Happy News

The emperor could feel his spirits lift every time he visited Primrose. She was simply a vision of loveliness. He knew the commoner's conception was that his harem was full of beauties, but that was sadly untrue. His wives were chosen based on the political capital they brought to the marriage, and not on their looks. It was not like they were not attractive at all, but that beauty came from a great deal of work and a great deal of wealth. Only Primrose was so naturally, effortlessly exquisite.

The emperor bit into the pastry Primrose had been so excited to present. It wasn't awful, exactly. He could see how other people would like it. For his tastes, however, it was entirely too sweet and greasy. He looked at her expectant expression and was grateful for his lifetime of practice at concealing his real feelings. One of his more suspicious wives, like Lily, would have looked more deeply to deduce how he actually felt, but Primrose was too sweet and innocent for that.

"This is delicious," said the emperor. "A masterwork that the gentle concubine has produced. Is this a speciality of Viridis Island?"

"No," said Primrose. "It's just a little something I came up with myself."

The emperor was charmed at how easily Primrose forgot to use proper etiquette and reverted to her pure, simple self. Even when he himself entirely dropped formal language around Lily, she never followed suit.

"I have made some different variants, and some with fruit," she said excitedly, and the emperor resigned himself to a long afternoon.

"These are all unique and wonderful," he said when she was finally done. "There isn't anything quite like it anywhere within the empire."

"Do you think other people would feel the same way?" she asked.

"My noble self is sure they would, but… why does the gentle concubine ask?"

"Well, you see, I'm planning on opening a restaurant in the city with these, so that I can share this with everyone."

"That is not permitted," said the emperor apologetically. "None of the imperial family is allowed to be directly involved in commerce."

Tears started filling Primrose's eyes. "Is there really no way?"

"My noble self could see about a way to donate the recipe—"

"No!" interrupted Primrose.

The emperor was faintly shocked. There was no one who had dared interrupt him since his mother had passed away.

"It isn't just about sharing it," said Primrose, "I also – well, I'm not in a very secure position here in the palace. My family is very far away, and I have so few of my own people around me. Everything I do needs money. Viridis Island seemed so rich and prosperous when I still lived there, but compared to living in the capital, it was nothing. I can not burden my family with all the things I need, so I can only find another way to make money."

"Have matters not worked out fine until now?" asked the emperor. "Has the gentle concubine been unhappy with how my noble self has treated the gentle concubine?"

"Oh no," she said immediately, soothing his feelings a little. "I have been very happy. But the thing is, I have to start considering more long term plans right now. You see, I'm pregnant."

The emperor took a moment to process that. He had emotionally resigned himself to never having children with her. All of a sudden, he could picture a young daughter with all of her mother's beauty and all of his own wit.

"That's wonderful news," he said. "How far along? Why didn't the gentle concubine announce this before?"

"Three months," said Primrose. "I know I should have said something, but I didn't really believe it was happening until recently. I've heard so much about how easy it is to lose a pregnancy that I just thought that was what was going to happen. I didn't want to think or speak of it if it was just going to bring me pain. But now…"

"My noble self will send the gentle concubine the most talented mid-wives and the best of supplements," said the emperor. "Everything will be done to keep the child safe."

"Thank you," said Primrose. "But you see why I need an additional money source that is external to the palace. I am not the match for the other concubines in cunning."

The emperor couldn't say that Primrose was wrong, and her own finances would help. But the ban on commercial activity was not some meaningless tradition.

"The imperial family needs to remain neutral when it comes to merchant matters," said the emperor, trying to find an argument that Primrose could understand. "The imperial court would strongly condemn the gently concubine if they came to hear about it. The gentle concubine's reputation would be ruined, and that might impact the children."

"Surely no one would dare criticise anything that you permitted!" said Primrose with wide eyes.

The emperor wished that was true. He opened his mouth to deny her again, but as he looked into her eyes, he found that he couldn't.

"Hide it very well," he said in surrender. "No-one can know. Pretend any money is coming from your maiden family."

It was not as if the restaurant was likely to make money in the first place, if she was even capable of setting one up. If Primrose thought she lacked cunning in comparison to the other concubines, then he was amazed she was willing to go against merchants. Primrose would most likely get frustrated or bored over the continual failures and stop long before anyone else found out about it.

Primrose's enthusiasm made her eyes light up, and the emperor spend some time just appreciating her looks. It took a little while before he started paying enough attention to what she was saying to realise that they'd drifted from plans on what to do after the baby arrived into different dangerous territory.

"—and I was thinking that we could ask Flint to be one of the godparents. You remember, the man who risked his life to save my beloved nanny? He's also offered to provide the supplies I need for the restaurant."

He frowned a little at how casually Primrose was using another man's first name, but then shook his head to dismiss the thought. An investigation into the man had been reported to the emperor before Primrose had even received her first letter. Flint might be another Viridian, but he was neither a young nor an attractive man. Any wealth or power he had obviously also paled in comparison to the emperor himself.

"That might be slightly sensitive," disagreed the emperor with a smile. "The man was previously a member of a foreign army and is now a known slave owner."

"Oh, that's entirely slander," said Primrose. "Some of his enemies maliciously misinterpreted his goodness. He is kind enough to advance his workers' their salary if they are in desperate need, that is all."

Workers who would then be unable to leave their job until they'd paid back the loan. And while they tried to do that, they would have no option but to continue to borrow more money, from the same source, just in order to survive. Even a half-competent overseer could ensure that any worker caught in that trap would never be able to pay their loan off fully. According to reports, Flint didn't have a single sugarcane worker who had the option to simply find another job. Most were peasants from outlying areas who had been explicitly lied to about what the true situation was like.

But it wasn't worth arguing the matter with Primrose. Women believed what they chose to believe.

"Regardless of whether it is true or not," said the emperor. "An imperial heir cannot have such a godfather. It would be a scandal."

"You don't need to be jealous of him," said Primrose. "Honestly, I regard him in the same light as an uncle."

"My noble self is not jealous," said the emperor, biting off the words.

"Then surely we could do something," said Primrose. "After how much he has done for me, it's really unfair that the only stories about him are so nasty. He deserves for people to find out that he's really such a wonderful and selfless person. After all, he jumped in to help my nanny when he didn't even have any idea who she was!"

"A foreigner cannot be godfather," said the emperor even more firmly. He had backed down over the restaurant idea, but he would not back down over this.

Primrose frowned down at her hands for long moments, then looked up with a smile. The emperor was relieved that she had finally seen sense until she asked, "How would he go about becoming a citizen of the empire, then?"

That… was not what he had meant.

Nevertheless, he agreed to send a clerk to Primrose with the details needed to complete such a process. Let this 'Flint' be the one to tell her how foolish the whole idea was. The emperor left Primrose's palace in a hurry, rather than risk agreeing to something else absurd. Waiting for him outside the door was a small delegation.

"Your Most Exaltedness, the physician attending Her Imperial Highness is here."

The emperor impatiently waved him forward.

"Is the empress's life in danger?" asked the emperor, a little cynically.

It would not be the first or last time some sudden emergency occurred when he spent an unusual amount of time with a particular concubine. Lily herself had never resorted to such tactics before, but that might only be because nothing had pushed her as much as Primrose did.

"No, Your Most Exaltedness," said the physician with a nervous bow. "It is merely a fever."

"Her Imperial Highness wishes my noble self to know that she has a fever?" asked the emperor.

"Oh, no," said the physician. "This lowly one is not here on the request of Her Imperial Highness at all."

"Then?" asked the emperor, very close to losing his temper entirely. "Get to the point."

The physician was wringing his hands by this point, and his voice dropped. "Her Imperial Highness is requesting additional checks about the fever be made."

"Speak up, man," said the emperor. "Is there something particularly expensive with these tests? My noble self is entirely unsure why my noble self is being harassed by this matter. Or are the imperial physicians incapable of treating fevers now?"

The physician went white and bowed deeply before continuing. "This lowly one does not mean tests that would help with Her Imperial Highness treatment. Tests that would only serve to determine the cause of the fever. And in a particular case, also hint at … long term consequences."

It took him a minute before realisation struck. They wanted his permission before finding the cause of the fever – in case the emperor himself had been the cause.

"No," he said, without needing to think. This could not be made public, even as far as the physician and the empress.

"Your Most Exaltedness," said the physician, bowing again, and beginning to retreat.

"Wait!" said the emperor. "Do not perform the tests but inform Her Imperial Highness they came back negative."

There were many causes for fever, and many reasons why a womb might not quicken. The empress could not act if she did not know whether it was warranted. More importantly, her family, the Auger clan, could not act. No-one would know anything, not even himself.

After all, the tests would almost certainly have come back negative regardless. He could not imagine sweet, innocent Primrose deliberately doing such a thing. Unless perhaps she had been misled into what the results would be. That would explain why she had made so little effort at hiding. In fact, that was probably exactly it. The poor girl was being framed by someone. There were plenty of candidates who would love to target both Lily and Primrose at the same time. If there was anything to find, then he was just protecting them both by forbidding the investigation.

He nodded to himself and returned to his own rooms. He had to prepare for the birth of his child!