Chapter Text
Mo Ran exhaled as he decided that he had to move on to go to see off his former Empress to her death (Ah, the things he did for Chu Wanning); yet his lungs did not feel heavy, his chest did not feel overwhelmed. Mo Ran couldn’t remember the last time he truly felt like this.
The older man had risen before him and as Mo Ran scented the air, he seemed to be cooking something. From the burnt smell of it, it was the congee that Chu Wanning made that Mo Ran loved despite the fact that it was a bit too soggy. But Chu Wanning made it for him so he loved it.
“Ah, my dear wife is certainly good to this husband.” Mo Ran spoke dramatically as Chu Wanning walked closer to the bed, with the bowl of congee on a tray.
“You asked me for it last night.”
Mo Ran didn’t remember asking for it but he’d been having his memory pools these past days so he wouldn’t doubt it. “So my future Empress really does please his husband.”
Chu Wanning snorted as he handed the bowl of congee to Mo Ran who immediately proceed to scarf it down as though he had been starved for several days, Chu Wanning only looked at him with veiled amusement before he sat down next to Mo Ran, picking up the blanket that he had been embroidering for the past weeks and was only adding the finishing touches.
“It looks good, the pup will like it a lot.” Mo Ran mentioned as he finished his congee, placing it back on the floor.
“I hope they do, they all liked their blankets.” Chu Wanning muttered gently, Mo Ran leaned his forehead to touch the side of Chu Wanning’s head; inhaling the older’s haitang scent as though it were a drug. Chu Wanning did not tense in his arms, instead leaning back into the touch as he kept embroidering, Mo Ran felt himself rumble in delight at his omega’s actions; how he showed that he trusted his alpha with his bare throat in plain sight, how he trusted that Mo Ran wouldn’t hurt him for now.
(But I don’t want to hurt you anymore.)
“This Venerable One will come to see you later, we’ll have dinner together. This Venerable One will even cook for my dear wife.” Mo Ran crooned as he detached himself as slowly as he could from Chu Wanning’s lovely frame, the older slightly turning to look at him from the corner of his eye before he nodded.
“Alright, I’ll wait for you.” Chu Wanning nodded and Mo Ran smiled gently before he walked away towards the doors where Liu-gong was waiting outside for him with the rest of the retinue of his attendants.
Mo Ran made his way to his own chambers to take a bath and get changed, many of his attendants seemed easily startled by him but he was in a good mood today, even humming songs his mother used to sing when she was busking in the streets. He dressed himself in his second best robes, deciding that the outfit was appropriate enough for the lovely ceremony of executing his former Empress.
It would be a joyful event for Mo Ran but it would be private for only him and his first wife and later he would show off her corpse for everyone who thought that betraying him was a good idea, to see.
He made his way to Song Qiutong’s southern palace, smiling as he saw the heads and body parts of the ministers who had sided with her and organized the death of his children, impaled outside of her residence; as a reminder of how kind he had been to her despite the weight of her crime.
Mo Ran made the rest of his retinue stay outside, only being accompanied by the chess pieces who also carried the gu poison that would be used on Song Qiutong. As he entered, he noticed the absolute disarray her room was in which was odd but had to be expected since upon her immediate house arrest, Mo Ran stripped away her privileges and thus had taken away her servants making her last days very uncomfortable for someone who had gotten used to being served these last years.
“Your Majesty.” Song Qiutong bowed down in respect, not being stupid enough to call him by his name as he had once told her when he had been fooled by her beautiful face and the person she resembled. Shame, he wanted a reason to yell at her face.
"Ah Consort Song, you seem to be doing pretty well. This Venerable One hopes that you've enjoyed the lovely view he had set up for you." Song Qiutong flinched at the reminder of what awaited her outside.
"No need, Your Majesty. This One is certain that it must be quite lovely for His Highness to sing such high praise about it."
Such a neutral answer, Mo Ran thought as he sat down on one of the chairs in the room. Making sure that he could take a look at Song Qiutong's face as she took a glimpse every couple of seconds towards the chess piece that was holding the gu poison, delighting in the horrified expression on her beautiful and rotten face.
"This husband is glad my Consort is well and that she appreciates the gifts her husband has sent her. This husband has one final gift for my wife." Mo Ran gestured for the chess piece to bring the gu poison closer to the table, it was handed to Mo Ran who simply placed it in the space in the table between them.
"This is this husband's last gift, will my Consort take it?" Mo Ran said gently as though he were soothing her when they had first met, when he doted on her beyond comparison.
But she knew the real words behind the smile: drink it all or I'll shove it down your throat until you're dying from the pain of me breaking your jaw open.
Song Qiutong cried silent golden tears as she reached her hands slowly towards the bowl containing the poison, her hands trembling the entire time. She raised her large eyes to plead to Mo Ran one final time but the man simply smiled gently to coax her into drinking it.
Song Qiutong knew she would get no mercy whatsoever from this man, no matter what she did. The only mercy he would give would be to his new Empress not his old Empress.
She tried to drink the poison in one go but it was heavy and thick, the taste was bitter and rotten causing her to choke and cough. But she kept drinking, knowing that Mo Ran would shove what remained down her throat; it was his gift and she needed to appreciate it.
"Ah, Qiutong. Why are you crying? This Venerable One hasn't hurt you so why do you cry?" Mo Ran crooned mockingly as he thumbed her tears away. "Are you scared of dying? Is that it?"
She sat there in silence, feeling bile rise up her throat but refusing to vomit it out of fear.
"If you're so afraid of dying then you should've thought twice before betraying me. If you had a problem with me, you should've spoken to me first yet you killed my children instead." Cold had started seeping into her body as she started shaking, the effects of the poison were already starting in full swing since the dosage must've been high.
"I'm not harming one of my wives, I'm just punishing a common criminal. Because only a criminal would choose to harm a defenseless child." Mo Ran sneered as he saw her gasping for air before he gripped at her hair, throwing her down to the floor. "And that's what you did, Qiutong."
Song Qiutong wheezed as she felt the poison block her airways, blood had started to seep out of her nose and ears, she could feel the blood in her stomach rising to her mouth; the pain was excruciating, she didn't think she'd be able to stand the pain.
"I know you've been wondering who Consort Chu is, why I could favor them more than I favored you." Mo Ran spoke as though there wasn't a person dying in front of him. "Well that's easy, I'm more fond of them than I am of you."
Blood had started mixing with Song Qiutong's beautiful golden tears as her tear glands had started to bleed from the poison, she was scratching at her throat as though opening her air pipe with her own two hands would save her.
Nothing could save her while she was in the same room with Mo Ran.
"I think I favored Consort Chu more than you because I allowed them to have my children and they did such a good job at it. I fear that if you and I had had children, they would've been rotten little beasts, don't you think so?" Mo Ran spoke as though he were speaking about a cockroach and not his wife.
"Qiutong, I'll be kind to you and I'll let you know who the person you hated so much is; my Consort Chu is no other than my dearest Shizun." Mo Ran had crouched down to where she was kneeling on the floor due to the pain, he whispered the words in her ear with a gleeful smile on his face as though he had been waiting to say this for years. "Only four people know of this; Liu-gong, the Imperial Physician, This Venerable One, the Heavens and now, you. But the number will be back to four once you finally die. Why is this poison taking so long? You should be dead right now or could it be that your condition is allowing you to wait a little while longer."
Song Qiutong felt tears of rage and fear continue to fall down her face as Mo Ran tsked at her face before he patted her cheek condescendingly.
"I know that I had praised you for punishing Chu Wanning back then but now that he's the mother of my children, I realize that I'm angry over what you did as well." Mo Ran smiled as he heard Song Qiutong's heartbeat rise in what would be its final moments of life.
"Chu Wanning is my Consort Chu, he will be my Empress until the day we both die. Oh, and he's also pregnant with my child, this is why I decided to kill you but thinking about it, I would've done it sooner or later." Mo Ran sneered before he cupped her face with fake gentleness, knowing that she was right about to die.
"Qiutong, this husband will see you in hell. Wait for me there like a good wife should do." Song Qiutong's eyes, which had been glassy with tears and blood, were vacant, life had left those eyes which had once charmed and fooled him.
Once Mo Ran had confirmed she was dead, he dropped her head to fall with a resounding thunk onto the flood and wiped his hands as he walked outside the chambers, planning on having them burnt down and building some new Pavilion.
He turned to look at Liu-gong before he spoke. "Give Song Qiutong a traitor's funeral. And inform what remains of the court that Empress Chu is currently with child and that the coronation ceremony will occur after the birth."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
A man came dashing into the throne room as Mo Ran was holding court, he had over some ambassadors from the remaining sects trying to get some mercy from him. He wanted to kill at least half of them but Chu Wanning had convinced him not to, that it would be better to rule over them with a firm hand and to always remind them what their fate would be if they disobeyed him (the words like the Rufeng Sect had remained in the air unspoken by the two of them.)
"How dare you interrupt the Emperor's court hours?!" A minister spoke up as he pointed at the servant who was fidgeting under the scrutiny of the court ministers and the ambassadors.
"Forgive this lowly servant but Empress Chu is in labor." Mo Ran's head perked up at this, the hand that had been holding the handkerchief Chu Wanning had embroidered for him had now clenched onto the delicate fabric.
"How is the Empress?" Mo Ran spoke up with a firm voice.
"The Imperial Physician says that the labor will be long but that everything will be alright, she said to inform Your Majesty since Your Majesty had requested it so." Mo Ran nodded as he waved the man away, grateful that everything was going well.
"Now let's continue. Where were we? Ah yes, you were trying to convince This Venerable One into sparing you."
Once he had adjourned the court, Mo Ran found himself making his way as fast as possible to the Red Lotus Pavilion where the maids all fluttered around outside, knowing that they wouldn't be allowed entrance yet they still worried over their master. When they noticed that Mo Ran was there, they all bowed in reverence before Mo Ran simply moved inside. The room had the telltale scent of blood along with the strong cries of a baby with a powerful set of lungs, he could hear the murmurs of the Imperial Physician as she spoke to Chu Wanning who answered a beat later, he made his way to the bed where Chu Wanning was lying down on and Mo Ran's heart had risen to the back of his throat with worry.
Chu Wanning was pale, with sweat running down his temple, and oh- Mo Ran had never associated blood with Chu Wanning until now that he saw all the blood that the older had bled during the labor -I’m scared, Mo Ran noticed absently, scared of the idea of Chu Wanning dying, of him leaving me alone in this world- (if I had known that this happened to you everytime we had a child then I wouldn't have done it so many times. I wouldn't have risked losing you so many times.) His eyes opened slightly as they fixed themselves on Mo Ran, Chu Wanning gave him a gentle look before he walked closer to where the older lay, two small pink bundles wiggling next to Chu Wanning who gazed at them with love evident in his eyes.
How was I stupid enough to think that Chu Wanning cared for no one else but himself?
"Another pair of twins, Your Majesty. A son and a daughter as well, as healthy as they can be. Cons- Empress Chu has done well after such a long labor." The Imperial Physician spoke up as she finished checking up on Chu Wanning's pulse making sure that everything was alright along with checking that the man wasn't bleeding anymore and wasn't in risk of it happening once more. "Although Your Majesty, This Lowly One suggests that this be Empress Chu's final labor as his body would not be able to withstand another labor and the pup and Empress Chu would not be so lucky to both come out alive."
The alpha in Mo Ran was preening at the fact that Chu Wanning had given him more pups but it also felt angered at the suggestion of anything happening to Chu Wanning. Mo Ran nodded as he walked closer to the bed, next to Chu Wanning's side.
"Of course Imperial Physician Zhou. Wanning, these are our last pups and you had such good foresight to give This Venerable One another pair of twins; a Crown Prince and a little princess. As though you already knew this would be the last." Chu Wanning huffed as he bit back a smile, his haitang scent wafted in the air to comfort the twins and it had also managed to comfort Mo Ran who had been quite stressed.
"I need to embroider another blanket." Chu Wanning muttered dazedly to Mo Ran who hummed in agreement as he sat next to Chu Wanning to admire the wiggling bundles who had stopped their crying to instead admire the scents of their parents. "What flower do you think would be best?"
"You better, if not they'll think that you only love one of them more than the other. Tsk, tsk Shizun, playing favorites so soon. Maybe we're lucky that they're not both boys." Mo Ran replied playfully, his smile widening at the look of utter and complete heartbreak that made itself present in Chu Wanning's face at this. "But I believe that maybe plum blossoms would be good."
"But I don't. I love them both all the same." Chu Wanning was funny with his post labor hormones, it was as though his filter was nonexistent at that moment; all he cared about were his pups and to a certain degree, his mate.
"This Venerable One knows that you do." Mo Ran smiled in reply as he traced a finger along Chu Wanning's features, preening when Chu Wanning leaned into his touch. “And I’m certain the pups also know that very well, don’t dawdle on it for too long. You can embroider a new one, we’ll make them share this one for the meantime.”
Chu Wanning sat up on the bed, Mo Ran helping him to lean on the pillows before he picked up one of the pups, cradling it close to his chest.
Chu Wanning cradled the little prince before he handed him over to Mo Ran for him to scent his son. Mo Ran felt his heart swell at the little pup snuffling himself closer to his father’s chest. "His name is Mo Huan, from the character for happiness."
He picked up the little princess who had already started cooing at the smell of her mother and as most of their pups, preferred Chu Wanning more already from an early age. "Does Mo Ran want to name her? I had a name ready but if Mo Ran wants to give her a name, it would be good as well."
Mo Ran had never been present for his children's births before; instead he always received news since he was either campaigning or busy in court. By the time he arrived, Chu Wanning had already named them, not asking for his opinion and instead simply gave them good names. Not that he minded since Chu Wanning was better at picking names than he was. "Are you certain?"
At Chu Wanning's nod, Mo Ran looked over at his beautiful daughter who held Chu Wanning's finger in her grip tightly. "She's so beautiful…. How about Mo Jia?"
"From the character for 'auspicious and beautiful'?" Mo Ran nodded in reply, Chu Wanning looked satisfied at this before he looked down at their daughter, Mo Ran simply leaned down to kiss her forehead before he whispered. "Xiao Jia'er, be good. Always be good, be nice to your didi; don't let anyone hurt him."
As Mo Ran gazed at the twins, he could tell that they favored Chu Wanning a little bit more than they did him as their children always tended to do, he could only see his nose on them but he saw that Jia'er had a small beauty mark on the bottom of the corner of her right eye -that was in the same phoenix shape as Chu Wanning's and her brother's- and he could only think of the almost forgotten visage of his own mother who had a similar beauty mark as well on the exact place. Mo Ran recalled thinking that his mother’s beauty mark made her look more refined and gorgeous than many other women he had seen; to Mo Ran, his mother had been the most beautiful woman in existence but now, his daughters were also the most beautiful things in the world to him.
While A-Huan had one eye that was colored amethyst and the opposite eye was a dark brown, very similar to Chu Wanning’s. But his face was almost identical to his older sister's (by only 10 minutes), only the shade of his phoenix shaped eyes and the lack of a beauty mark differentiated him from his sister. They wouldn't be able to trick Mo Ran like A-Li and Yan'er did whenever one of them had actually screwed up since those two were identical.
He felt bitterness fill his mouth as he found himself wondering why haven’t the nursemaids brought Xiao-Yi and the twins? Xiao-Yi loves to see her siblings after the birth when he knew the exact reason as to why his eldest daughter wouldn’t come. His Xiao-Yi was buried in the crypt alongside her siblings, no longer breathing, to never see her parents again, to never brighten Mo Ran’s day ever again, to not coddle these new siblings that she would have (she loves being the eldest, she loves trying to carry them when her arms are too weak for it, she loves it and now she won't be able to love it anymore because she's gone and This Venerable One couldn't save her-)
All his children were perfect, his Wanning had given him perfect and beautiful children. While all that Mo Ran gave Chu Wanning was sorrow and pain.
A small voice in him whispered that that was always what he wanted to give Chu Wanning. That it had been what he deserved, Mo Ran found himself trying to suffocate that voice. Not anymore. Chu Wanning shall only know the good things that This Venerable One can give him.
The procession was long and bountiful, everyone watched as a palanquin made of gold and carried by chess pieces was brought into the Imperial Courtyard where many ministers, soldiers, servants and commoners stood waiting, their breaths held in their lungs, to be able to catch a glimpse of the Emperor's beloved Imperial Consort Chu who would now be promoted to Empress Chu.
Many of the people who stood in the courtyard had been waiting for this for many years: they all believed that the one person worthy of being Empress should be the person who had given birth to the Emperor's children, something that the previous Empress hadn't been able to do.
Yet some people felt bad for the now Empress Chu as they believed that the poor omega would suffer and soon wither away as soon as they became Empress to such a powerful and demanding alpha as Taxian Jun but having been the most favored Consort for so many years meant that they were capable of withstanding the Emperor.
The person inside the palanquin was helped out by a chess piece, a dainty and slender hand being helped out. The now Empress Chu stepped out of their palanquin dressing in a beautiful and intrinsic vermilion red ceremonial robe that complemented the Emperor’s black robes perfectly, the red robe was embroidered entirely with gold and small rubies along with pearls with a soaring phoenix flying across the back of the robes embroidered in golden thread, the arms were embroidered with haitang flowers along with some intrinsic patterns on the fabric; on the top of their head was a headpiece grand and beautiful made of gold and rubies, there were small haitang flowers made of the rubies while the phoenix was made from the gold.
Yet the Empress' face wasn't to be seen, instead wearing a dark scarlet red veil adorned with small jewels on the bottom half of their face covering their nose and mouth; only the piercing phoenix shaped eyes -adorned with small rubies to the corner of their eyes, tints of rouge and crushed gold were painted over their upper eyelids- were to be seen and those eyes only had a gaze reserved for the Emperor who stood at the top of the Imperial Courtyard, accompanied by his most trusted eunuch and the highest ranked minister who had made sure that the Empress' succession was swift and easy.
The Empress walked calmly and with so much grace, many thought they were seeing a goddess descend upon them to grant them all mercy and kindness, until they reached the Emperor. Bowing as low as they could due to the weight of the clothing and everything, the Emperor cupped the Empress' hands with his own and looked at them with devotion before he looked over to his subjects. "Greet your Empress!"
"Greetings to the Empress!" A large choir of voices repeated as they all bowed down to the new Empress.
"Wanning, let's proceed to the consummation already." Was all that Chu Wanning heard before his mouth had been trapped by another's lips, his body immediately melted at the overwhelming taste of Mo Ran's lips upon his own.
He had wanted to retort that they were already married and that there was no need for a consummation ceremony, that Chu Wanning had seven children as proof that their marriage had been consummated so many times already. But Chu Wanning always indulged Mo Ran a little bit too much as evidenced by the jade plug that was currently in his entrance. ("Wanning, do it for me. This Venerable One wants to come inside you whenever I want today, I'll make it feel good." The fingers had probed around Chu Wanning's wet and stretched out hole before he felt something thick being pushed inside him, his legs tried to close and avoid allowing the younger entrance to him -mostly out of embarrassment- but to no avail.)
Chu Wanning gasped as Mo Ran finally pulled away from his mouth, allowing the older man to finally take a breath. His slender fingers were gripping Mo Ran's robes tightly as the younger had proceeded to divest Chu Wanning of his elaborate robes, parting the red and gold robes without ripping it like he used to and exposing the beautiful canvas that was Chu Wanning's unmarred chest.
"Mo Ran-!" Mo Ran had latched his mouth onto one of the older man's nipples, suckling on it immediately as though he was one of the twins, wrapping his arms around Chu Wanning's waist to pull his mate closer to him so he could drink all the sweet milk that Chu Wanning hoarded and only gave to their children, never allowing him to get a taste.
"Wanning, it's not fair. How do you taste so sweet? And you don't want to share with This Venerable One?" Mo Ran teased as he twisted the swollen nipple, smiling at the sound of Chu Wanning's whimper at the light twist causing for what little milk remained to be squeezed out; Mo Ran traced his finger around it before he picked up the small beads of milk and brought it to his own mouth.
Chu Wanning looked up at him with a dazed look on his face, as though the older didn't know if he should simply faint from the pleasure or cry from it. Mo Ran grinded his hips against Chu Wanning's small cock that was red and leaking already. "Wanning, the taste of you got me like this. Shall I fuck you while I drink all your milk until I leave you dry and begging for it? Ah, I'll have to get a wetnurse for the twins, I don't want to share anymore; this is all mine now, understood Wanning?"
Mo Ran wasn't being that serious, he knew that Chu Wanning hated the idea of allowing wetnurses to feed their pups. The older man instead insisted on doing it himself despite his vulnerable health.
Chu Wanning's hands crumpled the sheets as he shook his head, Mo Ran smirked before he removed his hands from Chu Wanning's body to immediately take off his own heavy and embroidered robes. Once he was undressed, Mo Ran took himself in hand, already leaking and red, ready to pop a knot inside his favorite hole; he stroked himself as he teased Chu Wanning's hole that had been stretched from the jade plug that had been stretching him out during the entire ceremony.
"Wanning looked so good in his Empress' robes; I wish I could fuck you in them everyday. Maybe I should fuck you in them everyday? I'll have you dressed up and dolled up, just for me to ruck your robes up to your waist to fuck you and use you as my favorite cunt, all wet and dripping for me." Mo Ran started speaking in Chu Wanning's ear, delighting in the elder's squirming and bitten off moans, as he pressed his cock inside Chu Wanning, inch by inch while he also picked the elder's leg up and put it over his shoulder. "I'll call on you, the lovely and dear Empress Chu with a veil on your face because no one should glimpse at This Venerable One's wife's face; and then I'll fuck you in front of all those fuckers in court. I'll even let them look at your pretty swollen hole, filled to the brim with my cock and cum, so they can see how my Empress serves his Emperor so well; not only giving his Emperor an heir but also giving me such good pleasure. I think I'd like that very much."
At this point, Mo Ran had proceeded to start fucking aggressively inside Chu Wanning, feeling himself getting even harder at Chu Wanning's small 'ah, ah, ah!' whimpers from how hard Mo Ran fucked the older, the distinct squelching sounds of sex mixing in the air with Chu Wanning's sweet songs made for an unforgettable orchestra to Mo Ran.
"More, M-Mo Ran!" Chu Wanning pleaded as his walls clamped tightly around Mo Ran's cock, trying to keep him inside and only pressing up against the omega's sweet spot. His thighs were glistening with the shine of his slick that coated his thighs, along with some of Mo Ran's release from earlier that morning where he only came inside Chu Wanning's hole but hadn't been able to seek his pleasure inside the warm and pliant body that belonged to him. He still made Chu Wanning hold all of his cum inside of him for the entire ceremony as he wore the jade plug inside him to stretch Chu Wanning's slutty hole for Mo Ran to use.
"Ah, my Empress Chu. All mine, you're only mine, right?" Chu Wanning nodded as Mo Ran picked up the pace, causing Chu Wanning to tear up and scratch at Mo Ran's back who simply delighted in Chu Wanning marking him like this.
Chu Wanning shuddered as he came between them, Mo Ran popping his knot inside Chu Wanning as he still kept thrusting slowly but sure enough to drive Chu Wanning mad with overstimulation. Mo Ran soon came inside Chu Wanning, filling the elder up with his cum as he rubbed the elder's hip.
Mo Ran leaned over to kiss Chu Wanning's pliant mouth with a smile on his face.
"You really loved Niang, right father?" Mo Ran stopped in his musings as he heard his son's voice speak up from behind him.
Their youngest son and Taxian-Jun's heir, Prince Jianlong -Huan'er , the voice that sounded like Chu Wanning spoke up in an effort to remind him, he'll always be Huan'er to us, right Mo Ran? Chu Wanning had said this to him on the day that Huan'er was crowned and given his courtesy name- had spoken from his place next to Chu Wanning's coffin; he was dressed in white as he had arrived to replace his sister who had been kneeling by Chu Wanning's coffin for countless days, burning paper money for him and crying silent tears. His handsome face that had resembled both Chu Wanning and Mo Ran -mostly Chu Wanning- was pale, eyes red rimmed, tear marks stained his cheeks and hands were shaky as he burnt the paper money.
Huan'er had been away at a campaign when Chu Wanning had passed away, his son had received the news and had dropped everything in order to at least be there for his mother's funeral arrangements. The ministers hoped that Taxian Jun would scold him or what he did but Mo Ran couldn’t judge him, for he had done the same.
The entire Empire was in mourning over the death of the beloved Empress Chu who had passed away in his sleep, his weak and frail body had finally given out on him. Mo Ran had been away on a separate campaign down South. The person who had found him was a loyal maid to Chu Wanning who had immediately informed Jia'er who had been holding court for the commoners in her father's place.
("Please, let me through! I need to speak to the Grand Princess!" The head maid of Chu Wanning's palace argued with the guards who were blocking her path inside the throne room.
"You know that she's holding court, you know that she doesn't like being interrupted." One of the guards said softly, trying to avoid catching the Princess's eagle-like attention.
"I know all of that, I taught you all of that. I need to speak to her because it's about the Empress!" The Head Maid said exasperated as she tried shoving the guards to no avail.
"What about my Royal Mother? The Grand Princess Xiujia spoke firmly from her seat upon her father's throne, her regal and beautiful features were accentuated by the finery she wore on her head and the elaborate purple robes she wore on her person. The Princess was as dangerous as she was beautiful, she was more feared than her younger brother who was the Crown Prince; many considered that it was because she was an alpha like the Emperor himself while the Crown Prince had remained a beta. Many ministers had tried to arrange a marriage for the princess to be taken away in order to make sure that she couldn't intervene in the state affairs but her father refused the idea of marrying his only and beloved daughter away and to someone who might not even be worthy of his daughter's affections. It was said that it was because the princess reminded the Emperor so much of his dear mother who had passed away many many years ago. The Grand Princess, when she held court, she held it with an iron fist and no one could sow discord in front of her.
She reminded them too much of her father which of course, the court reasoned that the prince possessed Empress Chu's temperament while the princess possessed her father's temperament.
Xiujia (Jia'er, affectionately to her parents) often told her handmaidens that she just didn't tolerate other people's shit while her brother lulled them into a false sense of security before he ruined them completely.
"Your Highness." The head maid bowed before she looked up at the princess, being reminded when the princess would scream and ask her to kill a cockroach that was in her vicinity. "This is something that must be informed in private."
Xiujia lifted an eyebrow before she turned to look at the commoners who had made their way from Linyi, she smiled at them kindly. "This One asks for your forgiveness, please wait a while outside. I promise to try to aid you once I'm done with this affair."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" "Take your time, Your Highness, it concerns the Empress after all."
Once all the commoners had left, the guards had also gone outside to make sure that the commoners wouldn't argue. Xiujia stood from the throne and made her way down to her mother's maid, cupping the older woman's hands in her own.
"Auntie, did something happen to A-Niang?" Xiujia asked gently as she looked over at her with a gentle smile. "Is Niang refusing to eat? I can head over fast enough to make something to eat if he's not liking what the cook made for him."
"No, Your Highness. I beg your forgiveness for what I am about to say but the Empress Consort has passed away in his sleep. When I went to deliver his food, he had already passed. I came to inform you as soon as I could, no one knows but me."
Xiujia's grip on their joined hands faltered before she gripped them once more, blinking tears away; she couldn't cry, not now. Once she finished arranging her mother's funeral rites, could she cry; when her brother and father arrived, she could cry her heart out. "I need you to do me a favor, ask Liu-gong to summon all the ministers. I will finish court with these last commoners and I will go to Niang's side, I'll inform my brother and father of this."
Xiujia could feel her spiritual weapon seeking to lash out as she felt her heart be overcome with emotions. Tianwen had belonged to her Niang, but her Niang's spiritual core had been destroyed so Tianwen could no longer be used by him but her Niang was able to recall it long enough to pass ownership down to Xiujia. Tianwen felt emotions as swiftly as she did and it knew of the death of its previous master.
Once the guards reopened the doors, Xiujia had already sat down on the throne once more and plastered a smile on her face. She had aided the commoners with their issues, whether it were problems with ghosts or problems with the head of their province, for this last one she would personally go and whip them for abuse of power.
Once it was done, she was allowed a ké before she had to tell the ministers what happened; for this, she made two hummingbirds made of her spiritual energy, her fire core lit them a beautiful red glow. She licked her lips before she recorded the message they were to convey: "A-die, didi, I hate to be the bearer of bad news however I'm the only one who can right now. Niang passed away, in his sleep, I shall get started on the funeral rites as soon as I can. Please come home soon."
She knew that they wouldn't be able to drop the battlefield so easily but she was certain that her father would decimate the opposing forces once he heard her bird while her brother would leave his most trusted man in charge for the meantime.
Xiujia soon informed the court who had all expressed their mourning and wishes for the soul of the departed Empress Chu, once she announced the death of her mother formally. She made her way to the Red Lotus Pavilion to see her mother lying in the bed as though he were asleep after days of tinkering on his contraptions that Huan'er helped him with, he looked peaceful and undisturbed.
She cast a soft spell that would maintain her mother's body in its current state without allowing any decay, once the body was placed in the coffin from Kunlun could the spell be removed.
Xiujia kneeled in front of her mother's body and kowtowed once, twice, thrice and until she lost count of how many times she had kowtowed. Her knees were aching but she wouldn't get up.
She only stopped kowtowing when she heard her father storm in the Pavilion, she had never heard her father storm in the rooms so impetuously. He had always been respectful of her mother's chambers, where she and her brother had grown up, where her late elder siblings had been born and grew up in as well.
"Wanning." Her father, the indomitable TaXian-Jun, the strongest immortal of the era, was crying, body shaking like a child at the sight of his Empress, his wife, his one and only mate, lying so still in bed; there was not the sound of a third heartbeat in the room.
He turned to look down at Xiujia who was teary, knees shaking from kneeling for so long, he fell down to his knees to embrace his daughter. And in that moment, Xiujia was taken back to when she was only Jia'er, when she hadn't been given her formal name on their 15th birthday, when she could cry in her parents' arms over trivial things.
And it was as though a dam had broken.
Jia'er bawled as she latched onto her father, who was just as distraught as she was but he tried to comfort her, tried to calm her down to no avail whatsoever. She cried like a child, like how she cried when she accidentally burned Niang when practicing how to channel her spiritual energy but at that time, Niang had said that everything was alright, that the burn could be fixed with a simple salve.
Now she would never hear her mother tell her that it was okay again.)
"Well that's what it always looked like to me. Niang really loved you too, just that he never said it." Huan'er whispered as he kept his hands busy, a shaky smile present on his face as he looked to Chu Wanning's coffin -it was made in the same cool stone from Kunlun that preserved the body (Mo Ran couldn't imagine Chu Wanning's precious and ethereal face marred by maggots and decay; the man had barely aged from when Mo Ran had known him, it was as though he was blessed by the gods to never age and remain eternally young)-, soft smile souring.
"I-" Mo Ran started but silenced himself. He knew he loved Chu Wanning, just that he could never admit it to his mate before when he was still alive. After all that he had done to him, how could he be so bold to say that he loved him? Also would Chu Wanning love him back?
It had taken the birth of the twins for Mo Ran to convince Chu Wanning of finally marking him back under the guise of the fact that his Empress had to mark him back.
But Mo Ran knew better now almost twenty years later, he did love Chu Wanning; the love he had for Shi Mei had actually never felt like love to Mo Ran -now that he thought about it, it was instead a deep feeling of like, of caring- while this supposed hatred (you fucking idiot, are you even sure that it was hatred?) that he supposedly had for Chu Wanning eventually, with the passing of the years, had transitioned into love for Chu Wanning after all these years together. Now they were apart from each other.
"I think I never knew how much I loved him until you said it." Mo Ran sighed as he kneeled next to Huan'er on the floor, refusing to glimpse at the coffin containing Chu Wanning inside, instead looking around the funeral hall. "I….. I just knew that I always wanted him to be with me until I died. You know Huan'er, this father of yours always thought he'd die first yet here I am."
"Please refrain from speaking of death at times like this." Huan'er mumbled, reminding Mo Ran of Chu Wanning; Mo Ran leaned down to scent his son's head. He didn't do it often since his son was a grown man already and got embarrassed at the action of receiving affection but at the moment, he needed comfort.
And to be honest, Mo Ran himself needed comfort.
And the one person who gave him comfort without a doubt had passed away.
Life… what was life without Wanning? Wanning would never return then why would Mo Ran go on?
“Did you know, Chu-laoshi?” Mo Ran looked up to smile at Chu Wanning as he fiddled with the ancient cultivation manuals that Chu Wanning had found on his last research investigation -that Mo Ran was too sick to attend to so he was with Nangong Si and Shi Mingjing assisting him; he tried to get used to the fact that his preferred student wouldn’t attend-. The cultivation manuals had belonged to the era of Taxian-Jun, the strongest cultivator of his time despite his practice of the forbidden techniques but all that this succeeded was in managing to enthrone Taxian-Jun as the Emperor of the Cultivation and eventually the Mortal World as well, a title that he would be the first to wear and that it would be followed by his son and his son's children from then on.
Every modern age cultivator knew Taxian-Jun and they knew of the Imperial Family that followed after him; Chu Wanning’s student Mo Ran was actually a very very distant descendant of Taxian-Jun, it was noticed when the Imperial Family’s ancestral heavenly weapon had answered in response to Mo Ran’s presence at that time when they had visited the ancients Imperial Palace, the famed and feared Bu'gui had resonated with Mo Ran.
“Do I know what?” Chu Wanning asked gently, a soft smile on his face as he looked away from Mo Ran to arrange his files.
“They say that Taxian-Jun loved his Empress so much that when his Empress died, it was as though the Emperor had died.” Mo Rn whispered, voice wistful and gentle.
Everyone knew that; every living person on the world knew of the supposed love that Taxian-Jun beared for his dear Empress Chu -initially the Empress Chu was his second wife and his only Imperial Consort; everyone said that Taxian-Jun had married his first Empress as a show that he possessed the most beautiful omega in the land but that they held no love for each other and the Emperor’s true love was his Consort Chu who had given the Empire seven heirs and princesses, of which their youngest living son had become the second reigning Emperor whose reign was a more peaceful transition from his father’s reign.- But everyone also knew of the possessiveness that the Emperor had over his Empress; tales of how he had fed a foreign dignitary’s eyes to himself because he had made some snide remarks regarding the -at that time- Consort Chu, everyone knew stories on how no one knew what Empress Chu looked like because the Emperor refused to let others see the Empress’ beauty (many said that the Empress must’ve been a peerless beauty for Taxian-Jun to be so possessive over the omega), there were countless scriptures mentioning how Empress Chu was crowned as Empress with a veil covering the lower part of their face thus only allowing the crowd who had been present at the coronation ceremony to see the new Empress Consort’s eyes.
Many called Empress Chu a succubus who had tamed the Emperor with sex, as after the Empress was ascended to the position, did Taxian-Jun stop his constant intimidation of the remaining sects.
Of course, this was an offending action to those ministers and sycophants who quite enjoyed the sufferings of war as displayed by what remained of them once the Emperor had gotten tired of their insubordination and proceeded to kill them or exile them with the threat of death and annihilation of their family's.
To the common people that remained, Empress Chu was a holy saintess who had married to protect them; as once the Empress became the new main and only wife, did the Emperor’s government turn to favor the common people more than it did before. Most of the Emperor’s propositions came from the suggestions of Empress Chu.
It was evident that the strength displayed by Taxian-Jun and the gentleness of Empress Chu had bleeded out into their son who had ascended to the throne after his father’s death; Emperor Jianlong was strong on the battlefield -as was his older twin sister and only living sibling at the time, Regal Grand Princess Xiujia- and yet more gentle with his people as he became the second Emperor of the Cultivation World and the first Omega Emperor to rule it.
"I know." Chu Wanning nodded as he remembered reading the passage of TaXian-Jun mourning his Empress who had been with him since he made himself Emperor, when he started out cultivating.
He wished that someone would love him as much as the Emperor TaXian-Jun loved his Empress.
And he found that someone: it was his stubborn yet well meaning, smart Mo Ran.
"It's pretty obvious that one can tell the source of his heartbreak when you think of the place where he was found."
'The first Emperor of the Cultivation World TaXian-Jun was found dead, seemingly asleep as he had leaned on the coffin of his Empress Consort, he had spent his last moments most likely hoping that he could get a glimpse of his Empress Consort once he arrived to the Underworld to await his sentence.'
"Wanning?"
Chu Wanning bit back the retort asking where did 'Chu-laoshi' go but he turned to look at Mo Ran. "Yes?"
"I love you as much as TaXian-Jun loved his Empress Chu."
"I love you too, Mo Ran, but you better not be plucking people's eyeballs out of their eye sockets if they look at me."