Free Web NovelChapter 222: Proud Achievements
My political influence changed again when I became pregnant with my second child and soon gave birth to another very healthy son. Having two sons for the emperor gave the entire empire confidence that the line of succession is secure. Despite Prince Kin’s women giving birth to a few sons as well at that point, it was clear that the line of succession will continue in Ren’s branch of the family, much to the dowager empress’s joy.
Strangely, I have developed an amicable relationship with the dowager empress over the years as she had taken much interest in her great grandchildren. Naturally, I was favored without needing to do anything much. Unfortunately, the dowager empress passed away from old age before she got to see the face of our third child.
To my utmost surprise and to many others’ jealousy, she had chosen to leave all her treasures to me so that I could distribute it to my children’s wives when they got married. I cried so much at her funeral that Ren had to step in and lead me away. I would never forget how this old lady stood up for me and saved my life that day in court.
When I gave birth to my third child who also turned out to be a very healthy son, everyone in court revered me like I was some goddess that had been sent to earth from above. I love all my children dearly; however, after two sons, I had to admit that I would have preferred my third child to be a daughter. Unfortunately, I wasn’t getting any younger and I knew that my body wasn’t as fit as it once was. I wasn’t sure if I could get pregnant again or deliver safely. Perhaps, the gods did not want me to have a daughter in this life.
“What are you doing? It’s so late already...” Ren asked as he peered over my shoulder curiously at the report that I was holding in my hand.
“See this, Ren. So many women have signed up to study medicine! So many!” I said excitedly as I waved the report in front of his face.
“You’re right. This is many more than the last rounds,” Ren said, sounding very impressed.
“I know, right? We have many women doctors now and we’re going to get many many more!” I cried out excitedly.
“Everything seems to be going well. Congratulations to you, Rin,” Ren said as he hugged me from behind.
“Thank you...for always supporting me, Ren,” I thanked him.
Three years after our marriage, I finally passed my examination to become a full-fledged royal doctor. Of course, it was a very big deal at the time for a woman to hold that qualification. I was the first woman in the entire empire who was qualified to take the examination and therefore, I was the only one who passed. Since then, women were officially allowed by law to study medicine. For the first time, jobs related to medicine became options for women to choose from for their career.
It became my project to work and promote this career path to the women in the empire. Everything started out small and at first the women were not interested because they feared working with men and they were unsure that women could accomplish such a feat. However, after education and persuasion, the number of women applying to study medicine increased sharply and has been steadily increasing since. So far, a handful have earned their royal doctor qualification and many more are in the progress of getting there. Needless to say, I am extremely proud of this change and how far we’ve come.
“It’s late. Let’s go to bed...” Ren said before placing a suggestive kiss on the side of my neck.
Even after many years of being married, Ren is still as active as ever in bedding me. As a result, we have our three children to show for it. Lately, I have decided that I probably didn’t want to have a fourth child and have secretly been very careful of timing my sexual activities with Ren to avoid pregnancy. My open discussion with many senior doctors finally revealed that if it was possible to time sexual activities to increase the chance of pregnancy, reversing that can lower the chances of pregnancy as well. freewebnøvel.coɱ
Of course, I wasn’t sure if explaining this to Ren would convince him to time his sexual activities. The bigger issue was that I still felt that Ren wanted to have more children. To my utmost surprise, Ren loves children a lot. He got more excited about my pregnancies than I did and always volunteers to spend time with the children by skipping out on some of his royal duties. Maybe he didn’t like the children a lot, but he hated some of his duties more?
Regardless, tonight wasn’t a safe night for us to do it...
“Ren...maybe we shouldn’t...for tonight...” I started protesting softly.
“Why? Are you feeling unwell?” Ren asked with apparent concern.
“That’s not really it...” I replied hesitantly.
Ren gave me a confused look and I knew that he was finding my behavior weird. It wasn’t usual or me to turn down his advances after all. Ren’s eyes were on my face, and I knew that he was waiting for me to explain myself. I wondered if he would be angry if I told him the truth, but it seemed like it was best for me to be honest with him.
“To be honest, I’m not so fond of the idea of having another baby...” I mumbled.
Ren seemed quite surprise at my words and then it seemed like he was thinking of something while I waited anxiously for his response.
“Is it because...you don’t want to become pregnant now that you’re busy with work?” Ren asked, offering his best guess.
I smiled a little at him, feeling thankful that he was trying to understand me.
“That too but...I didn’t want to say this but...I’m not as young as I was before. I think having three children is more than enough, don’t you think?” I asked in a small voice.
--To be continued...
