Yuelan and her three maids stared at Long He for a few seconds before Camphor, Willow, and Laurel started urging their mistress to get into the carriage quickly. They nearly had to force her inside as Yuelan was still too shocked to move. Willow got into the carriage with her and Camphor and Laurel chose to stay at the inn to wait for the deliveries.

When Long He got into the carriage and it started to move, Yuelan finally snapped out of her daze. “Why does the emperor want to meet with me?” she asked the dragon. “And I can’t even perform a proper salute without tripping on my clothes! What if I make him angry?”

“Greeting him the way you’d greet your country’s emperor will be fine this time,” Long He assured her. “And he didn’t specify what he wants, only that he wanted to meet you.”

Yuelan started nibbling on her thumb nail, then switched to trying to twist her hair around a finger, but it was all done up and none was hanging down. In the end she started twisting her newly purchased handkerchief in her hands. “But...I never met my country’s emperor!”

“Surely your father had you learn how to greet him if you did, though?” Long He asked. “You are not in trouble and you will not be harmed. Take a deep breath and calm down.”

Yuelan took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly. She had to take a few more before she had settled down and her brain started working again. Nibbling on her thumb nail once more, she thought hard to remember back to her etiquette lessons on greeting the imperial family. It was a simpler greeting than the one she’d tried to give Prince Guangfeng the first time she’d met him. All she had to do was put her hands together and bow from the waist.

“Better?” the dragon asked her.

Yuelan nodded. “Better. Sorry for panicking like that.” She gave Long He a nervous smile.

The dragon chuckled. “I’d have been more surprised if you hadn’t. Your father may be the prime minister, but even I know you were never introduced to the imperial family and rarely interacted with nobility from other countries.”

“This servant can help Miss practice her greetings in the future,” Willow volunteered. “Then Miss won’t be so nervous when meeting with others.”

“Thank you, Willow. That would be a big help,” Yuelan accepted. She gave the servant a smile and turned to look out the window. “Is there anything I should be careful of when meeting the emperor?”

“Just be respectful,” Long He replied. “You need not worry about anything else.”

Yuelan nodded and continued to watch out the window as the carriage made its way to the gates of the imperial palace. When they arrived, Willow and Long He got out first and Willow helped Yuelan down then took up her position behind her mistress as Long He led them into the palace and along a path.

Curious, Yuelan looked around the palace as they walked. Trees, plants, and flowers grew in carefully cultivated spots. There were grassy areas and carefully tended rock gardens and bridged ponds. It took twenty minutes just to walk to a building where two men in armor and holding swords stood guard with another man in robes standing on the steps between the two.

The robed man bowed and spoke in a high-pitched voice that sounded odd coming from a man: “Lord Long, His Majesty has been waiting eagerly for you to bring your ward. This is her?”

Long He nodded. “Eunuch Tang, this is Miss Long Yuelan. I will be acting as her ward when she is here in this country.”

The title ‘eunuch’ explained right away why the man’s voice sounded so odd to Yuelan and she felt a little sorry for the man who wasn’t fully a man. She smiled as he turned and gave her a salute. “Would Miss Long and Lord Long please follow this servant…” He turned and headed to the large, red-painted doors with gold leaf trim and opened them before leading the way inside.

Yuelan followed Long He up the steps and into the building then through the halls to another door, this one smaller but still covered in decorative details. Eunuch Tang opened that door as well and called out, “Lord Long and Miss Long to see His Majesty.”

“Enter,” a deep voice commanded from inside the room.

Long He entered first with Yuelan behind and Eunuch Tang and Willow taking up the rear. While Yuelan performed her bow, Long He performed a full salute and went down to his knees. “I have brought Miss Yuelan, as Your Majesty wished,” the dragon said in a casual voice that surprised Yuelan a bit.

“You may rise,” the deep voice said again. When Yuelan lifted her head and looked she saw the owner of the voice was a man who looked to be about in his fifties wearing yellow robes with red and gold, horned, five-toed dragons embroidered into the material. The man looked back at her, looking her up and down in the same way she had been examined by most of the people her father introduced her to.

Yuelan let the emperor study her as much as he wanted while she maintained a calm, respectful appearance.

“I recognize the accessories you are wearing. They came from my third son?” the emperor asked.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Yes,” Yuelan answered honestly. “The clothes I’m wearing did as well. He loaned them to me because I hadn’t brought anything with me.”

“Rather unprepared for your trip?” the emperor pressed.

“Miss Yuelan’s visit here was unexpected to everyone,” Long He cut in. “She came from the other end of the bridge.”

“The world left behind?” the emperor queried. He let out a sigh at Long He’s nod. “And she’s a descendant?”

“Your Majesty, it has been over six hundred years,” Long He replied. “Twenty generations have passed since my mistress split the worlds.”

“But she is the one? The prophesied descendant?” the emperor pressed.

Long He’s mouth twitched. “I’m not going to answer that.”

The emperor glared at the dragon and leaned back in his gilded chair with a frustrated huff. “Cryptic as always,” he grumbled.

Yuelan had no idea what the two were talking about, but felt that it was not the time nor the place to be asking questions. She stood next to Long He and waited patiently for the emperor to tell her what it was he wanted from her.

The emperor maintained silence for quite a while before turning to look at Yuelan again. “My sons are fighting each other for the title of crown prince. I’ve decided on a challenge for them, but first I have questions for you. Long He tells me that you are the only child of a prime minister. Tell me, what are the qualities you feel a leader should possess?”

Yuelan’s jade green eyes looked straight into the emperor’s. “A leader should care for the people he or she leads. They should accept responsibility for them and work hard to improve the quality of their lives. A leader should listen to those with more experience and act with wisdom to choose the best path to take. They should not be selfish and focus on what they want, but instead focus on the needs of others. Most importantly, they should have the ability to read people and know who can and should be trusted.”

The emperor smiled and nodded. “Well said. Now, the challenge that I have decided to set for my sons is this: whichever son can convince you to marry him is the son that I will name crown prince.”

Yuelan’s face paled and her hands started to shake. “W-what?”

“A good emperor needs a good empress to stand beside him and help him. You have the background to do so and your ideals will see to it that the needs of the people are met and that the next emperor will rule with wisdom--as long as he’s willing to listen to you. Four of my sons are capable of becoming emperor, but only three have shown any interest, even if one of them thinks he’s hiding it from me.” The emperor gave an amused smile. “I trust Long He’s judgement and you are his ward. He won’t allow you to be at a disadvantage with any of my sons and they will have to work to win your approval and affection. This is what I’ve decided.”

Yuelan swallowed. “Your Majesty...May I refuse?” she asked. “I intend to go back home, and in my country I’m not old enough to marry…”

“For how long? When will you come of age in your country? You look to be of age, but perhaps my guess is wrong?” The emperor looked amused as he watched Yuelan, whose face had turned red.

“I’m sixteen. I won’t be of marriageable age for two more years,” Yuelan explained.

The emperor waved his hand. “You’re old enough here. Long He tells me your father is still alive. I am sure that if you decide you like one of my sons he’ll agree to allow you to marry, even if it’s early for your country.”

“But…” Yuelan tried to continue protesting.

“I’ve decided,” the emperor insisted. “You don’t have to choose any of my sons if you decide you don’t like them. The trial isn’t yours, it’s theirs.”

Yuelan turned pleading eyes on Long He.

The dragon sighed. “I...will speak with your father about the situation,” he told Yuelan. “He’ll need reassurance that you’re safe anyway, since you don’t yet have the ability to send yourself back and while I can go back and forth myself, I cannot take anyone with me.”

Yuelan frowned. “You’re not going to help me?”

Long He lifted both his hands and shrugged. “He is the emperor here. The only one with the authority to argue with him over whether you can be the trial for the princes or not is your father--and only because he is on equal standing with your own emperor.”

Yuelan’s frown became a glare.

“I will, of course, provide you with appropriate compensation,” the emperor promised. “Tang will deliver the imperial decree with all of your gifts later today.”

Yuelan stamped her foot, put her hands on her hips, and glared at the emperor. “You’re trying to buy me!” she complained. “I’m a person, not a dog or a cat!”

The emperor chuckled. “Good. You have spirit. You’ll need that when dealing with my sons. Consider them your equals in social standing.”

Yuelan humphed and turned her face away, her red cheeks puffing out in a pout. After a moment she turned back and glared at the emperor once more. “I’m not an object. If I’m their equal in social standing then why are you trying to insist that I marry one? And if you want me to decide who is best suited for the throne then what does me marrying them have to do with anything?”

The emperor waved his hand, still looking amused. “You may leave. I will make the announcement to my sons tomorrow during morning court.”

“You didn’t answer my questions!” Yuelan put her hands on her hips and stood to her full height of five foot two, her chin lifted.

“I’m not required to answer your questions, Miss Long. I have made my decision and you will receive the imperial decree later today,” the emperor replied.

“I’m not one of your subjects,” she reminds him. “So you can’t give me an imperial decree declaring that I have to marry one of your sons.”

He chuckled. “Alright, not a decree then. The decree will be for my sons. I’ll just send you gifts.” The yellow-robed emperor turned to look at Long He. “She’s quite intelligent, for a woman. Take her back.”

Long He bowed and took hold of Yuelan’s arm. He could see the comment on her gender had irked her near the point of explosion and he quickly leaned in to whisper into her ear. “Not now. Their culture is different, remember?” The dragon then looked over at Willow. “You will not tell His Highness the third prince about what you overheard today,” he said firmly. “Nor your fellow servants. Miss Yuelan coming from the other world is a secret that should be known only to the current emperor and the next emperor.”

Willow bowed to indicate acceptance, then followed behind Yuelan as she stormed out of the throne room after Long He, who led the way out and back to the gates of the palace.