Shen Tang took a sip of clear water to moisten her lips.
"The Princess wants to see me?"
She was surprised and exchanged a glance with Gu Chi.
The female official nodded, an unmistakable hint of arrogance in her expression even as she kept her posture deferential. Shen Tang looked up at the sky and said with difficulty, "This... I'm afraid that wouldn't be appropriate. It wouldn't be fitting for a foreign minister to grow too close to the Princess..."
It wasn't that Shen Tang disliked the Princess—they hadn't even met, so she couldn't say she felt any fondness for her. She was wary and reluctant purely because princesses sent off in political marriages occasionally pulled some "shocking stunts."
Shen Tang preferred to steer clear of trouble.
The female official said, "Her Highness has been frail since childhood and cannot endure the hardships of a long journey. On this trip to marry into Ten Crows, she has suffered fright after fright along the way from Ganzhou to Longwu Commandery. If she doesn't find some happiness soon, I fear she won't make it to Ten Crows' borders... Her Highness has heard that Lord Shen is young and heroic, and admires you greatly. Please go speak with her. If you can cheer her up a little, that would be better than..."
The female official left the rest unsaid.
But the threat behind her words was clear.
Shen Tang had to go, whether she wanted to or not. If Her Highness remained despondent and died on the way, everyone would be held responsible. The female official then cited the accompanying shaman physician, who had bluntly said that an evil yin wind had entered the Princess's mind, leaving her sensitive and prone to overthinking. Since she was a woman and naturally had abundant yin