[Suggested song for this Chapter – Whiffing, by Borrtex]
"My Lord, would it be very forward of to ask you to give the grant of marriage now?"
ili decided it would be best to strike while the iron was hot. Things changed so rapidly in the palace, who knew what the position might be tomorrow?
"It would be very forward of you yes, young lady, but you’ve caught feeling very magnanimous on the back of this good news. I suppose I might be able to be coaxed..." he teased her.
"Really Lord?" ili exclaid with delight. "Just tell everything you want, and I shall do it for you tenfold! One hundredfold! I plan to spoil you rotten from now until the day I am married," her smile was so pure and delighted it was infectious, and the Emperor gave a rare smile in return.
"You’re my witness Feng Bao," he called to the old eunuch.
The man nodded solemnly. Although he was pleased for Miss i, whom he liked, his first loyalty was to the Emperor, and this girl was good for him. The best female influence he had seen on his Lord since his Empress had departed this earth. He didn’t want to see her leave the palace and his Lord’s side.
His lack of enthusiasm didn’t go unnoticed by ili, whose smile faltered slightly.
Never mind, she thought to herself, rallying, perhaps the eunuch would miss her, or he was thinking of their Lord.
She couldn’t stay in the palace forever. And if she didn’t leave soon, she would be too old to marry...
"How on earth will I sleep after you get married?" said the Emperor as she fetched him pen and paper and started to grind the ink for him. "Don’t you think you’re a bit too enthusiastic about leaving ," he asked sourly, watching the girl as she prepared everything for him to place his seal on the marriage docunt, moving like a whirlwind when normally she was so timid and careful.
"Of course I don’t want to leave you, Lord, but I must get married at so ti. My parents expect it of , and one day, I do want to be a mother," she said shyly.
The Emperor and Feng Bao refrained from stating the obvious, which was that He could give her all that and more, if that was everything she hoped for.
The Emperor searched her face, but it seed that the thought didn’t even cross her mind.
Although his decision was firm, still his ego, and perhaps his heart, wished she was at least a littleconflicted...
"Hmmph, it seems like you can’t wait to leave my service, even knowing how much I need you," he grouched as he started writing the grant of marriage.
"You know that’s not true, Lord! I will miss you and Feng Bao more than anything. Perhaps Bai Li will let co to the palace to play for you when you need . He does work here in tis of peace, after all. He can take ho after I finish and you’re sleeping."
The Emperor gave a tiny smile, slightly mollified.
"And Tricky must co with you," he growled.
"Of course! He cos everywhere with . And if you want so Tricky-Wu ti anyti, just have Chief Eunuch Feng send word and I’ll send him to you in our carriage. I know he’ll miss you too, so he’ll need his regular visits."
It was indeed the case that Tricky had beco quite attached to his alpha friend, who gave him treats and taught him tricks.
ili watched with a growing sense of excitent as the Emperor finished writing the marriage grant and picked up his seal.
It felt very montous as she watched him press the seal into the red ink, and then press it down on the parchnt.
Her heart flipped as he did so.
She really hadn’t allowed herself to believe that she and Bai Li would overco all of the hurdles that lay ahead of them, and that she would ever actually have the chance to marry the man she loved.
Honestly, it was enough that he loved her... marriage seed like a beautiful dream that was floating in the sky like a cloud, too high for her to see and too intangible for her to grasp.
But now... now, it seed like that dream might actually co true.
She couldn’t recall being so happy... except when Bai Li told her he adored her of course!
She suddenly rembered how he had told her not to try and influence the Emperor and to leave the matter of securing their marriage to him.
Her cheeks flushed pink. Would he bla her for this? She hoped not. It was the Emperor who had suggested it in the first place, not her. All she had done was ask him for the piece of paper.
Oh well, surely the end justifies the ans, Li? she send him that wheedled happy thought up and over the palace walls, hoping through so mystical ans it would reach him, and he would feel the good news that she now carried in her dainty hands, holding the parchnt like it was the most precious thing in the world.
"Your Majesty, if it’s alright with you can I surprise Commander Bai with this marriage grant on his return from the north?"
He would be ho in a week or two now that they had won the war. She longed to tell him the good news in person, instead of having the Emperor inform him by pigeon.
"Hmm, I don’t see why not. Bring him before , and we can tell him together."
She smiled brightly, nodding. "Thank you, Lord! Now I’m going to fetch you a special new tea I’ve secured from India for you, and I’ll bake you your favourite pineapple cakes."
Feng Bao ca hurrying up to the Emperor’s desk.
"A ssage from Commander Bai, Lord."
The eunuch handed the bamboo tube to the Emperor, and ili stopped in her tracks, hovering not far from the two n, hoping to catch a little of the contents.
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