Five years after her death, she awoke on the dragon bed.

Chapter 40 The Emperor brought his beloved to the palace that very night…

Consort De did not expect Murong to act unpredictably.

She's made it so obvious. With her beauty and alluring figure, how could she not seduce Murong?

"Your Majesty, would you please stay with me tonight?" Consort De asked Murong earnestly, her eyes filled with tears. "Your Majesty has no idea how much I love you..."

Murong chuckled upon hearing this: "Why is my beloved concubine still acting like a child?"

He turned to the side, allowing the imperial physician to examine Consort De.

Many more imperial physicians arrived this time, obstructing Consort De's view. Once they had left, she looked up again and found that Murong was no longer in the room.

She clenched her fists, wondering if Murong had fallen for someone else.
If he truly loved her, how could he resist her temptations?
If a man is not interested in a woman's body, then his love has surely wandered away.

None of the concubines in the harem are her match now. So who is the woman who stole Murong Xin's heart?

Or is it because Murong had been abstinent for many years, and was only recently enthroned that he lost interest in women?
The next day, Consort De sent someone to inquire about any unusual behavior Murong had shown recently. It turned out that he had only visited Xianfu Palace a few times, but had not spent the night there.

As for Lou Suyi, she didn't have a good feeling about this nun; she seemed to be someone who couldn't stay at home.

"Send someone to thoroughly investigate Lou Suyi's past. Do it carefully and thoroughly, without missing anything!" Consort De ordered Yunmei.

Yunmei reported the information she had found to Consort De in the evening.

"She really is a shrewd woman, managing to make two powerful figures, Lord Xie and Marquis Dingyuan, vie to take her as a concubine." Consort De sneered after hearing this.

Xie Zhijie is even more ridiculous. He clearly chose to save Lou Suya back then, but five years later, when he saw Lou Suyi, he actually wanted to take this woman as a concubine. No wonder Lou Suyi was unwilling to be with Xie Zhijie.

"Since Abbess Kongchen rejected men like Lord Xie and Marquis Dingyuan and preferred to become a nun, does that mean she has seen through the illusions of the world? In that case, she is no match for Master," Yunmei analyzed.

Consort De slowly took a sip of tea: "Perhaps Lou Suying's ambition has grown even larger. She has her eye on His Majesty, and that's why she moved into the harem under the pretense of exorcising evil spirits. I see that woman's eyes are full of affection, and she doesn't seem like someone who will stay put. In any case, from today onwards, have someone keep a close eye on Lou Suying. If she dares to compete with me for His Majesty, I will definitely kill her!"

Cloudberry quickly agreed.

Just as Consort De began to regard Lou Suyi as her number one enemy, news arrived that Murong had suddenly left the palace overnight.

"Do you know why?" Consort De asked quickly when she saw Blueberry's eyes flicker.

Blueberry lowered her eyes, not daring to meet Consort De's gaze: "I heard that Consort Liang is returning to the capital tomorrow. His Majesty was worried that he would not be able to receive her, so he left the palace before the gates were closed so that he could pick up Consort Liang at the city gate early tomorrow morning."

Consort De panicked: "Wasn't Consort Liang the late Emperor's woman? Why does His Majesty value Consort Liang so much?"

She didn't care about Murong during his time as a prince, so she naturally didn't know if he harbored any unrequited love. But what if he already had someone in his heart, and that person was one of the late emperor's concubines?
"This... I heard that His Majesty and Consort Liang were childhood sweethearts, but somehow she became one of the late Emperor's concubines. After the late Emperor passed away, Consort Liang went to Putuo Temple to pray for him and has only just returned to the palace." The news that Blueberry had heard was varied, with some saying that Consort Liang was the beauty His Majesty had been longing for but could not have.

Now that His Majesty has ascended the throne and the late Emperor has passed away, it is not impossible for him to take Consort Liang as his concubine.

In previous dynasties, there were instances where former empresses and concubines were taken over by their sons; such stories were not uncommon.

Consort De slumped into a chair, utterly dejected, and it took her a while to recover: "His Majesty clearly loves me..."

Was Murong's kindness towards her just a figment of her imagination?
She once thought he was keeping himself pure for her, but was she just overthinking it?
She was filled with mixed emotions, unsure of what to feel. In modern times, she was a privileged woman, able to summon any man she pleased and dismiss at will. Having unexpectedly transmigrated to ancient times, she refused to settle.

But she fell in love with Murong, only to find out that he had someone else in his heart. How could she accept that?

"Your Highness, please don't be anxious. After all, it's just a rumor, and rumors may not be credible. His Majesty treats you differently, so he must care about you," Yunmei quickly reassured Consort De.

Although Consort De was in pain, she quickly returned to normal.

She wasn't worried at all. Since Murong was the man she had chosen, no one, no matter who, could take him away from her! Even if Murong had a white moonlight, she would make that white moonlight perish.

The news that Murong had left the palace to fetch Consort Liang had already spread throughout the inner palace, and naturally it also reached the ears of Empress Dowager Chen.

Her expression changed slightly: "The Emperor left the palace overnight just to personally escort Lady Liang into the palace?"

Fangruo quickly agreed.

Others may not know, but they do. Consort Liang was once His Majesty's fiancée, but somehow she ended up in the late Emperor's harem.

In short, it was all a series of unfortunate coincidences.

If Consort Liang hadn't entered the late emperor's harem back then, she might have married His Majesty and perhaps even become empress now.

"Didn't I order that Lady Liang must never return to the capital?!" Empress Dowager Chen clenched her fists.

She was guarding against Consort Liang's potential disloyalty towards the emperor. Although Grand Tutor Liang had abdicated and the Liang family's power was not what it had been during the previous emperor's reign, their influence in the court remained. If Consort Liang were to further disrupt the harem, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"I heard that she returned to the palace only after receiving His Majesty's decree," Fang Ruo said in a low voice.

Empress Dowager Chen's anxiety finally died when she heard these words: "Is the Emperor deliberately going against me?"

Fangruo was momentarily at a loss for words.

However, Consort Liang was about the same age as His Majesty and was a great beauty. During the reign of the late emperor, she was the most favored concubine in the harem, and many concubines, including the Empress Dowager, were no match for her.

If Consort Liang's target this time is the new emperor, who knows what kind of trouble she will cause.

Amidst the undercurrents of turmoil in the imperial harem, only Lou Suyi, who was temporarily residing in Xianfu Palace, slept soundly until dawn, carefree and oblivious to the world around her.

She went to bed early and got up early as well. The talkative Consort Wu also came over early, chattering about how Murong left the palace overnight and personally escorted Consort Liang into the palace this morning.

Lou Suying listened with great interest and asked curiously, "Could it be that Consort Liang is Liang Wanying, the granddaughter of the former Grand Tutor?"

Wu Meiren was taken aback: "Master, you actually know about Consort Liang?"

"How could I not know? She was His Majesty's fiancée. I once saw the Imperial Concubine Dowager from afar; she was a beauty of unparalleled grace. At that time, I even teased His Majesty, saying that he was quite lucky to be engaged to the most beautiful woman in the capital." Lou Suying recalled the past with some emotion, "I never imagined that the Imperial Concubine Dowager would later enter the late Emperor's harem. It's a pity that such a perfect couple missed each other. How tragic and lamentable."

(End of this chapter)