While his statement could be interpreted as a "taunt", it could also be interpreted more positively. It could be interpreted as him giving his majesty face by implying that he obviously knows the talent of the people within his circle. It's one of those games that seem to appear in stories like this.
@_immaweeb
A few months have passed. The blue lady is the (noble) mother of princess Jayang (another daughter of the Emperor), they both appear in chapter 1.
The courage of this brat to say to the King is, in essence, him saying "surely with your great wisdom as Emperor, you always knew your daughter was great, right?" The passive agressive sarcasm has me shookt.