Nan Feng was slightly taken aback, unsure of the Emperor's hidden motives.
However, since the Emperor asked her to leave, she gladly obliged.
Nan Feng quickly left, but after a few steps, she turned back to look at the Emperor one last time.
He sat silently in the forest, his gaze fixed on an unknown distance, the ultimate image of solitude.
Nan Feng found the Emperor more and more difficult to understand, but he did seem very lonely. He had a harem full of wives, yet they were subjects first, their relationship complicated by palace intrigue. There were things he couldn't say to his concubines and wives.
The only person he could share such confidences with was her, an outsider, like during the last flood control incident, and now, the selection of his concubines.
The Emperor had apologized, so Nan Feng hesitated, wondering whether to return and sit with him a little longer.
But then she thought to herself, what did his loneliness have to do with her?
...
