Chapter 1
The Seorak banquet was more spectacular than that of any other. There was a terrible smell of oil. The sound of wind as music made my ears hurt, and I felt blinded by people's accessories shining in the sun.
Among them, my high-quality peony embroidered red silk dress was the prettiest. The skirt was filled with so many layers it made it difficult to even breathe a smallest breathe. My hair is in a up-do and my makeup is so thick my nose could smell it. I sighed.
"Miss Sanya, you will become His Majesty's concubine, and you should show some reverence."
Yeah. I will become the Emperor's concubine today, maybe you shouldn't act so cheeky with me; all I did was sigh. You sound like a hot iced Americano. But instead of saying that, I sighed again because the reality I'm facing is still awkward to me.
Sanya Yeoran. The youngest daughter of the Yeoran family, who is now eight and a married child who is like being sold to be the Emperor's concubine. While also being a supporting role in a reverse harem novel. The child was given the order to be 'killed'. And now that child is me. The third sigh came out of my mouth.
There is a Harlem novel. The content wasn't any special. The emperor was the female lead with her concubines who were the male leads (the emperor is a woman). The novel highlighted the male characters political fights and the indifferent female characters with no emotional changes. But, there was a supporting role in the novel that appeared several times in the middle.
Sanya. She is the child who did not even receive the royal family's name and was one of the few imperial women concubines. She was young and clever, but thirsty for affection. She clung to the emperor who was kind to her, and to gain the emperor's attention, she would become pitiful, intelligent, and occasionally play tricks. The only problem was her behavior.
Her behavior took the emperor's attention away from the male leads, who were also much smarter than a eight-year old. Eventually, Sanya committed treason and was executed at the age of twelve. The readers who read the novel didn't pay much attention to her. She was a supporting role that passed by for a short time and also have gotten tired of her defeat later on in the novel.
And so was I.
If only had I not possess Sanya in this novel. But why her? I was very confused and sorry. When she died in the novel, one of the male leads, Mirina came to my mind. If the story goes like the original, in four years, I will die. I trembled just by the thought of that.
"Raise your head."
Then a voice subdued with dignity rang through the banquet hall. At that moment, the music and laughter that flowed through the venue stopped. I raised my head gently, and were met with cool gray-green eyes. A black-haired woman sat on the throne at the platform. The golden robes and the crown are brilliant.
Yehwa Aryun. The emperor of this country and the female lead of this novel. I watched as her eyes grew bigger. Now she will get up and come towards me. My prediction was not wrong at all. The emperor, who then immediately rose from her seat, strode down the high stairs. The male lead concubines who were by her side tried stopping her, but to no avail. Once the emperor reached me, she knelt down. It was a act of trying to match my eye level, but the fact that the emperor knelt down caused a disturbance at once.
"Your Majesty!"
"How old are you?" She ignored the startled response and asked me.
I politely bowed my head and answered,
"My eight-year-old birthday passed last month." Actually, I'm way over 20.
"How…"
I heard the sound of teeth grinding. I understood the embarrassment in her mind. Yeah, you knew there was a female concubine coming, but she's only eight-years old. You didn't know that.
Sanya's family, the Yeoran, was one of the seven founding families of the country. The seven families, who were blessed by dragons and came down with strong blood ties, were at the peak of power, and enjoyed a lot of things as a result. But of course, they also have to fulfill their duties. One of them was when a new emperor were to be crowned, they had to offer the new emperor a concubine, they could be twelve or a hundred. It was quite a waste for them to offer their children to other aristocrats in marriage. Of course, their outstanding appearance could have caught the emperor's eyes and made them the father of Crown Prince or put their child in as a spy, but this possibility is usually zero. In a way, it was also natural.
Just as the supporting character Sanya died by confronting the male leads, the emperor and her concubines were still loved by everyone. The concubines who fell in love with the emperor were the people to be used, so each family would hate to offer a concubine. This time, the head of the Yeoran family also thought the same. So he tried to bring the weakest child in the palace, it was either a blessing or a curse.
Funnily, the problem was that there were no children with weak skills in this generation of leisure. So he (the father) found a young illegitimate child that he had forgotten who looked exactly like him, but had no talent. He then proceeds to send Sanya to the imperial palace and she offered her youngest daughter and squeezed out a few fake tears.
Even then, the emperor, who was displeased with the food that was given to her could not help but realize that the concubine of the Yeoran family is only eight-years old.
"Get up."
After a moment of thought, I looked up again at the emperor's voice. Her eyes were mixed with embarrassment, pity, and sorry. It was a very valid response.
I have been sitting in this uncomfortable wedding outfit for two hours now. I was knelling in the middle of the banquet hall when she said I was young. I was in a situation where I could feel her awkward embarrassment. Of course, an ordinary emperor would not have cared about weather I was young or not, but all the emperors here were full of mortality, and so was Yehwa Aryun. She hates people who goes against orders. But it did not apply to children. I didn't have any complaints against her words, I was going to get up.
"…Woah."
As soon as I got up, my body shook. It might be because my legs were numb after sitting down for a long time. No, to be honest, my legs are numb. Thanks to that, I was building a fragile image of myself. I tried to support my body as much as I could by biting my lips in dismay, but unfortunately, it was for my body to collapse and for the emperor to hold me.
"Are you alright?"
Oh shit. I looked at the emperor's eyes, which grew bigger with surprise and cursed myself. Anyone could see the feeling from her eye were favorable. I then glanced at the concubines behind the emperor and met all eyes at once.
Once again, the genre of this novel was devastating. The female lead wasn't particularly interesting, but it was due to the crazy obsession of the men. Sanya, who I am in the body of, had been killed while trying to win the emperor's favor. I just need to stay out of the emperor's sight as much as I can. But I really couldn't help it just now. There is no strength in my legs and I can't feel them, because of that, I was honored to be a person who was assisted by the emperor and to be noticed by her majesty.
"…I will send a court to your palace." In the midst of all this, her majesty said this.
I really didn't appreciate the favor and I wanted to cry. Can't she take care of her concubines who's stares behind her are looking as if they could kill me now? But I can't say that to the emperor's face, so I just smiled and carefully took my hand out of her arm.
"It's alright. I just stumbled." That was a lie, I'm not okay at all. My legs felt numb earlier, but now my whole body feels numb. I will definitely be walking like a wooden doll later. My answer was perfect, but the emperor hesitated. She couldn't seem to let go of the mistake.
"…Go back to the palace. I won't make this a problem." I want to curse myself again. I won't let her do anymore favors towards me. No one would believe it, but today's main characters were her majesty and I. Anyways, it's a wedding banquet and I was completely ignored. No, it wasn't ignoring, it was insulting. My legs hurt a little, but it didn't matter to me. It was rather sweet, if I disappear from her memory, Namju wouldn't care about me either. However, I knew the emperor would ask me to raise my head to judge me and then feel guilty after finding out I was a child.
Sanya in the original novel shed tears, emphasizing her vulnerability. Later at night, the emperor felt guilty and visited her place to apologize to the child, who had nightmares. When Sanya asked to be protected, the emperor stayed overnight, patted her. Of course, the male leads couldn't leave this matter alone. They began to check on her, and Sanya made it public that she's taking the emperor's attention away from them. It was the beginning of a catastrophe. Well then, why does her majesty's degree on me matter? As I said, today was my wedding banquet.
As the protagonist, the emperor did a favor in that position and it should remain that way until the end. It meant that she could favor me too. No, that means I have gained favor in the shortest amount of time because no concubine has ever been noticed by the emperor on their first day of marriage. As a result, the other concubines are very upset. This happened on the first day.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
I turned around after answering neatly without any more complaints. I hoped my squeaky steps will be hidden under the thick wedding gown so that the emperor will not help me even if I am embarrassed.