My Darling Peony :Emperor!China x Reader:

My Darling Peony

:Emperor!China x reader:

'Damn it all,' You cursed softly to yourself as you stumbled halfheartedly to the nearest tree and pressed your back against the bark. Sucking in a couple of breaths from your deflated lungs, you sank down to the ground and clutched at your right side painfully.

Looking down, you winced as you removed your hand to see blood surrounding your dirty clothing. You have been caught in an invasion that left your home village burned and almost all of its inhabitants dead. You were the only one lucky to escape before the men could hunt you down---it was quite difficult to run away when you were directly stabbed on your side. However, you knew you were strong enough to endure the pain in a last effort to save yourself--You weren't going to give in so easily.

So you struggled to trudge into the forest and didn't stop until you believed you were at a safe distance away...which happened to be the tree you were currently leaning on. Your forehead was damp with sweat and your lithe (h/c) hair was sticking to your sweaty back.

You were safe for now...but your strength was starting to fail you...and you wouldn't stop bleeding either. It was also getting harder for you to breathe without having sharp pains shooting up to your system and your vision was starting to blur.

'At least...I'll die knowing that I was able to escape from those wretched men...' you thought to yourself.

Unfortunately, you heard a faint rustle of some fabric and some footsteps heading towards your direction. Feeling your eyes droop and your mind cloud up into nothingness, you still managed to catch a glimpse of crimson before lost consciousness.

---
Screaming. That's all you heard. Then someone told you to duck down and hide from plain sight. You obeyed and before you can react any further, you heard the door break open. Porcelain and jade vases cracked open and the people inside screamed. A woman was being pulled out of the house. You were silently pulling yourself to your feet from your hiding place when you saw red staining the floors. The straw house across from yours was set on fire. You catch a man standing from the entrance holding a pearled dagger with a single black engraving on it. That engraving...he was from the other village and he was to kill everyone he sees...with you being next in his nonexistent list.

He set his gaze into your frightened eyes and inches closer to you, dagger poised in the air and anticipation gleaming in his murderous, coal eyes.

And you tried to move away but your legs were glued to the floor and refused to move. Realizing that you were close to meeting with death, you braced yourself as the dagger came plunging down and you opened your mouth to let out a bloodcurdling scream...
---

You opened your eyes and shot up, (e/c) eyes widening as you panted heavily, sweat beading your forehead and face. Pain started to shoot up from your side from sitting up too quickly and you panicked when a pair of hands pushed you back to lay you down.

"Shh..."

You struggled to sit back up but the hands held firmly onto your shoulders to prevent you from moving. It didn't take you long until your (e/c) eyes finally were able to focus and the image of a young man came into view.

His honey-colored eyes stared curiously into yours as one of his hands brushed a lock of your hair away from your face. His face was remarkably handsome and his skin was quite pale. You also notice that he was wearing an expensive-looking traditional silk robe in the color of crimson as well. What really struck you was his hair. The ebony locks framed his face and spilled over his shoulders like watery ink. It was quite abnormal for men of your country to let down their hair like this man did. He even looked like he was about your age--perhaps he was a couple years older than you.

The man continued to shush you in an effort to calm you down as he lightly dabbed at your sweaty forehead with a cool towel. "You're safe now," he murmured soothingly.

"W-where am I?" you croaked. "I-I don't even kno-" he cut you off mid-sentence by holding a finger to your lips and you flinched at the contact.

"You were injured." he replied. "I found you in my garden and brought you here."

You didn't even register his words. You were busy freaking out about him touching you. You knew that it wasn't proper for a male to have close contact with females unless if they were married. Certainly, being brought to his home unconscious is beyond taboo and beyond the point of no return.

"T-T-This isn't proper!" You stammered, pushing your head to the side in attempt to move away from the contact. The man only smiled at your response.

"Well, I don't see the reason why I shouldn't help you." He replied sincerely. "A young lady like you shouldn't run around and get injured. May I ask what happened, aru?"

You took a moment to recall your memories as they came crashing down before you slowly sat up and looked into his curious eyes in terror.

"M-My village...was attacked. W-we were ambushed...by the men with the pearled daggers...they wanted to claim power and destroyed everyone on their path. M-my family...they died trying to save me. He...almost killed me b-but I ran away..." The man listened solemnly before he realized that you were crying. He frowned at the sight of your beautiful face contorting into a pained grimace and slowly pulled you into an embrace. You couldn't care less about taboo anymore; you don't have anyone to scold you for it now.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, smoothing your hair and brushing the tears away. "I'll make sure those men won't hurt you again. I will go personally to stop them." You looked at him in shock.

"B-But...they'll kill you!" You exclaimed, causing the man to give you a strange look.

"I'm sure they won't, aru." He replied, smiling gently. "Honestly, do you know who I am?" You stared at him for a bit before shaking your head. At the moment, all you could register was that he was an affectionate, handsome man who had just saved your life.

"Silly girl," he laughed slightly, honeyed eyes shining in amusement. "Do you at least recognise this place, aru?"

With that, you finally took the time to look at your whereabouts. To be honest, you somehow expected that you would be in the next village, which was located eight miles away. And judging by the way the man was dressed; he looked like a noble's son. However, being the daughter of a middle-class family that was on the brink of turning poor, you really didn't have the opportunity to go to a noble's residence before.

But from the stories your mother used to tell you when you were a child, a noble's home was luxurious but not as extravagant as the emperor's palace. She described of how the palace was decorated with golden dragons that sat atop pagodas and watched the emperor rule. She also mentioned of how high the ceiling was in comparison to that of a noble's, and how the emperor owned a garden that was concealed in a forest and forbidden to all people unless granted permission.

Oddly enough, his place seemed to match your mother's descriptions: this place had a high ceiling with dragon pagodas and gold colored ornaments...

...Oh. You're in a palace. And this person must be the one your mother told you about: the (dynasty name) dynasty's young emperor, Wang Yao!

You widened your (e/c) eyes and stumbled back. "Y-Y-You're..."

Now that realization had struck you in the face, you scrambled to your feet (or at least tried to) and attempted to bow at his feet. The emperor looked amused at the sight of you (Silently he was squealing in the inside because of your cute, flushed face!) before it changed into a look of displeasure when you made the move to bow. He reached over and grabbed your shoulders and held them firm before you can bend over in respect.

"Please...there's no need to do such things." he shook his head, frowning. "You're injured. I care about your health and well-being." He...cares about you...?

"B-but...y-you're majest-" Again, he silenced you with a finger to your lips.

"No need for formality. Call me Yao." The emperor said, releasing his grip on your shoulders and smiling at you. You only nodded meekly at his response.

"M-my name is (name)," you replied, in case if he wondered about it. I mean, you're in the presence of the emperor! You should at least let him know of your name!

"(Name)..." The emperor repeated in thought before smiling widely. "It's a beautiful name, aru! It really suits you!"

It is just you or is your face growing warm? You shyly murmured a thanks before he started to speak again, smile dying down and tone turning serious.

"(Name)...you said that your village was destroyed, right?" you nodded sadly.

"I don't have anywhere else to go," You murmured bitterly. "I'm the only survivor of my village...those men slaughtered women, men and children. I-I wish I could have done something to save them...so many innocent children were killed in front of my eyes...!" Your shoulders shook as you sobbed again; feeling hopeless, helpless and fearful.

"Hush," The emperor pulled you into his arms again. With you in his gentle and tight embrace while you were sobbing messily into his royal silk clothing, Yao felt that he wanted to protect you. He was comfortable when embracing you...as if, the contact he made was all meant for no other person but you.

"What's done is done. All those lives lost today will not go in vain. You have brought your family great honor just by surviving this catastrophe, aru. And I promise nothing more will happen to you because...you are to stay here with me in this palace." He smiled when you raised your head to look at him with a shocked face. Certainly this was not you've expected.

"You are special, (Name). You are what the gods have been telling me for years...and you finally came to me." And with that, he lightly brushed his lips against your forehead. You simply accepted it with a blush through your tear-stained face.

"(Name), you're just like a peony blossom growing from a tree everyone thought to be dead." His soft breath tickled the skin of your forehead. The crying had worn you out and his melodic voice was too soothing for you to handle. You feebly leaned onto him as he securely wrapped his arms around you and continued to speak.

"-And you struggled to survive without the tender care of a person passing by. But you did and someone was able to notice you despite being on the brink of death. And now..." He looked down at your sleeping face and planted a small, delicate kiss on your still wet cheek while stroking your soft (h/c) hair adoringly.

"...and now, you're safe here with me because...I'll take care of you, (name). You'll always be my darling peony...now and forever."