Emperor Hoe

Early June brought gradually hotter weather.

Within the somewhat spacious yet deserted Imperial Palace.

Inside a side hall used for leisure.

Zhou Ming, dressed in a loose, breathable short shirt and shorts, sat at a marble table in the hall. Holding a deck of cards, he was playing Landlord with his companions.

Zhou Ming's companions were two girls and one boy.

The two girls were his personal maidservants, named Hai Rou and Marcia.

Hai Rou was sixteen this year and had been in the palace for less than six months. She was pretty, fully developed, and relatively mature in temperament.

Marcia was only fourteen, but she had already been in the palace for eight months and had spent more time with Zhou Ming. As for her looks, she was even prettier than Hai Rou, though she was still developing and clearly at a disadvantage in certain areas. Recently, she had been guzzling milk like mad to make up for it. Her personality was more lively and excitable.

In truth, Zhou Ming knew that Hai Rou and Marcia were not maidservants selected from ordinary families at all. They were the legitimate granddaughters of two powerful court ministers. Those men had sent their legitimate granddaughters into the palace and placed them at Zhou Ming's side. Anyone with half a brain should have known why.

Naturally, the Lucis Family was displeased by this. They planned to select two maidservants from within the Lucis Family and send them to Zhou Ming's side as personal attendants.

But the Pro-King Faction unanimously opposed it.

"This is the rule. The Lucis Family must not think of breaking it!"

Indeed, it was a rule—an unspoken rule that had endured for nearly three hundred years, and one of the measures used to maintain the balance between the Pro-King Faction