For three days in a row, Emperor Rex had not summoned Chen Rui. Yet Chen Rui was far from idle. With his "identity" now public, nobles came to pay their respects in an unending stream, including "Arthur's" own brothers and sisters.
The stronger one was, the harder it was to produce offspring. Yet humans possessed fertility far beyond that of the Devil Race. Emperor Rex did not have many consorts—just over twenty—and they had borne him a total of twelve children.
The late Empress Icarina had borne one son and one daughter: the second prince Arthur and the seventh princess Fei'er.
The eldest was Princess Qins, who had married Houston, the eldest prince of the Blue Radiance Empire, ten years ago. The currently most prominent second prince Garfield and fourth prince Luke were both born to imperial consorts. After Icarina passed away, Rex never appointed another empress.
Early that morning, fourth prince Luke and Princess Fei'er arrived together at Golden Cloud Palace, where Chen Rui was currently staying. Princess Fei'er was seventeen. Back then, she had been a little brat who knew nothing and only followed Arthur everywhere. Now she had blossomed into a beautiful young woman with bright eyes and pearly teeth. Her fiancé was Puluoyue, eldest son of Chamoschi, director of the Military Affairs Council and a rising star in the Dragon Brilliance Empire's military.
Nobles possessed the power, status, splendor, and wealth commoners envied, yet they could not decide their own marriages, or even the direction of their lives—especially those born into the imperial family.
At their first meeting, Fei'er had been somewhat timid around this brother who was both familiar and strange. But after Luke brought up some amusing and embarrassing stories about the three siblings from their childhood, she quickly relaxed and became much more