In Jianzhang Palace, only the Empress and Jiang Xian remained.
By rank, a Noble Lady was not permitted to sit in the Empress's presence without a specific grant of grace. Jiang Xian was about to rise, but she heard the Empress say from the seat of honor, "It's fine. Stay seated."
The Empress's voice was gentle, her tone calm and steady. It held an ease that came with age, and… the exhaustion of someone with one foot in the grave. 'But the Emperor is only twenty-five, and the Empress is even younger. She's just a young woman—in the modern world, she'd be a recent graduate. Yet she sounds like she's in her twilight years. It's as if a demon that feeds on human life force resides in Jianzhang Palace, sucking her dry.'
Jiang Xian didn't sit fully, but perched on the edge of the seat, with half her body angled off.
The other half of her body was suspended in the air. It wasn't a problem for her. 'I'll just treat it as holding a horse stance.'
