Chapter 4: A harmless step backward.

First piece of information: Xiao Linyue had an arrogant personality and a fiery temper. She looked down on him, this puppet emperor. Although she eventually entered the palace to become his Empress, she was extremely unwilling in her heart.

This was good news. It meant she subjectively did not want to have anything to do with him.

Second piece of information: Xiao Linyue was skilled with the sword, or at least she considered herself skilled with the sword.

Judging from her tendency to draw her sword and threaten to chop people at any moment, he must bring enough people whenever he came into contact with her. Otherwise, he could easily end up dead on the spot.

As for the third piece.

Xiao Linyue was indeed a spoiled daughter of a prestigious family. At the very least, Xiao Tan’s tolerance toward her was far higher than toward Xu Changle.

She had publicly drawn her sword to assassinate the emperor and nothing happened. She might even have received comfort and appeasement from the Xiao family.

Could a puppet emperor like Xu Changle receive such treatment?

If Xu Changle were an ambitious puppet emperor, this would naturally be very bad. But he was not.

He was very cautious. His current only small goal was to survive.

And to temporarily preserve his little life, he absolutely could not let Xiao Tan find any existence that could replace him.

He dragged out the dinner for more than half a shichen (over an hour). When Xiao Tan saw that his stomach was visibly full, she finally nodded slightly and allowed him to go see the Empress.

Before he left, she casually instructed, “His Majesty’s dragon body is precious. Have the Holy Witches from the Holy Witch Court accompany him tonight.”

This move was ruthless.

With a group of Holy Witches following, even if he deliberately provoked Xiao Linyue and forced her into a rage, it would be very difficult for Xu Changle to escape again by pretending to faint.

Xiao Tan was clearly determined to make him fulfill his duty as a husband tonight.

Xu Changle sat on the Spring Breeze Leisure Palanquin, being carried with a swaying motion by six palace maids as they headed toward Fengchen Palace where the Empress resided.

Today’s dinner was eaten quite late, and he had deliberately eaten slowly. At this time, it was equivalent to after seven in the evening. It was early spring, so there was almost no daylight left. Palace servants holding candles had already begun lighting the lamps along the vermilion palace walls.

“Lord Ling, I… I am truly terrified… Tell me, on the Empress’s side…”

Xu Changle deliberately lowered his voice and put on a fearful and uneasy appearance. He carefully glanced at the lightly armored guards accompanying him.

They wore dark robes with red-scaled cyan steel armor and ferocious, majestic rusty suanni masks covering their faces. Their postures were tall and straight, their auras cold and murderous. Just by standing there, one could tell they could chop a person into fine minced meat without even breathing hard.

If this were not a female-dominated world, Xu Changle would never have guessed that under such “light armor” was actually a woman. After all, the armor did not look light at all. Wearing it while walking made one look like a humanoid monster.

But when Ling Xiao wore it, she seemed as if she had nothing on at all. Her movements were swift as the wind, and she remained at ease whether sitting or lying down.

Ling Xiao was the personal guard Xiao Tan had assigned to Xu Changle, the commander of the Feng Ling Guard, third rank.

Her rank was not high, but as a close minister to the emperor, she held various subtle powers. For example, she could carry a blade before the emperor, command eight hundred Feng Ling Guards, and even eavesdrop on the officials and submit secret reports.

Of course, that was for a normal Feng Ling Guard commander. Ling Xiao was clearly not normal. Her power did not come from Xu Changle, but from the regent Prime Minister Xiao Tan.

Therefore, while she accompanied Xu Changle, she was not only protecting him but also supervising him.

Ling Xiao’s face was covered by a ferocious and majestic mask, making her expression unreadable. Xu Changle had never seen her face to this day.

But he knew that this Feng Ling Guard commander’s heart was as cold and hard as her lord’s. His appearance stat of 10 had almost no effect on her.

Most of the time, she treated Xu Changle with respect but little closeness, very businesslike.

However, if handled properly, Xu Changle could also indirectly probe some of Xiao Tan’s intentions through her.

Like right now.

“Her Majesty the Empress naturally cares about Your Majesty.” Ling Xiao fulfilled her duty as a personal guard and gave a cold, hard comfort to the frail and uneasy little emperor. “The nourishing soup Your Majesty drinks every day was specially sent by Her Majesty the Empress. The Prime Minister even opened her private treasury to add some spiritual medicines.”

Understood.

Xiao Tan had already warned the Empress. Now that explosive-tempered Empress had been forced to retract her claws. Xiao Tan had even deliberately strengthened Xu Changle’s body in advance, just waiting for him to attend tonight’s Hongmen banquet.

This made things difficult.

Originally, with Xiao Linyue’s cat-like explosive temper, Xu Changle was confident he could easily provoke her.

Perhaps Xiao Linyue herself would deliberately cause trouble and refuse to share the bed.

But Xiao Tan had already smoothed things over with Xiao Linyue first. Once that explosive cat decided to endure, ordinary provocation probably would not work.

Xu Changle showed three parts expectation, two parts longing, and five parts frailty on his face, looking like an ordinary young man fantasizing about love.

“That is good then… I actually… I actually like the Empress very much…”

Showing harmlessness and closeness in front of Xiao Tan’s people was necessary. A puppet emperor who was both frail and love-brained was even better.

The Spring Breeze Leisure Palanquin steadily carried him all the way into Empress Xiao Linyue’s Fengchen Palace.

“His Majesty has arrived—”

A palace servant announced. In theory, the entire Fengchen Palace should have come out to welcome him at this time. But embarrassingly, even after the announcing servant called three times, Fengchen Palace remained completely quiet, as if no one had heard.

The palace servants who had followed Xu Changle felt cold sweat dripping down their backs, while also feeling faintly indignant in their hearts.

Her Majesty the Empress was truly too much! It was one thing to attempt to assassinate His Majesty on the wedding night, but now that His Majesty had deigned to come here personally, she still put on such a great show of arrogance!

“Lord Ling…”

Xu Changle blinked his eyes, trying hard to make them look watery and pitiful as if filled with tears.

“The Empress she…”

“Your Majesty.”

A palace maid dressed noticeably more luxuriously than the other maids walked out from the main hall and interrupted Xu Changle’s performance.

This palace maid’s tone was very respectful. She kept her head lowered, and her etiquette was flawless, giving the basic respect due to Xu Changle as emperor.

“Her Majesty the Empress has just finished her dinner and is a bit tired. She is resting in the sleeping quarters. Her Majesty said that between husband and wife, there is no need for excessive formalities like outsiders. Your Majesty may go directly to the sleeping quarters to rest.”

Hiss!

Although the palace maid’s words had definitely been polished, the explosive cat had actually behaved today and allowed him onto the bed.

Xu Changle lowered his head, his cheeks slightly red as if shy.

“Then… then please have the inner official lead the way…”

The Empress’s personal palace maids were respectfully called inner officials. Usually only people of lower status addressed them this way. For the emperor Xu Changle to call her so showed how much face he was giving the Empress.

The Empress’s palace maid repeatedly said “I dare not” and led the way at a neither fast nor slow pace. Xu Changle got down from the palanquin and followed closely behind.

After walking a few steps, Xu Changle suddenly stopped. The blush on his face deepened.

Combined with his appearance stat of 10, the lethality was astonishing. Almost all the palace servants in the room were stunned.

“Lord Ling…” Xu Changle said hesitantly, “When I am with the Empress… you… you don’t need to follow, right?”

Ling Xiao’s footsteps, which had been closely following Xu Changle, paused.

As a personal guard, the Prime Minister’s order to her was to follow wherever His Majesty went. Even to the toilet, she had to stand guard nearby, lest the frail emperor fall into the cesspit and drown.

But this was the Empress’s palace.

The Empress was the Prime Minister’s clan cousin.

Xu Changle could not see the expression behind Ling Xiao’s mask, but Ling Xiao could see the obvious shy blush on this frail emperor’s face.

After a moment of silence, her cold and hard voice came from behind the mask, “…This servant obeys the decree.”

It was a harmless minor issue, merely expanding the scope of vigilance. It did not count as violating the Prime Minister’s orders.

In Her Majesty the Empress’s sleeping palace, how could His Majesty possibly encounter danger? Moreover, tonight…

Ling Xiao watched as Xu Changle stepped into Empress Xiao Linyue’s sleeping quarters.