"Father?" Xu Lanqing looked at the emperor, who had fallen silent, and asked softly.
Only then did the emperor come back to himself. The corners of his mouth twitched as he gave the suddenly unfamiliar Xu Lanqing a strange look, sizing him up from head to toe as though seeing him for the first time.
He opened his mouth, then stopped, unsure what to say.
There were too many questions. He didn't even know where to begin.
"You're only twelve."
The emperor spoke without thinking. "And besides, you... she..."
Xu Lanqing understood what his father meant and said, "Love knows no age limit."
"..."
The emperor saw the determination in his son's eyes, along with something else—something he might have possessed once, too. He began to understand what Xu Lanqing was thinking.
"Could you tell me how the two of you got together?" the emperor asked, curious.
At that moment, he was simply a father concerned about his son's future marriage, with a rare touch of gossip mixed in.
After all, there was such a vast difference in age between a human and a Soul Beast. He couldn't say it had never happened, but surely it existed only in legends. It was simply too extraordinary. Even he couldn't help being curious.
Xu Lanqing scratched his head. "Does loving someone need a reason?"
The emperor paused. "It doesn't?"
"Does it?"
"..."
The emperor wanted to argue, but after thinking it over, he didn't know what to say.
"Maybe it's love at first sight, or perhaps the warmth that grows over time. Or maybe it's both."
Xu Lanqing paused. His voice grew gentler. It didn't sound as though he were speaking to the emperor, but rather to the Snow Empress, waiting outside:
"To me, when you love someone, you love them. There's