Chapter 1514: Regent
The voice outside the door really was a bit too cute and lovely. Zu An felt heat stir within him when he heard it. However, he quickly calmed himself down and said, “Please come in.”
The door quickly opened. A woman dressed in an empress’ splendid attire walked in. It was apparent that she had to use her status as the Fiend Empress to convince the ma.s.ses.
A look of surprise flickered through Zu An’s eyes when he saw the Second Empress close the door behind her.
The Second Empress said gently, “My status is special, so it would be difficult to avoid gossip if we were seen in the same room together.”
Zu An nodded to express his understanding of her reasoning. However, he thought inwardly, A woman and a man are alone in the middle of the night… If you close the door, won’t people be even more suspicious?
“Has your highness finished dealing with everything?” he asked curiously. The young prince had been chosen as the next Fiend Emperor, so the entire Imperial Palace was busy preparing for the official ceremony the next day. The young prince was still too little and needed his mother to take care of everything, so she definitely had to be busy beyond belief.
“There are so many things to do, so how can it all be done already?” the Second Empress replied, yawning and stretching. Her wonderful curves came into full view. Then, she smiled toward Zu An and continued, “But compared to those things, it is more important for me to not give you the cold shoulder.”
Her figure swayed back and forth as she walked to a special rhythm. Her entire body constantly emanated an irresistible aura of seduction.
Zu An felt as if the ki he had finally gotten under control was showing signs of surging randomly again. He couldn"t help but frown. Mi Li had previously warned him that even though there were quick results from absorbing others’ cultivation like this, there were also many hidden dangers. That was especially true for someone like Sir Fu, whose ki had been absorbed from countless others to begin with, making it even more impure.
The Second Empress arrived at his side. She sat down on a chair as if she had just returned to her own home… Actually, it was a room in her own palace, so calling it her home wasn’t wrong.
She maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far. The Second Empress’s cherry lips opened slightly, and she began to report on some of the more important details regarding what she had done so far.
“You already know that the Second Prince was sent out to defend the Netherworld Seal. Apart from that, even though the Crown Prince scheming against the late Fiend Emperor and tonight’s events are matters of rebellion, all of the various forces have reached a compromise that we will not release this to the public and preserve his reputation. The first reason is so that we can appease the forces loyal to the Crown Prince, and the second reason is as a way of consoling the Peac.o.c.k Wise King.
“Otherwise, the Crown Prince schemed against the Fiend Emperor and killed his brothers; these are crimes that would be completely deserving of clan eradication,” she continued, her expression turning a bit strange. “It is known that the Peac.o.c.k Wise King"s daughter was about to wed the Crown Prince. If we really looked into it, she would also end up being involved. That is why it is better for everyone if this matter is not dealt with too severely.
“Still, I know you and the Crown Prince shared a grudge, so I was worried that you would not be too happy. That is why I came here to talk to you about it,” the Second Empress continued. Her skin was as fair as snow. She looked at Zu An with her misty eyes, carrying a pitiful expression that seemed to contain endless affection.
Zu An knew that this woman was using her charm skills on him again. He calmly said, “He’s already dead; I’m not so narrow-minded. We’ll just do things as you planned.”
The Second Empress sighed in relief when she heard that. She sounded much happier as she continued, “By the way, the Peac.o.c.k Wise King has been looking for a chance to nullify the contract between his daughter and the crown prince. He thought about letting her marry the young prince, as that would not be too bad of a choice. That way, she would still be the new empress and there would be no difference. Still, I thought that the young prince really was too young and that it would be unsuitable, so I refused. Do you know the real reason I refused, though?”
When he saw her playful expression, Zu An thought, You’re a married woman for better or for worse; why do you act like a young girl sometimes?
He thought for a bit, then replied, “There’s no way the other forces would agree to that. The Peac.o.c.k race didn’t contribute much to the young prince’s rise to the throne. Why would they allow that clan to gain so many benefits?”
The Second Empress revealed a look of surprise. She hadn’t expected Zu An’s political intuition to be so sharp. However, she shook her head with a smile, saying, “That is indeed part of the issue too. However, the main reason is because of you.”
“Me?” Zu An repeated, now truly stunned.
The Second Empress leaned forward a bit, lowering her full chest onto the small desk to the side. She rested her chin on her arm and looked at Zu An with a pensive expression, saying, “It is because I heard that in the past, the Crown Prince made a bet with you, and that the stakes were his Crown Princess. Then, sure enough, he lost. The Crown Princess is your spoil of war, so how can I overstep my place?”
Zu An was speechless. He had almost forgotten about that. Back then, he had only said that to anger the Golden Crow Crown Prince, and he hadn’t even known who the Crown Princess was.
The carriage outside the capital containing Kong Nanwu’s beautiful and refined figure appeared again in his mind. A thought flashed through. This… doesn’t seem to be that bad?
However, he quickly restrained that thought. What was wrong with him today? Why was he being affected by such random thoughts?
After all, he was no longer the way he had been when he first came to this world. He had already met so many beautiful women and fought through so many life and death battles. He had experienced shocking events others wouldn’t have gone through even across ten lifetimes! His will should already have been extremely steady. In theory, he shouldn’t have produced such thoughts, or at the very least, not so frequently.
When she saw his expression, the Empress adjusted herself to show him a more beautiful angle, continuing, “The tricky thing right now is the Crown Princess’ side. Once she returns, I will find a way to play matchmaker. With your current ident.i.ty as Regent, you are more than qualified to take her as your wife. Not even the Peac.o.c.k Wise King would refuse. They chose the wrong side before, so this kind of conclusion is already more than they can ask for.”
“Regent?” Zu An asked, stunned.
The Second Empress explained, “When the young prince ascends to the throne tomorrow, he will make you the Regent. The young prince is still too little, so in the future, you… and I will both support him in ruling the court. Please do not refuse. You are his adoptive father, and you had the greatest contribution in his rise to the throne. You deserve everything.” She stared deeply at him, her eyes filled with sincerity and grat.i.tude.
Zu An actually felt that this was a bit of a pain. He requested, “Can you call me something other than Regent?”
“Why is that?” the Second Empress asked, stunned. She thought he was looking down on this position, but it was already the greatest price she could offer. The Regent position wasn’t that common, but it had existed a few times throughout the Fiend races’ long history. It was basically being under one person, but above the rest of the world! Before the Fiend Emperor became an adult, to a certain degree, he would be the emperor. If Zu An wasn’t even satisfied with that, what did he want?
Could it be…
For some reason, the Second Empress’ neck turned a bit red. A hint of bashfulness appeared on her face, almost as if she were secretly hoping for something.
“It’s just the name that sounds a bit unlucky,” Zu An said, thinking about Dorgon and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. Dorgon had served as a Regent for the Shunzhi Emperor, but was later accused of many crimes. Eventually, he had his coffin opened up, and his remains were exhumed and flogged in public.
However, when he heard the Second Empress nervously explain the position of Regent in the Fiend races’ history, Zu An knew he was overthinking things. He said, “It’s mainly because I’m a human, and there’s no way I can remain here for a long time. It’s unsuitable for me to have such an important position.”
The Second Empress sighed in relief when she heard his response. To be honest, she had been a bit worried about that. After all, the relationships between historical Regents and Fiend Emperors had always been rather poor. After all, once the Fiend Emperor grew up, he had to rule himself. Meanwhile, many of the Regents had gotten used to their positions of power and became unwilling to return the authority.
Zu An’s cultivation was profound and immeasurable. If he really did covet status, the young prince would be in trouble in the future. Even though she had a good impression of Zu An, she was a mother first and foremost. She definitely cared about her son’s interests first.
Thus, the Second Empress smiled sweetly and said, “It does not matter. We do not need you to deal with too many political affairs. There are ministers who will help you. You can return to the human side whenever you want. Your position of Regent will always be here.”
Zu An wanted to refuse at first, but after thinking about it, whether it was Yu Yanluo’s Snake race, Snow’s Elf race, or even the Ocean races and Demon races who had gotten some concessions, they needed someone of status to help them get what they were promised. With the position of Regent, many things would become much easier to deal with. Still, it would make things a bit troublesome for him once he returned to the human side.
Sensing his worry, the Second Empress remembered her previous suspicion. Her heart rate sped up. She looked at Zu An carefully. This man had sharp brows and bright eyes. He had an outstanding temperament; he wasn’t inferior to even the Great Elf King, and his body was even more manly.
The memory of him shooting down Shi Zhentian with a single arrow, and how he had killed such famous and powerful individuals as Sir Fu and Heichi Suiya, replayed in her mind. Even Duantian Chou and Sixth Uncle were utterly terrified of him.
Isn’t this the perfect lover I was imagining all this time? A knight in shining armor, riding on a white horse!
As she looked at him that way, the Second Empress’ snow-white skin was soon covered in a layer of captivating redness.
Zu An seemed to have thought of something. He touched his own face in confusion, asking, “Is there something on my face?”
The Second Empress lowered her head in embarra.s.sment. She hadn’t expected that she could still become as shy as a young lady even though she was already a mother. She bit her lip, then got up. She walked up to Zu An, and then slowly kneeled down under his puzzled gaze.
Zu An was stunned. He quickly tried to lift her to her feet, asking, “What are you doing?”
The Second Empress stopped him, saying, “You don’t need to say anything. I know.”
Zu An was stunned. What do you know?