Chapter 1982: Marriage

“You misunderstand. It’s not that they’ve treated me poorly, but rather that I don’t wish to affect the livelihoods of the common people through the abuse of my authority,” Zu An explained.

The Second Empress didn’t seem to understand. She said, “I’ve never met someone who thought the way you did. If everyone thought the same way, it's likely that no one would want to become an official. You’re a regent now, and yet you’re still living such a narrow-minded and cramped life.”

“There normally aren't any issues at all, though. It’s just that I ended up needing a lot of resources for my recent weapon refinement,” Zu An said, then told her about the things he'd done recently.

The Second Empress immediately became interested and asked him many questions. In the end, she said with a sigh, “It doesn’t matter, because you are our Fiend races’ regent too. The things you research can't be used by the human race alone.”

When he saw that she was feeling a bit nervous, Zu An said with a chuckle, “Don’t worry, the Fiend races’ side is also my home. Furthermore, don’t I still have you?” He told himself that he also had Yu Yanluo, but of course, he couldn't say that to the Second Empress.

The Second Empress was actually becoming quite anxious, but she immediately beamed when she heard that. “Your little mouth really is sweet. I almost want a taste of it now.”

Zu An was speechless.

Women from the Fiend races really are bolder, as expected…

Zu An coughed lightly and said, “By the way, the human side’s empress dowager wishes to meet with you to discuss how we can work together to face monsters from other worlds.”

The Second Empress didn’t reply to what he said, and instead asked a question in return. “I heard that empress dowager wass a beauty who has infatuated countless men, and I believe she wouldn’t have been chosen by Zhao Han as the empress otherwise. Now, she seems to have become even more beautiful, with her complexion improving by the day. She doesn’t seem like a woman who has just lost her husband at all, no?”

Zu An was alarmed and could only say, “The two of them appeared to be together, but they were divided at heart. Without the mountainous pressure of Zhao Han’s existence looming over her, it makes sense that her mood has improved.”

“It looks like you understand her pretty well,” the Second Empress said as she smiled ambiguously. “Do the two of you have a thing going on?”

Zu An was speechless.

Why can’t any of these women talk normally?

“We’re talking about proper affairs here, so please be a bit more serious,” Zu An said impatiently.

“Sure, sure.” The Second Empress didn’t pry further. “The monsters are invading, so our countries should ally together. However, there is a bigger problem, which is to say, just who will preside over all of this?”

Zu An frowned and replied, “The human race is a bit stronger right now, so it won’t be all that easy for them to coordinate with the Fiend races. Of course, I’ll do my best to ensure equal power dynamics in this collaboration.”

“How can it be as easy as you make it out to be? Just my meeting with your empress dowager poses a problem. Who should be the one to meet whom?” the Second Empress said.“If either one of us goes to the other side’s region, it will be seen as a submissive action. If I make the empress dowager come and meet me, she'll likely refuse. I absolutely won’t go all the way to meet with her either.”

Zu An was stunned, asking, “Something this small was actually that important?”

“Of course!” the Second Empress replied, raising her voice. “When we stopped our war with the human race not too long ago, many extremists in the Fiend races felt that the King Court was acting too weak against outsiders. I finally managed to get that under control back then, but now that Zhao Han is already dead, there are quite a few people on this side who are starting to stir up trouble. Most importantly, the invasion of the monsters from other worlds hasn’t become public information yet. That's why, if we collaborate with the human race and show weakness again, I might just end up with a huge mess on my side.” As she spoke, her brows were deeply furrowed; she was clearly feeling extremely vexed.

Zu An thought back to how the Fiend races were. That side had a loose tribal structure, and the various races only submitted to the King Court as their main leader in name. The King Court doesn’t actually have that much control over the respective races. Furthermore, many people from the different tribes were the valiant and dauntless sort who had one-track minds. Trying to reason with them and tell them to endure for the sake of the future was like playing the lute to a cow.

“Then what do we do?” Zu An asked. He couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated. If he didn’t deal with this matter properly and ended up worsening the relations between the two sides, collaboration between them could be impossible.

“I have an idea. Why doesn't that emperor take one of our Fiend races’ king race women as a wife? That way, it would look better for both sides. We can then use that pretext to meet more easily,” the Second Empress suddenly said with a smile.

“That’s not a bad idea. Which king race woman? Do you have any suggestions?” Zu An asked with a nod.

“Of course. The Peacock King race’s Princess Nanwu is beautiful and capable. I believe she can make great contributions to the peaceful relations between our countries,” the Second Empress said casually.

“Kong Nanwu?” Zu An repeated, stunned. He never expected it to be her. That beautiful woman appeared in his mind. She had actually treated him quite well in the past. Did she really have to marry that idiot emperor?

“What, you can’t bear to see that happen?” The Second Empress laughed when she saw his reaction.

“What is there to be reluctant about?” Zu An replied with a light cough. “I just feel that Princess Nanwu is proud and might not be willing to serve another. The new emperor is also a proud person and might not tolerate her. If the two end up fighting, that might actually affect relations.”

The Second Empress smiled ambiguously and replied, “Though in the end, isn’t it just because you're worried about Princess Nanwu?”

Zu An was speechless.

“Enough, enough, I was just joking around. Forget about the fact that Princess Nanwu’s status is prestigious, I can't ignore her opinions and just decide this marriage for her. Even if she agrees, there’s no way I can let a Fiend race woman marry into the human side. No matter how you look at it, that would be a kindof humiliation,” the Second Empress said with a teasing smile.

“If it’s impossible, why did you bring it up?” Zu An asked, feeling a bit baffled.

“There's no way for the Fiend race's women to marry into the human side, but we can have a human princess marry into our side, or something similar.” The Second Empress finally expressed her true intent.

Zu An said impatiently, “The Fiend races will also feel that marrying a human woman into that side is a form of humiliation. Wouldn’t it be the same the other way around? The humans have the advantage right now, so there's even less of a chance of them agreeing.”

“Under normal circumstances, they indeed wouldn't agree, but there is a human who would agree,” the Second Empress said n a deliberately mysterious manner.

“Who would that be?” Zu An asked curiously. “The Fiend Emperor is still young, so I don’t think it's time to discuss marriage yet, right?”

“Who said anything about him? It’s clearly you that I’m talking about,” the Second Empress said with a big smile.

“Me?” Zu An’s head started rattling. “No way, no way.”

Are you freaking kidding me right now? The sweethearts around me are already a complete mess from fighting each other, so how could I get myself involved in something like that?

“Who says there’s no way? Your status is special, and with your strength and status, I believe there are countless women who wish to marry you. Furthermore, you're the regent of the Fiend races as well, so it would also represent a member of the Fiend races marrying a human woman, so it’s honorable enough for our side too. Isn’t this a win-win situation?” the Second Empress said with a smile. “As for why you wouldn't be marrying a Fiend woman, you are a human after all, so if a Fiend woman married you, they would feel as if they were lowering their status.” When she saw that he still wasn’t convinced, she could only say, “If the collaboration between the humans and Fiends fails because of your refusal, the responsibility of the monsters’ invasion will fall onto you.”

“Don’t try to pressure me with something like that. I refuse to use marriage as a bargaining chip,” Zu An said coldly.

“Fine, but I don’t have any other solutions. That empress dowager can rack her brains over this matter, and I won’t worry about it anymore,” the Second Empress said with a fatigued expression.

Zu An knew that she was saying these things out of good intentions, and he felt his tone had been too harsh earlier. That was why he tried to explain himself and said, “Your suggestion isn’t really possible in the first place. Zhao Han has a few daughters, but they've already gotten married. The new emperor doesn’t have any daughters, and the imperial clan doesn’t have any outstanding princesses.”

“It’s fine even if there aren’t any princesses. For example, King Qi’s princess is probably an eyesore on the human side anyway, right? Won’t it be fine to just marry her into the Fiend side?” The Second Empress said with a smile, “I’ll keep an eye on her when the time comes, so there’s no way she can intervene with your womanizing.”

When he saw that her suggestions were getting more and more out of hand, Zu An immediately changed the topic. He asked the Second Empress about how the war around the sealed land had been going.

The Second Empress became more serious when it came to that topic. She shared all kinds of intelligence with him in a grave tone.

…

Just like that, the two chatted for an hour, and by then, even the Second Empress was starting to feel a bit of a burden from the recording mirror's costs. She could only hurriedly end the call.

Even so, after chatting with the Second Empress, Zu An also realized that the situation was grim. He decided to contact the people around him first so they wouldn’t be caught off guard and end up falling prey to the monsters’ schemes.

He headed over to the court’s official-use recording mirror. It was something that was normally only used for major events in the military. He thus stated that he wanted to inform all the major forces of the world, and no one really stopped him.

The first one he dialed was Yun Jianyue’s recording mirror. He hadn’t received any information from her, so he had always been feeling a bit uneasy. The recording mirror continued to ring, sending special waves into the distance, but the other side never picked up.

Zu An couldn't help but feel a bit grim.