Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

Chapter 76-Fate of Monarch Eyes Part 1

Translated by Snowfall77

Xia Ge looked at Chu Yao’s strong hands, suddenly afraid that Chu Yao would actually gouge out her own eyes, making Xia Ge guilty of a grave sin: “Hey, are you drunk?  Not drunk?  Ei, don’t do anything impulsive……”

“I’m not drunk.”

Shaking her head, Chu Yao put down her hands, leaving two pinkish handprints on her pale forehead.  She opened her eyes and softly sneered: “Who do you think I am?”

Xia Ge: “……you’re a bigshot who wouldn’t get drunk even if you drank a thousand cups.”

She paused, then added in all sincerity: “Truthfully……your eyes are pretty.”

Between the cool breeze blowing and the sun sinking in the west, the sky was like a crystal-clear lake.

Pouring herself another cup of wine, Chu Yao apathetically drank: “Pretty?  What use is that?  You can’t eat ‘pretty.’”

Xia Ge considered Chu Yao’s words for a minute: “Maybe you can’t eat it like cooked rice, but it does attract people.”

Slamming down her empty cup on the table with a ‘bang,’ Chu Yao’s large, round eyes were cold, although a smile hung on her lips: “Oh?  Are you attracted?”

Xia Ge: “……”

Yet another question that was impossible to answer.

Casting a sideways glance at Xia Ge, Chu Yao jeered: “Look at your frightened face.”

Xia Ge: “Whether you like them or not, it doesn’t change the fact that your eyes are good-looking.”

Chu Yao closed her eyes and didn’t speak for a long time.

Just when Xia Ge figured Chu Yao had fallen asleep, Chu Yao interrupted the silence with: “Hey runt, have you ever heard of Chu Shi?”

One hand holding her forehead, Chu Yao’s eyes were still shut, their usual arrogance and fierceness hidden.  Instead the light from the window shone on her delicate eyelashes, softening her into something like an exhausted animal.

Xia Ge had recently been reading a lot of ‘unofficial histories’ and promptly blurted out: “Oh, the former bandit chief!”

The hand on Chu Yao’s forehead slipped, her head almost hitting the table, and her eyes suddenly opened to glare at Xia Ge: “Let off……bullshit!”

Belatedly remembering that the person opposite her was a descendent of said bandit, Xia Ge apologized: “……oh, sorry, sorry, I meant Empress Chu Shi, it’s Empress of Chu.”

Chu Yao: “……”

Seeing that the nasty expression on Chu Yao’s face hadn’t improved, Xia Ge explained herself: “I read a story the other day, and it was about the Empress being a bandit on Lingxi Peak……mmm, even though the story was brilliant, that doesn’t make it true.”

“It said the Empress Chu was a emperor’s daughter.”  Coughing, Xia Ge scratched her head, “Anyways, I was just reading idly, no need to take it seriously.”

Chu Yao snorted: “Actually, that’s not wrong.”

Xia Ge: “……ha?”

“Even though no one in the family admits it,” Chu Yao said, “My ancestor was in fact a bandit for a time.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Noticing that Xia Ge’s expression had changed to ‘now I know too much,’ Chu Yao couldn’t help being amused and raised an eyebrow: “Those ‘unofficial histories’ might be fun to read, but that doesn’t mean they get everything right.”

However Xia Ge still hadn’t gotten over her surprise: “Empress Chu truly was a bandit chief?”

Chu Yao: “The public story was that Chu Shi was stolen away by bandits, thus threatening the royal family.”

Pausing for a second, Chu Yao laughed: “What really happened was that Princess Chu Shi, with the help of her royal uncle, faked the whole bandit kidnapping thing in order to secretly raise an army and then revolted against her own fatuous father’s rule.”

Xia Ge: “……”   Such a thing had actually happened?

Chu Yao: “Do you want to hear about it?”

Xia Ge energetically nodded her head: “Want to hear, want to hear.”

She couldn’t help being a little excited.  She’d been searching through all kinds of history books without finding the secrets she was looking for.  Now that Chu Yao was willing to tell her, Xia Ge wanted to grab Chu Yao by the collar and demand she spill everything.  Instead Xia Ge settled for staring attentively at Chu Yao with bright, beautiful eyes.

Shaking her head to try and dispel her slight dizziness, Chu Yao eventually said: “……I guess it’s alright if I tell you.”

“The Empress Chu became sick, so she had her destiny calculated.  She found out that even though she had a monarch’s qi, it was not her fate to be one.”

“Wait……didn’t you say her father was the emperor?”  Xia Ge was confused.  “And her royal uncle supported her.  What was the problem?”

Chu Yao gave Xia Ge a glare: “It wasn’t good enough to be legitimate.  Yes, the princess had a legitimate claim to the throne, but she didn’t want to be criticized by the people or the world.”

Xia Ge: “Ohhh, I see, the uncle wanted her to be a puppet Empress.”

Chu Yao shook her head: “That’s not right either.”

Xia Ge: “Did the uncle actually care about the people’s peace and prosperity?  Did he support the princess taking the throne?”

Now Chu Yao nodded, saying earnestly: “Yes, he did.”

Xia Ge didn’t know quite what to say to that: “……well, that’s truly rare.”

“Correct,” Chu Yao continued, “At the time, Chu Huai was the princess’ uncle.  In order to make the princess the ruling empress, he tried to recruit all kinds of capable talents to alter her fate, but that meant defying the natural order.  No one wanted to violate the heavenly ban.”

Xia Ge: “Trying to alter her own fate?  That sounds pretty awesome……was she successful?”

Chu Yao: “Of course she succeeded.  Otherwise where would the legend of Empress Chu unifying the whole country come from?”

“Wait a minute,” Xia Ge rested her chin on her hand, “You just said that no one wanted to help.  So how did the princess succeed?”

Chu Yao had not patience for such questions: “I’m not an immortal, how am I supposed to know everything?  What I telling you is just what I’ve heard from my family elders……”

“Aiya, sorry for asking.  C’mon, tell me more.”  Xia Ge tugged at Chu Yao’s sleeve.

Tugging and then tugging some more, Xia Ge got the sudden sensation that someone was watching her, like she could feel the weight of eyes on her back.

She casually looked all around, but saw nothing.

——Probably just her imagination.

Wait, wait, she should be asking more about the secret history of  Empress Chu.