A Pharaoh and Her Beloved Queen - Chapter 27

Her soft, black curly hair was swept to both sides by a moon-white gemstone head-chain, falling against her neck and making her skin appear even more porcelain and well-proportioned.

The elegant white robe with gold trim perfectly outlined Ye Zhiqing’s graceful figure; every movement she made was full of charm.

Lamassu’s eyes overflowed with amazement. “Miss, you are so beautiful. No wonder the King dotes on you so much.”

The Hall of Khonsu sits opposite the Pharaoh’s Palace of Ra and is by default the palace of the Egyptian Queen. Lamassu had entered the palace as a child and had never seen the Queen care so much for anyone.

Ye Zhiqing simply smiled at this remark, offering no comment.

Since that day, Edith had again been nowhere to be seen for several days. As the “Opet Festival” drew nearer, everyone in the palace seemed to become busy, rushing in and out with quick steps every day.

In recent days, even the usually leisurely Ye Zhiqing had begun to get busy, spending her days trying on jewelry and makeup to prepare for the upcoming grand festival.

The Opet Festival is held annually during the flood season when the Nile reaches its peak. At this time, farmers are idle, and boats can navigate the Nile and its various canals without effort.

Three sacred barques, carrying the god Amun, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu, departed from the Karnak Temple. They wound through the city’s canals past the Luxor Temple toward the outskirts, finally reaching the Mortuary Temple outside the city. After resting for the night, they would return to Karnak the following day.

The riverbanks were lined with devout and enthusiastic cheers as people prayed and prostrated themselves before the sacred barques. The bright golden sunlight spilled over the ships, which were decorated everywhere with gold. According to Egyptian history, the gold used to decorate the ships alone weighed four or five tons, so they had to be towed along. It was a magnificent sight—now witnessed firsthand, it was an incomparable, shocking experience.

Towed to the edge of the Nile, the three sacred barques moved side-by-side once they entered the main channel, sailing upstream.

Edith stood at the highest point at the front of the central barque. Ye Zhiqing, the Hittite delegation, and the Egyptian nobility were on the ship to the right, while the temple officials were all on the ship to the left.

Sacred and solemn, Edith looked like a cluster of blazing golden flames—dazzling, eye-catching, and majestic.

Ye Zhiqing remained silent throughout the journey, her gaze fixed constantly on Edith. The statues of the gods on the sacred barques had merciful gazes, imbued with various emotions such as praise, hope, fear, and lament; they stood clustered behind Edith with their heads slightly lowered.

That deep, vast gaze made one instinctively feel a sense of reverence and awe from the bottom of their heart.

All living beings seemed to prostrate themselves at Edith’s feet, as she calmly accepted the awestruck gazes of the people.

Ye Zhiqing didn’t know why an indescribable, complex emotion suddenly welled up in her heart. She could clearly feel that Edith’s attitude toward her was diametrically opposed to her treatment of anyone else.

The tenderness belonging solely to the Queen of Egypt was too precious, as if it were all given to her alone. Unknowingly, their transactional relationship had already taken on a different flavor.

Ye Zhiqing’s dazed state fell entirely into the eyes of Manefertiti to her side. Unlike King Narmer, who was intently watching the grand ceremony, Manefertiti’s focus was clearly on Ye Zhiqing.

With a little effort, it wasn’t hard to discover the extraordinary qualities of the Queen of Punt, which clearly made Manefertiti even more curious about her.

What exactly was the reason that made Ye Zhiqing willing to stay by the Egyptian Queen’s side?

Sensing the unidentified emotions swirling in Ye Zhiqing’s eyes, Manefertiti’s eyelashes trembled slightly. In her view, Edith was too dominant and entirely lacked romantic sentiment, yet looking at the current situation, it seemed Ye Zhiqing had already fallen for the Egyptian Queen without realizing it.

At this thought, Manefertiti frowned. If she could find the reason Ye Zhiqing was willing to stay in Egypt, she would have a chance to take her back to the Hittite Empire. The knowledge Ye Zhiqing possessed was enough to tempt her and make her willing to take a risk.

But if it was because of “love,” the matter would clearly be a bit troublesome. Turning her thoughts to Heshi, who was wholeheartedly loyal to Edith, Manefertiti felt a headache, and the gentle smile on her face dimmed a few shades because of it.

Suddenly, bursts of exclamations erupted from the crowd, drawing everyone’s attention.

Taking advantage of this gap, Edith’s gaze seemed to pass inadvertently over the sacred barque to the right, meeting Ye Zhiqing’s eyes for an instant. A stray spark of warmth welled up in her heart, slowly filling her entire body.

On the sacred barque to the left, a hazy golden halo hovered in the air, and Saul stood before that glow. As obscure and mysterious incantations fell from his lips, the light grew even more intense.

Saul’s voice, clean and clear as his appearance, was not loud, yet it miraculously echoed clearly in everyone’s ears. For a moment, it felt as if they were receiving a blessing from the gods.

This was a strange sight that surpassed Ye Zhiqing’s understanding. In the next second, the scene she witnessed again rapidly overturned her original worldview.

The golden halo hovering in the air floated upward, gradually dispersing into the appearance of fine golden sand, swirling and dancing in the sky. As time passed, the scattered golden points of light could be seen converging into the patterns of stars.

Finally, they dissipated again in an instant, reassembling into a light-and-shadow image of a document suspended in the air.

Golden flowing light flashed within it. Saul’s transcendent, otherworldly posture remained unchanged from beginning to end. Suddenly, the light-shadow expanded; looking again, a golden object in the shape of an obelisk hung in the air, before slowly falling into Saul’s hands.

Forming a complex hand seal, Saul bowed toward Edith from afar. At the same time, cheers that shook the heavens rang out, continuing without end.

Ye Zhiqing could feel the blood in her body vibrating violently. Her black eyes stared unblinkingly at the golden object in Saul’s hands.

As the halo faded, Ye Zhiqing could see the golden object in Saul’s hand very clearly. It had a very special golden hue, identical to the scepter that had brought her to this different world.

It did not have the cold, hard luster of metal, but rather a jade-like glow—extremely rare and special.

It was exactly like the golden object in Saul’s hand.

In a state of shock, Ye Zhiqing did not recover her senses for a long time. She had originally thought Ancient Egyptian myths were merely legends, but seeing this today with her own eyes overturned all her past perceptions.

Her arrival in this world was already a phenomenon that could not be explained by modern science; combined with what she saw today, Ye Zhiqing had to admit the existence of powers beyond nature.