The food in the palace must be varied and complex, but the frizzy hamster's breakfast is simple, so let her be.

"I want to eat, I want to eat." Shen Jiao asked, rummaging through the white jade bowl, "Why did Your Majesty suddenly bring this up?"

Ji Yan served her some food: "You're not a secret guard or assassin. If you like me, I should naturally give you a title."

Shen Jiao felt something was amiss: "But why the Empress? Shouldn't it be a concubine who tests the waters? There needs to be a process for promotion, right?"

"The process doesn't matter, the ending is the same."

Ji Yan lowered her eyes: "There will be no other women in the palace in the future. It is very troublesome to write imperial edicts to be promoted step by step. Anyway, you will eventually sit in the position of empress, so there is no need to care about the details."

"How could the ministers agree to something so casual?" Shen Jiao asked anxiously, biting her spoon.

Ji Yan subconsciously wanted to say that no one dared to disobey her decision, but she saw that Ji Yan seemed genuinely worried.

He explained, “I am not interested in women. The Great Yan dynasty cannot be without a successor. If I were a wise ruler, those old fogies would do everything they could to stop me. Unfortunately, I am a tyrant. They should be thanking their lucky stars if there is even one living person in the harem. Besides, have you forgotten?”

"What?"

"Aren't you carrying the dragon's child?" Ji Yan asked.

"I had forgotten if Your Majesty hadn't mentioned it." Shen Jiao blushed at the mention of "dragon heir" and lowered her head to gulp down her porridge.

Ji Yan said in a calm voice, "If you weren't pregnant, it would be more troublesome to make you empress. But if it concerns the heir of the Great Yan dynasty, they would be unwilling but would not say it outright. In fact, they would do everything they could to protect you."

"But, but I didn't..." Shen Jiao was in a terrible predicament.

Lying may feel good for a moment, but if the tyrant isn't supportive, how can she possibly create babies on her own?

Ji Yan's eyes were deep: "That's not the point. The point is that I was shocked to realize that I had kept my longing hidden because it had already seeped into my bones."

His voice held a soft, alluring quality: "The important thing is..."

"Ji Yan likes Shen Jiao."