In the deep sky tinged with faint violet, a few stars lay scattered. The Twin Moons had faded to near-transparency. Darkness blanketed everything, while leaves trembled softly in the cold wind with a faint rustle.
The moment Chen Rui opened his eyes, he saw the sky, tranquil as ever.
That sense of "stillness" was much like the woman sleeping curled up beside him.
The royal palace's observatory was the tallest structure in the Shadow Imperial Capital, with all manner of magic arrays set around it, including soundproofing arrays. Even without such arrangements, whenever Her Majesty the Empress went to the observatory, almost no one sought an audience or dared disturb her.
Many guards and ministers knew that Her Majesty most enjoyed contemplating alone atop the observatory. It was said that many decisions capable of affecting the entire Demon Realm had been born there—for example, the alliance with the Blood Fiend Empire to resist the Fallen Angel Empire, which possessed Bai Ye, the number one powerhouse of the time. That had been a turning point in the Shadow Empire's rise.
Yet no one could have imagined that this time, Her Majesty's "contemplation" had been spent in a man's arms throughout the night.
Chen Rui himself had not expected it either. What had originally been meant to be a rather intimate private rendezvous—or perhaps "an affair"—had turned into him talking with Catherine here from afternoon until midnight. Other than briefly playing the role of chef and musician, he had surprisingly done none of the "important things" at all. Eventually, they had simply drifted off to sleep.
A month ago, Catherine had already received the power of Star Rank Enhancement. The main purpose of this meeting had been Star Investiture. Dodo had won a "Star Commander" for her mother, and with Catherine's Kingdom-level