Chapter Text
Zhou Zishu didn’t know how so many other omega’s could do this. Barely an hour into the start of his contractions and already, he felt like he was going to burst.
His child was making an early appearance - about five weeks early.
His skin felt like it was on fire, like his sorrow at being unwillingly bonded has clawed it's way up his skin and dug itself into his bones. His itchy consort robes clung to his sweaty skin, he wished more than anything to be able to take them off. However, one of the rules dictated that the royal consort must only show his or her skin for their husband.
These robes were specially made to be thrown away later, robes just for giving birth. The robes were a simple and plain set, consisting of only an inner and outer robe, the inner robe was light linen, the only part of the robe he was going to wear during the actual birthing, while the outside was itchy wool, meant for after he had given birth - to keep the baby and himself warm. Certainly, giving birth in the middle of winter did not suit him.
His hair had to be kept in a tight bun on the top of his head. The bun pulled on his temples and raised a headache on the crown of his head.
Slowly, Zhou Zishu's hand came to rest upon his stomach, willing his child to calm down and let him rest, if only for a minute.
"Quiet, Qing-Yuan. Your Mama is trying to rest." He whispered to his baby. He got a kick to his kidney in response.
"Consort Zhou, I need to check your dilation, now." The healer that was assisting with the birth said. He was an old man, nearly reaching 85, now. He always treated Zhou Zishu with detached coldness, as if he didn't care about Zhou Zishu. Secretly, Zishu was relieved to be treated with this kind of honestly for once.
"Of course." Zhou Zishu moved into position, laying on his back with his legs bent at the knee and hip-width apart. The healer lifted Zishu's robe and his eyebrows furrowed. This immediately alarmed Zhou Zishu, as he began to fretfully try to sit up.
The healer harshly pushed him back down onto the bed, coldly stating that "something is wrong with the baby. Lay still, or I will be forced to sedate you."
Zhou Zishu could only lie back, breathing harsh, muscles freezing, bone turning brittle, and his womb suddenly bursting with pain. It was sudden and unexpected, harsh and everlasting. Zhou Zishu suddenly found that he could not breathe, for the blinding, white-hot pain in his womb.
He could not hear himself scream, could not feel himself flail, could not see the healer's assistant come towards him with a sedation needle.
He could only hear echoes of his desperate wails, could only feel the ache in his bones from his flailing, could only remember the red of the healer's assistant's robes, after it had all been done.
He fully regained consciousness two hours later, when his baby was being placed in his arms, and his husband was walking into the room.
His arms felt like jelly, his head muddled, and his lower body numb. He wondered what had been wrong.
"Prince Jin," the healer bowed to the prince. "Consort Zhou experienced an issue with his birthing. You see, due to the premature nature of your daughter's birth, Consort Zhou's body had not yet fully finished its preparations for the birth."
Zhou Zishu had been worried about that, about how the stress of being around Prince Jin, the stress of having to kill people, of having to watch people be killed - the constant anxiety of being forcefully taken for doing something wrong. It came as no surprise to him when he went into labor early.
"Healer Nie, thank you. What did you have to do?" Zhou Zishu wondered that, too. His entire lower half was numb, and his mind felt drugged.
"Ahem. About that. You see, normally, when a male omega gives birth, he developed a third opening, where the baby can be birthed. This process happens about a week before the actual birth. Since your daughter was born five weeks earlier than she was supposed to, Consort Zhou was unable to develop this special opening. We had to cut one into him."
Ah, no wonder he was numb.
Zhou Zishu tuned out the rest of the conversation between his forced husband and the healer, instead choosing to focus on his baobei.
Even though he knew, legally, her name was Wanshan, his baobei would always be Qing-Yuan to him.
His Qing-Yuan was smaller than he had expected, easy to hold despite his jelly-arms. She had been cleaned, swaddled into a light blue blanket, and tucked into a tiny hat. Her skin was a soft shade of pink, and she let out little babbles or coos every once in a while. Zhou Zishu never knew that he could love someone so fiercely after just meeting them.
Soon, the healer and Prince Jin were done talking, evidenced by the fact that the bed next to Zhou Zishu dipped and the door leading out of the room closed softly.
Slowly, Zhou Zishu turned his head away from his Qing-Yuan and faced his husband.
The last thing he expected was the slap that came next.
"Why would you cause so much trouble, a-Shu?" The words, unlike all the other times Prince Jin, said them, seemed to run over his head, washing away in the cool winter breeze.
Zhou Zishu didn't feel much like replying, he didn't even know if he could get his tongue to work, after all. Beside him, Prince Jin sighed. The Prince stood from the bed, walking over to the window.
"A-Shu, a-Shu. Don't you know what is going to happen now? First, you almost get our child killed, then you try to leave me. tut-tut. If you want to leave me so badly, why don't I just kill you?!"
Zhou Zishu didn't know if Prince Jin was joking this time. He had finished the duty bestowed upon him, he had born an hier for him, now he could die having fulfilled his marital duties. But-
"Please... I want to stay with her..." He somehow managed to choke the words around his loose tongue and tingly teeth. Already, whatever sedative they had used had begun to wear off, his head becoming clearer by the moment. That was how he managed to turn his head away in time to avoid the kiss Prince Jin was going to give him.
The Prince reared back in offence, scoffing at Zishu. Suddenly, he jerked his hand towards Zishu, who jerked back, expecting another slap, only for his baobei to be ripped from his arms.
"No!" Zishu shrieked, reaching for his child, following Prince Jin on his trek out of the room. "No! Give her back!"
"A-Shu, a-Shu. I have to do this, don't you realize? You have paid more attention to this child than me. She needs to be removed, now." The Prince whispered, cruelly.
Prince Jin slammed the door on the way out, taking care to do it as loudly as possible, which scared both Zishu and Qing-Yuan. From behind the door, trapped in this room, Zhou ZIshu heard his daughter crying, and his husband locking the door, completely ignoring Zishu's baobei's distress. After a while, the sounds faded down the hallway, and Zishu could no longer hear his baby.
Crying, Zishu knelt at the door, sinking into himself as if the life has drained away.
He stayed there until his husband found him, three days later.