Chapter twenty five. The next morning Sooyeon awoke feeling lighthearted. She has quite an appetite and thought perhaps Taeyeon and her should take breakfast outside, to their small private garden. She attempted to roll over and get out of the bed, when she suddenly felt something warm and sticky in between her legs that was soon accompanied by a slight pain in her lower abdomen. She let out a surprised gasp and knew at once that what she's feeling so uncomfortably in between her legs was more likely to be blood. Sure enough, when she slipped her hand to make sure, there was angry redness pooling at the tips of her fingers. Sooyeon panicked, her hand resting on her stomach, it was at that moment that Taeyeon got out of the bathroom smiling but frowned immediately after locking eyes with her wife. “W-what’s wrong, Sooyeon?” Taeyeon's panic mirroring hers as she rushed to her side. "I'm bleeding." Sooyeon rasped showing her fingers to her wife. "Bleeding? You are not suppose to bleed when you are pregnant." "I know, that's why I'm scared Taeyeon. Nam Joon had been feeding me some herbs, he said they were going to eliminate our baby...I" "No," Taeyeon raised her hand cutting her off. "Nothing is going to happen to our child, Sooyeon. Just lay still, I'm going to get mother and send for the royal midwife." Taeyeon said sternly and turned, the door closing quickly behind her. ~~ Taeyeon paced back and forth in front of their bedchamber, waiting for the midwife so she can know for sure if her wife and child were doing well. She wriggled her hands nervously, trying to steel herself for the possible fate of their unborn child. The general halted when the door to their bedchamber opened and closed quietly. "How is she?" Taeyeon asked the royal midwife before the poor woman could even stand properly. The old woman smiled kindly at her. "She's sleeping right now, but she's alright, nothing to worry about." "And the baby?" The general asked, a hint of fear in her voice. "The bleeding isn't severe thankfully, she was just exhausted and needed a rest, nothing is wrong with the fetus, its quite healthy to my surprise. That baby really is a miracle child." The midwife assured and smiled at her once again. "The herbs she was fed with are extremely strong and dangerous, it was intended to expel the embryo out of her womb, but fortunately, it only thinned the lining of her uterus thus causing the minor bleeding, strict bed rest will help it grow thick in no time." Taeyeon sighed in relief, her mother in law hugging her. "Thank you so much." Taeyeon wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. "Thank you, Yeon-ji-ya." The Empress smiled gratefully at her old friend. "It is my duty and honor, your majesty. I'm glad the princess and her baby are alright. Dear." She turned to the general. "She needs a lot of bed rest like I said, make sure she doesn't stress herself, she shouldn't even move often for at least six weeks." Taeyeon nods. "That would be all, have a lovely day general. Your majesty." The midwife bows courtly at her as she made to leave. "I wish I can bring them both back to life just to kill them all over again, for feeding her that hideous herb." Taeyeon said through gritted teeth. The Empress smiled and held her hand. "All that matters is that my daughter, your wife and your unborn child are out of danger, and you did the right thing by eliminating them both, now we only have a few rebels to deal with." Taeyeon's brows furrowed deeply in confusion and glanced only briefly at her in law. "Rebels?" The Empress nods. "There are some people that thinks, the kingdom shouldn't be ruled by Sooyeon and your child." "Why would they think that?" Taeyeon asked vaguely. "Some of them thought Sooyeon would be married out to some far away prince or a noble man, they were happy with you and some accepted you as you are but those whose views were always conservative didn't. I didn't think to take any action against them thinking they'll learn to accept you as time passes, but I'm afraid they've been gathering people on their side and requested a change or they will like a division of the nation. When Sooyeon was abducted, the council brought the issue to my attention and requested to tackle it before it grows." She explained. "Was it the majority of the people that didn’t approve of it?” Taeyeon questioned. “No, definitely nothing even close to that,” the Empress assured. “Seeing your work with the army, the many times you returned victorious from wars intended to destroy our kingdom, things you did for the poor and needy, you got yourself a lot of loyal admirers, but there were always some rats on the ship." She paused for a while. "Then came the princess's pregnancy which brought some ill whispers of what the child might actually be and the Pyongyang rebels leader was the one active in spreading these misgivings, half of it being nonsense to pollute the minds of people and turn them to his cause,” The Empress finished with a disgusted curl of her lip and twisted her nose in displeasure. “I’m guessing by your expression that his cause didn’t exactly have the purity of the line of the royal heritage at heart,” Taeyeon said as she walked a bit and paused in a loose circle. “Of course not, weasels like that concern themselves with their own private goals, not the well being of the masses,” The Empress replied. “What he truly wanted was power,” she revealed. “He just want to rule the nation in the place of my daughter, you and my grandchild and if he does not succeed, conquer as much villages as he could to form a different nation." “And so he used the princess's peculiar pregnancy,” Taeyeon mused, the pieces coming all together. “Thus, giving him leverage to start a revolt against the royal family. What do we have to do now?" With a sigh she replied. "I'm tired Taeyeon, getting older each day and I want to rest, I want you to put a stop to this thing before it becomes huge, I want to step down and resume my duty as queen dowager while you and Sooyeon take on to rule the kingdom before your child could take over." The Empress finally said what had been troubling her. Taeyeon squinted, wondering how on Earth she was going to rule a whole kingdom. Her strong mother in law had been ruling the kingdom for years and she's very good at it, the general doesn't think she would be able to accomplish half of the things the Empress had. "But mother non of us knows what it takes to rule. I'm only good at war, politics has never been my cup of tea." "That's why I'll be the queen dowager, I'll be there to guide you both and provide necessary advise when ever it's needed." "Still..." "I wouldn't worry much if I were you. You just don't see it in you, but you have everything it takes to rule general. You are fearless, both ruthless when needed and compassionate, strong-willed and powerful. You have everything it takes to be a great leader and I know Joseon would be glad to have you as their leader." The Empress walked over to her and placed her hand on her shoulder. "You will do well I know you will, now we have something in our way that needs taking care of, I will see you tomorrow and we will discuss more about it." She finished and gave Taeyeon's shoulder a motherly squeeze before opening their room and peered at her sleeping daughter. "She's still sleeping, I will check on her later." With that, the Empress left Taeyeon alone to mull over what she's told her. ~~~ "The Pyongyang rebels had managed to conquer two villages as we speak.” The Empress informed sadly. “Conquer?" Taeyeon asked, "He must have grown strong already." "Yes, while we were dealing with the family traitors, the leader had been planning his rebellion, conquering two villages. He'd amassed forces by giving the people only two choices, either to follow him and his cause or to be a slave forever." "Where are this Pyongyang rebels now?" The general sounded strict as she asked. Sooyeon watched apprehensively as she closed her jaw tightly and her hand unconsciously went to seek the hilt of her sword at her waist. She noticed the rigid stance and how the general seemed deep in concentration. It wasn’t hard for her to guess what her wife was thinking and she doesn't like it one bit. "The outskirts of the nation, they have been camping there for months." The Empress replied. "I-" Taeyeon began but her wife was quick to stop her. "Taeyeon no." The general tilted her head at Sooyeon, frowning, she held herself stiffly and continued. "I will assemble the troops, and we will put a stop to this madness once and for all." “I do not approve of this,” Sooyeon stood angrily, refusing to accept the fact that her wife is yet again going to another war. "Ever since we got married, we haven't been able to even get to know each other properly, it has always been problem upon problem, wars that would never end, war that almost killed her." She said