News of the Emperor's intention to promote the Pure Consort to Noble Consort spread through the harem like wildfire.
No one was particularly surprised.
Some even remarked, "It's about time."
For years, the question of when Jiang Xian would be promoted to Noble Consort had felt like the story of *Throwing Boots*—everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now that it had, they could finally rest easy.
After all, a real-life promotion wasn't like a palace intrigue game where you just saw numbers change on a screen. While it was simple enough for low-ranking concubines, an investiture for someone of the Concubine rank or higher was a major hassle. A promotion to a rank above a consort, as revered as a Noble Consort, was practically a military campaign—the kind a stingier emperor would never want to approve.
As it turned out, the items needed for Jiang Xian's promotion to Noble Consort had long been prepared by the Imperial Household.
