Chapter 27: The Madly Possessive, Lust-Driven Hostage Prince × the Favored, Spoiled Princess (27)

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When the banquet ended, the Empress smiled at Shu Yao and said, “It is getting late. Jian Ning, you should return first.”

Shu Yao sensed that something was amiss, but she did not ask further. Taking the hint, she left.

As they passed along the palace road, she kept her head bowed and said nothing.

Wan Tao noticed her troubled expression. “Princess, what is wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Shu Yao shook her head, though her mind was already in turmoil.

According to the original plot, Princess An Le was supposed to meet Li Li’an at this very banquet, and the two would be married two months later.

Yet at the banquet, they had not exchanged so much as a word. Li Li’an had even written a poem insulting her.

Then how were they supposed to end up together?

Shu Yao had the uneasy feeling that the plot had strayed from its course, but she could not say exactly where things had gone wrong.

Fengyang Hall.

“Mo... Mother...”

After everyone had dispersed, An Le suddenly felt dizzy. The scene before her spun wildly, blurring beyond recognition.

The matron hurried forward to support her. An Le’s eyelids fluttered once before she fainted completely.

Watching her unconscious form, Empress Xiaode suddenly felt a pang of pity. Chu Lanqing’s words rose in her mind.

She closed her eyes, forcing down the bitterness in her heart, then waved her hand.

“Send her over.”

There was no turning back now. Since matters had come this far, this was the only path left.

Although she disliked Li Li’an intensely and believed from the bottom of her heart that he was unworthy of An Le, Lanqing needed the help of the Li family to ascend the throne.

Li Si was the Grand Commandant, and he controlled half the military forces within the palace.

In the dim room, an unknown incense burned softly.

The matron and several palace attendants supported An Le and gently laid her on the bed.

Half an incense stick later, several guards dragged a man inside and threw him onto the bed as well.

When they brushed aside his hair, it was none other than Li Li’an.

An unnatural flush had risen along his neck. His breathing was heavy and rapid.

The moment he touched the woman’s body, he lunged upon her in a frenzy.

Amid the restless sounds of their struggle, An Le slowly opened her eyes.

She was drenched in sweat, unable to tell where she was or who the man pressing down upon her might be.

“Mm...”

An involuntary moan escaped her throat. Its seductive softness was something she could never have produced under ordinary circumstances.

The two bodies quickly became entangled, neither able to pull away.

Seeing this, the matron led everyone outside and shut the door behind them.

—

“Wan Tao... where are you...”

“Wan Tao...”

Elsewhere, Shu Yao was suffering just as badly.

Her plain silk dress was soaked through with cold sweat. Her fingers clutched a gauze handkerchief so tightly that her knuckles had gone white, yet her whole body continued to tremble uncontrollably.

She had sent Wan Tao to prepare medicine, and dismissed all the attendants outside the hall. In the vast Qiw Palace, there was not a single person left for her to call.

Shu Yao lay over the sandalwood desk, panting desperately.

The delicate pallor of her face had given way to an unnatural flush. Damp strands of hair clung to her cheeks, lending her disheveled beauty an almost feverish allure.

Dragon’s-blood incense curled upward from the bronze burner, but it could not conceal the woman’s ragged breathing or the broken whimpers escaping her throat. She was suffering terribly.

Shu Yao knew she had been drugged. The effects had come upon her violently and without warning. Before this, the only thing she had touched or consumed was the tea served at Fengyang Palace.

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She understood at once. She had been caught up in the scheme.

Empress Xiaode had actually planned to drug An Le and Li Li’an, ruin An Le’s virtue, and force the two of them into marriage.

The imperial family truly was heartless. What genuine affection could possibly exist there?

Shu Yao had no strength left to think about it. She staggered to her feet, only for her legs to give way beneath her. She fell heavily onto the padded mat.

Her skirt came loose in the struggle, revealing the unnatural flush spreading along her neck.

“Wan Tao...”

Her mind was filled with nothing but Wan Tao.

Her hoarse whisper shattered into the air. Her throat felt dry and raw. She reached for the celadon cup on the desk, but her trembling fingertips knocked it to the floor.

Amid the sharp crash of breaking porcelain, she curled into herself and writhed across the cushions, her consciousness drifting between desire and reason.

A feverish heat surged madly through her veins, burning into her very bones. Just as she was nearing the edge of endurance, she suddenly heard footsteps outside the hall.

Shu Yao seemed to glimpse a savior.

“Someone... someone...”

Her voice was pitifully faint and hoarse.

“Your Highness.”

A young man’s deep, husky voice came from beyond the door. Shu Yao’s eyes widened.

How had she forgotten? At this hour, Shen Jingmu should have come to wash her feet.

But she could no longer afford to care. If no one came to save her, she would die there on the floor.

Shen Jingmu was the male lead and Princess Zhaoyang’s destined match. Surely he would not do anything to her.

“Get in... Come in!”

Outside the hall, Shen Jingmu raised his head in confusion. He could hear that something was wrong with Shu Yao’s voice.

Had her fever returned?

He slowly entered, still carrying the wooden tub used for washing feet.

When he pushed open the doors, he saw Shu Yao sprawled on the floor, panting in wretched distress.

Shen Jingmu’s pupils contracted. Almost instantly, he dropped the tub and rushed over, lifting her into his arms.

Only after holding her did he realize how frighteningly hot she was.

“Your Highness, have you been drugged?”

The question escaped him before he could stop it. But the moment Shu Yao touched him, all reason deserted her, and she was in no state to answer.

“Of course. Asking you is pointless.”

Seeing that she was barely conscious, Shen Jingmu’s expression changed at once. He held her impatiently, finding her both frighteningly light and scalding hot, as though a furnace had taken human form.

“Should I go to the Imperial Medical Academy and get you an antidote?”

Shu Yao managed to open her eyes. Sweat streamed down her forehead.

“Go... go to the bathing pool.”

By the time the medicine arrived, she might already have died from the torment. She desperately needed cold water.

Shen Jingmu cursed coldly. “What a nuisance.”

His words were harsh, but his actions were honest enough.

Carrying Shu Yao, he deliberately took the most secluded palace paths and soon reached her bathing pool.

This was no hot spring. It was a cold-water basin.

Unless the servants heated it, the water was cold even on ordinary days.

And now, in the depths of winter, ice had formed around its edges. Shen Jingmu reached a hand into the water.

It was cold enough to pierce the bone.

Before he could say a word, the woman had already crawled into the pool with hands and feet, curling into a shivering ball.

Only yesterday she had been burning with fever, and today she was soaking in an ice-cold pool. Clearly, she no longer wanted this body.

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Shen Jingmu could not be bothered to concern himself with her. He turned and walked away.

Shu Yao remained submerged in the bone-chilling water, her fingertips digging desperately into the white marble rim. Beads of blood seeped from beneath her nails.

Every inch of her skin was burning, yet even her body immersed in freezing water remained scorching hot.

Fine beads of sweat rose along her neck, slipped over her collarbone, and disappeared into the water, sending ripples across the surface.

“So cold...”

She murmured faintly, yet instinctively sank herself deeper into the icy water.

She had wanted Shen Jingmu to fetch medicine, but the man had simply left. Taking advantage of her confusion, he had not even bothered to maintain his pretense.

Would she die here today...?

The thought came to Shu Yao helplessly.

Creak...

The sound of broken branches snapping beneath someone’s feet exploded beside her. Shu Yao painfully lifted her eyelids. Through her blurred vision, the tall figure of a young man blocked out much of the foliage.

He stood beside the pool, gripping a white porcelain bottle.

A large hand pinched open her soft, pale cheeks. With a grim expression, Shen Jingmu roughly forced a pill into her mouth.

Naturally, he had not obtained the medicine from the Imperial Medical Academy. Given his low status, the physicians would never have willingly given him anything, and asking them would only risk exposing the plot.

He had found it in Zhangtai Palace. Since he was often abused there, Cen Mo and Cen Yan had prepared medicines for emergencies.

Even Shen Jingmu himself had not expected that they would possess an antidote for something like this.

He crouched beside the bathing pool and watched her patiently, his bold, invasive gaze sweeping over her body.

Only at times like this could one see her vulnerability.

The lofty Princess Jian Ning had actually reached a day when she needed to beg him for medicine.

Half an incense stick later, Shen Jingmu’s expression darkened.

The woman remained in the pool, yet her temperature had not fallen in the slightest. If anything, she was showing faint signs of shock.

If the antidote was not defective, then the drug was simply too potent. The medicine had been completely ineffective.

There was only one way to counter it.

Shen Jingmu stared at her with a sinister look, cursing her inwardly for bringing this upon herself.

“Mm...”

Shu Yao was burning so fiercely that she was about to lose consciousness. The icy water had drained all color from her lips.

If she remained there any longer, she would either die of the fever or freeze to death.

Shen Jingmu pressed his lips together, his expression terrifyingly grim.

Then he suddenly bent down. Without giving himself time to reconsider, he lifted her from the pool and removed his palace robe, spreading it across the ground.

The instant her body touched the fabric, a wave of overwhelming heat surged through her once more.

His wolfish eyes fell upon her drenched body. The wet silk clung to the soft curves of her figure.

“Do you want to burn to death, or do you want me to help you? Choose.”

The mocking honorifics had vanished, and Shen Jingmu’s breathing gradually grew heavier.

His broad palm settled against her slender waist. With a single tug, he undid the ties of her skirt.

He bent over her and drew her into his embrace.

His hoarse voice lingered against the back of Shu Yao’s neck.

“Remember. You were the one who chose this...”