The Beloved Minister Is a Woman

My name is Jiang Yunqing, the Great Ye dynasty’s number one treacherous official, and I’m a woman disguised as a man. When the new emperor ascends the throne, his first order of business is to settle accounts with me. In the imperial study, he pins me to the desk and tries to strip off my official robes. Terrified, I blurt out, “Your subject prefers men!” I thought he’d be disgusted, hate me, and have me thrown out to be beheaded. Instead, he lowers his head and bites my neck, his voice low and husky. “What a coincidence. So do I.” Only later do I learn that not only does he like men, he just happens to have eyes only for me. He makes me grind his ink before court, keep him company at meals afterward, and even summons me to his bedroom in the middle of the night to read The Virtues of Men. The entire court says the emperor has been bewitched by a treacherous official and calls me a demon who will ruin the country. Me: ??? Get a grip, you’re the ones who are mistaken. I’m the one being forced into this! The scariest part is that I seem to… not want to run away anymore. P.S. The main story is told in third person.