My Sin

Labor

The empress didn't know about the emperor's doing and only felt like he was being ripped apart right now. Every contraction he had dominated his entire body. Even though they were happening in a matter of seconds, he felt like it was an eternity. He let out screams that even he himself failed to recognize. The pain he felt was as if they were opening him in two with a dull knife. 

"Your Highness you need to push!" The midwife instructed. This was the first time she saw such a difficult labor, and they were only delivering the first baby.

The empress took the advice and let out a grunt as he pushed as much as he could. The scream that ripped out of his throat was enough to shake the whole palace. The emperor had just got there, and that painful scream was the first thing he heard. He immediately ran into the palace trying to go inside the chambers, but he was quickly stopped.

"Your majesty going in means bad luck, you have to stay here," A maid reminded me as she kneeled.

"Get out of my way," The emperor ordered coldly. He didn't have time to argue with a maid about superstition when the empress was clearly having such a difficult labor.

"Y-yes your majesty!" The little maid did not dare say more after hearing the emperor's tone.

"Nicely done, your highness, I can see the head now!" The midwife praised. "Just one more push and the baby will be out," The midwife continued to encourage.

The empress listened to her and gave another big push and suddenly felt a little relieved. It seemed like the first baby was born, and with a cry it let everyone know of its long-awaited arrival. The empress didn't have time to see which of the baby came out first before he felt another contraction hit. It took him six hours to deliver the first baby, and he had no rest. The empress felt exhausted already but he knew he still had to push out three more children.

"Empress! You did so well!" The emperor praised him as soon as he walked in. The bloody smell that engulfed the room didn't seem to bother him at all.

"Yichen, I am scared," The empress cried softly. The emperor was shocked to hear the empress calling his name. Since they married he had never heard this name from the empress. He looked at the empress and saw his pale face, and cracked lips, calling out to him with such a scared voice. This was the first time he saw the empress being so vulnerable in front of him. And for some reason that scared him. No matter how cold the empress treated him, he very much liked the lively and confident empress. But right now the pale and vulnerable empress scared him. He was scared to lose the empress. He didn't mind if the empress never loved him again but he couldn't bear to lose him.

"Quiaqio, I am scared too, please just this once do me a favor. Just please give birth safely and live happily with the kids. Please I am begging you," The emperor sobbed, shocking everyone in the room. The empress was the most shocked by the crying emperor. In his past life, he watched the emperor become colder and colder to the point where he was just a living block of ice. So seeing the emperor sobbing like this really did bring him a bit of shock.

"Why are you crying? I am the one pushing out four children!" The empress spat hatefully.

"Yes, yes, you're ri-" Before the emperor finished his sentence, he felt like his hair was being detached from his scalp. When he looked up, he saw the empress pulling his hair as he let out a low grunt.

"Push your majesty!" The midwife reminded.

Another painful scream came out from the empress's throat as he fiercely pulled the hair of the emperor. The empress had already broken every single rule in the book and at this point, the maids no longer had any reactions to his action. In labor you weren't supposed to scream, that's why they had prepared the towel in advance, but the empress had the courage to pull out the emperor's hair so what did he dare not do?

"Good your majesty, I am starting to see the head! Push a little more!" The midwife encouraged.

"Quiaqio just a little-" A fierce punch landed on the emperor's face, interrupting his words. 

"Shut up!" The empress screamed in agony, not forgetting to push. The empress had never experienced this type of pain, so during the five-hour delivery of the second child, the emperor was used as a venting tool.

"Onto the third! Push your majesty!" The midwife encouraged.

"I am trying! I am just so tired," The empress complained softly as cried.

"Quiaqio, here's some water. I'm sure the third and fourth baby will be easier to deliver." The emperor tried to comfort but the tears in his eyes betrayed him. This was the first time he saw the empress in so much pain. 

"Yichen, I don't want to have children after this anymore okay? I did my job as the empress and I gave you seven children and three of them are sons, that should be enough right?" The empress pleaded. The pain he felt today was too intense. He never wanted to feel it again.

"I'll listen to you," The emperor responded. Of course, he had the same thought as the empress. He was not as stupid to put the empress in such a position again.

"Okay push your majesty!" The midwife instructed.

The empress cooperated and pushed. The third child was soon born after seven hours while the fourth one after nine hours. After the twenty-seven-hour delivery of the quadruplets, the empress passed out, plunging the palace into chaos. The emperor came out of the delivery room with a bruised face, disheveled hair, clothes, and teeth marks all over his body. Even the servants didn't know better they would've thought that it was the emperor who just gave birth.

The emperor didn't care what people thought of him and refused to leave the empress's palace. After such a difficult recovery the empress passed out and his pulse was very faint according to the imperial physician. The emperor was so scared that he wanted to stay inside and take care of the empress, but he knew that they had to clean the empress and help with the babies so he went out and didn't cause them trouble. He went to see the babies for a while but he couldn't take his mind off of the empress and ended up coming back to the chambers.

There he saw the empress laying down on the bed with newly changed clothes. His face was still pale and his lips were slightly blue. When the emperor touched the hands of the empress it was cold, too cold. Suddenly the emperor felt himself drown in despair and he could only hope that his empress made it out alive.