"Bai Ziqing, head of the Great Sage Dynasty delegation."
"Wang Anli of the Great Sage Dynasty Ministry of Rites."
"We pay our respects to the Jiang State Emperor."
Though he had entertained countless imaginings,
when he truly saw the imposing Empress,
all of Bai Ziqing's former unfavorable opinions of her vanished.
Just as he would before Emperor Jianhong,
he showed not the slightest breach of etiquette.
"Friendly states and good neighbors need not stand on ceremony. To meet you today brings great comfort to my heart."
The Empress's voice rang out, clear and forceful as a spring striking stone.
She merely raised a hand in a token gesture.
A faint smile flashed across her flawless face.
Zeng Anmin drew a deep breath.
Today had truly been like dragging a knife across his backside—his eyes had been opened.
Before meeting the Empress,
he had thought the Princess was the most perfect woman in the world.
But upon seeing the Empress today—
"There's one more wife in my future."
That was what Zeng Anmin thought to himself.
"What should my son be called in the future?"
"No, that's not right..."
He sorted through his thoughts.
"It should be: whose surname should the child take?"
"If the child takes mine, then this vast Jiang Kingdom will have no heir."
"But if the child takes the mother's..." Zeng Anmin cast a troubled glance at the Empress.
"That wouldn't quite follow the rules either."
The Empress noticed Zeng Anmin's gaze.
From his eyes, she sensed a trace of "conflict"?
What was he conflicted about?
The Empress's brows drew together slightly.
She did not understand.
Why was Prince Nan neither as terrified as she had imagined upon seeing her in court,
nor as disdainfully arrogant as before,
but looking at her with that expression instead?