2
It had been a month since we’d last seen each other.
Selena hugged me tightly, her heart aching for me as she cursed Marcus’s name.
“It took rne three years to finally get some meat on your bones,” she fumed. “Is the General’s residence a monastery? How did you get so thin?”
I nodded. It might as well have been a monastery. And Marcus was the celibate monk.
When I first arrived in this world, I wasn’t Selena’s handmaiden. I was a lowly servant in the palace gardens, rail–thin and weak. One day, I was weeding under the scorching sun when I looked up and saw her standing before me, her eyes wide.
“Ivy?”
“Selenal
We shouted each other’s Earth names, confirming what we both suspected, and burst into tears, hugging each other tightly.
To the astonishment of the other servants, Selena took my filthy self back to her opulent chambers and spent the next three years fattening me up.
She told me later she’d thought some maid was squatting to take a dump in the royal garden and went over to see who was so bold. Turns out, it was me.
13:15
Chapter
I told her she was even bolder, wanting to watch someone else poop. She said it was because she missed the satisfying squat of a
modern toilet, having to use a chamber pot since she became Empress. I told her that as the Empress, building a squat toilet shou-
Idn’t be that hard. A lightbulb went off in her head, and she had me draw up plans for one immediately.
My best friend was a beautiful idiot who knew nothing but… well, bodily functions.
So, for three years, I used her power as a shield while I quietly navigated the treacherous court, eliminating dangers and obstacles
for her.
It was because she was such an idiot that I rarely complained about my troubles at the General’s residence. I didn’t want her to get involved and be accused of meddling in state affairs. Besides, apart from being a lonely wife, life wasn’t too bad.
But after my illness, my perspective had shifted.
in
“Selena,” I said, stopping her as she tried to stuff another pastry into my mouth. “It’s time for some real talk. My husband… he’s impotent. I was too embarrassed to tell you before. But I’ve had an epiphany. I want to divorce him. Can you help me?”
Şelena froze. Her eyes welled up, and she let out a loud sob.
I rushed to wipe her tears. “I’m the one getting a divorce, not you. Why are you crying?”
“I… I have something to confess too,” she choked out. “The royal physician told me the Emperor was poisoned years ago… he can’t have children! I’ve wanted to leave him for ages!”
“You know my greatest wish is to have a baby. I used to get my fix Emperor is shooting blanks, I’m miserable!”
mothering you, but now that you’re married and the damn
Selena and I had grown up together. She was a stunning but naive woman, constantly being fooled by men. One ex had even caus- ed her to have a miscarriage, leaving her unable to conceive. Her greatest dream was to have a child of her own.
And me? I’d seen her cry over so many worthless men that I was convinced all men were trash. I’d never even tried to date.
And now, here we were in a new world. She still couldn’t have a baby. And I still hadn’t had a man.
“You’re in line to inherit the throne,” I tried to console her. “Don’t worry. Even if the Emperor can’t produce an heir himself, he’ll find a baby for you to raise.”
“Just help me first. Help me divorce that useless husband of mine.”
Selena just kept crying. (But it wouldn’t be my baby! He’s good for three rounds a night, you know! How can he not make a baby?”
Her words just made me angrier. The Emperor, a man who looked like a gentle scholar, could go three times a night, but Marcus, with his rock–hard muscles, couldn’t manage even once?
When she finally cried herself out, she wiped her tears and asked, “Are you absolutely sure you want
a
divorce?”
I nodded.
She gripped my hand. “If you leave, I’m leaving too!”
“You’re the Empress,” I reminded her. “It’s not that easy to get a divorce.”
“But I can die, can’t I?”
