Chapter 7 The Resignation
Three days remained until I had to reply to the Emperor.
The letter I sent to my father went by express rider.
I had half-joked that we should simply beat all three of his sons.
I was only teasing.
My father had old connections in the Astronomical Bureau.
All these years the Emperor had never matched our birth charts.
I knew he didn't truly want me as a daughter-in-law but couldn't find a good excuse to back out.
I waited and waited.
Instead of the Astronomical Bureau saying I carried the lone phoenix star, I received news that my father had resigned his commission.
Hundreds of thousands of troops.
He said he didn't want them anymore.
I was both angry and anxious.
My father had spent his whole life in the military camp.
What he couldn't bear to part with wasn't the military authority or the prestigious title of Protector General.
It was the iron armor he had worn for decades.
Soon after.
The Emperor summoned me to the palace.
All three of his sons were there, standing to one side, staring at me.
The Emperor asked, "Cui Qingyi, I told you to choose one of the three. Who do you pick?"
I kept my head lowered. "This subject daughter chooses none."
"Why not?"
It wasn't the Emperor asking.
It was all three of his sons speaking in unison.
I stayed silent. I couldn't be bothered with them.
The Emperor laughed once, then dismissed all three sons.