“Is His Majesty in the imperial study, Butler Zhao?” The Dowager Duchess asked immediately when she saw him.

“Yes, he is.” Zhao Qian approached her and helped the Dowager Duchess on behalf of Aunt Lan. “Is anything the matter, Dowager Duchess?”

The Dowager Duchess nodded. There was a grim look on her face. “Please let him know that I have something to tell him, Butler Zhao.”

Zhao Qian immediately led her to the imperial study when he heard this.

His Majesty respected the Dowager Duchess a great deal and there was no need to inform him of her arrival, which was why Zhao Qian did not bother with that formality.

The Dowager Duchess also had that in mind as she entered the imperial study without delay.

Long Yang was a little surprised to see her in his palace.

She would usually head to Grand Phoenix Palace to see the children and would not come to the imperial study.

He put down the brush in his hand and got up to welcome her. “What are you doing here, Grandmother?”

The Dowager Duchess unfolded the letter in her hand and passed it to him. “Have a look, Your Majesty. Is this Weiwei’s handwriting?”

Long Yang instantly went into a daze when he heard Weiwei’s name. There was an indescribable agitation in his eyes when he saw the clear writing on the paper. “Where did you get the letter from?”

“Lin Qingyuan sent someone to deliver it to me,” the Dowager Duchess informed him honestly. She pushed away the worry in her heart. “This letter from Weiwei took many routes to reach us and there are only a few words on the paper. It looks like she isn’t in a great situation. She must have sent the letter to the Lin Mansion because she is worried about her identity being revealed and subsequently being used against you, Your Majesty.”

Long Yang understood Weiwei’s concern the moment he read the words in the letter.

That girl was so silly. She was still worried about implicating him at such a time.

He clenched the letter in his hand. It took quite a lot of effort before his tone stabilized. “I still have some work to finish, Grandmother. You should go ahead and visit the children at Grand Phoenix Mansion.”

The Dowager Duchess knew what he was planning to do and sighed. “I still do not wish to see Your Majesty take the risk. Now that we know where exactly Weiwei is, it should be enough for you to send someone else to get her. You shouldn’t put yourself in danger.”

Before receiving Weiwei’s letter, Long Yang had already decided to head to the Yan Kingdom to look for her. However, he did not inform the Dowager Duchess about this. Now that he had received Weiwei’s letter, it made him even more anxious to leave. He knew the Dowager Duchess would stop him, so he thought about hiding it from her. However, the thought of his responsibilities in the Palace after leaving Great Shang and the need for his children to rely on the Dowager Duchess made him change his mind.

He looked the Dowager Duchess straight in the eye as he said determinedly, “There is no need to talk me out of it, Grandmother. I’ve already made the decision. I couldn’t leave before because I had too much work to handle, so I stopped myself from leaving, but now, how can I still call myself a husband when I know that Weiwei is in danger in the Yan Kingdom and I chose to look away? I believe that I have done enough for the people of this country and I do not owe them anything, but when it comes to my wife, I owe her everything.”

“The last time Weiwei was in labor, I allowed the Duchess to leave for the frontier. I placed Weiwei behind the country. If the Duchess had stayed back in the imperial capital, all of this wouldn’t have happened. Weiwei is my beloved wife and I would like to protect her, just like any ordinary man, and not place my family last every time.”

Long Yang’s words hit the Dowager Duchess right in the heart. She had so many retorts prepared to talk him out of this, but his reply stopped her from saying them. She could not say anything against him at all.

Weiwei was her granddaughter and, personally, she would like His Majesty to find her, but for the greater good, she had to talk him out of it.