In the third month of the twelfth year of the Daming era, the skies were clear, and a gentle breeze blew.
I stood by the Divine Being's bedside and witnessed Your Majesty shedding tears for the first time.
He was still clad in his Court Dress, clearly having rushed over immediately after court. The jade beads hanging from his Crown were already in disarray, and tears rolled down his ink-dark brows and eyes, leaving me utterly stunned.
"Your Majesty," I couldn't help but remind him, "our city lord merely has a stomach ailment, not a serious illness."
He glared at me in frustration before grasping the Divine Being's hand, rubbing it repeatedly. "It's my fault for not taking better care of you."
Such sweet talk, I scoffed inwardly.
But the Divine Being seemed pleased, curling her lips slightly. "A couple of doses of medicine will fix it."
"From now on, I'll dine with you every day. You mustn’t skip meals and suffer needlessly."
"But I always have to inspect various parts of the city at noon. How can I find time to dine with Your Majesty?"
"I don’t care. Then I’ll bring a food box and follow you around."
My Divine Being rubbed her temples, clearly at a loss for how to handle his shameless antics.
Not to be rude, but for a grown man like Your Majesty—who appeared so majestic and authoritative in public, with everyone in the Palace City trembling in fear of him—he sure acted like a spoiled three-year-old behind closed doors. Throwing tantrums, acting shamelessly, and even competing with me for favor.
If the Divine Being prepared winter clothes for me, he’d demand the same.
If she bought me a sugar figurine during an outing, he’d want one too.
If she made me a pouch of plant ash—well, he couldn’t have that one. Ha.
Still, he wasn’t entirely unkind to my Divine Being. When she fell mildly ill for two days, he stayed by her side for twelve days straight—until she grew tired of him and sent him off to inspect Star Yearn City.
During that time, a steady stream of tonics flowed into Zhaoyang Palace. Within the Palace City, our residence practically enjoyed the same status as Your Majesty’s own palace.
I rose from a palace maid to a first-rank Female Official over ten years, and not once did anyone dare to slight me.
Of course, favoritism inevitably breeds opportunists. Some tried to cozy up to me, using the Divine Being’s influence as leverage. Many assumed she was soft-hearted toward everyone, rushing to offer gifts and flattery.
Then she led a team to confiscate their properties.
As she put it, upright officials would never resort to bribery. Besides, with their meager salaries, where would they get the money for such extravagant gifts? Every raid was guaranteed to yield results.
True to her words, some confiscated assets equaled a city’s annual tax revenue.
Working in tandem like this, she and Your Majesty fostered an atmosphere of integrity and honesty across the Six Cities.
In the fourteenth year of Daming, my Divine Being gave birth to a daughter.
You should’ve seen how ecstatic Your Majesty was. Fireworks lit the sky for a month, and celebrations lasted just as long. The finest wet nurses and female physicians in the land crowded Zhaoyang Palace, while mountains of delicacies and treasures filled my Divine Being’s private vault.
Your Majesty refused to leave her side, cradling their daughter while coaxing my Divine Being to eat. When she grew tired, he’d hand the baby to a nurse and pat her to sleep himself.
For the Little Princess’s full moon celebration, he took my Divine Being to Newgrass City to gather the finest grains, brewing three thousand catties of Daughter Red Wine in her honor.
That was my first visit to Newgrass City—a lush, verdant place. Pity about the houses collapsing so easily, though.
In the sixteenth year of Daming, the Six Cities welcomed the birth of the crown prince.But giving birth to this Little Prince caused my Divine Being great suffering, which distressed Your Majesty immensely. When I got up in the middle of the night to help the Divine Being turn over, I could always see Your Majesty sitting on the Soft Couch nearby wiping away tears.
It seemed as though Your Majesty had saved all his lifetime's tears for my Divine Being.
From that day on, I began to believe he truly would stay with my Divine Being for the rest of their lives.
People say men often change after their wives give birth, but I observed carefully - Your Majesty didn't. Though many secretly tried to send women his way during the pregnancy, using methods so discreet we wouldn't have known if he hadn't told us, he still refused them all.
He said: "Mingyi has worked so hard carrying our child. If I so much as glance at another woman, I deserve to be reborn as livestock in my next life."
I thought this was quite right, but apparently it struck a nerve somewhere. Afterwards, many nobles submitted memorials advising the emperor against excessive favoritism, warning that absolute favor would surely bring calamity.
Naturally, Your Majesty didn't listen. Not only did he ignore them, he ordered investigations into whether these memorial writers kept mistresses in private. Those found guilty were punished according to the law.
While this domineering approach was satisfying, it didn't win him many allies. Court officials changed frequently, lacking stability.
My Divine Being seemed to notice this problem too. After her postpartum recovery, she suddenly began emphasizing her role as queen consort, interacting more with ministers' families.
No one in court could curry favor with the emperor - even if you were highly favored last month, failing at your duties this month would still bring punishment. But with the queen it was different. Families who befriended her would have someone to plead their case later, especially since this queen's words carried tremendous weight.
So the ministers' families came daily to pay respects at the palace, chatting about domestic affairs.
To them, they were flattering the queen. But to my Divine Being, they were sources of information and potential mediators. She used them masterfully - reprimanding when needed, praising when appropriate, hinting when necessary, ignoring when fitting. As a result, officials began valuing their wives' selection more, and the status of official families gradually equalized with their husbands.
From that year onward, the court gradually stabilized and became more united.
Every day, Your Majesty would watch the sunset with my Divine Being. Standing atop the high city walls, he wouldn't say "This is the empire I conquered for you." Instead, he'd smile and point somewhere: "That's the newly recruited capable minister's residence."
They were the wealthiest and most exalted couple in all Six Cities, yet lived the simplest lives - busy separately by day, gathering each evening to watch sunsets and stars.
Occasionally they'd bicker and dredge up old grievances. But whenever Your Majesty mentioned Zhou Zihong, her Divine Being would start listing all his past women. After comparing notes, they'd agree how poor each other's past tastes had been, declare themselves the superior choice, then make up.
I didn't quite understand it, but thought them perfectly matched.
As the Little Princess and Little Prince grew day by day, the two of them aged day by day.
When the Little Prince turned sixteen, the emperor named him crown prince and put him in charge of state affairs, then began traveling the world with my Divine Being.
They saw desert sunsets, silver moons over cliffs, endless mountain ranges, and rolling seas of clouds.
When I returned, I told the Little Prince: "If in this lifetime you can find love like your father and mother share, you'll have no regrets."The Little Prince nodded with a smile and said, "Pah! Those two are too busy playing around—they don't review memorials or discuss important matters, leaving everything piled on me alone. Is that fair? Our imperial family is cold-blooded and ruthless—we don't believe in emotions! Hurry up and make them attend court!"
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