Empress Wunan laid motionless, her body only covered by a nightgown, her expression appeared slightly elated, but she still remained silent.

Yu Pen’s face was covered in sweat, yet she ensured none fall onto the body of her master. Her slender fingers massaged Empress Wunan’s delight figure, though the sweat on Yu Pen’s brows suggest that Empress Wunan has a far stronger constitution that what her delicate frame implies.

After an unknown amount of time passed, Xiao Xi wiped the sweat from her brow using her sleeves, before changing Empress Wunan into a set of dragon robe.

Empress Wunan herself remained silent, before reluctantly getting up at a slow pace.

The court sessions had long passed, and the moon appeared high up in the sky. Typically, the Emperor would enjoy his time in the chambers of one of his concubines, yet Empress Wunan, perhaps due to her personal history as a concubine herself, or due to her status as a woman did not even take male concubines.

Instead, she preferred to spend her time away from the court with a rather simple maid. This caused the court to be rather confused, as Yu Pen appeared completely ordinary, perhaps only slightly more masculine than most other women.

Regardless, Empress Wunan appeared to favour this servant greatly, thus the majority of the bureaucrats refrained from offending her.

“Yu Pen, you’re skills are getting better,” Empress Wunan said with a light laugh.

“Your servant has embarrassed herself in front of the empress,” Yu Pen responded deprecatingly, her mouth turned into a bitter smile as she backed away to bow.

“Do not refer to yourself as a servant, your abilities differ you from those brainless servants,” Empress Wunan demanded, using her free arm to lift Yu Pen from her bowing position.

“This society is far too discriminatory for a woman to succeed, the highest one could go as a woman is the wife of the emperor, yet it’s power pales in comparison with its male counterpart,” Yu Pen did not budge from her bowing position.

“Then what about this empress?” Empress Wunan asked, her hands still on Yu Pen.

“Empress is truly special, a figure that appears only once in a thousand years,” Yu Pen replied, her words sounding humble, she still remained stubborn, having yet to move from her position.

“Then what about that girl, Xu Xiaomeng?” Empress Wunan asked once more.

“Lady Xu is a truly special case, an individual like her would only appear once every ten thousand years,” Yu Pen replied.

“Are you implying that she is superior to this empress?” Empress Wunan asked, her rather large eyes slightly squinting.

“Naturally, Empress has the blessing of all those in the Southern tribes and favoured by the late Emperor, while Xu Xiaomeng had started with seldom anything,” Yu Pen replied, her expression perfectly calm.

Empress released her hand from Yu Pen, before saying,” Then it is my fortune that you appear only once every ten thousand years, similar to that of Xu Xiaomeng.”

“Empress overpraised this servant,” Yu Pen said in a humble manner,” This servant is only doing what she needs to be able to survive the longest in this world.”

Empress Wunan gave off string of laughter, though sounding quite pleasant, it carries a tone of authority.

Yu Pen thought to herself that woman is truly troublesome creatures, before beginning to prepare a footbath for Empress Wunan. Surprisingly, despite the amount of labour she had done as a servant of Empress Wunan, her hands appear like jade, appearing tender and unused.

As Yu Pen filled up the jade basin, a messenger arrived, bringing with him a foreign form of paper. Empress Wunan unravelled the message, sparing no effort in preventing Yu Pen from seeing the words written.

“Yu Pen, a group of diplomats, including the second princess of Nitsa has arrived at the palace, what do you propose this empress do?” Empress Wunan asked in a rhetorical manner, lightly mocking the foreigners.

“Empress, considering your magnificence, this servant believe that it would be wise to pay them no mind until tomorrow’s court ,” Yu Pen replied as she simultaneously measured the temperature of the basin.

After finding it rather agreeable, she carefully placed Empress Wunan’s feet within the water.

Empress Wunan’s feet, appear like that of newborns, as if she had never walked a day in her life. Compared with Yu Pen’s hands, it could be considered to be even more delicate.

As Empress Wunan’s feet entered the water, she sighed once more in content.

The sun had yet to rise, yet Yu Pen had already. Preparing for Empress Wunan’s morning bath, her actions appeared rather clumsy as she carried the heavy basin filled with water.

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

Empress Wunan had woken even earlier than Yu Pen, having already begun attending to her duties as the ruler of the Yao Dynasty.

After Yu Pen had filled up the basin, she informed Empress Wunan, who responded with an imposing smile, before going into the bath. Within the bath, she remained tendering to her duties, reading the report in front of her written by the Imperial Palace Guards, she had addressed Yu Pen to inform the court for a minor purge of a few unloyal officials.

Yu Pen obeyed, picking up the pen Empress Wunan was using and continued written from she had left off, shockingly her handwriting appearing identical to that of Empress Wunan.

Some time passed, Empress Wunan finished her bath, and the session of the court has begun.

Empress Wunan sat behind the curtain of beads, while Yu Pen had replaced the previous eunuch, standing directly right of the throne.

Before Empress Wunan is naturally the group of diplomats from Nitsa, totally six people, all dressed in an exotic manner, though it appeared to be more modest than the clothing Galina had worn.

Five of the diplomats bowed, while the woman dressed the most flamboyantly did not, however, none of the diplomats stared directly at Empress Wunan, including the princess.

“May I ask what purpose you have visiting this court?” Yu Pen asked while Empress Wunan remained silent.

“What horrid treatment is this, we have arrived through an arduous trip through the ocean, yet not only did they force us to wait, this arrogant woman think that we are not worthy of her time” one of the diplomats said in their native language, fortunately, none of the bureaucrats understood the meaning.

That is, aside from Yu Pen how had a flash of disdain and mocking appearing within her eye, before her expression once again returned to normal.

“Mighty empress of the West, our empress has sent us six, her most trusted diplomats in an attempt to wipe out a threat that may endanger us two great civilizations,” the second princess spoke in the Zui language, appearing rather amateurish, though still impressive.

“Our Empress has been informed that the sixth princess, a traitor to our nation, had managed to find refuge in the territories of the Yao Dynasty’s enemy, the territories controlled by the person known as Xu Xiaomeng,” the second princess continued, though the court remained quite serious, Yu Pen could not help but inwardly scuff at the unskilled manner the second princess spoke in.

Ultimately, Yu Pen whispers a few words into the ears of Empress Wunan, who gave a nod in return.

“The second princess of Nitsa, it would be acceptable if you spoke in your native tongue,” Yu Pen said in a polite manner.

The second princess said a few words of thanks in her language, before continuing.

“Thus, we wish for your Empire to bring the traitor back into our lands,” the second princess said in her native language, sounding rather exotic, though quite melodic.

Yu Pen relayed the words she had said toward Empress Wunan, who said a whisper a few words to Yu Pen.

“The empress said that the empire will not accept your demands,” Yu Pen replied to the diplomats, sounding rather aloof.

“That is understandable, naturally we have not asked of such a thing without bringing adequate compensation,” the second princess said, before continuing,” Our nation has brought forty thousand pounds of silver as an expression of our goodwill between us two nations,” the second princess replied.

Once more Yu Pen informed the empress, who expressed her opinions.

“The empress still refuses,” Yu Pen said, her voice sounding rather harsh.

The second princess was slightly shocked, thinking that such an amount of silver, though not significant, should be still to such a degree that it would easily showcase the goodwill our their nation.

“What the empress means is that she desires not silver, but technology,” Yu Pen said.

“That could be considered,” the second princess said before pondering for a moment,” Fortunately, we have managed to purchase rather interesting inventions from an individual during one of our previous diplomatic missions.”

Eventually, a model of the telegram was delivered to the Empress, unfortunately, she could not read this foreign language, thus she could not understand the significance of this invention.

“Our empress had purchased this invention from a diplomat, who had invented this machine in his free time, originally the empress had planned to build a line connecting two of our cities, unfortunately, the man had died, causing the empress to indefinitely suspend it,” the second princess said.

Yu Pen did not instantly relay the message toward Empress Wunan but had instead remained silent.

After some time, she leaned toward Empress Wunan.

“Empress, this invention could effortless end our battles against Xu Jin and Xu Xiaomeng,” Yu Pen whispered, carefully ensuring that the foreign diplomats do not notice the amount of significance she had placed on the telegram.

“The empire’s current system of messaging, that of houses would delay far to much time in the field of modern warfare, while this invention could reduce it to an instant, allowing your majesty to instantly communicate with your general from the capital, giving us a distinct advantage,” Yu Pen continued, her face appears to be looking at the invention with an expression of happiness, though she concealed it so that the diplomats were unable to notice her expression of desire.

“This servant thus suggests that your majesty accept this technology by any means possible,” Yu Pen whisper.

“Do you not think that we are making this far to easy for the foreign barbarians, by showcasing that we are easily satisfied, this empress would lose a great deal of face in front of these foreigners,” Empress Wunan replied behind the bead curtains.

Yu Pen showed an expression of bewilderment, and did not speak.

Empress Wunan gave off a smile of amusement, though none could see behind the bead curtain.

“This empress accepts your nation’s goodwill and will aid you in the capture of the sixth princess of your nation, in exchange for this invention and seventy thousand liang of silver,” Empress Wunan said toward the diplomats behind her bead curtain.

The second princess’s hands gripped, though she maintained a polite expression. After a long period of consideration, she reluctantly agreed, asking one of the diplomats to sent a message back to their empress.

Thus, the matter was concluded.

Empress Wunan after the court was disbanded, then invited the foreign diplomats for a banquet, with the second princess sitting directly left of Empress Wunan, a remarkably prestigious position.

Though it was overshadowed by Yu Pen’s position at the right of Empress Wunan.

The feast was rather normal, and nothing of note occurred, though some individuals eyed Yu Pen in hostility, yet ultimately backed away.

“Yu Pen, from what you have said, this machine appears to be of great importance, but how will this empress use it on the field of warfare, should there be any matters this empress must take into consideration?” Empress Wunan, who had retired back to her room asked and is currently enjoying a series of massages, asked.

“As instructed by the model, lines must be built to connect the two sides of the telegram, however, this servant believe that it is important to ensure that the ones constructing the lines will be controlled by the state, and not to be functioning independently with their own interests in mind,” Yu Pen said.

“Take for example the American civil, the USMT, a private corporation, did not listen directly to the central government, resulting in a severe lack of discipline. Acts such as drunkenness and bribery led to delays and ineffectiveness, resulting in many battles lost” Yu Pen said, her method speaking appearing surprisingly similar to the manners in which Li Ming lecture Xu Xiaomeng, though in a more polite manner.

Empress Wunan gave off a ‘hmm’, before closing her eyes in relaxation.

After some time, Yu Pen suddenly asked.

“Empress is it possible to rename this servant as Li Chen,” Yu Pen suddenly asked.

“Why? Are you not satisfied with the name I had given to you?” Empress Wunan asked with a hint of amusement.

“Naturally not, it is only that Xu Xiaomeng’s self-given courtesy name, Li Ming, has reminded this servant of a person I had not seen for quite some time, thus reminding me of this matter” Yu Pen said.

“You were only purchased two months ago,” Empress Wunan said,” Considering this, could Li Ming be someone you had known in your past life?”

“Indeed,” Yu Pen said, but did not explain further.

Empress Wunan shook her head, denying Yu Pen.

Yu Pen responded with a slight smile, before continuing massaging Empress Wunan. Though her actions appeared slightly clumsy, Empress Wunan still seemed rather satisfied.