The convoy drove until the evening before arriving at a barren border town. The border between the two countries had always been easy to fight, but after the peace agreement made by both empires back then, this place had become rather silent. A small town now situated at the border of the empires was the product of their many years of peace.
The convoy quickly cleaned a small courtyard and made it a place for His Majesty and the Princess to stay overnight. According to the rules, the Princess and His Majesty were not married and should not be living together. Seeing how His Majesty doted on Princess Yong An throughout the entire journey, the official felt that if he didn’t arrange for the two of them to stay together, he might not even be able to wake up tomorrow morning.
Though, in the end, the rules were not broken. Although they were in the same courtyard, two separate rooms were tidied up for them respectively.
Living in separate rooms was the last-stand attempt of the brave servants to ensure tradition remained adhered to in the royal family!
When Song Jinglan walked in holding Lin Feilu’s hand, the officials who flanked both sides trembled and observed His Majesty’s expression. Seeing that Song Jinglan portrayed no visible displeasure on his face as he saw the two rooms, they sighed in relief.
The small courtyard of the farmhouse was divided into the main house and the side room, as there were differences in the room’s quality. Naturally, His Majesty would stay the night in the main room, whereas the Princess would take the side room as a temporary chamber. Even so, the two rooms were very comfortably furnished, so the officials were waiting quietly. After taking two steps forward, they heard Princess Yong An say, “I want to sleep in that big room.”
Everyone gasped, but before they could even take the next breath of air, they heard His Majesty reply in a warm voice, “Okay.”
The envoys were once again enlightened about a new aspect when it came to understanding their Emperor.
They were all witnesses to Song Jinglan’s murder of his father and grandiose seizing of the throne. The fear towards His Majesty had been deeply rooted in the bones of the people over the years, but this was the first time they had seen him behaving this gently and patiently.
In fact, the court officials had a lot to say even when he first voiced his opinion to marry a certain Princess of the Great Lin Empire.
Just like the Yong Kingdom’s idea, the court officials thought that only by eliminating the place where His Majesty was once held captive could they wash away that humiliating era of suffering and pain.
But in the end, the people who protested against his idea all disappeared.
Later, everyone felt that His Majesty’s insistence on ‘I only want Princess Yong An’ was just to ensure an alliance between the two empires, putting up a show for the Yong Kingdom. After all, everyone knew that His Majesty was not fond of women. He had never set foot in the harem all these years since he took the throne. If that wasn’t indication enough, all the beauties in the palace were chosen by the Empress Dowager.
At first, the Empress Dowager selected a wife annually, and the daughters of various families were also willing to enter the palace. After all, the Emperor was young, promising and handsome. Moreover, there were no positions in the harem. Hence, the positions of the four Consorts, two Noble Consorts and an Empress were all vacant, which was simply too eye-catching to ignore.
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