The Legend of Moonflower

Chapter 27 - Loss and Betrayal

A/N: This is not an easy chapter to read.  Please be kind to yourself.  You can check the author's notes at the end for warnings and spoilers.

Chapter 27

Lan Wangji replayed the scenario in his head. He arrived in the courtyard to see Su She in his wolf form lunging towards Wei Ying. Immediately shifting, he managed to pull the wolf off of Wei Ying. His wolf commanded Su She's wolf to submit and to his surprise the omega did not and instead he became even more aggressive. In the end, he had no choice but to kill the nobleman. He felt regretful at the time, but with what happened after, he would kill the nobleman again a hundred times over.

His wolf wept. Lan Wangji closed his eyes to quell the sorrow erupting within him. He reminded himself that Wei Ying was still alive and would recover even as he mourned the loss of their unborn pup. He tried to listen carefully even as every cell in his body wanted to return to Wei Ying's side and hold him until he was awake.

An explanation would need to be given to Duke Su and an announcement would need to be made before rumours were circulated on why the emperor had so viciously torn out the throat of a harem omega. His royal brother and the royal dowager had come to support him and sort out the situation.

"I met Nobleman Minshan on the way to the sparring arena," Concubine Zizhen said, giving an account of what transpired. "He had a plate of lotus pastries and wanted to give them to the first attendant."

"Why did he want to bring pastries to First Attendant Wuxian?" Zewu Wang asked. "It did not seem to me that the nobleman was close with the first attendant."

Lan Wangji wondered the same and now looking at how unsurprised the empress dowager looked at Ouyang Zizhen's words, he knew his royal mother must had some hand in it. "Perhaps royal mother knows the reason?"

The empress dowager nodded his head. "I asked Nobleman Minshan to help teach the first attendant to be a proper harem omega."

Lan Wangji's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Nobleman Minshan did say the lotus pastries were a peace offering," Ouyang Zizhen interjected. He glanced between the emperor and the empress dowager.

"What happened next?" Zewu Wang said quickly.

Lan Wangji shifted in his seat, trying to calm himself. It seemed his brother recognized he was on the edge of erupting in anger and was trying to keep him focused.

"The nobleman seemed to get more agitated the more we spoke. One minute I was telling him how the first attendant was going to teach me how to improve my archery skills, and the next minute he was behaving erratically. So much so that he accidentally startled the servant that was carrying the pastries and she dropped them to the ground," Zizhen explained. "The next thing I knew he was attacking me with his sword. He killed the servant that tried to stop him and then a few more that didn't get out of the way in time. He hit me in the chest and that's when I got injured."

Zewu Wang gestured for Ouyang Zizhen to continue when he paused.

"I called for the guards, but I guess there were none in the vicinity," Zizhen said, frowning. "That's when I noticed that the nobleman was going to shift into his wolf form. I warned him that turning in the palace meant death, but he didn't listen. It was as if he had gone crazy and couldn't hear me. I couldn't get up fast enough to run away. I just got to my feet, but his wolf was already lunging. It was at that moment that First Attendant Wuxian pushed me out of the way and saved my life." The concubine wiped a tear that slid down his face. "He saved my life, but lost the baby."

Lan Zhan was surprised to see his royal mother bow his head sadly. Although if he really thought about it, the empress dowager had once suffered through the loss of his own child. Wei Ying's loss must have reminded the omega dowager of his own.