Liu Xie was speaking with a thoroughly shameless face.
Zhen Mi's drawing was far more than merely decent; it already surpassed his own skill. After all, she had a solid foundation and was already good at painting. Sketching was another form of drawing, and, as the saying went, understanding one thing opened the way to others. Since it resembled outline drawing, her progress was naturally swift.
But as the Son of Heaven, Liu Xie certainly had his dignity to preserve. He had to keep talking tough.
"Your Majesty, I've finished mine too."
Lü Lingqi spoke up from beside him. Liu Xie leaned over for a look, but the moment he saw her drawing, his expression turned peculiar.
"Are you sure... this is supposed to be me?"
It wasn't quite right to say that Lü Lingqi's drawing bore no resemblance to him-rather, it had absolutely nothing to do with him. He could just barely tell that it was a person.
"Noble Lady Lü, this..."
When Zhen Mi saw Lü Lingqi's drawing, she laughed so hard she shook like flowering branches in the breeze.
Although Zhen Mi meant no harm, being laughed at like that still made Lü Lingqi blush. She knew only how to wield spears and staffs; drawing really wasn't her strength.
"I-I'd better scribble it out. Making you look so ugly is terribly disrespectful, Your Majesty."
Lü Lingqi picked up her charcoal pencil to scribble over the drawing, but Liu Xie stopped her. "No need. A few changes will do. It's no great problem. I'll teach you."
With that, Liu Xie took her hand and began guiding her through the corrections.
As a martial artist, Lü Lingqi didn't have hands as soft and delicate as Zhen Mi's, but Liu Xie didn't care about such details. He simply guided her