The Ant Woman Ch. 12

Wen was almost disturbed when she was refused at the gates of the Plum Aroma Palace. The maid had said the Empress Dowager would no longer see her.

That old woman was angry.

Wen thought she knew why.

Touching her belly, Wen turned a bit to leave, but then she saw, of all people, the Empress Consort and a Seed Consort approaching. Or rather, the eunuchs approached while carrying the women in sedan chairs and the favored maids kept up.

Seed Consort Miseo was a decently tall, graceful elven woman known for her dancing. She was the mother of one of the Emperor's daughters. Her black hair was in a tower of buns, the biggest at the base on the back of her head and the smallest a few inches from the top of her head. Her face was a gentle heart shape. Her nose was a little long but it was also straight and firm. Her lips were sharp and wide. Her eyes were a sweet violet color, tapered and upturned.

The yellow embroidery on Seed Consort Miseo's voluminous coat was unusually bright in the late winter air as she elegantly stepped down from her sedan chair. Loops of golden chains with little beads were draped over her buns and forehead, framing the symbols pasted there. As Wen and her maid knelt before the women, she thought of a beauty goddess wearing multiple chains and gemstones in her hair, so well placed that they seemed to naturally grow there.

The Empress Consort spoke first, moving to the Seed Consort's side. "Oh? What an anomaly! This Bamboo Lady has been refused by the Empress Dowager." Her tiny smile matched her tone. A bit playful.

Putting her palms together under her chest, her fingers and nail guards resting against her wrists and bracelets, Seed Consort Miseo said in a dignified and glossy voice, "I'm certain this is a temporary issue. The Empress Dowager has made her affections for Bamboo Lady Wen quite apparent."

Holding her sleeve over her little smile, the Empress consort seemed to giggle, and she said to Wen, "I suggest you leave before the Dowager becomes too irritated by you."

"I must agree," the Seed Consort said. "Nobody wants to see you punished. Now go."

Prostrating herself, Wen said, "I apologize for causing discomfort to my superiors." Then she got up to her feet and left with her maid.

***

When the Emperor arrived at the Plum Aroma Palace, he saw Seed Consort Miseo leaving. She and her maids knelt before him as he asked her, "How are you, Miseo?"

She nodded. "I'm well, Your Majesty."

Flicking his fingers up, getting the women to rise back up, the Emperor gave another question. "What of Eunhe?" That was the little girl he had with Miseo.

The Seed Consort lightly adjusted the collar of her coat. She had very refined hands. "She's healthy and active. I've been teaching her how to dance."

"Oh." A curious ping rang in his heart as he considered that. "I'll have to visit and watch her practice one day." He nodded and turned away. "Have a good afternoon."

Inside the reception room, he saw the Empress Dowager with the Empress Consort as a guest. The poor, fuming Royal Mother's harsh face made the Emperor want to hold her hand and give her pacifying words, even though he worried about her temper. At the same time, he was highly amused by the situation. It was all very strange. He sat down with the women and took a cup of tea from a maid.

"Royal Mother," he said, "I've heard that you're quite bothered by something. Would you mind telling your concerned son what's caused this?"

After taking a haughty sniff, the old woman said, "You already know. Everyone in the harem knows. It won't be long until all your officials and military leaders figure it out."

The Emperor drew in a little tea. He tried to hold onto a concerned expression, but his eyes were cheerful. "How disturbing," he said as he put the lid back in its level state on the cup. "Am I the only one standing in the harem who doesn't know what this problem is?"

He noticed that Atsuka, the Empress Consort, held her two sleeves to her lips and tittered while the Empress Dowager hissed and took a loop of prayer beads in her thin fingers.

"You've become a fatuous Emperor!" the old woman practically barked. "You've put a woman in the same room as your most vital meetings so she can respond to what she should never hear!"

"Oh! Dear, Royal Mother!" His smile broadened as he put his teacup down. "There's been a misunderstanding. Those sorts of meetings take their tolls on my heart, and I need my favored Wen to comfort me. I want to be absolutely certain that she'll be very close when the meetings are over, and that I won't have to wait a second more than necessary."

With a disgruntled, coughing noise in her throat, the Dowager slammed her fist on her chair's armrest, clacking her prayer beads against the wood. "You've gone absolutely mad! The last thing we need is an Emperor with a weak mind! To have a woman placed where she doesn't belong is one of the worst dangers, and when an Emperor holds a woman too preciously the empire is at risk!"

Atsuka suddenly rose from her seat, took a spot before the Dowager, and went to her knees. Her eyes were mischievous but her words seemed deep. "Oh, Great Empress Dowager, please don't blame this sad little daughter-in-law for caring for that Bamboo Lady's welfare. She's done no harm, and she was only following His Majesty's orders. If she were to refuse him, then I'd personally censure her for being disobedient."

The wooden hair sticks in her coiffure were shaped like tree branches; the jade leaves on those branches shined as the Empress Consort lowered her torso to make an even more submissive position. She even let her decorated brow touch the floor. "Please show Bamboo Lady Wen your tolerant and gentle side."

That ... didn't exactly work. The Emperor almost bit the inside of his cheek as he watched his mother's face flush into a dark pink color. Then she called out, "Someone, bring that seductress here! I'll force her to renounce her wicked methods!"

As some eunuchs left to find Bamboo Lady Wen, the Empress Consort Atsuka rose back to a normal kneeling position and asked, "What force could rightly be used? Not even the Empress Dowager is more powerful than the law, and the law demands that an Emperor's consorts must be obedient to him."

The Emperor shrugged a little and said to his wife, "Go back to your seat, Atsuka. It wouldn't be very impressive if Wen were to arrive and see you kneeling."

It didn't take long for Wen and one of her maids (this time it was Yuwei) to enter the reception room and kneel before everyone. "Greetings to the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and Empress Consort. I'm honored to have been asked to come here." Her face was very calm and pretty. She'd certainly become much prettier since the Emperor had first seen her. And her pregnancy was only helping that. She nearly glowed, or she did in the Emperor's mind.

The Emperor would've loved to think to himself that what happened next was surprising to him.

It wasn't.

Although it would be fair to say Wen was caught off guard. Her eyes widened and her cheeks loosened. Yuwei flinched in the most obvious way. Empress Atsuka turned her face away and made what seemed to be a false cough in her sleeve.

The Empress Dowager was yelling at Wen.

And poor Wen had no choice but to listen to it all.

When the Dowager took a moment to have a breath, the Emperor rose from his seat and said, "Royal Mother, Bamboo Lady Wen is pregnant with a royal child. She's incredibly precious. It's certainly not advised to put such unnecessary stress on her."

The old woman also rose, and she marched right over to where Wen knelt. Feeling that this might not be the best thing, the Emperor groaned through his teeth and hurried to stand near Wen.

The Empress Dowager ...

Actually drew her hand back, her thin lips curling, her teeth so tight that they looked like they'd crack.

Emperor Shungjahe Shunlin would normally physically stop an assailant against one of his women and then have that assailant put to death, or at least beaten. But this was his mother, this was the person he was supposed to have eternal loyalty to. So, he actually pushed Wen, pregnant Wen, down by her shoulder. That way, the Dowager's hand and pointed fingernails would miss Wen's face.

Pointing her nose and unhinged eyes towards him, the Dowager screamed, "We must call a priest to deal with this woman! She clearly has an evil spirit inside her!"

Grimacing, the Emperor countered that claim with, "She prayed with you at the Sunlight Temple! How could an evil spirit have done so without her true form being revealed?!"

An interruption came from the Empress Consort, who knelt beside her chair and said, "Oh please, Your Majesty, Great Dowager, please calm down!"

Looking back at her son's wife for a moment, the old woman screeched, "We don't need the input of a wife that won't manage the harem! Thanks to your carelessness this seductress is ruining my son!"

"Royal Mother!" The Emperor knew it was better to have her anger directed at him than anyone else. He even put a light grip on her shoulder to lead her around, although she yanked his hand off.

"This is an extreme creature!" The Dowager pointed down at the still very shocked and confused looking Wen, who was slowly and thoughtfully getting back to her kneeling position. Yuwei was trembling, probably relieved to know that nobody was angry at her.

"That's quite an accusation to put on a woman that is hopelessly obedient," the Emperor said as he purposefully set his booted foot in front of Wen's knees, between her and his mother. "You must be ill. We should leave you to recover, and I'll send the best doctors available to you."

And then, even the Emperor was flabbergasted.

The old woman's hand flew in the air again.

It landed on the Emperor's cheek. The force was enough to turn his body away and make him step back. A line of dripping blood red was formed at his cheekbone. One of the Dowager's fingernail guards had a little blood on its sharp tip. Everyone else in the area gasped.

But there wasn't enough time for anyone to properly fathom that event, because Wen suddenly looked up at the Empress Dowager and said, "Please, Wise Dowager! Please calm down! This is a misunderstanding. I beg you to remember your past affection towards me, and understand that I have no ill will in my heart."

Emperor Shungjahe Shunlin blamed himself for not being fast enough.

The Empress Dowager was so inflamed by Wen's words that she smacked her face.

The Emperor reached out to take his mother's arm, but the damage was already there. Wen was knocked to the floor, her sleeve pressed into her face. She gave the most heartbreaking sob and looked up at the Dowager.

One eye was hidden by lovely fabric. The other had a tear sliding out. When she lowered her sleeve, smeared blood against white powder was revealed. There was a scratch on her lower eyelid, so horrifying close to her pretty blue eye.

"Someone!" Even though it hurt his heart to do so, the Emperor literally folded his mother's arm behind her back. She screamed her protest but didn't let her attack anyone else. "Carefully restrain the Empress Dowager! She's mentally unstable! She must be confined to her palace and catered to!"

***

Officially, it was known that the Empress Dowager was unwell.

Normally, a child was supposed to be loyal to their parents, including the Emperor. However, the Emperor wasn't meant to let his Royal Mother order him about all the time. If he wasn't allowed to make his own choices, then what would be the point of his position?

What truly led the Emperor to this decision what the fact that she'd actually physically assaulted a woman pregnant with a royal child. People have been put to death for lesser crimes!

Wen was quickly sent to her apartment, where a doctor tended to her face. He promised there wouldn't be a scar as long as the wound was kept clean and proper medicinal ointments were applied. And makeup wasn't recommended.

And Wen was truly upset over this debacle.

She'd thought the Empress Dowager was a little strict and fiery, but overall pleasant. She'd thought she wouldn't be so angry that she'd start hitting people, especially not people that were meant to be highly protected under the law.

It was all so ... undignified. Despondency was one of the many negative emotions that mixed around Wen's belly. And there the possible ramifications to consider simmered in her mind.

The Empress Dowager was one of the most powerful allies for an Imperial Consort to have. Without her support, life could be very precarious, even if the Empress Dowager lost some support from the Emperor.

Wen was holding one of the Emperor's boots in her lap, looking out the window over her writing desk, when Lien approached her and asked, "Mistress, would you forgive this servant for being too mouthy?"

After giving an exhale so heavy that her whole body moved with it, Wen said, "Go on."

Her nose pointing down at the shoe in Wen's lap, Lien said, "It feels quite peculiar for the Empress Dowager to strike a pregnant consort. It doesn't cook well in my stomach."

Wen's fingernail guards bore down on the boot's leather. She resisted the urge to thoughtfully chew on her tongue. "For the Emperor to have such a tangle against his Royal Mother, it's even more peculiar. Or that's how I feel." Just then, she saw the Emperor's eunuchs carrying the Emperor in his sedan chair on the road. From behind her window, at her desk, Wen looked down at him as her scratched eyelid twitched. Was he coming to check in on her?

A tip of a fingernail guard dug where a shoe lace had been threaded through. She sighed and hoped nobody would blame the Emperor over this mess. Although ... one could argue that he was at fault. He'd stomped his foot on the line between law and crime, and all over one of his concubines, and a concubine that hadn't even come from a high class family. A ruler needed support, and if his supporters didn't approve of him, he likely wouldn't rule for very long.

Some minutes passed, and Yuwei appeared with a smile. "His Majesty's here to visit."

"Oh," Wen said as she slid the boot under her desk, "that's good news, I suppose. Let him in."

Her smile fading a little, Yuwei said, "But Mistress, you aren't wearing any makeup."

"The doctor said powdering and painting my face might irritate the wound. I'm not going to risk it."

Pouting, but very respectful, Yuwei went off to escort the Emperor and his favored eunuch into the dining room while Lien helped Wen make sure her hair was smooth.

Then, Wen met the sitting Emperor and knelt before him. "Thank you for visiting me, Your Majesty. I'm sorry for causing so much trouble."

"Rise up, Pretty Bamboo." There were significant lines under his pale eyes, and his nostrils looked wider than normal. "Let's have some relaxing tea. We could both use a few cups."

Yuwei was the one asked to go prepare some tea while Lien stood nearby, not too far off from Min Ji. The Emperor asked Wen a few questions. How's your injury? Do you feel unwell? Are you frightened?

Wen did her best to assure him that she was fine. Then her breath halted as the Emperor's hand laid over hers on the table. She looked down at his bare, blunt nails and listened to his voice. "Wen, don't back down."

"Back down?" Wen slowly blinked like an idiot.

His fingers tightened over her hand. "Don't let this threat stop you from comforting me. I still want you to be nearby when I finish government meetings."

"My presence isn't required, Your Majesty. This is known." Wen's brow was smooth but in her heart she was a wrinkled, bouncy mess of a person. "I'd rather not anger the Empress Dowager. Her body is fragile, and this could harm her precious health."

She heard him chuckle and felt his arm jiggle. "You were close to the Empress Dowager for a time, but you never knew her enough to see this part of her personality. She's the reason why I've been known to throw things. We have similar disposition."

"I," Wen sighed here, "I wish I could do something."

"Don't fret." He removed his hand and adjusted his position in the dining chair. "You're protected by the law. So, obey the law by obeying me."

Wen couldn't think of an adequate counter argument.

The couple enjoyed tea and sweets for a time. It was a peaceful bundle of moments, and Yuwei really knew how to make sweets. This batch was creamy and fruity. When the treats were all gone and the teapot was halfway emptied, the Emperor suddenly got up from his seat, wiping his lips with a handkerchief. Something was burning behind his eyes as he looked at her. It made Wen's cheeks heat up, and there was no makeup to hide her blushing.

Tilting his head towards her bedroom, he said to Wen, "I think I should appreciate beauty in even the forgotten things. Why don't you show me the embroidery in your quilt?"

Wen held her fingers to her lips and got up. Then she followed the Emperor into her bedroom. Naively, Yuwei moved as if she was supposed to follow to, but Lien took her wrist, shaking her head with a stern expression. Min Ji looked down and swallowed a laugh.

Her feet tingling, her palms warm, Wen closed her bedroom door behind herself and the Emperor. Then she carefully slid a lock over it. An unexpected third party could lose their head. It was best to keep one from bursting into the room.

"Come here, Wen."

Suave and commanding.

He moved in from behind and gripped her shoulders. He didn't really wait for her to go to him as he'd wanted her to, but that was fine. Wen was pleased to feel his tight warmth around her. Through her clothing, her breasts rose, nipples puckering, as she took in a cleansing breath.

The top of his tongue ran across the tip of one of Wen's ears. She shuddered and forced down a whimper.

His previous words were repeated in a low whisper that buzzed through her body. "Come here." His hand slid away, but he took her wrist and pulled her over to the alcove bed. He personally pulled the curtains away and tied them in place. Then, with impish eyes, he smiled down at her as he led her to the bed's edge, setting her backside on the mattress.

Then Emperor ...

Went down on one knee?!

Fright distracted Wen as she shot up, nearly banging her head on the alcove's ceiling. The Emperor was not supposed to kneel before anyone except his mother. She would've gotten down to her own knees but the Emperor's hand shot up and gripped her thigh through her skirts. Wen was confused when he shook his head and calmly told her to sit back down.

"This ... this can't be done." Her voice was a messy, hushed thing.

"This most certainly can be done." His tongue peeked out from a corner of his lips as his other leg bent and he literally knelt down.

Wen's heart sped up and her legs felt like cold water was being shot through them. Yet, despite her unease, Wen obeyed her Emperor. She sat down on the bed's edge, but she closed her eyes and turned her head away. She didn't want to see this nearly blasphemous image. She even held her sleeves over her hands and up to her cheeks.

Below, the Emperor's voice was like honey spread over a hot, soothing scone. "You're such a virtuous woman. How could you not be held in a fine regard?"

Wen felt some odd knot form in her throat at those statements. A virtuous woman? She didn't think she was virtuous at all. She'd ... well she'd done certain things.

His fingertips skated down her skirts, then under the hems, and he gathered the material up. Wen had some long drawers keeping her warm, but she felt the Emperor reach in to untie and roll them down to her ankles. Her thighs were already quivering.