Fu Min and Fu Heng followed Qiu Ling and Jing He, standing together with the other advisers. Anyway, it was very likely their king might have further instructions in regard to how he wanted to deal with this matter.

Qiu Ling indeed had something like that in mind. When he originally took on his dragon form, he didn’t think that much. The main idea was that he didn’t want to hide any longer and wanted to be true to himself now that he had attained what he was looking forward to the most. As king of the dragon race, he didn’t have the liberty of just casually making decisions and then not following up on it though. Thus, they had to plan how to go forward with this. Just … maybe not now.

“We’ll talk in detail tomorrow. For now, just keep an eye on things in general but especially the people who were at the ceremony in the Nine Heavens today.” Saying so, he turned to look at An Bai. “You’re the closest to the scholars so take some time to speak to them. I suspect their reaction will be more … moderate than that of the generals but it can’t hurt to follow up on this.”

An Bai inclined his head. “I’ll do that. Apart from that, what about the half-bloods? They’re very concerned about Your Majesty’s situation.”

Qiu Ling smiled. Even though he couldn’t be called close to the half-bloods, he understood their feelings very well, having been in their situation once. “Tell them that I’ll speak to them as well. I suppose … tomorrow evening might work? Or maybe the morning of the day after tomorrow?”

An Bai gave a hum. “I’ll tell them there will be discussion but leave the specific time open. We should decide that based on the situation with General Min Jun and the scholars.” After all, the people who were likely to react badly had to be dealt with first. Otherwise, it would only leave potential issues for the future.

“Very well.” Qiu Ling wasn’t too particular about this. In fact, he hated that there were so many things to do this soon after his wedding. If he hadn’t been overcome by emotion this morning, he definitely would have waited to expose this truth so he could enjoy his time with Jing He for longer. Now, he’d have to leave his beloved alone in the short future to deal with all these people. It was a downright sin!

He sighed deeply and looked at the person he was still tightly holding in his arms. Jing He was also looking up at him at this moment, his dark eyes focused. It was a kind of look that was especially hard to resist.

Qiu Ling stared back and was of half a mind to lean in and kiss him but held back at the last moment. His beloved was timid. Showing such a public display of affection — while alright during the ceremony earlier — would certainly be seen as outrageous under normal circumstances. In the end, he could only hold back again and remind himself that they’d soon have all the time in the world to be as close as they desired.

Qiu Ling averted his eyes with difficulty, feeling that looking at Jing He truly wasn’t helping his self-restraint. His gaze instead brushed over the expressions of his six advisers and his smile was restored at once. None of them cared about his heritage and they were all helping him deal with this issue now. He truly was blessed.

“Thank you.” He had troubled them a lot in the past and even though he had started to make up for it recently, that could hardly be enough. “I know it has not always been easy on you. Being my advisers, I mean. So thank you for standing with me through all this time and thank you especially for doing so despite my blood and despite the trouble I caused you today. It’s my luck to have found you during these years. I truly made the right choice with each of you.”

Qiu Ling rarely mentioned these things to them so receiving such words was precious to each of them.

Fu Min who had been struggling with not having figured out his king’s secret while An Bai and Xiang Yong had calmed down at this time. His husband rubbed his back, naturally understanding what went through his mind.

Xiang Yong who had been the only one who approached Qiu Ling himself to become an adviser, wanting to repay him for the life-saving grace from his childhood, felt that his wish had truly been fulfilled now. Even though he had long since been an adviser and knew that he had done good work throughout all these years, receiving his king’s sincere gratitude was still different.

Next to him, An Bai simply lowered his head. He had doubted whether this was the right path for himself but he didn’t regret having stayed on. While there might have been difficulties in the past, it was all worth it being able to serve his king as he was now. He could see the future of the dragon realm clearly and he knew that if their king continued on the path he was on now, it would only become better and better. That was worth all the past troubles.

Yi Zan and Qiang Wei had always done what they could but neither of them had skills as specialized as the others so they couldn’t help but sometimes feel that they were less suited to this position than the others. Having been given the task of guarding His Highness’s body during the trial had finally made them feel that maybe they had thought too much and hearing these words of thanks that were addressed to all of them reinforced this realization.

They all gave their own thanks and then watched as the king led his husband over to where their families were waiting before all going to take care of their own tasks.