Back in the royal study, the disgruntled assistant sat there stewing, while the emperor went about his business casually reading and writing. After a while, two maids came in to bring tea and snacks and then left.

The assistant poured tea for both of them and then casually started nibbling on the snacks and drinking tea, she hadn't had lunch yet when someone abruptly interrupted her day. After that, she continued sitting there doing nothing and staring into space, Lei Xing's mood calmed down.

{...Well, this is boring...not at all what I expected...then again, it's not like he would have asked me to scrub the floors or something...then again you never know with this a**h*ole...so am I just going to sitting down here doing nothing? Really?...Not that I'm complaining but...guess it could be much worse...}

She glanced at the emperor who seemed to be ignoring her presence and was absorbed in his memorials.

{...This guy clearly likes to mess with people...No, it's my fault for being pulled along...well, I can't really be blamed for that though...better that, than to have lost an opportunity on the slim 1% chance that he would have really done it...Ahh, I'm really not getting out of here, am I?...I guess at this point, I should start thinking of how to survive rather than escape...}

Lei Xing narrowed her eyes at him.

{...Number 1 rule for survival is to stay away from this person...he's the cause or at least will be the cause of all the hate being thrown around...Well, it's not like I've been going to look for him either...he's the one with active annoying legs -_-)...No, no, actually I wouldn't be here right now if not for playing that stupid game...

...If I had just gone my merry way, he would not have bothered with me...Also if I hadn't stupidly mouthed off at him regarding that crappy empress question, he probably wouldn't have thrown me into his bloody harem to mess with me...

...So in conclusion, it seems I'm the one attracting trouble -_-)'...}

Lei Xing sighed.

The emperor glanced up at her, "If you're bored you can read some of the memorials"

Lei Xing gave a half-smile and gave the standard response, "I dare not."

{...First, I doubt they will be more entertaining than the air...second, I don't think I'm allowed to...third, leave me alone -_-)...}

"It's fine, try this one." He said as he held out one of them towards her. Lei Xing hesitantly took it and opened it under his watchful gaze.

She was surprisingly amused by it.

The memorial was about reports of some officials being attacked by an aggrieved ghost at night, and then the next morning a slew of letters are spread around the city, that are apparently from the ghost detailing the reasons for the attack, the ghost apparantly signed "ghost".

The reasons are apparently "false" accusations against the official of the night, about plans of rebelling against the throne, corruption and embezzlement.

The letters also explained that the wealth procured by unscrupulous means have been seized. The officials who have been attacked said there was nothing stolen and that they are being wronged by these accusations, and of course, that they have always been nothing but loyal to the throne.

The ghost also goes on to censure the emperor for his inadequacy as a ruler, blaming everything on him and the late emperor for his choosing him, expressing Heaven's discontent with him and also wishes for his quick downfall.

The memorial was calling for justice for the officials whose names are being smeared by this so-called ghost and saying that someone is trying to sow discord between the emperor and his loyal officials, and for also disparaging the emperor.

And that the ghost must be brought to justice to ease the hearts of the people that are anxious and living in fear because of this "ghost", who according to the memorial is an enemy of the country.

{...Ghost? Well someone's having fun writing a play...}

"Do you believe in ghosts?" The emperor asked with a smile.

Lei Xing looked at him skeptically, "Do you?"

"Well, it is possible that they exist."

Lei Xing looked at the memorial and snickered, "Well, I doubt ghosts that go about attacking people, and then go writing and spreading detailed letters of complaints exist. Also, this ghost is too inefficient, since it can attack people and seems to think you're the problem and wants you gone, why not just glide into the palace and ki-"

Lei Xing caught herself before she finished the words and cautiously glanced up at the emperor.

The emperor smiled and finished for her, "Kill me."

Lei Xing nervously laughed, "I was just saying that is the common sense approach for a "real" ghost to take."

The emperor nodded, "Makes sense..." and then handed her another memorial, "What about this one?"

The second memorial was about a "ghost" again, this time the ghost distributed money on the commoners' doorsteps along with signed "ghost" letters singing praises of the emperor.

The official who wrote this one was quite enthusiastic in his language, saying in more elaborate words that this was a sign from Heaven that the emperor is the chosen and exalted ruler, and that the imposter going about spreading terror is of no consequence and will be brought to justice soon.

{...Obviously a poor attempt to bootlick with someone else's work...So it's either we have a bipolar ghost...or someone, most likely this person sitting here, is spending money on damage control...ghosts, if they exist - haven't met one yet, but you never know, not interested though...they may go about attacking people and complaining, but they normally don't submit letters of complaints for review, I think...Also, they typically don't go about "stealing" and definitely don't go around sharing red envelopes with complimentary letters...}

"So what do you think?"

Lei Xing still lost in her thoughts, offhandedly said, "Damage control."

"Damage control?" The emperor raised his eyebrows.

Lei Xing looked up, "Ah, there are obviously two different "ghosts" with different agendas. While one does bad deeds and slanders people, the other does good deeds and praises in an attempt to boost reputation or at least repair whatever damage has been done by the first ghost."

The emperor smirked, "You think so?"

Lei Xing knit her brows, "Should be? It doesn't really make sense for one ghost to be doing both things, unless-" Lei Xing broke off and narrowed her eyes.

{...Unless this was some sort of stupid scheme...}

Lei Xing suspiciously looked at the emperor and he smiled at her, "If you have any ideas, do share them."

{...I've established that he likes messing with people...so he's definitely the sort to plan convoluted schemes like this...but why would he do something like this though? Shouldn't there be something to gain?... What was there to gain by keeping me in the palace? I don't know, amus.e.m.e.nt?... Crazy people don't necessarily follow logical reasoning -_-)...

...But still, there should be something...accuse and attack officials, steal from them - Ah, they said nothing was stolen, well if it was illegal funds then it makes sense they wouldn't claim it... but then denouncing himself? - could be to shift blame elsewhere...then take the money and give it to the people and praise himself to make him seem like the good guy, while to the officials it will just seem like he was spending money to do damage control in retaliation...So it's a Robin hood scenario?...

...But why would he bother to do that, he's the freaking emperor -_-)'...Of course, he's not doing it himself...Point is he could just get rid of those officials and take all their stuff if he wanted to, right?...but that could cause trouble and then he could lose some support for it, maybe?...

...So he goes through this convoluted scheme to bring their wrongdoings to light, reclaims the money and then graciously stands on their side to seek out the culprit of the "false" accusations, by doing this it lets them know someone is watching their actions and is out to get them, so to curb their illegal activities...and at the same time, shows them that as long as they retain the emperor's favor they will be fine and so he gains their support...

...And then shares some of the "non-existent" money to the people and sings praises of himself - to the commoners he is a gracious ruler and to the officials, he is doing damage control for his reputation...sounds like a great conspiracy theory, guess all those hours wasted on watching conspiracy theory videos on the internet paid off, what an achievement -_-)...

...Anyway, it's none of MY business...}

"What are you thinking about?" The emperor asked squinting at her.

"Nothing, they are quite interesting." Lei Xing quickly answered and dropped the memorial on the table.

"So unless?"He asked.

Lei Xing looked at him confused, "Unless what?"

"You were saying it didn't make sense for one ghost not doing both, unless - ?" The emperor kindly reminded her with a smile.

Lei Xing looked at him dubiously and gave a half-smile, "Nothing, I don't know."

{....Play your stupid games by yourself -_-)...}

The emperor scrutinized her for a bit, "It doesn't seem to be the case...but it's fine if you don't want to say." he finished with a smile.

Then he pushed some more memorials he had read her way, and then went back to reading the others, occasionally adding on some more memorials to her pile. Lei Xing hesitantly took one of them to read.

{...Is this really okay?... Well, he said it is...plus it's not like there's anyone else here to complain...plus there's really nothing else to do...}

So, the two people sat there reading and occasionally discussing the contents of the memorials, that is, the emperor will ask her opinion about specific memorials when she read them, which made her wonder if he memorized all their contents, how could he tell which one was which every time when they didn't have titles on them.

At most, one could say there were color-coded, but even then there were a few with the same colors on her side.

{...Maybe he's just a really good guesser...process of elimination maybe?...}

Lei Xing quite enjoyed the discussions, as she generally enjoyed stimulating conversations and soon forgot her grievances with him.

Although she felt a bit on edge, sometimes the conversation will completely go left field and then somehow circle back to the topic, and this meandering system made her feel like he was trying to goad her into confessing something or the other, which left her perplexed as she couldn't figure out exactly what he wanted.

After a while of reading, Lei Xing looked about the room randomly and her eyes lingered on the bookshelves on the side for a bit.

Then she heard the emperor say, "You can pick something to read from there if you'd like."

Lei Xing turned to look at him and saw he was still reading his memorial and so simply got up and went to the bookshelves, honestly she was tired of sitting down and wanted to stretch.

As she perused through the books as expected they were strategy and philosophy scrolls and books. She found one that seemed out of place, a book called, "Wonderous world", she flipped through it and it was about mythical places in the world the author claims to have visited.

It seemed like a children's fantasy book to Lei Xing but she was intrigued by the places in it, it talked of a waterfall that was as tall as mountain, a mountain called peach blossom mountain that was covered in peach blossom trees that were always in full bloom, the glistening lake - a clear lake with the bottom filled with gems of various colors, that reflects to the surface giving it a colorful sparkling glow and so on.

{...Sounds magical...but definitely doesn't exist...oh well, who knows...my existence is an enigma in itself so...you never know...it'd be nice to find that lake...I can't swim but I'll figure out how to dive for those gems hahahaha...}

Lei Xing put the book back and glanced at the emperor wondering why he'd have such a book here, then shrugged and continued her perusal.

{...I guess anyone can have childhood dreams...}

When she rounded the corner. She froze as her eyes fixed on the painting hanging on the wall, and her mouth hung slightly open as she slowly approached it and stood in front of the painting and stared at it, astonished.

She blinked a few times and then squinted at the painting, carefully looking it over.

{...Ah, isn't this - ...but - ? O_O)...}