now wasn't the time to worry about such things.

Oh God! When would be the right time to think about it? Damn... she was again being sarcastic. She had stopped that after a few years in the earlier world but it seemed her fear had made her revert back to that habit.

Her father used to say that sarcasm was the lowest form of wit, but that had been her usual modus operandi.

Controlling her thoughts, she cleared her throat to speak but apparently, clearing her throat was a euphuism for permission to enter her room.

She had already figured out her situation but still, it felt like she had taken leave of her marbles above and below and thrown them out the window. Su Li thought she had finally gone crazy since she was making jokes about marbles of all things at a time like this. She really had to hand it to herself that she was something else if she could still mock herself in such a precarious situation instead of thinking a way out.

She saw a flock of people entering her room holding robes, headdress and other accessories. They all hurriedly knelt to give their salutations. Su Li wasn't accustomed to this sudden jump from the Eldest Young Miss Yu to His Majesty hence, she decided to keep a blank expression on her face.

Seeing the emperor's wooden expression and cold eyes, the eunuchs and maids felt their legs shivering in fear. Who hadn't heard how the current son of heavens had lived in metaphorical exile with the barbarians for a decade but had still returned unharmed in the end to take his rightful position.

His Majesty was just fourteen summers old this year but no one in the country would mistake him to be someone who didn't know the vast matters of the world. After all, if he hadn't been savvy and intelligent, how could he have bidden his time when in exile to wait for an opportune time to strike back at those merciless people of northern lands and return home unscathed and triumphant. It was just pitiable that His Majesty didn't have the fortune to meet his father before the latter's untimely death.

"Your Majesty" the head eunuch called in a low and soft voice. It was His Majesty's first court assembly today so, everyone present was on tenterhooks. None of them wanted to make a mistake to anger their superior and judging from His Majesty's expression, he didn't seem to be too happy with them.

Su Li looked at all the people kneeling in front of her and gave a sigh. The background settings and her character role proved that when the 'system' had told her that she would be assigned different roles, it had been speaking the truth.

Nothing but the complete, irrevocable truth. Otherwise, how come she became a ruler in a matter of seconds?

Immediately afterwards she gave the eunuch and the maids present permission to rise. Everyone started to politely but efficiently dress her and she was ready in less than half an hour but what was lamentable was that she was wearing so many layers of clothes that she was worried that she would trip on herself while walking.

The crowning ceremony had already been held a few days ago so today was her first official day as the ruler of this kingdom in court.

A kingdom she didn't even know the name of.

She had been so busy with her own thoughts that she hadn't had the time to ask the system for the relevant information as of yet.

As she walked towards the Heavenly Hall, Su Li hoped and prayed that this world and her character setting won't truly turn out to be a kind of nightmare of its own.