The side hall’s debris on the floor had been cleaned up. With a gloomy expression, he sat in his chair.
The imperial physician returned, entered the door on cue, and observed His Majesty hiding in the shadows. His heart constricted. In fact, he found it difficult to comprehend His Majesty’s ire and displeasure. The civil and military officials were all concerned since the emperor’s imperial harem was currently deserted. The news that Wen-gongzi was bearing the heir to the throne, in any case, was a matter of great rejoicing.
Could it be… Not the emperor’s heir?
The imperial physician trembled violently, fearing that he was entangled in secret palace affairs and that there was no hope of him achieving a peaceful end.
No, how could it be possible? If that wasn’t the emperor’s child, Wen-gongzi would have already been hauled out and bludgeoned to death.
The imperial physician shook as he approached to give a salute while reassuring himself in his head.
“How risky is the abortion pill?” Mu Zhan spoke immediately in a low, icy voice.
The imperial physician froze briefly, quickly dipped his head, gulped fearfully, and stated in a shaky voice, “…Replying to Your Majesty, after a woman consumes the pill, her body will be weak and has to be in recuperation for a while. It is even more difficult for a man…to carry a pregnancy. If the fetus is forcibly aborted, I fear…that it may be life-threatening.”
He stalled a few times and nearly fainted in the midst of his explanation.
Was His Majesty planning to kill his child with his own hands?
On second thought, it made sense for a tyrant in front of him to strike out at his heir after murdering his father and brothers to ascend to power. Would he be alive after this was over?
The imperial physician contemplated it deeply and became so lightheaded that he hurriedly pinched himself hard, jolting himself to consciousness with the pain.
Strangely, Mu Zhan was quiet. However, a few seconds were equivalent to a hundred years. The atmosphere in the hall was terribly oppressive, and the imperial physician, who was bending over, couldn’t breathe.
Finally, a low, regal voice was heard.
“With prenatal medicine, you must ensure it’s safe before administering it. If there’s a mishap, you won’t be needing that black gauze cap on your head along with your life.”
The imperial physician reflexively agreed to the decree. It took a few seconds before he reacted. A moment ago, he was going on about aborting the fetus, but how did it suddenly go to… miscarriage prevention?
The imperial physician couldn’t make heads or tails of His Majesty’s mind, so he just hurriedly carried out his orders. But he did not anticipate that this huge change of heart would not be the end of His Majesty’s transformation. The fact that the emperor would summon him and question him, with a countenance devoid of emotion, about the matters he needed to pay attention to in order to nurture the baby well, as if he were the one who was bearing it, astonished him even more.
After the imperial physician left, Mu Zhan stayed still in his seat for a long time.
Mu Zhan made up his mind.
He would not, under any circumstances, permit Wen Mingyu to leave. Since the child has to stay, from now on, he is the child’s other father. He would not reveal the truth to Wen Mingyu.
In the interim, he had to track down the bastard. Wen Mingyu had been going in and out with him since he got back from the autumn hunt; only these last few days, when he went to the Imperial College, did he not watch him with his own eyes. But doing so in such a short amount of time was impossible. According to the month of pregnancy, he deduced that the most likely cause was the times when Wen Mingyu ran away during the autumn hunt.
Mu Zhan’s eyes were suddenly filled with a murderous intent that was as terrifying as a malevolent ghost.
It was fortunate that Wen Mingyu didn’t have a vivid memory of such an event. He was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to accept it if he knew. How could he have a lover when he knew no one here at all.
It was his misunderstanding.
Mu Zhan didn’t head back to the main hall until he had calmed down.
He had just moved around the screen and was standing next to the bed when he noticed Wen Mingyu, who had a sleepy face, half-squinted eyes, and a lolling head sitting against the bed.
Upon seeing this, Mu Zhan’s heart relaxed slightly. He was always like this beside him.
“Why not lie down again?”
Wen Mingyu, sensing his pheromones, reached out and precisely gripped Mu Zhan’s sleeves while speaking in a sleepy, feathery voice, “Where have you been?”
Mu Zhan found that after becoming pregnant, he seemed to be more dependent on him. He was very clingy. When he walked away, he refused to fall asleep and stubbornly waited for someone to return.
Mu Zhan changed from being passive to taking the initiative. In a possessive gesture, he took hold of the hand gripping his sleeve and covered it with his own.
“Was just around the corner to take care of something. Resume your sleep, and this one will have someone go and grant you a time off for your afternoon class.”
“No more lectures?”
“Hm.”
Wen Mingyu, who was dazed and confused, obediently let him take his hand while rubbing his eyes with his other hand in an attempt to slightly rouse himself so that he could say the next question.
“Is Your Majesty unwilling to have this child?”
Mu Zhan’s feelings could be seen by Wen Mingyu. When asked who the child’s other father was, he, too, was at a loss for a moment, for he didn’t have the impression of being deeply marked. And yet, the child was real. This baby’s father could only be Mu Zhan and no one else, nor could there be anyone else.
Unless there was something he didn’t know from his incomplete physiology class, Wen Mingyu felt certain of it.
Mu Zhan didn’t respond right away.
Wen Mingyu pursed his lips, lowered his eyelashes, and slowly said, “It doesn’t matter if Your Majesty is unwilling. I can raise it on my own.”
Mu Zhan’s hold on his hand tightened immediately, and his voice had a hint of eagerness in it as he said, “No way. This one wants it—he’ll raise it!”
Wen Mingyu raised an uncertain gaze. “Really?”
Mu Zhan nodded. “This one never said he was unwilling. Don’t think foolish thoughts, and nurture the baby well.”
His face as he said this was a little stiff, clearly forcing himself to pretend that the discussion of abortion with the imperial physician in the side hall had never taken place earlier.
Finally, Wen Mingyu cracked a small smile, sweet and soft like a new bloom.
“Would Your Majesty like a touch?”
With that, he took Mu Zhan’s hand and put it on his belly.
Mu Zhan’s hand became rigid and immobile, as though he were in contact with a ticking time bomb.
Wen Mingyu, however, grinned and noticed, “I just felt them move.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Mu Zhan truly felt a little movement under his palm. Through the fabric, it bumped restlessly on his palm.
It was at this point that Mu Zhan truly became aware that Wen Mingyu had a new life in his belly and that they might have just kicked him.
… He is going to be a father.
ChiFu: The sex ed in my place is very lacking. I thought being kissed below the head of a girl would make one pregnant. I only know bits after reading some *cough* while I was around 13. I went straight to YouTube for a sex ed after that. One friend even apologized after she recommended a GL, not knowing it was filled with sexual scenes in the latter part. I already read it when she apologized hysterically, though. lmao
Anyway, I’m so careless. I forgot my necklace. I’m very upset TT it was such a beautiful silver necklace with a cute mechanism. I have it with me for 7 years.