Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress novel Chapter 1497

Chapter 1497: Chapter 1492: Seeing Shadows Where There Are None

"The Zhou is indeed formidable. Now, it’s as if the Dongyi Kingdom’s royal court is entirely under Zhou’s control. Even when it comes to matters like enthronement, Dongyi Kingdom must heed His Majesty..." Xiao Rongyan walked alongside Bai Qingyan, his voice steady, "I hereby offer my congratulations to His Majesty first."

Seeing the steps beneath her feet, Xiao Rongyan extended his hand to assist Bai Qingyan. She merely glanced at his hand, proceeded with her hands behind her back, and turned back with a smile to ask Xiao Rongyan, "Now that even the Regent Prince of Yan Kingdom has come with his troops, he must want a share of the spoils, right..."

Xiao Rongyan withdrew his hand, which had been painted red by the sunset. He glanced at the Yan Kingdom and Zhou guards who stopped behind them, smiled, and ascended the steps, saying, "Zhou is strong while the Yan Kingdom is weak. We could only scrape by thanks to His Majesty of Zhou’s kindness to soldiers and civilians, granting us a glimmer of hope. How dare we share in Zhou’s spoils? We are merely here to lend our support and ask for Zhou’s Emperor’s aid... to allow Yan and Dongyi to sign an alliance treaty, ensuring Dongyi does not cause trouble on Yan’s border."

Bai Qingyan’s smile deepened.

The Empress of Dongyi Kingdom, the seventh Prince, and court officials stood at the end of the steps to welcome them. Upon seeing Bai Qingyan walking side-by-side with the masked Xiao Rongyan, they were momentarily stunned, thinking these two, in their outstanding posture and extraordinary aura in the golden sunset, were indeed a pleasing sight.

But seeing the mask on the Yan Kingdom Regent Prince’s face made the heart of the Dongyi Empress skip a beat. Further noticing Bai Qingyan’s slight smile, an incredible notion suddenly surfaced in her mind. She clung tightly to the hand of her personal maid and hurried to the forefront, muttering, "Isn’t this Yan Kingdom Regent Prince also aligned with Zhou?"

Turning to her maid and looking at the masked seventh Prince not far behind, she asked in a low voice, "Could he not also be someone from Zhou in disguise?"

This personal maid, aware of the seventh Prince’s matters, hastily held her mistress’s hand and fearfully avoided looking back, whispering, "Mistress, we had heard about this Yan Kingdom Regent Prince years ago. They said he injured his face and body and had been recuperating in his manor, refusing to see anyone. Later, the former Emperor of Yan forced him to leave and lead troops because no generals were available. He wore the mask back then! Mistress knew this news years ago. It must be the seventh Prince’s affairs that have frightened you."

Hearing this, the Dongyi Empress steadied her mind. Indeed... she realized she was overreacting.

Collecting herself, she looked at Bai Qingyan’s smiling eyes, holding her emotions in check, saying, "The Zhou Emperor must be doing this intentionally for our Dongyi Kingdom to see, to make us believe... that Zhou and Yan’s relationship is unusual. The Zhou Emperor went to personally greet the Dongyi Regent Prince, behaving kindly towards the Yan Regent Prince, as though Yan and Zhou are intimately close! The more the Zhou Emperor acts this way... the more it signifies that the Yan Regent Prince is someone we could win over."

"Your Majesty, please reconsider! Our seventh Prince is still in Zhou’s hands..." The maid’s voice, barely audible and filled with tearful tones, glanced nervously around for fear that the seventh Prince and court officials might catch up, "If anything happens, we can’t afford to gamble on it."

Empress Dowager clenched her fists tightly, her heart twisting with pain at the thought of her son, though she showed a smile on seeing Bai Qingyan and the Yan Regent Prince drawing closer. She assisted herself with the maid’s hand as she stepped forward, bowing to Bai Qingyan, "Greetings to the Emperor of Zhou..."

Bai Qingyan did not put on airs either, returning the salute to the Dongyi Empress, "Empress Dowager." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Regent Prince..." The Dongyi Empress nodded slightly to the Yan Regent Prince.

Xiao Rongyan maintained his composed demeanor, nodding lightly to the Dongyi Empress, "Empress Dowager..."

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