I covered my face with my hands, feigning sorrow.

  "Uncle, how could you understand? Last night, I dreamed of my mother. She was looking down from the heavens, crying, saying she only wished for a grandchild. If not, she wouldn’t rest in peace in the afterlife."

  Duke Rowan frowned deeply. I devised a perfect plan and instructed him to select a few men from the royal family to be sent into the harem.

  "Uncle, don't you see? This way, it's the best of both worlds. The child would be mine, yet still carry the bloodline of House Rowan."

  Duke Rowan suddenly understood, praising me as wise, a natural-born ruler.

  Half a month later, the Duke sent two handsome young men into the palace. Elias was furious, storming into Tranquil Hall.

  For the first time, I didn't go to comfort him.

  People across the court speculated about my intentions, and more young men were sent to the palace. Even my second sister, Summer Myles, sent me two young candidates.

  I sighed in exasperation, "Why are you getting involved in this mess?"

  She answered indifferently, "If others send them, you wouldn’t feel at ease. These two brothers are from a clean background, eighteen years old, and ten years younger than Elias."

  I lowered my head to read the memorials, shaking my head. "You better not let the Emperor Consort hear that. He won’t let you live peacefully in the palace."

  Soon after, my harem had over ten young men. The most absurd of all was that Leon Tanner even sent a distant cousin of Elias, who bore a striking resemblance to him—about seventy to eighty percent similar, yet seven or eight years younger. That was the only one I rejected outright.

  I only met with a few: Elias, the two sent by Duke Rowan, the one from Thorne House, and the two from my second sister.

  Half a year later, I became pregnant.

  Duke Rowan brought the imperial physician, along with a record of my nightly visits, and spent an entire afternoon analyzing it. He eventually shut the book in frustration, turned his head, and looked at me with a suppressed expression.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "I give up. There’s no way to determine the father."

  That was the power of a female emperor.

  I gently rubbed my stomach, chuckling. "Uncle, I’ve treated them all fairly. Let’s see who has the ability to claim the child."

  Duke Rowan, helpless against me, went home to pray to the Goddess of Fertility, hoping the child would belong to the Rowan bloodline.

  Elias placed his hand on my stomach, declaring, "I’ll write to my father and tell him this child is mine."

  I softly embraced him. "After I give birth, you may decide what happens to the others in the harem."

  In the sixth year of my reign, in the midst of winter, I gave birth to a daughter, whom I named Celeste, and declared her the Crown Princess.

  From a young age, Celeste was raised under the tutelage of Elias, who personally educated her. She excelled in both scholarly and martial pursuits, with a pure heart and sharp mind. Elias poured his devotion into training her, treating her as his own flesh and blood, even more than a real father would. From that moment on, Leon Tanner finally abandoned his suspicions.

  By the tenth year of my reign, Celeste had turned four.

  Leon Tanner relinquished all military power to Liam, returning from the Northern Frontier to the capital to attend the Crown Princess’s birthday celebration, intending to enjoy his twilight years.

  At the grand banquet, Celeste climbed onto Leon Tanner’s lap and, following Elias’s teachings, called him “Grandfather.”

  Leon Tanner lifted Celeste, looking her over from left to right, but he still couldn’t determine whether she carried Ly blood or not.

  Outside, snow had begun to fall.

  He handed Celeste back to her attendants, then instinctively raised his head—only to meet my gaze.

  I stood silently atop the white jade steps, clad in a black imperial robe embroidered with golden phoenixes. A row of guards held umbrellas behind me, shielding me from the falling snow, as I smiled down at him.

  Seated upon the imperial throne, I looked down at him from above. "Fifteen years have passed, and at last, I finally meet General Leon Tanner."

  Leon Tanner's ears twitched slightly. He turned, his sharp eyes narrowing as he noticed the executioners concealed along both sides of the hall. He closed his eyes and exhaled.

  "So, Your Majesty truly held onto this grudge all these years. For the past decade, I kept hearing rumors that a daughter of House Myles had ascended the throne. I thought perhaps I was being paranoid. But now that I have entered the palace, I see it clearly."

  I tightened my grip on the armrest of my throne, running my fingers over the smooth carving.

  "The hatred of a mother’s death—how could it ever be forgotten?"

  Leon Tanner, do you know why I waited until now?

  My House, the Myles family, descends from a long line of fate-readers. Throughout history, countless people have used gold, power, and coercion to try and force us to predict their futures. If I, or my father, had truly wished for your death, we could have killed you a hundred, a thousand times over—it would have been as easy as flipping a hand."

  Leon Tanner’s voice rang out across the great hall. "So, Your Majesty merely wishes to sit upon the throne that I longed for the most and tell me with your own imperial lips that House Tanner will never seize this empire?"