【2】

"Empress Ying announces her arrival to Empress Dowager!!"

Suddenly an eunuch voice was heard loudly, announcing the arrival of Empress Ying to Empress Dowager's chamber. In an instance, Ying Xin have passed the face veil to Meng Yue who swiftly took it and tied it up, covering the lower half of his face.

Empress Dowager pursed her lips at this but didn't say anything as the Empress stepped over the threshold and walked over to her. Once she was a respectable distance in front of the Empress Dowager, Empress Ying gong zhou to her.

"Greetings to Empress Dowager."

"You may rise." Empress Dowager said but Empress Ying still kept her head bowed, even if Empress Dowager couldn't see it, Meng Yue was able to see the way she gritted her teeth.

Empress Ying slowly turned to the Prince Consort and gong zhou as well to him. "Greetings to Prince Consort."

"You may rise, Empress." He gently said. 'It's no doubt she's a rather scheming young lady, even her control over her expressions is good.' He thought to himself.

"Your Highness, how are you liking the Emerald Palace?" Empress Ying asked after she took a seat opposite him and on the right side of Empress Dowager Mei. It wasn't dense for him to realised that she was releasing her frustration onto him for taking away her place of residence that have formerly secured her position.

'For now, I shouldn't talk too much...'

"Everything is to my liking, I'm able to visit Empress Mother more easily now."

'Empress Mother?!' Empress Ying yelled internally, not even she was able to call the Empress Dowager that but the Prince Consort could?!

"I see," She smiled, expertly hiding her anger behind that fake smile of hers. "You are indeed such a filial child, Your Highness."

"Thank you for such a compliment." Meng Yue then got up. "I don't want to take much of your time with Mother, I best be on my way to meet the Emperor."

"Oh?" She feigned ignorance. "His Majesty seemed to be very busy, I think it's best to not disturb him today."

"That wasn't what my son told me." Empress Dowager Mei who was able to see the jealousy brewing within her, said. "He was rather elated knowing today is the day that Prince Consort have moved into the Forbidden City."

She said smoothly before taking a sip of her tea, watching how Empress Ying's expression was struggling to keep her calm.

'The Empress Dowager knew? Now I messed up.' Empress Ying quickly gave a nervous laugh in response before biting the inside of her cheek. "Well, was he?"

"If there's nothing else," Meng Yue softly said, "I will be taking my leave, Empress Mother, Empress Ying."

With a swift turn of his heels, he walked out of the room, not wanting to be in a further conflict with the former head of the imperial harem.

[❄️❄️❄️]

In the imperial study room of the Hall Of Harmony, a young man had on a serious expression as he went through the stacks of reports that he had gotten from the ministers of the court.

After writing down his answer to the report from the Minister of Finance, he set the brush down on its designated stand before picking up another report to read its content.

There was still two forearm length stacks of report left which he had gotten for the week. The Emperor let out a sigh, closing his eyes for a while to let the slight stinging subside.

"Your Majesty..."

The Emperor suddenly snapped his eyes open, blinking a few times to get rid of the blurriness. Once the image was clear in his eyes, the king of the nation couldn't helped but let a smile fight its way onto his face.

"Prince Consort."

Standing before him was his husband, his presence enough to let the pain in his eyes disappear and all fatigue to disappear from his bones. Noticing how he didn't took off his veil, the Emperor quickly gestured for everyone to leave the room except for his trusted Eunuch Lee and personal guard, Lan Wen.

Name: Lan Wen

Character: 蓝稳

"Lan" meaning blue while "Wen" means stable, settled or steady.

Courtesy Name: Lan Zi Chen

Character: 蓝仔称

"Zi" meaning meticulous while "Chen" means to fit, balanced or suitable.

Meng Yue couldn't help but smile at how thoughtful the Emperor was despite having the burden of the whole country on his shoulders yet at the same time felt a little guilty of the trouble caused for wearing the veil just so that his identity would be safe.

But knowing it was his husband's way of taking precaution, he will only trust him for this. Nodding his head as acknowledgement to both the eunuch and the guard, he took off his veil at the same time, revealing his face.

As Meng Yue was putting it away within his robes, Wang Hai have already stood up and walked over to him before pulling him into a tight embrace. The Prince Consort smiled softly at the action and quickly returned the hug.

"Do you have any idea how long I have waited for you to be here?"

"I know," Meng Yue, "I understand what you meant when you said the palace was a battleground, I'm honoured that I'm someone you could rely on in this place."

"What made you realised?" Wang Hai asked, curious as to what had gave the evident answer to the other. Meng Yue pulled away from the hug, hesitancy expressed in his face.

"Empress Ying." He finally said, cautiousness lacing his tone as he was afraid of what he said might be offensive but to his surprise, Wang Hai only let out what seemed to be a sigh of relief.

"Looks like I'm not the only one with such a thought about her." The Emperor admitted, "I'm assuming you met her?"

Meng Yue nodded, "When I was sending my greetings to mother-in-law."

Wang Hai hummed for a moment before Meng Yue finally decided to turn his attention back to the stacks of reports that have earlier caught his attention. "Do you want me to help you with those?"

"Please," The slight exaggeration of desperation in his husband's voice was enough to make the Prince Consort smile. "You really don't like doing the paperwork do you, A-Hai?"

"Since when does any Emperor in our history even liked touching those accursed things?" He retorted back but was met back with a playful slap on his chest before he was turned and gently pushed towards his desk.

Meng Yue, "Then we better get started if you want your precious freedom."

"A-Yue!!"