Once again being escorted inside, Jiang Wu hugged the food box tightly to her chest, her pretty obsidian pupils veiled by lowered lashes, radiating an ineffable air of obedience and grievance.
Pei Yu gently massaged her temples, glancing at her with a hint of impatience. “Enough. All of you, leave.”
“Throw her over.”
A nearby attendant took the food box from Jiang Wu’s arms, respectfully placed it on the empress’s desk, tested it for poison with a silver needle, and then retreated.
Jiang Wu stumbled as she was tossed onto the steps, landing with a loud, entirely solid thud. It looked quite painful.
The faint bitterness of tangerine peel blended with the aroma of porridge, surprisingly evoking a genuine appetite.
Pei Yu lowered her eyes to look at the alpha on the floor who was momentarily dazed, yet instinctively lifted her gaze to look at her.
Those pretty phoenix eyes curled slightly at the outer corners, the obsidian pupils inside shining brightly as they looked over. Clearly, she was eager, but her lashes were dampened by physiological tears, making her look pitiful and disheveled.
Without a timely replenishment of alpha pheromones, Pei Yu felt nauseous at the sight of everything and had not eaten a single bite all day.
This was the first time she had ever been sent food from outside the imperial kitchens. With a measure of awkwardness, she pulled the tray toward herself, scooped up a spoonful of porridge, and held it in her mouth.
It was already lukewarm.
Pei Yu tilted her head, her peripheral vision falling on the dirt-covered little dog beside her who had already stood back up.
She hadn’t even bothered to wipe the coal dust off her face. Was she in that much of a rush?
She had no idea that the prime minister’s daughter actually knew how to cook porridge, let alone add red dates, an ingredient typically found in pregnancy preservation prescriptions.
This stupid dog really was full of surprises.
Having little appetite, she ate barely half a bowl before setting the porridge aside to continue dealing with the pile of state affairs.
Jiang Wu looked at the porridge, still more than half full, and gently bit her lower lip.
She hadn’t eaten anything all day, and she was only eating this little now? She remembered that during pregnancy, one needed proper nutrition.
Should she coax Pei Yu to eat a bit more? But how was she supposed to coax her?
Didn’t the matron say to kiss her more often in daily life to soothe her, as pregnant omegas are very sensitive and deeply crave intimate contact?
She squatted down in front of Pei Yu. The woman, noticing the movement, tilted her head slightly just as her lips were covered by a warm touch.
Her heartbeat skipped a beat in that instant. She stared blankly at her as her chin was lifted, and another extremely light kiss brushed against the corner of her lips, lingering and teasing. Peppermint pheromones ground against the seam of her lips, their breaths intertwining in the space of barely an inch.
Pei Yu’s hands instinctively braced against the edge of the desk, the corners of her eyes reddening under this level of kissing as crystal-clear teardrops rolled down one by one.
The alpha, who had only paused for a light kiss, glanced sideways and fell into a daze as she caught sight of the damp person before her, who was slightly lifting her swan-like neck and weeping amidst continuous gasps.
You are so sensitive, Pei Yu.
If she reacted like this from just a kiss, how many tears had she quietly shed during all those countless times before?
No wonder everything was wet when it was over.
A soft slap landed on Jiang Wu’s face. She blinked, her eyes still very bright, resembling a thick-skinned, large canine that didn’t mind being hit.
“Who gave you permission to kiss me like this?” The person with reddened eye corners looked fierce without possessing an ounce of intimidation.
Jiang Wu was currently entirely covered in grime, her face still smudged with black coal ash. How dared she kiss her at a time like this?
Had the matron not told Jiang Wu that she had mysophobia?
Jiang Wu was someone who utterly lacked fear of death and loved pushing her boundaries. Hearing no command from Pei Yu to have her executed, she leaned in closer, sporting a distinct handprint on her cheek.
She planted two more kisses at the corners of Pei Yu’s lips, then kissed away the teardrops at the corners of her eyes, smiling with curved eyes.
“Your Majesty, please eat a little more.”
“Eat a bit more, okay? The baby needs to eat too.”
She placed her warm palm over the woman’s slender waist and abdomen. It was only the first month, and she was not yet showing; in modern terms, their child at this stage was merely a clump of cells.
Why would a mere clump of cells make Mommy suffer so much?
Could it be that their baby was uniquely gifted, growing faster than other people’s children?
Thus, she lowered her head and buried herself in the woman’s embrace, pressing her ear close to her lower abdomen to listen quietly.
An alpha’s body temperature was slightly higher than an omega’s, and the sensation of being pressed against by such warmth was exceptionally hard to endure.
Pei Yu lowered her gaze, tear tracks still lingering at the corners of her eyes. She controlled her breathing so that the rise and fall of her abdomen wouldn’t be too pronounced, at least not enough for the person pressed against her to notice.
It felt just like many years ago, when she used to lie in her mother’s embrace, listening to the unborn younger sister in her womb.
Back then, every single day she had anticipated her sister’s birth, eagerly waiting to meet her.
So, was Jiang Wu looking forward to this child now?
After a brief moment of distraction, her lips curved into a mocking smile.
How could an alpha look forward to a child she didn’t have to carry herself? She put on such a righteous facade, yet when she first found out about the pregnancy, she had cried so unhappily for so long.
Catching the dirty dog by her hair, she pulled her up, her tone light and airy.
“At this stage, what could you possibly hear?”
“Stupid dog.”
Having said that, perhaps out of consideration for the child, she picked up the bowl of porridge anyway and finished it spoonful by spoonful.
Setting down the bowl and spoon, the woman daintily wiped her lips before raising her eyes to collide with that pair of pretty pupils.
“Tonight, stay in the bedchamber.”
Pei Yu specifically instructed that Jiang Wu must be scrubbed clean. It was the first time the alpha had someone serving her during a bath, and she submerged her entire body into the water, leaving only her eyes exposed.
Chunba held the bathrobe with an annoyed expression.
“My Lord, please get up. This servant will help you dress.”
The alpha beneath the water blew a couple of bubbles, appearing to have choked on a few mouthfuls of water before leisurely poking her mouth out.
“Can I do it myself?”
“Then hurry up, My Lord. Do not keep Her Majesty waiting.” She hung the bathrobe beside the tub and turned to walk out.
To be honest, she didn’t want to serve this alpha at all. They were all bullies who assumed that because the empress was pregnant and unable to deal with her, she dared to stay away for an entire night, leaving the empress waiting for her the whole evening.
Even so, the empress still attached great importance to her, specifically naming her to serve when she had spent the first half of her life serving only the empress.
The bathrobe was secured with only a single silk ribbon, making it somewhat slippery. Since it was Jiang Wu’s first time using such a garment, she tied it all crookedly.
Walking all the way back to the bedchamber, inside the semi-concealed bed curtains, the woman leaned against a lumbar pillow, thumbing through a stack of records. The warm glow of the oil lamp blurred across her eyelashes, casting a layer of extreme, pale gentleness.
Only upon walking closer did she notice a slip of white paper in the woman’s hand, covered in distorted characters written in ancient script. Jiang Wu stared at it for a moment, and an alarm bell belatedly went off in her brain.
In ancient times, what was this thing called again, a secret dispatch? Classified intelligence, right?
She blinked, meeting that pair of peach blossom eyes that were half-smiling, while her obsidian pupils had already unconsciously filled with moisture.
If she said right now that she actually couldn’t read, would the empress believe her?
The woman flipped her wrist, tossing the paper slip into the oil lamp to burn to ashes. Light and shadow flickered uncertainly, casting half a layer of gloom over Pei Yu’s pale lips.
“What did the Jiang concubine see?”
“Your Majesty. Your servant cannot read.”
She genuinely couldn’t read ancient script. Out of all those characters, the only one she recognized was “Pei,” simply because Pei Yu’s name happened to contain it.
A casual, mocking chuckle fell by her ear.
“You cannot read?”
“Then let us dock the prime minister of one month’s salary. If a daughter is not taught, it is the mother’s fault.”
Looking at the trembling little dog before her, Pei Yu tilted her head.
Was it really that terrifying? It wasn’t as if it were a major issue.
If anyone else had treated her with such presumption so many times, they would have lost their heads long ago.
“Or shall I dock yours instead?”
The person before her suddenly turned serious, raising her eyes to speak earnestly, “Let us dock the prime minister’s instead.”
“You certainly are filial.”
The woman gently patted the edge of the bed.
“Come up. Bite me.”
Bite where?
The calming incense inside the hall was exceptionally thick. Jiang Wu obediently parted her lips, letting the woman’s slender fingertips tease her marking teeth.
An inexplicable itch made her body tremble slightly, and fine raindrops welled up in her eyes.
Judging by fingertip estimation, Jiang Wu’s marking teeth were one and a half centimeters long and slightly sharp. Teeth of this shape sinking into the gland should be supremely comfortable.
Yet twice in a row, she felt it was too much to bear.
Was she simply too sensitive?
She released her grip on the pinched fingers, and the alpha, acting just like a little puppy, whimpered and nuzzled against the side of her neck, planting dense, clustered kisses right beside the gland.
The fingers Pei Yu used to cup the back of the dog’s head tightened involuntarily, suppressing a heavy, ragged sound within her breath.
The marking teeth sank into that soft flesh of the nape, and her pheromones rushed through her body, part of it entering her bloodstream to soothe the maternal system, while the other part descended to her reproductive tract to calm the child.
The woman let out a few muffled groans, pressing entirely against the other’s shoulder. She was completely unaware even when the marking teeth were withdrawn and her collar was nudged open by the unsatisfied, nuzzling little dog.
Until her chest grew faintly damp, a wash of moisture surfaced in her eyes, leaving her weak and powerless, unable to push away the head in her arms no matter how hard she tried.
She could only passively endure.
“Stupid dog. Do not bite so hard.”
Even her murmured scolding sounded like coquettish pleading, while the person in her arms bit down even more densely.
Past empresses who had given birth to imperial daughters would all take medication to suppress breast milk, as feeding a child was time-consuming and exhausting, often causing irritability, and toddlers lacked a sense of proportion, making it common to injure their mothers.
Therefore, Pei Yu had defaulted to assuming she would never experience a day where she needed to lactate.
Yet right now, she actually generated the distinct sensation that she was currently nursing a child.
She was truly fierce, acting as if she had been neglected for many days and was starving. But it wasn’t overly painful; this person still retained a shred of rationality and knew how to exercise a bit of restraint.
Her fingers embedded themselves into the puppy’s head, and unable to stop herself, she offered herself forward, her vision blurring with a watery, unfocused haze.
Her thoughts inevitably drifted elsewhere.
Just how addictive could someone be to make a person so timid willingly suck and bite like this, regardless of her own wishes?
Besides, even though she hadn’t taken any medication to suppress milk production, it was still far too early for such a thing to happen.
It wasn’t until the oil lamp burned out completely and went dark that the person in her arms shuddered, raised her head, and clawed blindly at the air with her hands, as if trying to catch something.
Pei Yu’s eyelashes trembled, and she forcefully kicked the person off her.
With a soft breath, she reached beneath her pillow and pulled out a muzzle.