Chapter Text
Wen Ruohan is not a kind man. This he knows. He is the ruler of Qishan Wen Sect, the strongest of the established Five Great Sects. There is nothing he would not do to secure power, to make sure that no one will contest him, that no one will come out above him. They forged him in blood and fire, honed by the skills passed down by his ancestors. He is Qishan’s highest sovereign. He has tainted his sword with too many lives, cut them down as if they were nothing but flimsy papers in the face of his rage.
He is not a kind man. This he knows.
Until he found his lady, who came into his life like the bumbling donkeys she so loved and adored.
She is Lady Cangse of the Wei Clan, a strong yet minor branch of the Wen, Southeast of Qishan, near the borders of Yunmeng. She was the First Young Mistress of said clan, already of age yet still unmarried or unengaged. Her beauty is one he had not witnessed before, gentle features rests on her face yet such fierce eyes she holds. She was wild; the rumors said. The lady was always running and horse-riding, enjoying her life as she sees fit. Her hand had callouses from wielding the sword too much, as opposed of a lady of her station. A lady, a woman, yet a master of the Six Arts. And though that may have been the reason no man wanted her, Wen Ruohan found himself besotted to her. Unequivocally, unquestioningly attracted to her.
He met her during the beginning of a harsh winter. Answering to a call made by Lord Wei, he rode to Yiling, towards the Wei Clan’s territory. It worried him, said Lord Wei. The snow is higher this year, the winds stronger, and the cold digging that much deeper into their bones. The harvests were meager, no matter the effort put by his people. And though it is already a problem, the cold winter is not the reason he has called his Sect Leader. There was something lurking in the mountains of Yiling. The hunters they send each day comes back halved by the original number. Bruised and bloody, the men cannot utter a single word to describe the abomination that had descended upon them. All they ever said was that it was big and shrouded with a mist so thick they felt it when it brushed them. Hearing this, he ventured the next morning, along with a few of his men. They went up the mountain and found carnage when they reached the halfway point. Mutilated bodies were strewn everywhere, ripped clothes hang from branches of the tree, and a path of blood and entrails leading to the top. He followed it, all arrogance and pride, and got himself in trouble. The monster turned out to be a yao. Formed from the body of a wolf, it was strong and fast, with claws as sharp as his own sword. He might have died then, if not for the Lady Cangse.
She followed them, driven by her worry for her people and her curiosity for the monster terrorizing her village. When she saw that the monster already posing to attack and maim Sect Leader Wen, she got out of her hiding spot, unsheathed her sword and slashed the wolf-demon in its eye. Howling with pain and distracted by the blood flowing from its eye, the wolf-demon tried to attack again, but Lady Cangse was already at its back, standing with her sword above its head, and brought it down. The demon gave one last howl, shuddered, and fell. She looked magnificent then, with blood coloring her light pink outer robes, sword gleaming in the winter sun, and her eyes turning into twin pools of silver. He was beguiled, utterly attracted to this small, lithe woman who can take down a monster nearly ten times as big as she and many times heavier. She wiped her sword, put it back in its scabbard and offered him her not-so dainty hands. He took it and she smiled, brighter than the first rays of dawn. He knew then that she must be God’s gift to him, for fate brought her to him.
After that, he returned to Qishan, but not before asking Lord Wei for the permission to court his oldest daughter. He had accepted and told his daughter the splendid news. He expected happiness to color her face, pink blush coming high to her cheeks. He did not expect her to turn red, to state her objections, and be as angry as the healers in Qishan when he dismisses their advice. He was offended, and rightly so. No one had ever denied him, for he was the Sect Leader. Who would ever refuse him?
And so, she denied him, never giving permission to be courted and never showing signs of rescinding her statement. Her father, enraged by her daughter’s disrespect, sent her to her rooms to ‘meditate’ to ‘calm her mind’, for the ‘resentful energy’ from killing the yao may have been tampering with her mind. She did so, stomping her foot and throwing glares and sneers to her own Sect Leader. Offense giving way to amusement, he allowed such behavior without so much as a punishment. He knows then, the Lady Cangse of the Wei Clan will marry him and become a part of the main Sect.
And though he greatly desired Lady Cangse, it is a well-known fact that he was already married to two ladies. They have graced his bed and had already given him two sons each. They are the mothers of his children and yet, he holds no desire for them outside of procreation and the conception of an heir. That, however, is not how he felt towards Lady Cangse. He wants to unravel her, to know her secrets, to treasure her. And when he came back to Qishan, he told his two ladies that a third wife will come and that he will not tolerate any malicious actions towards her. He cares not for his other two wives, for they were both marriages of convenience, a way to link their clans to his. He knows a retaliation will come from either or both of them. But if they prove to be too much of a nuisance, it’s not that difficult to silence them. He only ever needed his sons, and since they have given him two, he will not think twice about disposing of them.
For the next two years, he courted Lady Cangse. She was unmoving but over time; she showed him her different sides. She smiled at him more, laughed with him more, and joked with him. And he fell deeper for her. What once an attraction and lust, turned into genuine happiness upon seeing her face, the first fluttering of his stony heart upon her smile, the warmth he feels whenever she’s near him. He had not felt this when courting his other two wives. He did not have the patience and care he is displaying now for the mothers of his heirs. He wants to protect Lady Cangse and now that their courtship is coming to its conclusion; he is becoming increasingly worried from the attacks he is sure that will be upon her once she comes to his court. So he told her such.
“Wen-zongzhu, I may look like the delicate damsels that decorate your court but let me assure you that my hands are not as pure as you think.”
And with that, Wen Ruohan smiled smugly, for he had chosen right. He had given his heart to a woman who is as much of a warrior as he is. A woman he can treat as his equal. The only woman he loves.
Lady Cangse, third concubine of Sect Leader Wen, is a formidable woman. She was the youngest of the concubines and the only one that does not have an heir. However, she was, as the people said, the only concubine that mattered. The people of Qishan, whispering into their sleeves, described the other two as idle and have no wish to acquaint themselves with the comings and goings of the court. They had roles before, back when they were not round of their sons and given birth to them. Lady Cangse does not know how a concubine can not be part of the court. Is not that their duty? Aside from being there for their husband, isn’t it imperative that they also help him with the politics and the court? She found herself disappointed with them. She heard stories that they were beautiful beyond compare and that they had graced Wen-zongzhu with sons. Yet, all she sees of them are pretty ornaments. They are eye-catching and somewhat useful. But when they are no longer useful, they’ll be discarded like the trash they are.
Maybe she’s just bitter and jealous. For they shared a husband, and she was the last to come to him. They already had sons, and she knows that her own child will have the weakest claim to the seat of the Sect Leader. She was also from a branch that is only strong through riches, because gold flowed freely from their rivers and stones glittered in their caves. Her clan was not a cultivator clan like Lady Lijuan, who specializes in using spears or Lady Meixiu, whose clan incorporated Hung Gar into their fighting style. But then, she thinks, both women are not fully trained, despite being from strong fighting clans. Their golden cores are significantly weaker than hers and their bodies as soft as the noodles she used to make back home. And here she was, a young lady who came from a merchant clan and yet mastered the Six Arts before she even flowered.
She smiled, a little vindictively, thinking how to overturn this court, help her husband, and make sure that the child growing within her womb will be the one sitting on that red throne.
“You will be strong, little one. I can feel you within me. And when you are grown, you will show everyone who among the three of you deserves to be Sect Leader Wen.”