The wet nurse was uneasy and full of doubts. Chloe stood up, took the child from the wet nurse's arms, and walked slowly
towards the empress.
Wale was so pretty with his fair skin. His big eyes twinkled like stars. However, as soon as he saw the empress, he burst into
tears, crying out at the top of his loud baby's voice. Chloe tried to coax him to lighten the awkward atmosphere. However, no
matter what she did, Wale just kept crying, as if the thought of being hugged by the empress terrified him. With no other choice,
Chloe looked at the empress with apologetic eyes.
"Well, never mind. He is probably just hungry now. You can take him away and go back first," the empress said gently, as she
stretched out her hand and pinched Wale's cute little face. "You have such a strong cry. It means you will have a promising
future."
"Yes. Please excuse me," Chloe said as she held Wale, who was crying so hard that he was almost out of breath, in her arms,
and went out quickly with the wet nurse. The empress's gloomy eyes lingered on Chloe's back as she went out. It was obvious
that this scene had triggered her displeasure. Even a little baby responded to her as if she were a devil from hell! How could she
endure that? Nonetheless, she repressed her temper until there was no more sign of it on her face. To be morose over such a
trivial thing would reflect badly upon her as an empress.
Seeing this, Sherry also excused herself and left the room. Her motivation for maintaining a peaceful facade with the empress
was that Francis hadn't fully recovered, and Felix, meanwhile, still had a lot of power. Her priority was to stay out of all troubles in
the Imperial Palace. Thus, she would avoid unnecessary conflicts with the empress.
Despite the empress's annoyance about the incident that day, she quickly let it go without taking it seriously. From that moment,
she only had thoughts for the birthday gift she would prepare for the emperor. Everyone else was busying preparing gifts. Those
gifts would be delivered to the Imperial Palace within a few days. It was by no means a simple matter to prepare a gift that would
truly make Felix stand out and the emperor happy.
Inside Matthew's mansion, Harper studied the imperial edict in her hands, and a mysterious smile appeared on her face. "Honey,
the emperor has asked you to take charge of security at the birthday banquet. Isn't he afraid that he is going to die fast enough?"
Harper joked.
Matthew raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "I will carry it out without leaving a trace of evidence against me in public."
"You have already left a lot of such evidence for others to discover, honey," she said. "I'm just a bit puzzled by this. The emperor
should be on guard against you, but now he is actually entrusting you with security at his birthday banquet. Don't you find that
hard to account for?"
Matthew pondered this question carefully, but he wasn't sure how to account for the emperor's decision. Now that Harper had
raised this doubt, he agreed that there must be something fishy going on. It was almost certainly part of a plot the emperor was
hatching.
"Come what may, I fear nothing," Matthew said in a flat tone, and it was true that he had no fear at all.
"There's nothing else we can do. At the birthday banquet, there will be many guests. It will be very lively, and the situation will be
complex. Moreover, all those vassal states, those countries under the rule of the Bright Dynasty, will also come to the
celebration. In this environment, security will be a serious issue, and the emperor has entrusted you with it... I'm afraid the
situation is more treacherous than it looks. Will the emperor exploit this opportunity to launch an attack against you?" Harper
suggested a possibility. This was the only possibility that came to her mind.
Her suggestion raised another possibility in Matthew's mind. He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I suspect he's not aiming at
me, but you," he said, with furrowed eyebrows.
"At me?" Harper asked, feeling puzzled. How could she be endangered when Matthew took charge of security during the
birthday banquet?
"Since I am responsible for safety at the birthday banquet, I will definitely not be at your side at that time. This will give others an
opportunity to hurt you," Matthew said, with a deadly gleam flashing in his eyes. He would teach the emperor a hard lesson if the
latter dared to make a move against her.
"Well, now I'm quite intrigued by this situation," Harper said as she tossed the imperial edict away. "I do wonder what they would
try to do to me."
Because of what had befallen Howard, Walden was starting to be more active recently after his long disappearance from the
public eye. But this time, he did not make his presence felt at court. He had other business to deal with instead.
With the emperor's birthday approaching, like all the other princes, he had to prepare a birthday gift. However, as a supporter of
Felix, he also needed to help him prepare a gift. In recent days there were many rumors about the Longevity Pill. Felix had
ordered him to obtain it at all costs.
Walden and his men stayed outside the legendary physician's house for a long time. It was proverbial that people with
extraordinary abilities had strange personalities, and the brilliant old physician was a case like that. His mansion was built on the
hillside of a mountain. Walden and his guards had suffered a lot to locate him.
"Your Highness, shall we stay here continuously?" asked one of the guards. In the midst of the mountain, it was bone-chillingly
cold. Their first thought had been to enter the physician's mansion. However, a servant of the old physician shut the door against
them without hesitation.
"Yes, until he successfully makes the Longevity Pill," Walden said. He had an iron-bound resolution to obtain the Longevity Pill.
He had bungled the job involving Howard before. As a result, Felix had become implicated and fell under the emperor's
suspicion. He was still repentant for that. This time, he would spare no expense to accomplish the mission Felix assigned to him,
and thereby make amends.
"Yes, Your Highness." The guard was shivering with cold, but he dared not complain. He took out a strong liquor and gulped it.
He soon felt warm all over thanks to the wine.
Walden had been raised in a comfortable environment. Then, right after the New Year, he had left the imperial capital and
undertook a long journey to reach this place, in order to acquire the pill. However, this old physician was very stubborn. Just as if
the rumors about him were true, he commanded his servant to drive his men out directly, and he lied that he didn't have the pill
they wanted.
It was said that several groups of people had come to beg the physician for the pill, and they too were all shut outside the door.
However, there were also people who had come to request other medicines, and their requests were
granted.