Xinye's view

We were married the Friday night, and I was nervous to think that Xin would want to exercise his marital rights as soon as we were married, even though I had said I was not ready to be married yet. For three days, I struggled with whether or not to allow him to be with me. During those three days, he was extremely courteous, walking with me, taking me to beautiful places within the palace I had not been to, nor seen, and answering any questions I might have.

I do not know why, but I never asked about his family during those three days. I only asked questions about his likes, wants, and dreams, and he, in turn, asked me what he wanted to know. Neither of us asked about the other's family. Perhaps if we had talked about it when the letter came a week after we had started making love, it would not have been such a shock to either of us.

When the letter arrived, Xin was in his study and I was sitting off to the side, making him tea. As I could not read Chinese, I had no idea what any of his correspondence was about. I was only able to say a few words now in the language, and somehow between the two of us, we managed to understand as Fergus had been teaching Xin English so he could better understand me.

"What does my family want now?" Xin huffed as he tore open the letter.

He scanned it, crumpled it up, and his head dropped in thought.

"What is wrong, Xin?" I placed my hand on his shoulder as his body language was one of tiredness and worry.

"My sister is getting married," He explained, "I did not expect her to get married. It is not that she couldn't get married. She did not want to as she is the one looking after the family fortune. No one else was capable. No man really wanted her because she was too smart for her own good, and now she is marrying? What are we going to do?"

"We must support her no matter what," I instructed him, "even if she is going to another family, she is still your sister, and you should love her no matter what."

"I know, I just did not want her to be hurt, and men tend to do that," he leaned against me, "Not all men are like me."

"True, some are more annoying," I joked, inferring that he was annoying, earning myself a gentle punch.

"I will have to let Taiji know I need to leave now as the wedding is in a month, and it takes longer even to get there, but still, I must try."

I nodded my understanding. I could not think of anything worse than travelling in my health, but yet I was expected to travel.

"How do you want me to travel?" I asked.

"I would normally say by palanquin horse cart, but there is a horseless carriage in town at the moment. Perhaps Taiji would be able to requisition it for me. Only royalty is allowed to use it now."

"A horseless carriage?" I asked curiously as to what he meant by that.

"Yes, it came through the time rift with a young fellow," Xin explained, "He was lucky he landed in the courtyard of a high-ranking English trader. It would have been trouble for him if he had landed anywhere else."

"Can he speak Chinese?" I asked, curious to know.

"A little," Xin nodded, "We have been using Fergus to interpret. He and Fergus seem to get on well, as they talk a lot. You would think they were brothers."

Fergus's view.

After mum's marriage, my role was changed from eunuch in training to a guardsman. Being a guardsman involved a lot of training. I was thankfully not the only new person starting, and the sword training I had been doing after school, came in handy.

I was moved to the trainee barracks as Xin became jealous of me being near mum, especially when I hugged her. It was like he somehow knew Mum was not really my mum. However, we treated each other like Mother and son consistently. Well, at least I assume we did, as we were doing what we did in our own families.

I was still expected to interpret for the English traders who arrived and was often interrupted to interpret, while training. One day a trader came in what was called the horseless carriage. I was not expecting much, but to my surprise, it was Maelgwyn, Mum's real son.

"Maelgwyn!" I rushed over and hugged him, "Mum would be pleased to know you are here with her. Do you want to meet her?"

His dark hazel eyes looked troubled, "Mum is here? Is she doing alright?"

"She is here. She got married a week ago to save me," I explained, "I am now considered the son of the General, the 4th prince Taiji's personal bodyguard."

"I see. What about dad?" Maelgwyn nodded thoughtfully.

"Dad is not here. Xin tried to find him before they were forced to marry."

"What do you mean forced to marry?"

"I was a eunuch in training before becoming a guard in training," I explained, "But I was not really a eunuch. A huge drama blew up in the inner court, so all eunuchs were to be checked. As I was not a Eunuch, I would have been castrated unless Mum agreed to marry Xin and become his wife, making me his son. As his son, I could then enlist as a bodyguard to train. Before then, I was considered an enslaved person. I hope you understand."

"So basically, to save your nuts, you allowed Mum to marry another man!" Maelgwyn snorted in disgust.

"It is more than that, but yeah," I said, feeling ashamed suddenly.

"No, I do not want to see mum yet," Maelgwyn snapped, "I need time to process this. Though can you show me who she married?"

"I will introduce you if you want," I offered.

Maelgwyn nodded curtly, so I took him to meet the man that was now his Stepfather.

"Fergus!" Xin exclaimed, smiling at me, "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to introduce you to the imperial messenger and trader, Maelgwyn," I indicated Maelgwyn to him.

Xin's eyes narrowed as he assessed Maelgwyn and, on seeing nothing suspicious, bowed to him and said, "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I believe we will be working closely together this trip."

"We are," Maelgwyn confirmed, bowing back, "I understand we are taking troops as well as your wife?"

"Yes," Xin's guard went back up, "You may not speak, look at her face or touch her in any way. If you do, I will not be held accountable for what happens to you."

Maelgwyn laughed, "So, she is that precious to you?"

Xin nodded curtly.

"So, what happens if you find her first husband?" he asked curiously, only to find himself on his back, with his breath knocked out of him, and a blade to his throat.

"Do not slander my wife. There is no other husband here alive. If there were, I would not be able to marry nor protect her," Xin said with a murderous look in his eye, "Do not think you can have her to marry either."

"Why in heaven's name would I want to marry my mother?" Maelgwyn asked, perplexed, pushing away the sword distastefully, while sitting up in preparation to stand.

"What? Is he your brother?" Xin looked at me in alarm, realising, that perhaps, threatening Maelgwyn was not the best idea he had had.

"Yes," I replied, glaring at Maelgwyn not to say anything contrary to what I was saying, "He is one of my older brothers. Mum had three boys and one girl. Being well, my sister went to school when the event happened, so she is unlikely to be here."

Xin sat down then, shock on his face, "4 kids...I have four kids now...I was ready for 1, but 4?"

"Hey," Maelgwyn snapped as he got up, "Isn't my mother good enough now that you know she has had four children?"

"No, it's not that," Xin shook his head, putting away his sword as he stood, "It's just hard to imagine such a beautiful person had that many kids. You seem to be doing well for yourself."

Maelgwyn nodded, "I was blessed. Things could have been a nightmare if I had landed anywhere else. Horseless carriages are scary to people here. The emperor sent a message to me before saying he wanted to ship 30 of his most talented men to Mongolia to settle the unrest there."

Xin smiled,  "Yes, I was supposed to go with them, but my sister requested my presence at her wedding. You might be taking Fergus, my wife, and I with you as my family is one of the main families in the north. Now, did you want to meet your mother?"

A/N If you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to vote by pressing the star. Please let me know if you see any errors, as this is unedited.