Chapter 69
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Master of the Empire
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"I'll pull down my pants right here and show Your Majesty my pathetic, neutered lower half! That ought to convince you!"
Dokgo Cheonwi shouted with the momentum of ripping off his belt in one go.
There was no hesitation in his actions. It was pure bravado, as if to say, 'Go ahead and look if you want—your eyes are the only ones that'll suffer.'
"Wha—what...?"
Hyeonjong flailed his hands in panic.
He'd already pictured it.
The horrifying revulsion of seeing an eunuch's grotesque, shriveled, castrated parts right in front of him. It was visual terrorism.
"N-no! Stop! Don't do it!"
Hyeonjong screamed like a man possessed.
"I don't want to see that filth! It'll ruin my eyes! I get it, so stop!"
Cheonwi feigned outrage, his hand clutching the belt trembling dramatically.
"No, sire! I'd rather show you and die than live under suspicion! Behold! My innocence!"
"I said I believe you! I do! Jo Eunuch, what are you waiting for? Stop him!"
Hyeonjong recoiled behind the throne in terror. Jo Eunuch rushed over and grabbed Cheonwi's arm.
"My lord! Mind your dignity! His Majesty believes you!"
Cheonwi let himself be restrained by Jo Eunuch, all while inwardly cheering.
'He took the bait.'
Hyeonjong was a coward. A hollow emperor without even the guts to face the truth.
After the commotion died down, Cheonwi straightened his robes neatly.
Looking at Hyeonjong panting raggedly, Cheonwi sensed this was the perfect moment to turn the mood around.
"Your Majesty..."
Cheonwi lifted his head with a deliberately sorrowful expression.
"I've offended Your Majesty's sensibilities—a crime worthy of death. But before I go, allow me to present the gift I've prepared for you."
Hyeonjong was still clutching his chest, wariness unbroken.
"A gift? Another weird potion? Or something gross?"
"No, sire. This one's real. A treasure like no other in the world—one that will banish Your Majesty's melancholy in an instant."
Cheonwi's eyes sparkled.
"From across the distant seas in the Western Regions, from the Great Jin Kingdom... a 'living doll' more beautiful than any princess."
"A living... doll?"
Hyeonjong's curiosity piqued.
Cheonwi flashed a meaningful smile and clapped toward the doors.
Clap! Clap!
"Enter."
At Cheonwi's signal, the doors to the audience hall creaked open slowly.
Kiiiek.
The moment they did, the air in the chamber shifted.
The first thing felt was the fragrance.
Not the subtle orchid scents or powder used by the palace ladies.
A rich, sensual, nose-tingling exotic rose aroma. Like pheromones stirring primal instincts.
And then, its source appeared.
Thud. Thud.
Hyeonjong's jaw dropped.
Even Jo Eunuch nearly fumbled his brush.
The woman who entered was no Central Plains native.
Golden hair, radiant as if kissed by sunlight, cascaded in waves to her waist. Her skin was whiter than fresh-steamed rice cake—almost translucent.
But most shocking was her attire.
A sheer dress that revealed every contour beneath. An outrageous outfit unimaginable for Central Plains women. With each step, her voluptuous curves flashed brazenly through the thin fabric.
Yet what truly seized attention beyond her physical allure was something else.
"Oh... ohhh...!"
Hyeonjong rose from the throne as if entranced.
"Her eyes... they're blue!"
碧眼.
Mysterious orbs like a deep, fathomless sea transplanted whole.
They sparkled like jewels with every blink.
"Right now—"
Cheonwi sidled up to Hyeonjong and whispered.
"Her name is 'Elina.' From Western nobility, but her family fell, and I took her in."
"Eli... na?"
"Yes. She'll tend to Your Majesty's lonely nights. And this girl... she has a very special talent."
As Cheonwi finished, Elina approached Hyeonjong.
She ignored Central Plains etiquette. Instead of bowing, she boldly lifted her chin and met his gaze directly.
Her blue eyes began to glow strangely.
Swirling like a vortex, drawing in Hyeonjong's stare.
"Your Majesty..."
Clumsy Central Plains speech flowed from her lips, laced with an oddly seductive timbre.
Hyeonjong was already lost.
Suspicion? Jealousy? Eunuch rumors?
Before the overwhelming allure radiating from the blue-eyed witch, the emperor's mind ground to a halt.
Jo Eunuch sensed the instinctive danger and shouted urgently.
"Your Majesty! Don't get close! That woman's eyes... they're dangerous!"
But Hyeonjong's ears were deaf to Jo Eunuch.
Only the blue cosmos before him filled his vision.
"Beautiful... Are you... mine?"
Hyeonjong reached out like a sleepwalker.
Elina smiled faintly and guided his hand to her cheek.
"If you desire it."
Her voice carried an irresistible magic—an undercurrent of hypnosis.
Hyeonjong's pupils dilated, focus slipping away. The sign of total submission.
Watching the emperor get sucked into the Western beauty's blue eyes, Cheonwi inwardly cheered.
'Hooked.'
This was no mere seduction.
Elina was a living 'VR kit'—a Dark Heaven operative meticulously trained in Western illusions and hypnosis. Perfectly tailored to cook the emperor's mind.
The emperor lived dreaming in a VR world where anything was possible, but sometimes, like today, his inferiority complex pierced through, posing a risk to Cheonwi's regency. That was why he'd prepared this: a trained Dark Heaven agent providing a living VR experience.
Under Elina's hypnosis, the emperor was feeling an unprecedented pull. And once drawn into a drug-like euphoric haze for the act, even if it lasted a mere three minutes in reality, the hypnosis would make him hallucinate as a tireless stud going for a full hour.
What more could a man insecure about his inadequacies crave?
From now on, whenever the emperor tried turning his eyes from VR to the real world, Elina would be the perfect barrier.
A wicked smile crept across Cheonwi's lips.
'Big Brother, stop fixating on the outside world and stay lost in your dreams forever, just like always.'
With this, the emperor's eyes and ears were sealed tighter than ever.
The emperor's chambers, Kangneung Hall.
Usually solemn and heavy with gravity, today it brimmed with a bizarre fever.
Hyeonjong was in a rush. Propriety be damned—he could barely keep his feet straight, desperate to unwrap the 'gift' before him.
"Cheonwi, hurry! Faster!"
Hyeonjong stormed inside without looking back. Cheonwi followed leisurely with Elina in tow, while Jo Eunuch trailed last, face etched with unease, taking quick steps.
The doors shut, and Hyeonjong whirled around.
His gaze locked not on Cheonwi, but the golden-haired woman beside him.
Up close, she was even more unreal.
Hair like threads of spun gold, skin like poured milk, and above all, those blue eyes. Hyeonjong was overwhelmed by the exotic hues he'd never seen, barely able to breathe.
Even watching her blink felt like slow motion, his heart pounding so wildly he worried he'd drop dead without laying a hand on her.
The room's air shifted.
As Elina stepped forward, her strange rose scent overpowered the heavy sandalwood incense. A drugging aroma that loosened the reins of reason.
Hyeonjong asked in a quavering voice.
"Cheonwi, this girl... she's really mine?"
Cheonwi bowed politely, a businessman's smile on his face.
"Yes, Your Majesty. The most cherished princess of the Great Jin Kingdom's royal house. I brought her in secret, solely for you—to spread Your Majesty's glory across the Western realms."
Of course, it was a lie.
Far from royalty, she was a wandering gypsy famed in Western back alleys for her illusions, rescued and trained by Dark Heaven. But truth meant nothing to Hyeonjong now. Only how dazzling the packaging and how stimulating the contents mattered.
Hyeonjong's cheekbones lifted uncontrollably.
"Solely... for me..."
Then, a voice shattered the mood.
"Your Majesty, no!"
Jo Eunuch. His instincts screamed danger from Elina. An old eunuch's nose for trouble was never wrong. Those eyes weren't those of a submissive princess. They were a predator eyeing prey—or a serpent luring food.
Jo Eunuch clutched Hyeonjong's robe and whispered.
"Her origins are unclear. And her appearance—so bizarre! She could be an assassin, or a妖物 wielding dark sorcery. Until we verify her identity..."
"Quiet!"
Hyeonjong roared, shaking off Jo Eunuch's hand.
His eyes blazed. With the world's greatest beauty laid out before him, having some fool snatch away the spoon to check for poison—what emperor wouldn't rage?
"What do you know, yapping like that? This is a girl my loyal Cheonwi vetted himself! Can't you see his devotion?"
"But Your Majesty..."
"Shut it! Disrupt my fun one more time, and I'll sew that mouth shut!"
Under Hyeonjong's furious glare, Jo Eunuch fell silent. He shot Cheonwi a resentful look, but Cheonwi just shrugged.
'Should've read the room.'
Cheonwi tsked inwardly. The stage was set. Time to serve the dish. He nodded at Elina.
'Begin.'
Elina knelt gracefully at Hyeonjong's feet, every motion exquisitely elegant.
Trained to perfection by Cheonwi, she played the 'mysterious, obedient Western princess' flawlessly. The angle of her bow and lift, the flutter of her lashes, the timing of her lip bite—all calculated.
Elina spoke. Clumsy Empire tongue, all the more alluring for it.
"Your Majesty... I heard... the rumors."
Her voice tickled his eardrums like a feather.
"The greatest man... in the world. Hotter than the sun... Master of the Empire..."