Jing He looked at the woman in surprise but his expression didn’t change much. This welcome gift was obviously for him personally. This was something he definitely hadn’t expected but it was a good thing. It meant that they had been looking forward to his arrival and were generally optimistic about his marrying their king.

At the same time though, it also sounded as if the dragons had been waiting for this wedding to happen for a long time which made him feel a little self-conscious. Did they feel that he had wasted their king’s time? Or could they forgive this based on the fact that he had been on a trial for three years and then also … well, disappeared, as far as they knew?

All those thoughts rushed through his head but he still reached out and took the box, once again inclining his head. “Thank you very much. I am glad the dragons are willing to welcome me both as a person and as their king’s spouse. I know that there are many differences between the gods and the dragons so I might make mistakes, especially in my first days and weeks here. I hope that everyone will be lenient with me while I learn more about this realm and its people and find my own place.”

Jing He inclined his head once more and then looked at the woman as a representative of everyone else. To his horror, she didn’t respond though and simply stared at him. Their surroundings had also fallen suspiciously quiet.

Had he … said something wrong?

Jing He tensed up and turned his head to look up at Qiu Ling, barely stabilizing his hands that wanted to start trembling under the pressure he felt. But if he dared to drop the welcome gift he had just been handed, it would be even more of an affront than whatever he had said wrong just now.

Qiu Ling blinked his eyes, also unsure what was happening. He felt that Jing He had said nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it was a bit too humble and not as straightforward as a dragon might have been but … everyone knew that he was a trueborn god. Why would they expect anything else?

He raised his brows but before he could ask, one of the people at the side finally couldn’t help but mumble.

“Heaven, his voice is so nice!”

In the silence all around, the originally quiet words sounded loud and clear to everyone. Some people nodded quietly, others murmured their agreement. Clearly, this was what everyone had thought.

Qiu Ling’s lips twitched and he looked in the direction of the person who had originally spoken. “That’s my husband. You go and find your own!” He hugged Jing He more tightly and then nudged him before the situation could get any more awkward. “Don’t you want to open the gift? Oh, do you need help with the lid?” Then, he hurriedly reached over and opened it himself, not wanting to give his people another moment to cause more embarrassment.

Jing He was still stunned by what had happened before. He had thought he had done something wrong but instead, it was something harmless like his voice being likable. For a moment, he couldn’t quite recover and hardly registered what Qiu Ling said. When his husband reached past him and opened the box, he reflexively looked down.

The box was wide but thin so he hadn’t been sure what to expect. What finally greeted him was a set of jewelry containing a necklace, a bracelet, a ring, a pair of earrings, and even a hairpin. He looked at it in a daze, his thoughts still not quite having caught up to him.

The woman rubbed her neck when he didn’t immediately say anything and cleared her throat with some embarrassment. “We figured that there would be a lot of things to explore after arriving in the dragon realm so we thought of presenting Your Majesty with a spatial item but after discussing it, we couldn’t quite agree on what object to make because we didn’t know what you would like. So, in the end, we just made one of everything we could think of. Your Majesty can just choose what you like best and ignore the rest.”

The man who was still standing next to her nodded fervently. “Yes, yes, it’s just some things extra. Your Majesty can choose whatever he likes. If nothing is to your satisfaction, it’s also alright, of course.” He glanced at their king, hoping that this would be alright. There hadn’t been much time since the Son of Heaven returned and there had been a whole wedding to prepare over in the Nine Heavens so they hadn’t dared to disturb him to ask about this. The advisers might have been free but … well, they had to deal with whatever government issues there were during the king’s absence so bothering about this also seemed like it should only be done as a last resort.

So, after discussing for a while, they finally decided to simply gift a whole set. This way, the likelihood that their king’s spouse would like one of the pieces would be much higher. Even if he didn’t, they could still apologize and try to make up for it. Surely, that should be alright.

Jing He was finally pulled out of his thoughts when the two of them spoke up and hurriedly shook his head. “No, no, it’s all very beautiful. I like it very much. Thank you for this generous gift. I will keep it well.”

Looking at the set, he indeed liked it. It was somewhat understated which was a lot in line with the aesthetics of the gods as if the dragons had specifically taken this into consideration. The body of each piece was made of gold with detailed engravings and smooth black stones inlaid between them. He couldn’t help but think of Qiu Ling’s dragon form when seeing the latter and that alone made him feel that this gift was perfect. Anyway, his welcome gift seemed to tie him to Qiu Ling. As they were married now, that only seemed right.