“I liked your painting a lot. I’m sorry that you didn’t get a better result.”

The woman inclined her head slowly but then shook it. “Thank you, Your Majesty, but it’s alright.”

Ye Yang hummed. She was probably thinking right now that he had some kind of hidden agenda. He’d better be careful about what he said and how. Otherwise, he wouldn’t get out of this what he wanted. He thought for a moment and looked over to where another landscape painting’s votes were counted. Judging by the stack of jade tokens, this one would do quite a bit better than hers.

Seeing this, he finally turned back to her. The crux of the matter should be focusing on the painting and art in general and avoiding asking anything personal about her as a person like the plague. Well, he could certainly do this.

He gave himself another moment to make sure he had it right before getting straight to what he wanted to know. “Our people tend to have a certain aesthetic. Your painting was very different from that which is what drew my eye. Can I ask … what was your inspiration for it?”

The woman looked at him, still seeming vaguely uneasy. “It … was something I saw at home.”

Ye Yang waited for a moment but, apparently, that was the extent of what she wanted to say. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed. So it had really been like that. He had been excited for nothing. Well, at least now he knew for sure. “I see.” He nodded faintly and then motioned away. “That was all I wanted to know. You can go.”

The woman sat next to him in a daze before she finally inclined her head and got to her feet. Then, she walked off but she did look back once as if she couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.

Ye Yang stayed where he was, not paying her any more attention. Inwardly, he felt depressed though. He had hoped that he had found someone who shared his thoughts on their race, someone who could be entrusted with a few tasks in the future and help him lead their people to a better tomorrow. Of course, that hope had been faint so he shouldn’t have clung to it but … he couldn’t help it.

There were so few things to look forward to that even the slightest hint of something positive made him willing to believe that there was a chance and pursue it, no matter how minuscule it was. Naturally, this also meant being disappointed more easily. He’d have to deal with that outcome by himself.

Ye Yang sighed and focused on the counting of the votes again. He couldn’t expose his feelings or who knew what it would lead to? Everyone had already been staring when he asked the woman over. If he now looked disappointed, he could imagine the stories that would fly all over the city by this evening.

Ye Yang tried his best but his people weren’t willing to give him that chance, it seemed. When the guards finished counting the votes for the landscape painting, it couldn’t beat the one of the city street and was carried back inside. The one that was carried outside afterward …

Ye Yang’s lips twitched when he saw it. Wasn’t that a depiction of a battle scene? And was the person with flying hair and robes, pointing a sword at the sky with lightning striking all around them … him? He had seen all the paintings several times before and he was naturally aware that someone had tried this kind of thing to get an advantage. He had also feared that the people voting would see this, believe it was a good idea, and join right in, voting for this one very vocally so everyone knew what they were doing. He wouldn’t have thought that the difference it caused would be that big though.

The jade tokens on the desk in front of the guard soon piled up. Especially shortly after the painting he had voted for, the difference was obvious. Several hundred were counted in just two or three minutes and there were still more to come. Their people … really were a hopeless case.

The crowd standing around looked at the painting and then looked at the king sitting close by. This time, he didn’t manage to clean up his expression fast enough so they saw a trace of … something flash by. It seemed … their king didn’t like them sucking up to him? Oh, that should be taken into consideration going forward.

Those among them who had voted for this painting and indeed made it clear on the spot that they had done so because it clearly depicted their newly crowned king in all his glory and splendor … suddenly felt like slinking away. They really regretted not having voted for something else like that boring landscape painting he liked, for example.

Although … who were they kidding? If they hadn’t voted for the depiction of the battle scene, they definitely would have voted for the portrait of the previous king, Jin Ling. After all, wasn’t it said that their current king had pursued him for some time? Surely, there was some passion left that could have been appealed to.

Who could have thought that their king would choose the most boring painting in the building? They actually feared that this wasn’t his actual choice but a front to keep them guessing. Surely, he couldn’t actually like that thing. Come to think of it, he had asked the painter over and talked to her when she came out even though her painting had clearly lost by a large margin. Maybe he had voted for that painting not because of the painting itself but because he knew who the painter was and had some designs on her?

To them, it didn’t seem impossible. Anyway, which demon king hadn’t had a harem of at least dozens of beauties? Well, apart from the unlucky ones like Yong Hai who didn’t make it for even a day in their new position. Anyway, their new king had nobody yet so it stood to reason that he should be looking for those who struck his fancy. It totally wasn’t impossible that he was using this competition as an opportunity to do so. Yes, surely, that had to be it. Otherwise, his aesthetics couldn’t be so bad.