Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang finished the discussion quickly as he came up with a decision two minutes after leaving the meeting room. However, they did not come out of the room for twenty minutes. Zhang Mengyao and Li Shuang agreed with Tang Shaoyang's view to see the other vassals' reaction. They expected the other vassals would leave, at least more than half would leave. To their surprise, everyone was staying. The three men were still on the floor, only leaving three vacant seats. The other vassals were waiting for Australia's representatives' judgment.

Tang Shaoyang did not return to his seat, standing behind his original seat, "We have come to give you a new option. You can stay, but you no longer hold the same position. We will choose new people to manage Australia. If you can't accept it, then you can leave with your family."

Getting demoted was more lenient than getting kicked out of their land. It was for sure bitter at their end, but there was nothing they could do about it. It was much better than leaving into an unknown territory.

"Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty," The three representatives accepted their demotion. What mattered the most was the fact that they stayed instead of leaving the faction. The three realized that leaving The Tang Empire was impossible. They were too comfortable that The Tang Empire did not oversee them strictly. They thought they could get away by doing that with how loose The Tang Empire regulated the vassal. The cost for their foolish attempt was the demotion, and there was nothing they could do but accept it.

The meeting ended the three Australian representatives' demotion. No one protested with the result, and Tang Shaoyang could tell that the other vassals seemed to accept his decision to forgive the three representatives. While the meeting finished today, the matter was not entirely over. The vassals needed to report their details to create the sub-faction.

To Tang Shaoyang's relief, he did not need to meet them for the next meeting. The next meeting the vassals just needed to meet Li Shuang to proceed with the merger.

"We don't have anything more for today, right?" Tang Shaoyang asked the two girls to make sure he did not miss anything. He did not like the formal meeting, but it was his responsibility as The Emperor.

"Yup. That was the last meeting," Li Shuang nodded.

Tang Shaoyang kissed Zhang Mengyao and Li Shuang on the foreheads before he disappeared out of the door. The two girls shook their heads. It looked funny and cute from their perspective. They knew that Tang Shaoyang rushed to meet his daughter. He could not wait to play with his daughter.

*** ***

Tang Shaoyang arrived in front of his room and the door was opened. It was unusual that the door was opened. Not that he was concerned someone would come to harm his family because Origin would warn him first if that was the case. He stepped into the room and realized why the door was open, they had a guest, and it seemed they just arrived too.

Queen Alissa and the two escort Elven Elders came to visit. It was unexpected that she would come, never crossed his mind before that Alissa would be willing to visit. Elin and Delia were speaking to them, but they stopped in his presence.

"We greet, Your Majesty!" The two Elven Elders bowed before Alissa followed.

Tang Shaoyang acknowledged them with a nod and they got up as Elin came to him. She whispered to him, "Alissa wants to visit her mother. What do you think?"

Elinova never participated in the battle, she did not know what the battlefield looked like. However, she heard the story of Revalor's betrayal. That was quite a famous story after the war because Revalor killed the famous Elven King, Virion. She was quite concerned that Alissa might harm her mother or even the newborn, Tang Xiulan. Her concern was valid because she thought Alissa might think her mother was at fault for this tragedy to happen. Fortunately, Tang Shaoyang came back in time, and she let Tang Shaoyang make the decision for the visit.

"Is Ava awake?" Tang Shaoyang asked. Ava was sleeping when he left, and he experienced how hard having a baby was. His daughter would wake her mother every three hours to eat. There was a plus point of her daughter, she did not cry, but she always found a way to wake up her mother.

Elinova nodded because Tang Xiulan just finished her meal.

"Follow me," Tang Shaoyang motioned to Alissa, he sounded awkward when he talked to Alissa because he was still awkward around her.

Alissa followed her along with the two elders. There was no reason for him not to let Alissa visit her mother. However, not for the two elders, "Just Alissa. You two can wait here."

The two Elven Elders stumped for a moment, looking quite concerned. Alissa just waved her hand at them, signaling them to wait for her.

Tang Shaoyang and Alissa walked toward Ava's room. He opened the door, and Ava's face brightened for a moment, but then she was stunned to see who followed behind. Just like Tang Shaoyang, Ava did not expect her daughter to visit. In her mind, her daughter must hate her to the core since she was the cause of what happened to Virion, to their family.

 Ava's mouth opened a little as the two approached the bed. She was leaning against the headboard with Xiulan in her embrace. It seemed the baby noticed her mother's expression and followed where her mother looked.

Tang Xiulan saw the stranger, but she recognized Tang Shaoyang. She did not care about the stranger as she raised her tiny hands toward her father. The baby showed her intention clearly that she wanted her father to carry her.

Tang Shaoyang immediately forgot the awkwardness and rushed to get her lovely daughter. Her smile and puffed cheek made him forget everything. He just found out last night that his daughter loved to grab his index finger and thumb. He gave her a finger, and she immediately grabbed those two fingers while smiling at him.

He leaned to Ava and asked, "Do you want me to give you two rooms?" It was so awkward for him to stay in the room. It was better for him to give the mother and daughter a space just for both of them to talk. He felt like both needed that space.

Ava nodded, and Tang Shaoyang kissed her forehead before leaving the bedroom. No one was talking until the door closed. The sound door closing was the cue that both were alone in the bedroom. An awkward silence followed as no one spoke. Ava lowered her gaze, ashamed to meet her daughter's eyes.

It was Alissa the first one to move, approaching her mother on the bed. She sat close to her mother, without saying anything. She pulled her mother, hugged her tightly, and whispered, "You should not blame yourself for what happened, Mother."

Those words shocked Ava, but she felt a sting to hear those from her daughter. She did not feel good that her daughter did not blame her. It was just a sting and guilt hit her heart. She felt like she would feel better if her daughter blamed her for everything.

Alissa released the hug and held her mother's shoulders with a serious look on her face, "Now it's just the two of us in this family. Father and Arbane have made a wrong decision, and they will pay the price for what they have done. It will leave just two of us, and I wish you not to avoid me any longer, Mother. It's just the two of us, and I want us to support each other. You are the last pillar that I can rely on, Mother."

Ava stumped, did not know what to say to her daughter. She felt even guiltier after hearing those. Realizing she was the root of her daughter's misery and suffering. Tears flowed down her eyes, hugging her daughter, "I am sorry, Alissa. It's your Mother's fault. It's your stupid Mother who makes you suffer." She bawled as her tears wet Alissa's clothes.

Even though Alissa came with a resolve not to cry, she ended up crying. The daughter and mother cried for quite a while. They calmed down after a burst of emotion as Alissa slowly pushed her mother, wiping her tears.

"It's because of you, Mother. My clothes are wrinkled and wet, and my eyes are red. I can't show up like this because I am now a Queen," Alissa complained like a little kid, causing Ava to smile.

"What's my little sister's name, Mother?" Alissa changed the topic, "But don't misunderstand me, Mother. I accept her as my little sister, but it will take time for me to accept him into our family! Please don't force me to accept him." Him in her mouth was, of course, Tang Shaoyang. She could overlook Ava's mistake because she was her mother. However, it was different from Tang Shaoyang because Tang Shaoyang was no different than a stranger to her.

"I understand," Ava nodded, "Your sister's name is Tang Xiulan…."