Chapter Ninety-Three: This Is a Matter of the Heart

After ten days, the girl at last pulled through the brink of death. The poison in her body had not yet fully cleared, so she remained unconscious, though the imperial physician said she should awaken on her own within a day or two.

She was safe now, but the Crown Prince’s condition was far from promising.

After the tenth day, it was as though he understood that his duty had been fulfilled. The conviction and willpower that had been holding him upright collapsed all at once, and he began to let himself go, with no strength left to resist the illness any longer.

He no longer raved in delirium, and his body was no longer burning hot. Instead, he grew colder and colder. He had no awareness at all, sinking completely into a coma, lost to the world.

If not for the fact that each time the imperial physician took his pulse, that faint beat could still be felt, the Crown Prince would have nearly believed that the battered man lying in the bed was nothing more than a corpse grown cold.

He was frantic with anxiety, pacing in circles like an ant on a hot pan.

The physicians were helpless. They said the illness had reached its final stage and was beyond the aid of medicine.

But the Crown Prince refused to give up.

Just as no one had given up on the girl, he would not give up on the man named Fierce Long Peace. He believed he would live.

The girl had been struck by a monstrous poison, and the only antidote was a rare blossom of blood. Fierce Long Peace had found it for her.

And for a man whose sickness had gone beyond saving, there was also a single remedy.

That remedy was the girl herself.

It was a sickness of the heart.

She was the only medicine that could bring him back to life.

The Crown Prince earnestly hoped she would wake soon. If not, everything would be too late.

Then, near noon on the twelfth day, word finally came from Cloud Mist Palace: the girl had awakened.

The moment the Crown Prince heard it, his heart flew to Cloud Mist Palace. He wanted to see his younger sister at once, and he also wanted to tell her about Fierce Long Peace with his own lips.

But he knew the place must be crowded beyond measure by now. The Dowager Empress, the Emperor, and the Empress would surely have hurried there at once, not to mention the sycophantic and false smiles of the concubines from the harem.

He did not wish to witness such a hypocritical scene, and remembering that his mother would certainly not be leaving anytime soon, he forced himself to endure it.

It was probably around the hour of Sheep when he could no longer hold back and set out with Little Jizi for Cloud Mist Palace.

When he reached the palace gates, he asked the maidservant on duty, “Has everyone left?”

The maidservant curtsied and replied, “Your Highness, the Empress Dowager is still inside, keeping the princess company and overseeing her nourishing broth.”

The Crown Prince had not expected that, even after three full hours, his mother would still be there with the girl.

A headache bloomed behind his eyes, and he closed them in exasperation.

The maidservant asked, “Your Highness, shall I go in and announce you?”

“No need.”

He opened his eyes and waved a weary hand. “Do not mention that I came. I shall come see the princess later.”

The maidservant curtsied. “Yes, Your Highness.”

“Eh?” Little Jizi, standing behind him, looked bewildered. “Your Highness, we came all the way to the palace gates and you still will not go in?”

The Crown Prince shook his head. “With Mother inside, there is no way I can speak plainly even if I enter. I am afraid it would only make her more wary. Let us return to the Eastern Palace first.”

He returned to the Eastern Palace and dealt with state affairs until the hour of Snake. At last, Little Jizi brought news that the Empress had finally left Cloud Mist Palace.

The Crown Prince set down the brush he had been using to read memorials, rose quickly, and took his attendants back to Cloud Mist Palace.

At the palace entrance, he asked the gatekeeper maidservant. She said the Empress had indeed gone, but the princess had already gone to rest.

“Already asleep?”

The Crown Prince was astonished.

The maidservant nodded. “Yes. Not long after the Empress left, Sister Jasmine helped the princess to bed.”

The Crown Prince slapped his forehead, only then remembering that it was already the hour of Snake. Deep in the night, the only one still awake was himself, the harried soul rushing about from one place to another.