Free Web NovelChapter 220: Starting a Family
“It sounds very complicated. In my town, weddings are something that you celebrate with your close friends and family in a simple way...” I mumbled.
“I’m sure that doesn’t apply if you marry a prince or if you’re becoming the next empress,” Ren said with a laugh.
“I guess you’re right...” I said with a nod of my head.
“Don’t worry too much. We’ll both have it easy until the day itself. If you’re not too picky, you can leave the preparation to the officials and the staff. They’ll get everything done and if you have any special requests, just let them know and they’ll figure it out,” Ren said before he patted my head.
I guess planning my own wedding was out of the question. I was sure that whatever the officials in charge had in mind would be very different to what I wanted. Recalling the minimal version of the wedding dress that Ren once made me wear to appear in court, I shuddered at the thought of the real wedding dress itself and the ceremony involved.
“I’ll leave it to them then. I don’t know much about this empire’s customs. I’m happy enough that we’re getting married,” I said.
“When we’re done with the wedding ceremony, you will officially become my wife. Although men of Darukai can have many women, they only have one official wife. Then when I become the next emperor, you will automatically become the empress because you are my wife. That is how it works here,” Ren explained.
“I see. That makes sense,” I mumbled as I took in this new piece of information. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Marrying Ren was something that I looked forward to. The same cannot be said about becoming the next empress. I mean, me as the empress?! The thought scares me so much that I just wanted to pass out to escape the burden of it all.
“Nervous?” Ren asked knowingly.
“Yes. Becoming the empress scares me...” I admitted truthfully.
“Don’t worry. You can’t do any worse than the current one,” Ren dismissed my worry with a laugh.
I really wanted to laugh along but I was too worried. However, I decided to focus on the present rather than worrying about the future. Right now, the dowager empress was right, I had to take care of my body and the baby that was growing inside of me.
... frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
**7 Years Later**
“Mother!”
I turned around to see my son running towards me. He’s grown up so much in such a short time. Sometimes I found it scary how time seemed to fly by so fast. The seasons came and went as time slipped by. Many things have changed in my life, but I was sure that it was all for the better. The one thing that hasn’t changed was the love that Ren and I shared. The only difference is that now we are sharing it with our children as well.
“You’re here quite early...” I said before smiling happily.
“The meeting ended early. Thankfully so...” Ren said before rolling his eyes.
For the past years since we’ve been married, the empire had prospered greatly under Ren’s reign and peace had become the norm. After the war in my town, there were a few small battles at the boarder for around half a year. Since then, the empire had been blessed with peace which allowed Ren and his official to focus on developing the land and the lives of the people.
At first when Ren took over as the emperor, he was excited because there were many things that he wanted to do. He had planned for years on how to improve the lives of the people while keeping the enemies surrounding our empire at bay. He led many projects and travelled quite a great deal in his first year as emperor. Thankfully, he made it back in time to be by my side when I gave birth to our first child.
Unfortunately, Ren didn’t get what he had desperately wished for. Our first child was a very healthy and energetic son. I bet that everyone in the empire rejoiced at the birth of our first son. He became the crown prince at birth and would continue the line of succession. It was a relief to all that the line of succession was successfully maintained. As for me, I was relieved to feel less pressure on me.
After the announcement of my pregnancy, the emperor and everyone else stressed me out with their discussion over the gender of my child. Although I knew that the gender of the child could not be controlled, I felt pressured to produce a son anyways. The only comfort I had if I gave birth to a daughter was that Ren would be delighted. Looking back, perhaps that was one of the reasons why Ren always told me that he wanted a daughter regardless of what other people may think.
“Are you done with work? You’ve been here all day again today,” Ren asked, and I knew that he wanted me to go back with him now.
“Yes, I’m done. Let’s head back,” I said as I grabbed my things.
After our wedding celebration and coronation, I had insisted on working at the hospital. Ren reluctantly gave his approval with the condition that Doctor Kai would be at me at all times. If the doctor deemed that I was unfit to work because it may cause harm to the royal baby, then I had to stop immediately. I worked until a week before my baby was due just to prove my point that pregnant women could work just fine.
Ren offered me his arm and I took it gladly. Ren’s other hand was busy now as he held our son’s hand. Rou, our eldest son, worships Ren like a god. Since he was young, he always seemed interested in Ren and everything that he did. When he could talk, he would call Ren’s name even when Ren wasn’t around. When he could walk, he would follow Ren everywhere. Now Rou spends his days following his father around all day long. They went to work together and at the end of the day, these two would come to the hospital to pick me up from work.
--To be continued...
