The General Was Pregnant with the Emperor's Child - Chapter 15

Whether the marking had been covered or stripped away was still unknown, but Ye Wuyou’s eyes were bloodshot, and he gritted his teeth in hatred.

Without the fusion and concealment of a Qian-jun’s (Alpha) pheromones, Ye Wuyou was an unmarked Kun-ze (Omega). Even worse, he was deep in the throes of his “rain and dew” period (heat). The Cold Plum pheromones exploding from the nape of an unmarked Kun’s neck could be smelled by anyone.

Even when Ye Wuyou had kidnapped Xiao Yun’an at the brothel, his scent had not been this dense. He had no doubt that the Cold Plum fragrance drifting from his body had spiraled so far out of control that even the Ze-dui (Betas) in the army could smell it.

Ye Wuyou gripped his red-tasseled spear tightly. Large droplets of sweat fell from his forehead as a sudden, reckless heat surged toward his mind, leaving his throat parched. Having experienced heat once before, Ye Wuyou knew exactly what was happening; his consciousness remained relatively clear, but his physical state was a complete wreck.

The forcibly induced Kun instincts were difficult to resist. He struggled painfully, his legs too weak to stand. He felt as though he had been submerged in water; his inner robes were entirely soaked with sweat, clinging to his skin in a wet, sticky mess. With a flushed face and burning skin, Ye Wuyou crawled on the ground, gasping for air.

Flickering firelight passed by outside the tent, accompanied by familiar shouts of command. There was the muffled sound of clashing weapons; Ye Wuyou wanted to listen clearly, but a sinister fire was burning within him that couldn’t be extinguished. It blurred his vision with a misty haze and caused a ringing in his ears.

Pheromones continued to seep from the back of his neck. The Cold Plum scent cloying and sweet tugged at his precarious sanity. He knew he should probably step outside for some fresh air.

But Ye Wuyou couldn’t leave the tent. He tried to use the spear to stagger to his feet, but after a few steps, he fell pathetically into the only source of Green Bamboo scent in the tent.

Xiao Yun’an’s bamboo scent was like a life-saving straw. Ye Wuyou instinctively buried his face into the pile of inner robes on the bedding. But compared to the Cold Plum filling the room, this trace of bamboo was too faint. Images of Xiao Yun’an’s face from his dreams flashed through his mind; the Qian-jun who had given him a temporary marking was, unfortunately, a world away.

Ye Wuyou immediately thought of the strange dreams he had been having over the past month. The doctor had warned him about pheromone cravings during pregnancy; Ye Wuyou had suffered from them before, only to be miraculously soothed by Xiao Yun’an’s scent in his dreams.

He tried to enter a dream again to reach his distant Alpha in the Imperial City, but the enemy attack was fierce, and his body was awash with heat. How could he peacefully find Xiao Yun’an in a dream to alleviate this tide? He could only rely on the pheromones on the inner robes to soothe his chaotic, burning body.

Ye Wuyou was still struggling. He clutched the spear, his toes unconsciously curling against the quilts. His entangled legs struggled to bend at the knees; despite several attempts, he couldn’t gather the strength to stand. He could only roll onto his back, gasping for breath. He brought the heat and sweat of his body onto the bed, the internal fever making him spread his toes wide in an attempt to dissipate the scorching heat.

He missed Xiao Yun’an so much missed the Emperor’s scent, and wanted his Alpha to mark him once more. Ye Wuyou clutched his slightly aching belly, his mind uncontrollably breeding resentment toward Xiao Yun’an.

Why am I the only one struggling?

Kill… kill them…

In his frantic writhing, Ye Wuyou’s elbow slammed into the wall. The impact sent a numbing shock through his arm; the physical pain jolted his mind back to clarity.

What kind of hellish incense did the barbarians use! To mess with my marking and try to lure me into a demonic trance!

His loyalty to the Emperor and the Jing Dynasty was absolute; how could he harbor ill intentions toward Xiao Yun’an?

Ye Wuyou didn’t hesitate to lift his arm and bite down hard. The pain bought him another moment of clarity. He rolled over, frantically grabbing an inner robe carrying Xiao Yun’an’s scent and covering his face. He pressed his lips together. The gland that Xiao Yun’an had bitten slowly squeezed out a trace of the fused Green Bamboo and Cold Plum.

It actually worked!

Hah! Those barbarian bastards’ low-quality tricks can’t affect the marking I stole from Xiao Yun’an one bit! Xiao Yun’an was protected by Imperial Qi and was the high-quality Alpha the doctor had praised so much even one night with him was an immense tonic!

The camp outside had fallen into complete chaos. Ye Wuyou heard disorganized shouting again; it sounded like protests, or perhaps madness.

Could it be… that the barbarians used this strange incense in more than just my tent?

Ye Wuyou’s face grew cold. He had intended to endure it, but if he delayed any longer, his pheromones would drift out of the tent and spread to every corner of the Ye Army camp. Ye Wuyou knew what a Kun-ze’s heat pheromones meant; in fact, he could already smell the pheromones of other Alphas.

Blood dripped from the bite marks on his arm. Ye Wuyou stopped obsessing over leaving the tent. If he didn’t solve the heat first, his Cold Plum scent would only throw the few Alphas in the camp into a frenzy. He might be forced to strike down his own brothers in the camp before he even found Yang Shen or the doctor.

Ye Wuyou had handed all his medicine over to Yang Shen during their meeting a few days ago. Even if he had medicine now, he wouldn’t dare use it for fear of harming the little fellow in his belly. He covered his stomach with his hand, staring blankly at the crumpled inner robes on the bed.

Another wave of damp heat hit him. Troubled by the heat and the sticky sweat that returned as soon as it was wiped away, Ye Wuyou, with a flushed face, thought of a bold solution.

He needed an Alpha’s scent. He needed Xiao Yun’an’s scent to penetrate deep into his body. And on his bed, he happened to have…

Ye Wuyou’s expression sharpened. His hand quietly reached downward, his flexible fingers moving. Leaning against his spear with a flushed face, he gathered the inner robes mixed in the bedding into a bundle…

……

The dense Cold Plum pheromones in the tent suddenly retracted. From the gland at the back of Ye Wuyou’s neck, the scent fused with Green Bamboo began to flow slowly once more. Ye Wuyou felt as though he had been submerged in water again, the corners of his eyes still holding the red afterglow of the experience.

Better to let it flow than to block it. Ye Wuyou had forced the internal heat out of his body, and the Green Bamboo pheromones replenished from the robes acted like a wildfire, firmly re-staking their claim within his gland.

The Emperor’s marking was indeed not something an ordinary person could shake.

Ye Wuyou picked up a presentable bedsheet to wipe the sweat from his body and stood up on trembling legs. He barked a sharp reprimand toward the noise outside the tent: “A mere few barbarian enemies have made you forget where you are and what you should be doing! It seems I’ve let you live too comfortably!”

The sound of armor being dragged rang out from the commander’s tent. The noise outside stopped abruptly, and the soldiers who had been shouting went silent.

Ye Wuyou suppressed his heavy breathing to steady his mind. With great effort, he strapped the heavy armor onto his body. He had only just managed to suppress the heat, leaving him weak and exhausted. But the legs that had been shaking uncontrollably when he stood up now took steps that were terrifyingly steady once the armor was on.

A red-tasseled spear swept open the tent flap, landing precisely in front of a soldier trying to barge in. The red tassel on the spear looked like blood, fluttering in the wind.

Ye Wuyou strode out. Aside from the lingering Cold Plum scent he couldn’t hide, he was still the familiar figure the soldiers knew his ponytail tied high, his appearance meticulous, his flushed cheeks hidden beneath his helmet.

“What? The enemy attacks, and instead of following orders, you think of raiding my camp?” Ye Wuyou was shrouded in the Cold Plum pheromones that hadn’t fully faded, but he stood without fear. He remained calm amidst several Alphas who had been pinned outside the tent by Yang Shen’s needles.

Ye Wuyou’s Cold Plum scent hit everyone present, but his chilling aura overpowered the sensuality of the Omega pheromones. Like plum blossoms in the proud snow, only a sense of slaughter remained. General Ye rarely showed such severity to his subordinates; this General, who had only just reached twenty, now caused people to tremble simply by walking over to pull his spear from the ground.

Yang Shen, seeing Ye Wuyou exit the tent with his pheromones unshielded, felt his heart skip a beat. He hid the medicine he had prepared in his satchel.

“Why are you still standing here? Can’t you hear the horn to face the enemy? Assemble and return to your units!” Ye Wuyou roared again. The people surrounding the tent looked at each other; no one dared mention the scent on him. They scrambled back to their units as if their feet were greased with oil.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Ye Wuyou let out a sigh of relief. He thrust the spear into the soil, leaning half his body against it for support. Yang Shen hurried forward to catch him. Seeing Yang Shen, Ye Wuyou’s trembling hand unfastened his wrist guard and reached out.

Ye Wuyou’s voice was tense yet drained: “Yang Shen, quick see if he’s still there!”

Yang Shen took the pulse without a word, then pulled out various jars and picked a pill to shove into Ye Wuyou’s mouth. “It would be better if the little brat was gone,” Yang Shen said irritably.

“Don’t say that about him. Children remember things early; be careful or he won’t call you ‘Godfather’ later.” Ye Wuyou laughed easily. He swallowed the pills without hesitation, redonned his armor, and whistled for his horse. He took a moment to pat his abdomen and brag to Yang Shen: “My son’s life is tough enough, isn’t it?”

“Your identity as a Kun is exposed; General, you should think about yourself first.” Yang Shen knew Ye Wuyou must have used some unspeakable methods to suppress the heat. He didn’t care how Ye Wuyou broke the barbarian poison; after checking the pulse, the pregnancy was stable, but he was more worried about the General’s over-exhausted body.

No matter how strong Ye Wuyou’s willpower was, his heat cycle wasn’t complete; he was still a tinderbox waiting for a spark. Setting aside the instability in the army once they learned his true gender, Yang Shen was terrified just knowing that Khan Luren was also an Alpha.

To think of such a sinister tactic if they didn’t eliminate him soon, the consequences would be endless.

Ye Wuyou: “What is there for me to think about? It’s not my first day being a Kun, and it’s not my first time dealing with a heat wave. This battle will be fought as planned!”

Zhuifeng (his horse) came galloping over. The pills Ye Wuyou had just swallowed helped him regain some strength. He swung his long leg over the horse’s back, ignoring Yang Shen’s protests, and charged toward the most chaotic area of the camp.

Yang Shen cursed and called for his horse to follow.

Who knows who this ‘Steamed Bun Alpha’ is that Ye Mian raves about every day—in such a crisis, why isn’t he here to help?

And Ye Mian, always trying to be the hero!

The northern winds rose again, the piercingly cold air slamming against the armor that gleamed under the moonlight. Ye Wuyou held the reins with one hand and took a bow and arrow from a subordinate, drawing the string without hesitation.

An arrow pierced the bullseye in the hall.

The candlelight flickered. The Emperor, dressed in black, stood coldly in the center of the hall. He had just received the military report from the border; Ye Mian said there were spies in the Great Jing camp.

Xiao Yun’an irritably took out his frustration on the targets in the hall. He should have trusted his General’s ability, but tonight, he felt a groundless sense of panic. After being forcibly pushed out of the dream by Ye Wuyou, the Green Bamboo pheromones fused with Cold Plum on his body had become unusually disordered.

The pheromones surging from the nape of Xiao Yun’an’s neck fluctuated for a full half-hour before finally returning to normal. But his heart continued to race, and that dream… Ye Mian felt a bit too real.

To be called away by an enemy attack right in the middle of being comfortable… Xiao Yun’an’s face darkened. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He covered the gland on the back of his neck.

That Flower Thief… could he have put a curse on both Zhen and Ye Mian?

“Gao Su, summon the Imperial Physicians!”