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The Queen Consort nodded in understanding. "Of course, of course, it wouldn\'t do to talk about marriage so close to a funeral. We will respect all taboos."

To her credit, she seemed genuinely distraught by the news.

"I\'ll be leaving Hua Nanyi at her Royal Higness\' and the Third Princess\' disposal, please let her know if there\'s anything you need."

The Queen Consort bowed deeply to him, and told him to convey her deepest condolences to Chu Yun.

He would probably appreciate them, seeing as he was locked up in their quarters with a very annoyed Chu Hean -- who he\'d had some trouble to persuade of the necessity of his death.

Xiao Zai had already called a meeting with some of the remaining ministers to let them know of this most recent tragedy. It left a sour taste in his mouth to tell such an extensive lie, but Ru Long wasn\'t a fool -- he would be able to tell if they weren\'t convincing.

Just as Chu Yun had predicted news spread fast. By noon, Gu Wei had come to see him at the palace.

"What is this about your brother-in-law\'s death?" he asked, as soon as the servant who escorted him closed the door behind Xiao Zai\'s private office.

Xiao Zai contemplated lying to him too, but he realised that desire was borne out of a childish impulse, rather than any practical necessity. He wouldn\'t stoop to such pettiness just because he hadn\'t forgiven his dam.

"He\'s dead but doing well," Xiao Zai said glibly, gesturing for his dam to sit down.

Gu Wei was clearly not amused but he still took a seat. He listened in silence as Xiao Zai explained Chu Yun\'s plan, his eyebrows climbing higher and higher up his forehead with each detail.

"Well, if his previous relationship with Chu Hean was purely based on interests, as your husband suspects, why would he care enough to come here?"

"Because of the Xiongnu," Xiao Zai said with a smile. "Because they\'re still here, and he\'ll want to find out the cause of Chu Hean\'s death, and if he can use it to his advantage among them."

Chu Yun suspected that the reason why Ru Long followed Chu Hean there, and was so adamant to pull him away from the Xiongnu was exactly because of that -- they were an unknown variable, and he didn\'t want them to \'fall\' in the wrong hands, so to speak.

He was probably furious that they\'d been staying peacefully in Haolin for so long, even since the attack, which he had failed to pin on Lieba Chun.

Xiao Zai was inclined to agree with him. As soon as Ru Long heard the news, he\'d come slithering in...The only question was if that would be enough to put a stop to his plans.

"Well, Jin Luan is a very competent bodyguard, he\'s very discreet. If you want I can ask him to--"

Xiao Zai interrupted him. "That won\'t be necessary." Gu Wei could be offering out of genuine concern but Xiao Zai knew his dam, and that he didn\'t like to be left out.

Gu Wei didn\'t press the issue, but remained seated on his chair. "How is Chu Yun?"

"He\'s fine," Xiao Zai answered curtly.

"There shouldn\'t be long now, before the child is born."

Xiao Zai hummed in assent, returning his eyes to the paperwork on the desk, even though he wasn\'t seeing anything. "The physicians estimate around one month more, maybe a little less."

"Well, like I said, I was the one who delivered Xiao Yao\'s twins, and of course I\'ll do the same again now."

The vein at Xiao Zai\'s temple throbbed. He didn\'t know what to tell Gu Wei, but he thought that saying:  \'what choice do we fucking have considering you\'re the only person in the country to have delivered an alpha pregnancy?\' -- wouldn\'t go over well.

Instead he said, "that will depend entirely on Chu Yun\'s decision."

Which was actually the truth. Xiao Zai wouldn\'t complain whether  Chu Yun decided he wanted his dam to deliver the child, nor if he decided to go with the physicians who had been attending to him.

He could only hope that the stress of trying to anticipate Ru Long\'s next movements wasn\'t making things too difficult for Chu Yun. He had the terrible habit of underestimating his own pain.

---

"No one in the history of the world has had a little brother as difficult as me," Chu Yun said with a groan, pushing Chu Hean down into the bed for the thousandth time.

"I just don\'t understand why I have to stay in this bed, still as a board, pretending to be dead, while it\'s just the two of us in the room," Chu Hean retorted, hissing through his teeth and trying to get up again.

It had been hard already to convince him of the necessity of his death. Chu Yun had even found unlikely opposition in Lieba Chun who wondered if there wasn\'t something else they could do. It was only after he realised that Lieba Chun was afraid of seeing Chu Hean wearing funerary robes, and assuring him it wouldn\'t come to that, that he finally relented.

Chu Hean\'s acceptance was more akin to that of a spitting cat but in the end Chu Yun got his way.

And now here they were: Chu Yun dressed all in mourning white, overcome with grief, secluded with his brother\'s dead body in his own rooms. A grief so great not even the King was allowed in -- or so he hoped the gossip went.

"The point is that he\'ll try to break into the room," Chu Yun retorted, speaking through gritted teeth. "We\'re hoping he does that. So stay still, try not to breathe, and don\'t laugh when I cry."

"Don\'t cry like an old lady then."

Chu Yun thought it was very likely that one of them would really end up dead long before Ru Long showed up.