The Emperor and the Princess! (Please invest! Please bookmark! Please vote!)

Early the next morning.

As Qin Xu opened his eyes from meditation, basking in the joy of having converted seventy percent of his innate soul power, his great-grandfather Zhao Yong had already arrived in Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire.

The palace, the Imperial Study.

Verus, emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, received Zhao Yong immediately.

"Elder Zhao, thank you for your efforts!" Verus hurried forward and clasped Zhao Yong's hand. Anxiety and worry lay unconcealed on his thin face. His voice was a little hoarse as he asked, "How did it go?"

"A Black Dragon martial soul, with innate full soul power," Zhao Yong said.

"Good, wonderful!" Verus's tense expression visibly relaxed. His face brightened, and his eyes lit up as he said excitedly, "Congratulations, Elder Zhao!"

"Hahaha, I should be congratulating Your Majesty as well!" Zhao Yong said with a hearty laugh.

"Hahaha, congratulations to us both!" Verus laughed too.

If there was anyone in the world besides Qin Tianji and Zhao Yong who cared most about Qin Xu's martial soul, Verus was certainly one of them. He truly hoped Qin Xu was a genius—an extraordinary genius.

Only then could Qin Tianji be held in check and steadied, only then would he reconsider his relationship with the royal family, and only then could Verus, emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, stop living with his heart in his throat, worrying all day that a Super Douluo would erupt into conflict with their Heavenly Soul Royal Family.

After all, a Super Douluo with a vulnerable spot and something to look forward to posed an entirely different level of threat from one with no weaknesses who sought only death.

Moreover, one of the duties of every Heaven Dou emperor was to maintain and strengthen the Black-White Alliance between the Bailian Wei Family and the Black Dragon Qin Family. If the Black-White Alliance fell apart in his hands, Verus would be ashamed before his ancestors, even if he was not the root cause.

Leaving aside the Black-White Alliance's symbolic significance, its practical importance to the Heaven Dou Empire was even greater. The Qin Family held the empire's western frontier, directly facing the Sun Moon Empire, and formed the Heaven Dou Empire's most important line of defense. If they truly broke with the royal family, Verus dared not imagine the consequences!

Not only had successive Heaven Dou emperors understood this perfectly, but their enemies knew it just as well. Otherwise, they would not have gone to such lengths to scheme against them, exploiting his third elder brother's ambitions to draw the royal family and the Black Dragon Duke's household into a fog of suspicion.

"Elder Zhao, should I send congratulatory gifts?" Verus asked.

To his mind, this was a good opportunity to mend the rift. As long as the royal family bowed its head first and offered a way down, Qin Tianji's attitude would surely soften. They might not return to their former harmony, but at least they would no longer draw blades against each other.

"No." Zhao Yong shook his head. "Your Majesty, rather than cautiously testing the waters, why not settle it in one stroke?"

Verus froze, unsure what Zhao Yong meant. "Please enlighten me, Elder Zhao!"

"Bestow a marriage!" Zhao Yong said without hesitation. "Your Majesty, granting a princess's hand in marriage is our best option at present. Your Majesty wishes to mend relations, and the Qin Family is no longer opposed. Making the Black Dragon Grand Duke Your Majesty's son-in-law and an imperial princess the Qin Family's daughter-in-law is the simplest and most effective solution."

"If Your Majesty is willing, I can ask the sect master to come forward as a witness to this marriage alliance."

Bestowing a marriage, put plainly, meant forming a marriage alliance.

If one were to name those in this world who least wanted the Qin Family and the royal family to break with each other completely, Zhao Yong would certainly be among them. He knew very well that once the two families tore away all pretense, whatever happened along the way, the royal family would ultimately prevail. There was no other reason: the Body Sect would support only the royal family. The Qin Family was certain to lose.

As Qin Xu's great-grandfather, Zhao Yong naturally did not want to see that outcome. Thus, joining the royal family and the Qin Family through marriage, having Qin Xu marry an imperial princess, was the best solution he could think of.

After Qin Xu's martial soul awakening, Zhao Yong had begun considering the possibility of a marriage alliance between the Qin Family and the royal family. The chances of success were extremely high.

First, Qin Xu's talent and status spoke for themselves. Second, the emperor already had two daughters, one six and the other five. Finally, there was practical necessity: the two families now needed such a gesture to sustain their alliance, even if only for appearances.

That was why he spoke with such conviction, even offering to ask the Body Sect's master to act as matchmaker.

After hearing Zhao Yong's words, Verus sank into thought, uncertainty in his eyes.

Reason told him this was an excellent solution, but his feelings left him hesitant. Was securing the empire's stability truly worth sacrificing his daughter's future? The mere thought that his precious daughter might one day marry someone she did not like made his heart ache.

Yet he could not forget the look in his father's eyes before his death. That mixture of expectation, guilt, and pleading remained vivid in his memory, impossible to put aside.

"Elder Zhao, I need time to consider this." Only after a while did Verus respond, his expression hesitant and conflicted.

Seeing this, Zhao Yong knew Verus's doting-father instincts had taken over. Alongside his secret delight, he felt a measure of helplessness. "Your Majesty, the Black Dragon Grand Duke and both princesses are still young. There is no need to rush into granting a marriage. In my opinion, we could let them get to know each other over the next few years.

"Once they are grown, if they have feelings for each other, we can simply let the current carry the boat. If not, becoming friends would be a fine outcome too."

"Well..." Verus was tempted. His mind worked rapidly as he ventured, "Then shall I issue a decree for the Black Dragon Grand Duke to attend the Royal Soul Master Academy?"

"Does Your Majesty think Qin Tianji would agree?" Zhao Yong was speechless, but he still spoke gently. "For Qin Xu's sake, Qin Tianji had the Soul Master Academy in Yongdu City specially renovated and upgraded three years ago. He does not even intend to send Qin Xu to Shrek Academy."

Verus sighed softly. "So my only option is to send my daughter to school in Yongdu City. Very well, I will consider it. Elder Zhao, go back and rest."

"I take my leave." Zhao Yong knew the matter was all but settled. The only remaining question was which daughter the emperor would choose to send.

After all, there were only two options. The eldest princess, Vielvi, was six and had already awakened her martial soul: a brain martial soul, with innate full soul power. The younger princess, Vina, was five and would not awaken her martial soul until next year.

The brain martial soul was a hidden martial soul in the Heavenly Soul Royal Family's bloodline. Its inheritance was extremely unstable; several generations might pass without a single bearer. But whenever one appeared, they would become a Super Douluo once they matured.

The most suitable candidate at present was undoubtedly Vielvi. Her exalted status and outstanding talent would demonstrate the royal family's regard for the Qin Family without giving the Qin Family any reason to look down on them.

Only after an unknown stretch of time did Verus slowly emerge from the study, his expression melancholy. He had thought about many things, yet still could not make up his mind.

"Daddy!"

A clear, sweet call startled Verus out of his thoughts. He abruptly looked up, only to discover that he had wandered into the Imperial Garden without realizing it. What stirred him even more was that he had happened to run into his precious daughter!

"Daddy!"

With another call, a little girl in a magnificent dress ran toward Verus. She had striking two-toned hair, golden brown on the left and dark green on the right. The colors were sharply divided yet perfectly matched, making her look both adorable and spirited.

Her large eyes, shaded in a gradient from white to pink, were lively and sparkling, as though they held countless stars. An infectious smile spread across her delicately sculpted little face, fiery with enthusiasm, playful and cute.

She was Verus's eldest daughter, the empire's eldest princess, Vielvi!

"Hey! It's my precious little Vielvi!" Verus went to meet her and bent down to scoop her into his arms. His furrowed brow had long since smoothed out, and nothing but a smile remained on his face as he spoke cheerfully.

"Vielvi, didn't Daddy ask Elder Ya to take you to obtain a soul ring? Why haven't you left yet?" Verus asked with a smile. That was simply how he was: whenever he was with his precious daughter, his intelligence seemed to go offline, leaving him thoughtless and slow.

"Your Majesty." An elderly woman appeared, her expression grave, and bowed slightly to Verus.

"Elder Ya." Verus immediately acknowledged her. His intelligence recovered a little, and the look on this elder of the imperial clan's face gave him a vague sense of foreboding. "Have... you already returned? Did something go wrong?"

"Yes!" Elder Ya nodded, her expression growing even graver, almost grim. "There is a small problem with little Vielvi's soul skill."

"What?!" Verus's heart tightened. He immediately looked at the daughter in his arms and asked, "Vielvi, could you show Daddy your first soul skill?"

"Sure, sure!" Vielvi said excitedly. "Daddy, my first soul skill is really amazing."

Verus set Vielvi down, and she excitedly released her martial soul. A bright yellow soul ring hovered behind her. Her eyes shone, then her first soul ring flickered several times. A wave of mental energy rippled outward, and then, astonishingly, her two eyes turned different colors.

Her left iris was black, her right pink. They looked even more uncanny and mysterious than her original gradient-colored eyes. Vielvi's aura changed as well, a touch of wild arrogance seemingly added to her exuberant warmth.

"Daddy, isn't my soul skill amazing?" Vielvi asked with a giggle, her voice carrying a distinctly different air.

"This..." Verus was dumbfounded. Even without a brain martial soul, he knew that Vielvi's soul skill was definitely not the ancestral first soul skill of their royal family!

"A Superpower Spirit Weasel nearly four hundred years old, yet Vielvi's first soul skill turned out not to be Mental Interference," Elder Ya said forlornly, her tone filled with nothing but helplessness. As a Titled Douluo with a brain martial soul, this was the first time she had encountered a situation like Vielvi's.

Verus lowered his head and pressed a hand to his forehead, inwardly speechless. Wasn't this forcing him to make a decision?

"Elder Ya, there is something I would like your advice on."