Taken by the Queenly Prince

Xiao Yu was of the imperial family, and the only female prince in the realm.

She was perceptive and skilled at reading people. Seeing that the court officials wanted to force her into the fray, she went along with their plans and forcibly took a son of a prominent family for herself.

His name was Xie Qing.

On a rainy autumn day, the man knelt beside her bed, silently taking off his clothes one piece at a time.

“Such a slut,” the woman said nonchalantly, propping her head on one hand. “Wasn't last time enough?”

Xie Qing clasped her ankle and answered in an even voice, “It wasn't.”

Xiao Yu narrowed her eyes as she watched him take her fingertip into his mouth. Lowering his gaze, he said, “I beg Your Highness, Prince Zhao, to show me mercy.”

.

Xiao Yu had once been heir to the throne, but the court was divided by tangled factions and fierce struggles. After a corruption scandal, her madness worsened, and she left the Eastern Palace to live in a Buddhist temple, withdrawing from public affairs.

The new emperor ascended the throne, and the great families began to decline.

Xie Guangren, head of the great families, offered Xie Qing as a bargaining chip and begged her to return from the temple to court, hoping to strike a delicate balance between imperial power and the great families.

There would have been someone else even if not Xie Qing. Looking at the man's deathly pale face, Xiao Yu agreed with interest.

From then on, Xie Qing was trapped in the cage of Prince Zhao's residence.

In the prime of his life, vigorous and virile, he became entangled with her in an affair that devoured the heart like a demon. The demon swallowed every resentment he had tried to conceal. He knelt before her, the corners of his eyes red, baring his love and begging her not to drive him away.

But Xiao Yu stroked her visibly pregnant belly and clicked her tongue. “Chaoyun, you've been a dog for so long. Why don't you want to be a person anymore?”

She was willing to give him the freedom he wanted, but he didn't want it.

Xiao Yu gave him money, changed his name, and sent him to sit the imperial examinations before turning and walking away. No one knew about their past.

The situation at court changed unpredictably. The new emperor fell gravely ill, and the officials pushed Prince Zhao onto the throne.

Without powerful family connections, Xie Qing struggled at court. But he put his ambitions to use, gradually revealing extraordinary talent until he rose to prominence and became a man of great influence.

It was another bright, clear day when he was summoned to the palace for the first time in a long while.

The palace attendant respectfully told him, “Lord Xie, Her Majesty's headache has returned.”

A headache meant her madness, but since Xiao Yu's ascension, the court officials had avoided mentioning her old illness.

The man's expression shifted. Remembering the countless nights he'd spent “treating” her, he chuckled, his eyes dark. “I see.”

The faint candlelight did little to dispel the gloom of the room. The palace attendant couldn't make out his expression, only hearing his voice rise in a way that inexplicably sent a chill through him.

The man murmured to himself, “As a subject, one must relieve the sovereign of her burdens... For instance, serving her in bed is also a duty of a subject.”

His hatred had finally become an insatiable desire.

One-on-one, both are each other's first.

Coming soon: The Empress's Harem

In the Great Wei dynasty, the throne could pass to a man or a woman. Xiao Tianyu was named heir at sixteen and ascended the throne at twenty. The court historians all called her the young emperor.

Everyone assumed that the power of government would fall into the hands of the grand secretariat and the eunuchs. But the empress was ruthless and decisive, possessing the bearing of the wise founding emperor.

The ministers, suffering terribly and desperate for her to show mercy, were left with no choice but to take an unconventional approach.

They offered her handsome men.

Everyone loves beautiful people. If one wasn't enough, they'd petition to fill the whole harem!

So the young men of prominent families in the capital, most of whom had never been with a woman, were sternly instructed in how to win the empress's favor. They all scrubbed themselves clean and white, just waiting for the day they could enter the palace and stir up a storm.

They dreamed of serving the legendary empress who possessed the bearing of the founding emperor, and of gaining influence for their families in the palace, rising to ever greater heights...

Until they met the emperor herself.

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Xiao Tianyu was only twenty when she ascended the throne. The only person by her side was Murong Wangsheng, whom she had recruited at sixteen.

Then the ministers submitted their petitions, and Murong Wangsheng became the first of the Four Consorts. After him came Li Qingyan, Qiu Pu, Feng Wenzheng...

So many people, all trying their hardest to please her.

But Xiao Tianyu could hardly remember them.

One unfamiliar, heartless face after another, one strong body after another. They were living things brought to her dragon bed, yet they still tried to influence the realm that belonged to her alone.

The old order gave way to the new, but the government was still unsettled. Foreign enemies invaded one after another, and the three thousand members of the harem constantly fought among themselves. Beneath the appearance of peace and prosperity, undercurrents surged and factional struggles intensified.

When the emperor was angered, thousands would bleed.

That year, an ominous chill settled over the capital's autumn. Commoners laughed, while the aristocracy wept...

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They struggled for years in the harem, often seeing the “sisters” in other palaces suddenly die or be banished.

Many years later, they looked back at this man-eating palace and heard the anguished screams around them, heard someone crying, “Your Majesty, I love you!”

Your Majesty, I love you.

No, that's not right. Your Majesty, this concubine loves you.

But that woman never turned to look, not even once.

A cold-hearted, self-serving, scheming empress x men driven to hysterics by unrequited love. The female lead is the only one with no other partners, while all the men are chaste. One woman and multiple men.

An ensemble story about the men in the harem. The male characters' parts can be read as a harem story.

Don't imagine the female lead in any kind of romantic role. She's an emperor, ruthless and devoted to her ambitions.

Theme: Celebrate a beautiful future.