Conquering the Emperor

“I understand your reaction because I had the same reaction when I first heard Rin’s suggestion; however, her town has many women that practice medicine. It is the norm there. You are aware that there has been a shortage of royal doctors and doctors in general for many years now. I think allowing women to study and practice medicine can help solve this problem and we can start with Rin…as a sort of test case…” Ren continued pushing for his request. Our request.

“Hmm…that is true. However, this is not an easy change to put in place…” the emperor said in a low voice as he seemed to consider Ren’s words.

“The emperor is responsible to make changes that are necessary for the betterment of people’s lives. You haven’t forgotten the first woman that was allowed to ride alone on horseback, have you?” Ren asked. It was clear that his resolve was solid.

“Of course not. It was…your mother…” the emperor replied, his tone soft.

“And it was you who abolished the rule that women were not allowed to ride on horses…” Ren added.

The emperor’s brows furrowed as he seemed to be deep in thought. I held my breath as I dared to hope that he would allow me to practice medicine. After a short while, the emperor sighed loudly as if he had arrived at his decision.

“Alright. I will allow Lady White Lotus to study and practice medicine with the royal doctors until she is satisfied. However, I still reserve my decisions about allowing women in general to practice medicine. As Ren said, we can use her case as a test of sorts to make a decision on this at a later date…” the emperor said.

“Thank you for making a wise decision for the benefit of the empire,” Ren said as he bowed low to his father, and I quickly did the same.

“The Lady White Lotus’s study must not interfere with her main duty of producing the next heir, please remember that” the emperor said sternly.

I guess he will never be willing to let this matter slide.

I wasn’t sure if that was the outcome that Ren had in mind, but I believe that it went better than I had thought it would. After all, all of Ren’s three requests were accepted and most importantly, I have been allowed to study medicine with the royal doctors.

It seems like my dream is going to come true much faster than I had hoped for, and it was all because of Ren.

We all bowed to the emperor as he made his way out of the room. It was only Ren, Shin and I left in the room.

“Sorry for putting even more burden on you with Kin’s case,” Ren said as he turned to address Shin.

“I have to say that I didn’t see that coming but I can see why you would want to do that. If Prince Kin is with me then I can keep tabs on him and I can make him suffer a little during his training. I doubt the harsh conditions on the battlefield would suit his delicate sense of self…” Shin said before laughing a little to himself.

“I’ll work with some of my officials to investigate his sources of income and fundings as well. There’s been rumors here and there about suspicious activities for a while now, but it had always been difficult to interfere with his affairs,” Ren said.

“Because of the empress?” Shin asked.

“Correct. Now that we have the emperor’s permission, things should go smoothly from now on,” Ren said with satisfaction.

I listened to the two men discussing these matters while I remained politely silent. The truth was, I wanted to thank Ren, but I wasn’t sure how I should be acting around him. Sure, I was massively surprised that he had made a request on my behalf and that it was also granted by the emperor but that doesn’t mean that Ren had forgiven me just yet.

“You may leave, Shin,” Ren said dismissively.

“I’ll leave you two then…” Shin said before bowing polite to both Ren and me.

Swiftly, Shin nodded at me and left the room.

The moment that I had dreaded had arrived again, Ren and I were alone together. What should I say?

“Ren…I…” I said hesitantly, my voice sounding shaky and small.

“Stay still,” Ren commanded as he strode quickly towards me.

I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me, but my body froze out of shock and slight fear. When Ren came to stand directly in front of me, I didn’t dare look up at his face. Suddenly, I felt his hands on the hair piece on my head.

“It’s heavy, isn’t it? I’ll help you take it off,” Ren said, his voice sounding very gentle.

I looked up, wide eyed at his sudden change in character. There’s no one else around anymore so this isn’t Ren acting, right?

“Umm…let me…” I began saying as I reached my hands up to help him remove the headpiece from my head. I knew that it wasn’t easy to put on and remove and I wasn’t sure if Ren could manage all alone.

Fortunately, the headpiece was easier to remove than it was to put on and we managed to remove it in no time. My head felt miraculously lighter after that piece of massive decoration was removed. I sighed with relief as I felt blood flowing into my scalp like normal.

“Thank you…Ren…” I thanked him softly.

“It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it? Sorry, I made you wear this. You don’t have to wear it again,” Ren said, his voice very gentle and it caught me by surprise.

“Ren…” I whispered his name.

“Let’s talk when we’re back at your palace,” Ren said before I could say anything more.

I decided to go along with his suggestion and just nodded to show my acknowledgement. Ren helped me into the carriage, and it was a pleasant change from his cold treatment on our journey here.

--To be continued…