But her presence and position posed a certain threat. The mere fact that she had held her own against the Empress for so many years without falling from power meant she could not be underestimated.
"This humble official greets Your Highness."
Shen Yangge bowed with his hands clasped.
He had fair skin and a face as handsome as polished jade. His blue silk official robes, with their wide sleeves, lent him an elegant, scholarly air. In the sunlight, the knuckles and fingertips of his clasped hands glowed a warm pink.
Consort Xue withdrew her gaze, looking somewhat surprised. She lightly covered her mouth with a handkerchief and chuckled.
"Why so formal? I heard you and Qian'er are on good terms. Qian'er is from my natal family, so by that reckoning, there is no need for you to be so distant."
He had merely offered the customary greeting, and Consort Xue was calling him distant?
A question mark popped up in Shen Yangge's mind, but he did not dwell on it. Time waited for no one, after all.
"Etiquette must be observed, Your Highness."
Consort Xue's smile faded. Realizing that her attempt to draw him closer would not work, she resumed her usual indifferent expression.
She asked, "What has caused His Highness to feel unwell?"
"Has an Imperial Physician examined him?"
She had thrown out two loaded questions the moment she arrived. Shen Yangge replied, "His Highness may have caught a chill in the wind last night."
A cold might not have been a particularly serious illness in this era, but it was still a troublesome one.
Those less fortunate might even lose their lives to it.
Consort Xue frowned and glanced at the tightly shut doors of the Imperial Study behind Shen Yangge. Whatever was going through her mind, she