266: Where the light is directed

The Empress Dowager's reaction, however, disappointed everyone; the several noble ministers who went to her as representatives clearly saw her dissatisfaction, yet she never agreed to step forward and stop the wedding.

Thus, the wedding truly proceeded smoothly on a bright and beautiful day, according to The Emperor's arrangements.

The Emperor waited in place as Tu Nan, under the gaze of the assembled ministers, stepped onto the red carpet and walked firmly toward him, reaching the steps of the throne.

The Master of Ceremonies began to read a long and complex oration, after which the High Priest of the beast god would present the Queen's Crown to The Emperor.

But The Emperor could not wait at all; without even waiting for the Master of Ceremonies to say more than a few words, he directly picked up the Queen's Crown held by a nearby attendant and walked down the steps himself.

"...Ah." The Master of Ceremonies was in a truly difficult position; he had only just started.

Glancing at the High Priest beside him, who had already begun to rest with closed eyes, and then at the dark-faced Empress Dowager, the Master of Ceremonies simply fell silent.

In any case, the many first-class nobles and various important ministers below only clamored for a moment; no one stepped forward to stop Your Majesty.

The Empress Dowager said nothing, but her expression looked as if she were waiting for something.

Tu Nan was standing with her head lowered and eyes downcast, expecting to stand for an hour with many parts in between requiring her response, but she suddenly found that a large portion of the ceremony had been skipped.

A figure wearing a grand ceremonial robe with a black base, woven with gold patterns and trimmed with red satin on the cuffs, was already standing directly in front of her.

It was The Emperor... he had changed tradition on his own again.

"Lower your head," the man said with a smile in his voice.

Tu Nan had nothing to say; since it had come to this, so be it.

Standing for an hour less wasn't bad either, right?

That incredibly dazzling yet heavy Queen's Crown was pressed onto Tu Nan's head.

"May the Empire shine because of you, my Empress."

The Emperor spoke the very last line he was supposed to say in this ceremony.

"Your Empire is my Empire; I am willing to share the burden with Your Majesty."

Tu Nan looked up and answered firmly.

She remembered her humble anxiety the first time she stood in the Imperial Palace, yet now she had reached this point.

Indeed, there was no real necessity to follow things like tradition. If things were done according to tradition, she shouldn't be standing here at all.

In this regard, this man indeed saw things more clearly than she did.

The Emperor was surveying Tu Nan with satisfaction.

He had already ordered the main diamond on the golden Queen's Crown, which had been a Legacy for a thousand years, to be pried off and replaced with this massive emerald.

This immediately changed the Queen's Crown from solemn to luxurious, and it perfectly matched Tu Nan's black hair and green eyes.

The royal family's traditional color schemes usually paired gold with red, black, or silver, because gold is a dominant gene for eye color in the royal Bloodline Legacy.

But The Emperor never thought those bland colors looked good.

As it turned out, pairing it with green was actually quite nice.

Oh, it was stunning.

He reached out his hand.

Tu Nan took his hands and walked with him toward the second-floor balcony, as everyone in the hall moved toward the designated outdoor area.

Outside the square, the perimeter was already filled with excited citizens waiting for their first audience with the Empress.

This would be her first appearance before the Empire as Empress.

Every television station would broadcast and record this moment.

He knew that she, who said she wanted to rush back to the Capital City for the wedding, wanted to take advantage of the fact that the pregnancy wasn't too far along to use the gown for slight concealment, so as to perform the ceremony as decently as possible.

The Emperor felt then that such concealment was completely unnecessary.

He wanted everyone to see with their own eyes that such an interesting and beautiful Female Beast was his.

And she was carrying his Children.

If not for this, he wouldn't have had the patience to endure this tedious wedding process.

In his peripheral vision, Tu Nan wore the gown he specified and the modified Queen's Crown, the curve of her lips remaining perfectly poised.

The ceremony wasn't entirely meaningless.

Showing off in front of everyone had some merit, his eyes shimmering.

***

As for Shou, who was the Silver Armored Knight, he was not permitted by Your Majesty to appear at the wedding venue; Tu Nan thought about it and had him go to the Autumn Palace first to accompany the Children.

Even with the help of attendants and maids, Gaia was flustered while taking care of the Children.

He couldn't hear the Children communicating, but that didn't stop him from noticing the tension between them.

Indeed, while the Two Children were managed very well by Miao Miao before birth, they made her quite angry once they became Two Children who could crawl all over the floor.

Miao Miao was often so angry lately that she would perch on a tree branch.

"So stupid, they can't learn anything I teach them, even though I've taught them several times!"

Ao Ao wanted to comfort her, but also felt his two younger brothers seemed a bit slow, his brow furrowed as he wavered between reason and emotion.

"You're teaching these things to such small Children; of course they can't learn it," Little Bear said helplessly as the oldest of the Children here.

Miao Miao and Ao Ao were already the smartest kids he had ever seen, but no one had ever seen anyone try to teach textbooks to small Children who can't talk.

"They can talk, they just won't open their mouths," Miao Miao said firmly.

["Sister Miao, we listened, but we just forgot again."] Little Fish was anxious to death, reaching toward the window while explaining.

["Don't understand!"] Little Bird just directly gave up, giggling, ["Sleepy, don't want to listen."]

"Aaaah! Uncle Gaia, look at him!" Miao Miao scratched the tree in frustration.

It was at this moment that Shou was brought into the room by Nan Yifei, the manager of the Autumn Palace.

"Turn on the TV, the ceremony is about to start. Don't you want to see your mother?" he said to the Children with a smile, coaxing them all with a single sentence.

Only then did he introduce Shou to Gaia.

"This is His Majesty's Silver Armored Knight, well, he is called Shou now," he smiled politely. "Your Majesty ordered him to follow and protect the Empress's safety."

"This is the Empress's close friend, currently one of the Children's Chaperones, Gaia. Well then, I will go arrange your accommodations first; please wait here for a moment."

He exited the room.

Shou stared blankly at the Two Children who had already grown sturdier.

["Ao Ao..."] Miao Miao stared intently from the tree at the person encased in armor.

["Mm."] Ao Ao was also watching him.

["Does Mom know he's here?"]

["She didn't say, so she probably doesn't."]

["Then what should we do..."]

["I'll keep watching,"] Ao Ao said. "Come down, the ceremony is starting."

Miao Miao jumped down from the tree and sat close to Ao Ao, pretending to stare seriously at the screen, not caring at all about this big guy who had entered.

Gaia smiled and went over.

"Shou, right? Want to watch the ceremony together? How about sitting here?" He greeted him warmly, but as he reached the other's side, his nose twitched in slight confusion.

Shou followed him blankly and sat on a chair to the side, his entire mind in a daze.

Standing behind him, Gaia felt a sense of familiarity; he tilted his head, searching through his memory bank.

On the screen, Tu Nan walked along the red carpet toward the throne, and the Children's attention was completely stolen by her.

"Mom is so pretty," Miao Miao sighed.

"Mom is getting married to Emperor Teacher," Ao Ao told her.

Gaia was still thinking.

Shou saw the camera zoom in as Tu Nan was helped up by The Emperor and heard her firm promise. His fingers moved slightly several times, wanting to touch the familiar silhouette beneath that dazzling gown, yet he didn't even dare to move once.

"Tu Nan..."

He couldn't help himself, and the name he had repeated countless times escaped his lips.

Gaia felt a jolt like an electric shock through his whole body.

"Li!"

He blurted out.

The Two Children turned their heads together.