Regardless of what the Second Empress knew or not, Zu An quickly understood what she was about to do. He reached out his hand to hold her chin. He said with a conflicted expression, “There’s no need for you to do this, your highness!”

The Second Empress moved the hair in front of her eyes behind her ear. She raised her head to look at the man towering above her, her eyes filled with a lovely expression, and replied, “You already refused me once before. If you refuse me again, I will really be too embarrassed. That’s why… Please don’t refuse me again.”

She still remembered the despair she had felt today very clearly. Just then, however, Zu An seemed to have arrived from the heavens. Not only had both mother and son not needed to die, they had even reached the highest point of authority they could ever hope for. She still felt as if she were dreaming when she remembered all of those things.

All of that had been brought to her by the man in front of her. Even though the two had shared some friendship, things were different now. Back then, she had been the glorious Second Empress, while he was just...