“Rin…I appreciate your concern, but this is my job…” Ren said calmly. “Can’t you just send someone else?” I asked hopefully. “This is my job and I intend to fulfill my role and responsibilities. I won’t shrink back and send someone else in my place,” Ren said before he gave me a pointed look. “Ren…” I whispered his name, not knowing how to convince him otherwise. “You do your job, Rin…and I’ll do mine,” Ren said firmly. “When are you leaving?” I asked. “In a few days…” Ren replied without hesitation. My head felt light, and I was certain that I was about to faint. I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing. The situation had gotten much worse than I could ever imagine. Firstly, there’s a war…again. Secondly, the war was at my hometown. To be precise, it was between my hometown and the empire. On top of all of that, Ren is going to war…There’s got to be a way that I can stop Ren from going to war. If that was not an option, then I will have to resort to my own back up plan.

I had to say that the way her face softened when she laughed was quite unexpected. Plastering the best smile that I could muster on my face, I tried my best to stand my ground. It was absolutely evident that she saw me as nothing more than a baby-making tool to produce her great grandchildren. She continued to observe me starting from my face before her eyes travelled slowly down my body. When she was done, she started frowning and her lips were set in a grim thin line. “It’s been a long time…and still no signs of pregnancy?” the old woman said softly but no one would miss the edge of her voice. “It’s all my fault, grandmother…” Ren replied before bowing to his grandmother. “Ren’s probably been working too hard…there were issues that he had to handle…” the emperor chimed in to help protect his son. It was clear from the way he spoke that if this didn’t go well, he would also be blamed for the fact that Ren and I have not been able to start a child. “I never asked for your explan

Instead, I wrapped a robe around myself before heading towards the door to see what was going on. Slowly, I slid the door open a crack to see a nervous-looking maid standing in front of my bedroom door. “Good morning, what is it that you need?” I asked politely. “Umm…excuse me, My Lady…but there’s an urgent message from the emperor to the crown prince…” the maid said before she bowed low and extended the letter in her hand towards me. I opened the door wider so that I could reach out for the letter. After taking it in my hand, I told the maid that she could leave and thanked her. She seemed very relief to be excused. My attention immediately went to the letter that was in my hand. It must be something urgent…Quickly, I returned to the bed and nudged softly on Ren’s shoulder. If it’s a letter from the emperor, then I should give it to Ren as soon as possible. It could be something very urgent about work and I was afraid that Ren would get into trouble if he didn’t respond. Perhaps,

My mouth hung open in shock as I wondered what Ren was going to do. Why did he just apologize to me? What is he about to do?!I could feel everyone’s eyes on me and the hold that he had on my arm tightened. Without warning, Ren lifted up my arm slightly before his other hand pulled the sleeve of my robe up my arm, exposing my entire arm for all to see. I gasped in shock at the sudden motion of my sleeve being yanked and then my entire arm was exposed up to my shoulder. I gasped loudly before I realized that I wasn’t the only one that gasped. Apparently, the other ladies in the room were also shocked at Ren’s action. It was a moment later that I realized that everyone had an expression of shock on their faces. At first, I was slightly confused; however, when my eyes drifted to my naked arm, I immediately understood their reaction. On the skin of my arms were various love marks that Ren had left from the night before when he sucked and kissed my arm and then my shoulders. Of course, t

Ren sent word for me to have dinner without him although he would be spending the night with me. He must be very busy with the preparations for war. As for me, I was quite relieved that he would arrive a little later than expected because that meant that I had some time to pack the things that I needed for my journey. Of course, I had to keep this all a secret from Ren. Tomorrow, we’ll set out to my hometown. I couldn’t even begin to count the times that I’ve prayed to return to my hometown. However, I never expected to be returning under these circumstances. A frown creased my eyebrows, and my head began to ache a little when I started questioning why my town had started an uprising against the empire. No matter what, I just couldn’t understand it. Did the elders honestly think that their efforts would be successful despite what they may believe? In the battle that I had witnessed before, there was no hope for my town to win at all. The best that we could do was to surrender and li