Translator's note: The title for this one is a nightmare to try and render in English, since there's no concise way to convey 和亲 (heqin), a marriage meant for establishing peaceful relations between nations. As a result the title of this chapter is far clunkier than the others have been, much to my dismay. Also, apologies for another late update—life has been getting the better of me. - At a pace neither neither frenetic nor slow, in the end, the group didn't manage to make it back to the palace before morning court the next day. When they returned, it was already noon, and the sunlight seeped through the wide open windows, lighting up the ink on the inkstone so it shone grey. The carved wooden doors of the Shengru Palace, the heavy, gold-plated window lattices, all seemed to have gained a layer of warmth. Xie Qianbing was just standing before the desk, her brows faintly furrowed, her hands carefully and cautiously flipping through the memorials on its surface. The desk bef...