My Sin

Pain

For the next month, this routine was followed. After work, the emperor would head to the empress's palace and soothe the especially sensitive empress during this time. The kids especially, Ruan'er made some progress on getting closer to her father but she was still a little closed off. The crown prince also compromised a little and exchanged one or two words with the emperor coldly for the sake of his mother who currently needed to rely on the emperor. 

The harem during this time was especially quiet. No one dared to raise a fuss after the incident with Heridtary Consort Cuifen. Noble Lady Shu especially seemed to have undergone changes. She no longer whined nor pretended the pitiful. Her new demeanor shocked those around her, especially the empress. He wondered what Noble Lady Shu had in stock for them.

As June ended and it was now July, the annual village visits from the royal family had to be fulfilled. The emperor, his family, and concubines had to go visit the villages. The empress was already in his last trimester and was currently nine months pregnant so going out wasn't an option anymore. He had to stay indoors most of the time and even morning greetings were not done anymore, not to mention him taking a carriage and riding all the way to the villages.

As the servants prepared the emperor to go, he looked very reluctant to leave. He had gotten used to his new routine and was even getting closer to the kids and the empress. Even if the emperor had been strict about the no romance stuff, he had still gotten close to him and started to actually feel like a family, but now he was suddenly going away he felt very reluctant to do so. But he knew better than to ignore his duty as the emperor, so this morning he, his concubines, and family members boarded the carriage and started making their way to the village.

Though the emperor was thinking so much about the empress, for the empress it was completely the opposite. He only saw the emperor as someone that could soothe his moods and the father of his children.  The routine did get him closer to the emperor in a sense where he no longer even held hatred against him, which showed that he had no leftover feelings for the emperor. 

He made up his mind to forgive the emperor for the sake of his kids. For them to have a father and a happy childhood, but that didn't mean that he would get into a romantic relationship with the emperor. Even though the dreams have been becoming clearer as each night goes back, and the fault of his suffering are slowly falling on someone else, he still didn't want to go back to the emperor. So he had been keeping the emperor in check the whole month he was staying here. But that shameless man just kept on clinging to him. He didn't even defend himself anymore when they had fought and just took all the blame. He had become so obedient that the empress barely had any faults to pick at anymore.

"Li Dani, prepare some peppermint tea for me please," The empress instructed as he slowly got up from the bed.

"Just seat, don't get up. I'll go make the tea right now," Li Dani responded. The empress's belly was big that it was scary now. He was in his last rimester with four kids inside of him, he could barely stand up now.

"Okay, I'll listen to you," The empress replied obediently with a smile. He knew that he really could not get up right now.

Seeing that the empress was seating down, Li Dani went to the living room to brew the tea. While the empress was waiting for the tea he felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen. It was so painful that he felt like he was going to pass out. He had been having contractions lately but they were incomparable to this current pain. As he was thinking about what it could be that caused him such pain, he felt water slowly trickle down his legs and unto the floor. 

His water broke.

"Li Dani! Call for the imperial physician! I am going into labor!" The empress yelled in a pained voice. He felt that this labor would be the most painful one.

Li Dani dropped the tea cups onto the ground and panicked a little before running to get the Chief Imperial physician and the best midwife in the empire whom they hired a month ago. The maids who were trained to help the empress during his labor immediately entered his chambers and prepared everything they needed for the labor. The empress's face was deathly pale and he kept on groaning in pain. The maid gently laid him down and tried to soothe him by wiping his forehead with a wet towel.

Not long after the imperial physician arrived along with the midwife. The imperial physician would seat inside the labor room behind a curtain while the midwife was aiding in delivery and would tell her when to administrate certain medicine.  Seeing that the labor was about to begin, Li Dani had them write to the emperor. It was already afternoon now and the empress should already be in Li Village which is about two hours away from the palace.

When the empress was three hours into his labor the emperor finally received the letter. The emperor who was talking to some of his subordinates was shocked by the letter and could only stand in a stupor for a moment. His subordinates were shocked by the emperor's behavior but when the emperor ran out and took the horse of his subordinate the subordinates thought that the emperor went crazy.

The emperor was shocked of course. He left the empress fine this morning the empress even had the strength to kick him off the bed when he hugged him this morning, but now he was suddenly in labor. The emperor was very scared of course. He saw how the normal labor of one child was difficult and his empress was about to birth four. He remembered the empress almost died during his first labor. He remembers seeing his pale face, and chapped lips. His disheveled hair along with his voice was hoarse from screaming in pain. His heart twisted at the thought. He needed to get there as soon as possible.