Her Majesty Chose Violence, They Chose Her

Chapter 3: Chapter 3: It’s Useless Even If I Give You a Chance

What’s the hardest part of being an emperor?

Managing the court? The courtiers? The fate of the nation?

None of the above. It’s studying!

Normal sixteen-year-olds are all busy studying, let alone a sixteen-year-old Emperor. The stuff she had to read was practically gibberish.

She had been shocked when the Regent King told her to memorize policy essays, but she hadn’t realized the gravity of the situation until the white-haired Grand Tutor entered with two students, each carrying a thick stack of books.

Grand Tutor Xu, a man in his seventies, was a contemporary of the original Emperor’s great-grandfather. He had been a study partner to the original Emperor’s grandfather, had taught the late Emperor, and now, he was here to teach her.

A Grand Tutor who had served four emperors—a bona fide living fossil of the imperial court.

See that ruler hanging from his waist?

It was a gift from Emperor Taizhong, the only artifact in the entire world that granted its wielder the legal right to strike an Emperor.

"Your Majesty will be studying law this time. These are the legal codes from every dynasty. After you have read them, please point out their irrational aspects and write a policy essay on legal reform."

Xiao Yang’s eyes were spinning. She didn’t want to sleep anymore. She’d had enough sleep, truly.

She was starting to remember what kind of life the original Emperor had led.

A grand court assembly was held once every three days. On that day, she had to review some trivial memorials and then go get a lecture from the Empress Dowager.

The day after the assembly, the morning was for lessons with the Regent King on policy essays about governing the nation, and the afternoon was for riding and archery.

On the third day, there were lessons with the Grand Tutor on law, strategy, and the art of managing people. The Minister of Revenue taught arithmetic. And on top of that, there were special classes for calligraphy, music theory, painting...

The Emperor had vanished again.

’Why wouldn’t I run? Am I supposed to stay here and be tortured to death?’

The homework weighed more than she did.

Which Immortal had she offended to deserve being transmigrated here just to suffer through schoolwork?

’Doesn’t a Puppet Emperor’s life count as a life?’

-----

"The Emperor has disappeared again. We must seize this opportunity."

"What’s been up with the Emperor lately? Could this be a trap?"

"Trap or not, this is a rare chance. We’ll blend in with the search parties. As long as we find him first, we strike immediately. After we usher in a new era, it will be our time to rise to power and glory!"

"Yes!"

After conferring in a corner, four men dressed as eunuchs dispersed, their murderous intent palpable. They looked determined to stop at nothing.

However, lounging leisurely on the roof right above where they had been standing was a figure in gold. Dangling from the hem of their robe was, unmistakably, a bared dragon’s claw.

’Usher in a new era?’

’It’s useless even if I give you the chance!’

"Useless! A bunch of useless fools!"

"With so many people, how can you not even find one person?"

The Empress Dowager had been infuriated the day before yesterday, and now it was happening again. She nearly fainted on the spot.

Her personal eunuch, Wang Hai, tried to console her. "Empress Dowager, don’t be anxious. His Majesty is just being playful. He’ll come out on his own soon enough."

The Empress Dowager smashed a cup. "Playful? Do you think those assassins will spare her just because she’s being playful?"

If the assassins found her first and kidnapped or killed her, then everything would be over for her.

However, the Empress Dowager wasn’t the only one who was anxious. Others outside the palace received the news and, after some thought, ordered their own people to help find and protect the Emperor.

It wasn’t that they were eager to protect the Emperor, but that the Emperor could not die right now.

The various factions were evenly matched, and none of them were confident they could crush the Empress Dowager and the others to enthrone their own candidate.

If the Emperor died at this juncture, it would surely plunge the court into chaos, which was not something they wanted to see.

So, as Xiao Yang, dressed as a eunuch and gnawing on a chicken leg, happened to pass by, she saw a squad of the Imperial Guard drag two eunuchs into the bushes.

’Ew, the moral decay of our society!’

Later, after she’d changed into a palace maid’s uniform and was eating some pastries, she saw two eunuchs drag an Imperial Guard into a duty room.

’Utter chaos!!!’

Once she had eaten and drunk her fill, it was getting late. She finally changed back into her own clothes and began lazily tossing a persimmon up and down.

"HIC~"

She’d accidentally overeaten.

"SWISH! SWISH!"

Without warning, two hidden arrows shot straight for her vital points.

"CLINK! CLINK!"

A figure flashed past, instantly striking the two short arrows out of the air.

Xiao Yang landed safely on the ground, only catching a glimpse of a black-clad figure dashing off in the direction the arrows came from.

"...?"

She bent down and picked up one of the short arrows. It was less than a foot long and had no fletching. The tip was long, sharp, and gleamed with a faint blue light—it was clearly poisoned.

It wasn’t strange that someone wanted to kill her, nor was it strange that someone had saved her.

Xiao Yang continued on her way back. If she returned now, it would be just the right time to wash up and go to sleep.

But she hadn’t taken more than a few steps when two eunuchs radiating killing intent blocked her path, each holding a short blade.

Xiao Yang turned and ran. Hesitating for even a second would be disrespectful to her own life.

As long as she didn’t have to study, she was quite fond of living.

She ran for her life, and the two eunuchs chased her relentlessly.

Fortunately, the entire palace was filled with people looking for her, and she was soon spotted.

"His Majesty is over there!"

"Assassins! Protect the Emperor!"

The Imperial Guard and Imperial Guards all charged toward the two assassins, while Xiao Yang ran without a single look back.

Just as she rounded a corner, someone suddenly grabbed her by the collar.

A demonic, chilling, and sinister voice sounded from behind her.

"Your Majesty, have you had enough fun?"

The moment she heard the voice, Xiao Yang put away the short arrow in her hand.

She looked up and smiled. "Oh, it’s the Regent King! What a coincidence!"

It wasn’t a coincidence.

The Regent King held her with one hand and pressed his sword against her neck with the other. "Your Majesty seems tired of living. Why don’t I give you a hand?"

Xiao Yang lowered her gaze to the cold, sharp blade before her and sighed. ’Just as I thought. I shouldn’t have hesitated for that one moment earlier.’

She lowered her head, pressing her face right against the sword. "If you’re going to kill me, then do it. Stop dawdling."

Rong Yin looked down, the snow-white blade reflecting her fair skin. At this distance, he could clearly see the fine hairs on her cheeks.

’A disguised face... even a human-skin mask can’t grow and breathe like real skin.’

Rong Yin truly dared to kill her, but he also wouldn’t kill her.

And so, Rong Yin simply carried her back just like that...

Face is one of those things that doesn’t matter, so long as you don’t care about it.

Xiao Yang was perfectly composed as she served her turn as the Regent King’s dangling accessory.

However, when she returned and saw the mountain of homework piled on the desk, her killing intent flared.

’Let’s fight to the death! You scoundrel!’

The sword in Rong Yin’s hand had been replaced by Grand Tutor Xu’s ruler. "By the order of the late Emperor, I am to assist Your Majesty, and I have the duty to supervise and instruct you. Your Majesty has fled for two consecutive days and fallen behind on many lessons. You must complete them all tonight."

Xiao Yang slowly opened her mouth, and her soul seemed to turn into a wisp of smoke and vanish. From then on, only a soulless husk sat there.

"...one must take this as a warning and not act recklessly."

Xiao Yang finished reciting the last line with a numb expression, then floated over to the Dragon Bed and collapsed, feeling as if her body had been completely hollowed out.

Rong Yin looked at the policy essays on the desk, a complicated look flickering in his eyes.

There were three policy essays in total, amounting to tens of thousands of words.

She had dawdled and read them over a few times, then recited them all without a single mistake.

’The previous one was diligent and obedient, but truly a bit dull. This one is perverse and untamable, yet possesses a rare intelligence. He’s just lazy...’

Their appearance and stature were identical, but their personalities were worlds apart.

’Could it be that the Empress Dowager gave birth to twins back then?’