Mr. Simmons was in charge of managing the entire Prince’s residence. It was indeed a high position to waste time escorting a mere pharmacist or officially, a perfumer, to the palace gates.

The outside was getting dark. The sunny morning weather was now overshadowed by heavy, dark clouds gathering.

“It looks like it’s going to rain in the afternoon; I should head back before that.”

Light rain would have been manageable, but in recent days, once it started raining, it poured heavily, hardly believable as winter rain. The thought of returning to the pharmacy in such a downpour was exhausting.

And there was a risk of catching a cold. It’s not good to get drenched in a downpour, no matter how healthy one is. Not wanting to waste more time sitting idly, I grabbed my bag and stood up.

“I won’t get lost, right? Just have to retrace the way I came.”

Of course, I arrived by carriage and passed through maze-like gardens, and walking between the high, wall-like trees could disorient anyone. But I couldn’t sit around forever waiting for the head servant to come.

“I’m a busy person too. I have a lot to do today… If I run into any servants on the way, I can ask them for directions.”

I set out intending to ask for directions if I met anyone, but finding someone to ask proved difficult.

“Has everyone gone to the official meeting?”

I hoped someone would appear as I got lost and continued to walk. The imperial garden, with its diverse plant life, was interesting, but the oppressive storm clouds made me quicken my pace.

“If I knew this would happen, I would’ve waited for Mr. Simmons to call a carriage. The palace is unnecessarily vast… Is it because it’s an empire?”

The imperial palace, being part of the empire, was indeed much larger than other kingdoms. The various buildings and large, complicated gardens contributed to my loss of direction.
I’ve never seen it myself, but I heard there’s even a village inside the palace. When the Empress longed for her hometown, the Emperor recreated an exact replica of her hometown within the imperial palace for her.

Every single stone on the street was perfectly replicated, and to mimic the appearance of the villagers, people were even hired to live there.

Simon’s story about shepherds, blacksmiths, farmers, restaurant owners, and even children playing in the village, all being paid workers, had my jaw dropping.

Still finding it hard to believe, I double-checked with Ian, and he nonchalantly nodded, confirming it.

“Mother missed her hometown, so His Majesty the Emperor personally had it built. Some buildings and trees were even directly brought from her hometown. There was a lot of opposition to bringing the sacred tree, but he pushed through with it.”

I was astonished.

I knew the Emperor didn’t take any concubines and deeply cherished only the Empress, but creating an entire village that resembled her hometown seemed excessive, even for an Emperor.

The sacred tree usually refers to the oldest and largest tree in a village, considered holy by the villagers.

Some believe that if the sacred tree becomes infested with insects or its leaves wither, it foretells calamity for the village. The faith that villagers have in the sacred tree is immense.

Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.

The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…

Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.

Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.

The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”

When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…

The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced