I [Imperial] Am Not This Kind of Man

Death. Mentions of "attempted rape" (or the scene seeming like it)

This chapter was translated by Daed and edited by Shiny to be hosted on Foxaholic.com. Want to support the translator? Turn off adblock or buy Daed a kofi here! Thank you.

Note: new translator note format and bedcouch/couchbed will now be referred to as “arhat bed”. English that was used in the Chinese raws will be bolded. Also, question: do you want me to put the “[formal]” indicating the formal version of “you” as a footnote/translator’s note?

Qin Ze’s gaze fell upon Qin Nuo’s figure, which laid on the bed like the corpse of a dead fish. “What does Mother Consort plan to do about this?”

‘What do you mean “this”? Are you unwilling to even call me “older brother” behind my back? This brotherhood is truly like a piece of plastic!1’ Qin Nuo couldn’t resist thinking indignantly as he felt the little warm ‘mouse’ in his chest. He had come to understand that this body of his possessed internal strength, which explained what had happened earlier when he was eavesdropping on Empress Huo and the Crown Prince’s conversation. Now, what he had to worry about was how to manipulate this power to get rid of this ‘corpse’ buff of his.

Virtuous Consort Ge’s gaze swept across the arhat bed as she said disdainfully, “Mother Consort will take care of it. We’ll just find a random place to hide him in; after all, we only need him out of the way. However, later when you return to Liu Guang Palace, you have to explain to the other highnesses.”

“This son understands and will not show any flaws [in my act].”

Virtuous Consort Ge wanted to continue warning her son to be careful with his answers, yet Qin Ze had already reached the end of his patience. He rose and said, “It’s getting late. I have to head back to Liu Guang Palace.”

Only then did Virtuous Consort Ge stop. As she watched her son’s departing figure, she let out a helpless sigh. Ever since her son had grown up, he had become more independent and formed his own ideas. However, he was still unable to see clearly. In such a society, how could one survive with just their pride?

Whether it was the Huo family clan or the Pei family clan, these two giants had already accumulated more than enough power that they were no longer inferior to the royal family. Once they fought, even the imperial sons and their children could only serve as cannon fodder.

“Consort, don’t be angry. His Highness didn’t mean it that way.” Fan Juan consoled her master in a low voice.

Virtuous Consort Ge glanced at her maidservant meaningfully, “How could I be unaware of what Ze’er was thinking? What ‘look down on him’, it was only him feeling affronted because he wasn’t a match for the other person so it was a blow to his pride.”

Her languid tone was as amiable as usual, soothing Fan Juan’s nerves instantly. The matter of Qin Zhe’s order for her to prepare the knock-out drug and slip it into the Ninth Prince’s tea to swap places with him hadn’t been relayed to Virtuous Consort Ge beforehand, but she had still chosen to assist him. The reason for this was not only because she had thought of the deep bond between the mother and son, Tenth Prince and the consort, or that she was the consort’s top-ranking trusted aide, but more because of her love and admiration for the prince. By the look of things, the consort didn’t seem to blame her.

Fan Juan smiled and said, “It’s just a Shu son of the Huo family. His Highness is someone of such high status and wealth, what is the point of him competing with that sort of person?”2

“You’re right. Why didn’t you bring it up earlier?” Virtuous Consort Ge asked languidly.

Fan Juan’s heart trembled, “Consort and His Highness were conversing, how could this servant dare to interject?”

“What else is there that you don’t dare to do? You’re already able to poison a prince without my command, even if it’s just this good-for-nothing. But I truly never expected you to possess such courage.”
Although she used a tone of reproach, Virtuous Consort Ge’s face was all smiles when Fan Juan snuck a peek at the consort’s face. She didn’t seem to appear as if she was angry. Fan Juan mustered up her courage, kneeling on the ground and answering, “It happened so abruptly, this servant didn’t have time to report back. [This servant] is aware of this crime worthy of death. May the consort please punish [this servant].”

“No need, how could this consort not know of your feelings for Ze’er?” As she said so, Virtuous Consort Ge personally bent over and grabbed Fan Juan’s arm, pulling her up. She smiled, “Even though I’ve always been strict, but that is towards outsiders. Ze’er is my biological son, and you have attended to me for many years, how could I ignore your feelings and be the villain who separates the mandarin ducks?”3

Fan Juan did not dare believe her ears. What was Virtuous Consort Ge saying? Not only did her words imply that Fan Juan would not be held responsible for her unauthorized actions, but the consort acknowledged her motives for committing said actions. In the future, if she could be bestowed as a concubine to Tenth Highness, or even as a side-consort……

The beautiful future unfolded before her eyes, but Virtuous Consort Ge’s following words interrupted her fantasy.

“However……” Virtuous Consort Ge sighed, “Ze’er is still too young. He himself patted his hands and left, yet he left behind a difficult problem.”

As she said so, she gestured towards the bed with her mouth.

“The consort means to say—?” Fan Juan asked, going along with the flow of the conversation.

“Of course to……” Virtuous Consort Ge glanced at her, all smiles, “Kill him.”

A sentence entered the ears, like a bolt out of the blue. Qin Nuo had originally maneuvered a breath of Qi to his chest. He had just been feeling like he had started to get a clue about his Qi, yet it had dissipated.

Originally he thought that within the chaos of this political turmoil, he was a trivial figure. Moreover, before he drank that cup of tea, he had still been thinking about rising up to head back to Liu Guang Palace Hall and wait together with the rest of his royal brothers for the final results. And even after he drank the cup of tea, although he was tied to the bed, he had thought that the worst case scenario would simply be that he would be taken as a scapegoat to lash out at. He never expected that Virtuous Consort Ge would sentence him to death with just a few words.

Fan Juan was also startled. One moment she was in the middle of the unlimited anticipation towards her beautiful future; the next, she was promptly slapped awake.

“Consort, what did you [formal] say?”

Virtuous Consort tilted her chin towards the white wall on the left and explicitly ordered, “Pick up that sword and kill this brat on the bed.”

“Consort, the ninth prince, he……”

“When the Empress talked about tonight’s plan, she had been worried that the accusation towards Pei Ling was not severe enough to block the mouths of the masses. Now I’ll give her a big gift. Murdering a prince, the evidence is conclusive, this would most likely be enough for Pei Ling to drink a pot.”4

“Great General Pei entered the palace to meet the emperor. Once he learned that his nefarious plot to poison the emperor was exposed, he became hostile on the spot and attempted to assassinate the emperor. The Ninth Highness—who was on night duty at the time—died protecting the emperor.” Virtuous Consort Ge’s smile stayed on her face, but in Fan Juan’s eyes, it became sinister and crafty.

“Ai, it’s such a good bargain for that wench. We even left a good name for her son. However, I don’t have to see this annoying little bastard ever again.”

Virtuous Consort Ge said coldly as she urged Fan Juan to act.

Fan Juan’s entire body shook. She was only a servant. Would she really be able to live after she had personally murdered an imperial prince?

The whisper of the demon traveled in her ear, “Don’t worry. After the Crown Prince ascends to the throne, Ze’er will at least be a Prince of the First Rank.5 Once he leaves the Palace and has his own manor, I will bestow you to him. This will count as fulfilling your wishes.”

Like a drowning person who had grabbed hold of a straw, she was clearly aware that there was little hope, but she had no other choice. Fan Juan approached tremblingly, and picked up the double-edged sword hanging on the wall. Then gripping onto the double-edged sword, she trudged step by step towards the bed.

Virtuous Consort Ge watched her coldly, her face devoid of pity. This cheap servant girl! It was also that she had indulged her too much that this girl would form notions that she should not harbor. Her good son had better not be led astray by these hussies.

This old hag really wants to kill him! Realizing this, Qin Nuo was nervous as he had never been before. He pushed that only hope within his body with all his might.

Alas, no matter how hard he tried, that warm mouse continued to move forward at a snail’s pace. Since it was so useless, he might as well release it! As this notion emerged, Qin Nuo urged that inner breath to spread out across his veins.

Fan Juan stood by the bed, trembling like a husked vegetable. Those who grew up within the palace were even more brainwashed by the strict order in the palace. Regardless of how down-and-out this person before her was, he was an authentic prince!

Virtuous Consort Ge stepped forward, impatiently urging, “Hurry up and act. What are you standing around for?”

Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, Fan Juan drew the long sword, raised it up high, then drove it down.

An incomparable sense of danger hit him, in the moment of peril, Qin Nuo abruptly felt a stinging pain in his abdomen—he could move now!

Seeing the double-edged sword coming his way, his first reaction was to roll towards the side. At the same time, he grabbed a pillow from the arhat bed and threw it in the direction of Fan Juan’s face.

The pillows of this time period were made from celadon, it was a bona fide hard brick. 6

There was a ‘ping’ sound. The pillow did not smash into Fan Juan’s skull; instead, as luck would have it, it hit her shoulder.

Her footing was already precarious as she had brandished the sword to stab him. This hit immediately knocked her off-balance and she stumbled towards the side. At the same time, the long sword in her hands was sent forward.

‘Pu-chi.’ That was the sound of the sharp blade piercing through flesh and blood.

“Ah!” The slightly weak wretched cry didn’t have the chance to ring before it was brusquely cut off.

In a split second, Qin Nuo was dumbstruck. Fan Juan was also dumbstruck. With her eyes fixated on Virtuous Consort Ge’s figure that had been pierced through by the long sword, she staggered backwards. Silence fell upon the room.

A heavy thud sounded as Virtuous Consort Ge’s figure finally fell to the ground.

She could only be blamed for standing too close to Fan Juan! Anyway, the two of them had thousands and ten thousands of calculations, yet they had not anticipated that Qin Nuo—who had clearly fallen victim to the knock-out drug—would still be able to move. Then as the momentum of Fan Juan’s sword was tilted sideways, it directly pierced into Virtuous Consort’s abdomen and the crimson red sword emerged from the back.

As she finally realized what she had just done, Fan Juan screamed. Suddenly a hand covered her mouth and pushed her with force.

Qin Nuo pounced on top of her, pressing Fan Juan onto the bed. Then he used the quilt to firmly cover her mouth.

Fan Juan, who laid below him, struggled violently.

With his life hanging on a thread, Qin Nuo did not have any thoughts of being gentlemanly. He lifted his hand and slapped both sides of Fan Juan’s face.

The sudden pain stunned her, and she finally came to her senses.

“Do you want to die, or do you want to live?” Qin Nuo hissed at her at a suppressed volume.

Fan Juan finally stopped screaming, her whole body trembling. She stared at Qin Nuo with her apricot eyes full of fear.

Seeing that she was slowly regaining her wits, Qin Nuo tried slightly loosening his grip.

Fan Juan took in a deep breath, but didn’t make any extreme moves. She only appeared at a loss like she had dementia. Qin Nuo was a little relieved.

He turned to check on Virtuous Consort Ge whose figure laid before the arhat bed. A great pool of blood spread out from under her. Evidently, Virtuous Consort Ge had no chances of survival. Her eyes were still wide open, filled with disbelief. Putting himself in her shoes, he would probably not be willing to close his eyes either if he died in such a mishap.

It was the first time that he saw a dead person, not to mention that it was a person who had died because of him. Yet, Qin Nuo was unexpectedly composed. ‘Since you want to kill me, then you can’t blame me for killing you instead! Anyways, I wasn’t the one who did it. You only have yourself to blame for being unclear about the people you use. Why would you let a maidservant who lacked the strength to truss a chicken hold a whatever double-edged sword? And such a long one, at that.’ Qin Nuo dissed secretly.

The sound of faint weeping could be heard from beside him.

Qin Nuo rolled his eyes. If someone were to barge in at this very moment and see this scene…7

Virtuous Consort Ge died before her bed from being stabbed with a sword. She died with her eyes wide open, her face full of hatred; Fan Juan laid on the bed with her clothes messy and her hair loose, her eyes swollen red as she cried nonstop; he himself stood by the bed, half-naked, staring at her…….

No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like a great ethical show set in the palace courtyard with the Ninth Highness being completely out of his mind, killing his concubine mother while his father emperor was in critical condition and forcefully attempting to rape a female palace worker!

Daed: _(:3」∠)_ Yeah, I don’t know why it took me so long to finish this chapter. I won’t drop it because it’s one of my favorites but QAQ motivation escapes me. Anyways! Here it is! Finally!

If there were any errors or better alternatives in this chapter, please contact me (Daed) in our Foxaholic discord. You can join as well and get my reader role if you want to be notified of the latest updates for my projects!

Footnotes

塑料花 is plastic. Basically it means that it’s unstable (just for show). The relationship is not strong at all, nor are the feelings sincere. Instead, it’s all artificial. Hence, plastic.Best way I could think of to translate “金尊玉贵”.A pair of mandarin ducks is a symbol for a pair of lovers.In this context, “drink a pot” means that Pei Ling would “choke”, or that he would be troubled/it would cause him to stumble.亲王 (Qin Wang), a blood-related son of the late emperor, the brother of the current emperor.Celadon is pottery.Something like this gif?