My Sin

Poetry Buddy

After reaching an agreement with the kids, the empress put them in bed and lulled them to sleep. The empress himself was surprised by how well he slept yesterday after talking to the emperor that long. He felt light today no longer as heavy as he felt when he just transmigrated over. Maybe it was because his feelings were getting weaker for the emperor. He just didn't feel anything right now, except for peace and calmness. Was this part of healing too?

The empress pushed the intruding thoughts to the back of his head and went to wake up the children. Today and tomorrow were school-free days so the kids did not wake up early at all. Since Hu'er said he did not want to get along with his father, and Ruan'er said she wasn't sure, the empress was thinking of sending them to their grandmother's place to avoid the awkward atmosphere, but he didn't expect them to want to stay for breakfast with their father. He didn't say anything but he made sure to tell them that didn't have to do anything that they didn't like.

After the maids showered the kids, the empress dressed them up. Dressing the kids up was like the empress's hobby. She always made sure to sew the most adorable clothes for the kids, and would take pleasure in dressing them up. It was also one of the activities that brought them closer. After dressing up the kids, she took them and headed to the dining hall.

The meal was already served when they got there. Since the empress was pregnant he mostly ate porridge and drank light broth and soup because he couldn't stand the smell of meat. As soon as the empress and her children sat down, the door opened and the emperor appeared.

"We greet the emperor," The greeting was short and plain, even a little rude but the emperor didn't seem to mind it and sat down next to the empress. Since they had a fairly pleasant talk yesterday afternoon the atmosphere between them wasn't as stiff as before, but the two still appeared to be distant no matter how much they talked to each other. Hu'er saw this and finally took a breath of relief. Their mother might not hate the emperor now but he still didn't like him either, and that's all that mattered. 

The emperor who finished talking to the empress turned to look at the children. His second daughter and third son were literal copies of their mother, while his oldest son looked like him the most. Unlike his second son who also resembled him, his oldest son wasn't chubby and was more disciplined. He wanted to talk to his oldest son but he saw the disinterest in his eyes and thus gave up, his second daughter also looked very timid so he could only turn to the third prince. He remembered what the empress told him about Tao'er.

Tao'er was the cutest and most naive out of the three siblings. He liked literature and poetry very much. He liked to admire art in any form that it was in. Plus he was the only one looking forward to seeing him. The emperor took a deep breath and looked at the empress once more before turning his head in Tao'er's direction.

"Tao'er I heard you like poetry?" The emperor asked as he drank a spoon of porridge.

"Yes, I do! How do you know father?" Tao'er asked with sparkling eyes. He looked so eager, that the empress feared that his beloved little son would pass out. Seeing his little son's reaction the empress knew he made the right choice letting the kids choose. Just look how happy his little son was about his father knowing what he liked.

The emperor felt a feeling he never felt before. It was not the first time that somebody called him father so intimately. His second son had always done so, but there was a vast difference. His second son had always done so because he either expected something in return or because he needed something, but his third son called out to him so genuinely just because he knew what he liked. The guilt that he had tried to push back started eating him up once again. 

Just how horrible is he? How bad of a person do you have to be to abandon your kids just for pride? Where had that pride gotten him now? He had no family, no friends, and no love. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That's what his pride had gotten him. 

To be fully honest, he didn't even know why he treated the empress as such, or why he loved Noble Lady Shu so much. All he did was on instinct. It was like he was guided to do so. It wasn't until the empress changed that he finally woke up from his trance and looked around. He realized he lost his family, his friends, and even the person that loved him the most. 

After realizing how stupid the situation he was in is, he distanced himself from Noble Lady Shu. He didn't find it normal for him to give up his kids and family without a fight just for a girl he met in a harsh winter. He doesn't even remember how they fell in love, or how they got together. Things just flowed that way, and he was unable to stop it. The excuses he made to hate the empress were getting stupider and stupider.

Puppet emperor? How could he feel like a puppet emperor? It was true that the empress's father's influence was on par with that of the royal family, but he also knew that they were the most loyal officials to the throne. After all, they were the ones to put his father on the throne, when no one supported him. General Liu was the one fighting the barbarians in the cold north right now, and Second Miss Liu also made great contributions to the Lingyun war, contributions that even he didn't make, yet he was so ungrateful.

He could've been happy right now with his empress and his children. With his family by his side and his in-laws' support, he was stupid to throw all this away just for somebody he didn't even really know. Since when had he sat with actual people to eat? It was the first time in seven years that he had sat to eat with actual people instead of sitting in the cold study to eat.

He didn't mind this. The empress might not love him, and the other kids might still hate him, but he didn't mind trying. Trying to fix the relationships that he had broken. He didn't mind if the empress didn't want to get back together with him. After all, he had every right, but he would try to make things right. He did a lot of things to the empress and a simple sorry wouldn't make it up to him. So he would try his best to at least become friends. 

"Father?" Tao'er called gently, pulling the emperor out of his thought.

"Sorry for spacing out." The emperor apologized as he pulled Tao'er's chair closer to his. "Since Tao'er like poetry so much, how about we get you a poetry buddy?" The emperor continued to talk with a smile.

"A poetwy budzy? Whas dat?" Tao'er enquired curiously.

"Yes, a poetry buddy. A poetry buddy is someone you can have fun with while studying poetry. What do you think?" The emperor chuckled as he explained. His third son was really cute.

"Yay! Mommy! I wantz a poetwy budzy!" Tao'er shouted as he swung his chubby little arms in the air.

"Okay then, your father will get one for you. Right father?" The empress said as he looked back at the emperor.

"Right," The emperor responded happily.

Hello, Lovelies! Here's an update!

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Y'all... Can someone please tell me how to like fix my Wattpad? Can yall see the other story parts? I've been trying to update since yesterday because that's what my schedule said, but then Wattpad decided to just blank out on me. Like I couldn't even see my other stories, I just got them back but can someone tell me how to back up my stories cuz Wattpad is really acting up rn.