The third official shrunk back. "Truly? But his majesty—no, how could his majesty be so petty? His majesty is generous and benevolent, and he wouldn't kill us just because of a few words!"

Despite the official's words, he refrained from speaking ill of Zhang Lie. Instead, he lowered his head, ate, and downed copious quantities of alcohol.

The older official shook his head. "Don't worry about it too much. His majesty is entirely focused on his master—he won't be listening in on us. The most important thing to his majesty at the moment is to further his relationship with his master, whom he hasn't seen for over two years. If he could, he'd spend every waking moment by his side."

The officials turned toward the throne, where indeed they found...