The woman stared at Jun Huang with a welcoming smile, but her eyes were derisive. She pushed past Jun Huang’s maid and hooked her arm around Jun Huang’s. “Since you’re here, you should join us.”

Jun Huang frowned. Her maid spoke up for her, “The consort may not know that my master is ill. She shouldn’t do anything extraneous. We’re going to - ”

“I’ll say she looks pretty good to me. And the weather is nice. It’ll be a shame for her to just leave. She’s not going to deny me, is she?” The woman had put on a convincing smile, but her eyes betrayed her true feelings. Jun Huang didn’t miss that. This consort was at least more patient than Consort Li.

The former honored consort would have scolded Jun Huang’s maid about proper palace etiquette already, while this one maintained a smile. If Jun Huang wasn’t as observant as she was,...