Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

said.

The “attention” she was referring to didn’t just mean being praised for her skills in the lute.

She had been expecting something beyond that — that was to be summoned into the emperor’s bedchambers, apparently.

“Eh, did she just target His Majesty the Emperor!? Seriously!?”

Yui Mei unwittingly shrieked at the unexpected development,

Xu looked a bit exasperated at her scream.

“Yeah, that’s right.
Based on the stories circulating in the Jiaofang, it’s not unheard of for the palace courtesan to catch the eye of the emperor and become one of his consorts Well, aside from being an exaggeration, it’s just an absurd story.
And yet there she is, thinking she can be like that for some reason.”

“SIgh, I’m not sure now whether she has the guts, or she’s a coward….”

Or perhaps, had she belonged to a family powerful enough that she was once considered as a candidate to enter the Inner Palace?

Was that the reason why she decided to start over and change her life course into that direction?

‘Still, isn’t that a bit… too optimistic of her?’

Yui Mei came all the way here from the borderland just so she could watch the Inner Palace, but she doesn’t think it was such a big deal.
That girl was as carefree as Yui Mei in this sense.

Yui Mei turned to face Libin, who had been quietly listening until this time, because she was a bit curious as to what he thought.

“Lord Libin, do you think it’s possible?”

“No.
At the very least, unless you search for records that date way, way back, you won’t find any names of consorts who were once a palace courtesan, right? At any rate, I don’t know anyone like that.” 

Libin promptly dismissed it.

“Yeah, same for me.
The organization per se might make it possible for a palace courtesan to be a consort, but it isn’t realistic.
Having no backing or support is considered as a blemish on one’s career, and they don’t give any benefit to the country, so they’re generally considered as a worse option than having a commoner-born concubine.

In order for the impossible to happen, that person must be someone extremely outstanding.”

The man also expressed his own opinion.

‘Right?…’

She could only agree with Libin and the man’s opinions.

—–

T/N: *Consort, as in those higher ranked ones, not plain concubines.