Along the way, Xu Ran caught sight of many of Emperor Xue Ye's beautiful consorts.
To be honest, their looks could only be called decent. Not one could compare to the women around him. He wondered whether Emperor Xue Ye was blind, finding himself such a bunch of women. At least, among those Xu Ran saw along the way, very few were truly good-looking.
Still, on reflection, he could understand it.
After all, many emperors' consorts came from political marriages with major powers, or even their own subjects. Whether they were beautiful did not matter, so long as the political objective was achieved. It was only natural that their quality varied.
That was not to say Emperor Xue Ye had no beautiful wives, though. If he truly had none, how had Xue Ke been born?
Xu Ran sneaked into the imperial harem.
There were no imperial guards here. More precisely, there was not a single normal man, only eunuchs and maids.
Inside the palace.
Xue Ke was still admiring the painting Xu Ran had made for her last time. The more she looked, the more entranced she became, unable to help marveling at his artistic accomplishments.
As princesses, unless they were truly suited to cultivation, girls like her generally did not place much emphasis on it. A little cultivation was enough. Learning royal etiquette, the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, and the like was more important.
A princess would marry sooner or later, and she represented the royal family's dignity. Thus, she had begun learning all manner of etiquette, along with the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, from childhood. She studied under Tang Yuehua at the Moonlight Pavilion to become a noble in the truest sense.
It was precisely because of this that she understood just how exquisite Xu Ran's painting