Several elderly imperial physicians quickly arrived at the Ziyan Palace.
At first, eager to claim credit, the senior physicians insisted on entering the hall to diagnose the Second Imperial Highness and prescribe medicine.
I advised them that it would be best not to.
Ignoring my warning, the physicians stubbornly forced their way into the Ziyan Palace.
After narrowly escaping being chopped into minced meat by Yin Xiao, they stumbled back out in sheer terror, completely devoid of the death-defying bravado they had shown before bursting in.
Seeing this, Yin Shu sighed, “Let’s still trouble the imperial physicians to prepare the medicine first.”
The physicians nodded repeatedly, huddled together to discuss for a long time, and finally brewed a decoction that they claimed would calm the mind, soothe the nerves, clear heat, and cool the blood.
The medicine was prepared.
Yet no one dared to enter the hall to feed it to him.
In the end, it was I who reached out and took the small, dark brown medicine bowl.
Yin Shu was about to leave.
Walking a few steps away, Yin Shu looked back at me.
In the night, I couldn’t make out his expression.
In the end, he left the Ziyan Palace alongside the weeping Miss Su, accompanied by a grand procession of ministers and palace attendants.
As for me, holding the medicine bowl, I pushed open the creaking wooden door that had just been smashed by the brute and walked inside.
I softly called out, “Your Highness?”
There was no response from inside the room; only heavy, ragged breathing.
The room was pitch black, with only a few rays of moonlight filtering through the gaps in the door.
The scent of long-staled dust mingled with the damp smell of slightly moldy book pages, carrying with it a faint, imperceptible trace of iron.
The smell of blood.
My nerves grew increasingly taut.
I had no idea whether Yin Xiao would still recognize me, or if he would cut me down with a single sword stroke as well.
If he truly cut me down, there was nothing I could do.
Others could hide from him, flee from him, dread him, and fear him; only I could not.
Because I was the one who had step-by-step helped him to this position.
I had to bear all the consequences, for his sake, and for my own.
In the pitch-black, enclosed, narrow space, my eyes gradually adjusted to the dark.
I dimly made out a broad-shouldered figure holding a sword, standing amidst a scene resembling ruins, with tables, chairs, and wooden cabinets overturned everywhere.
Detecting my footsteps, Yin Xiao abruptly raised his sword, slashing fiercely toward the rows of objects in front of him.
The sword wind was sharp and frantic, seemingly clamoring with a reason that was spinning out of control.
I heard his voice, unusually deep and hoarse, suppressing a thick wave of hatred as he shouted “Get out” over and over again.
He looked as though he were in great agony.
He was like a wounded beast hiding quietly in a cave, staying vigilant against anyone who dared to approach him.
He bared all his fangs and claws, yet still could not conceal a certain scorching heat lurking within his voice.
I stopped in my tracks and gave two light coughs.
“Your Highness, it’s me.”
The manic and chaotic energy radiating from Yin Xiao’s direction abruptly paused for a single second.
In the darkness, he raised his moisture-laden eyes, his chaotic and feverish gaze clearing up just a bit in an instant.
“Teacher?”
To be able to recognize me and call out my name, it seemed some reason remained.
I felt slightly more at ease and took a few more steps forward, only to hear Yin Xiao’s somewhat flustered voice: “Teacher, you must go out first.”
Go out? Why go out, could you possibly flip me over?
I am not Yin Shu.
Suppressing the urge to retort, medicine bowl in hand, I carefully stepped across the messy debris and walked to his side.
With every step I took closer, Yin Xiao took a step back.
His footing was unsteady, and his breathing grew increasingly heavy. In the long-vacant, chilling room, the breath exhaled from his lips turned into thick white wisps of hot mist.
The hand holding the sword loosened and tightened, tightened and loosened, until finally, he tossed the sword far away, producing a crisp, clattering sound.
Having discarded his sword, Yin Xiao instantly lost his strength. He collapsed into a seat, sweat pouring down like rain, looking as though he were about to pass out from the internal heat burning inside him.
Seeing him like this, I couldn’t help feeling a bit of pity for him.
I pushed the medicine bowl forward a fraction and earnestly persuaded him, “Your Highness, drink this medicine, and I will leave.”
He looked at me, looked at the medicine, and suddenly let out a derisive laugh.
Faintly and weakly, he said, “It is useless.”
I assumed he was simply avoiding medical treatment out of stubbornness.
“Be obedient, drink the medicine.” I forcefully grabbed his chin, turning his face toward me, and brought the rim of the bowl to his lips.
Yin Xiao offered a brief resistance, but yielding to my firmness, he opened his mouth and swallowed the astringent, bitter traditional Chinese medicine little by little.
A few seconds later, I set the empty bowl aside and gently wiped the corners of his mouth with my sleeve.
I asked him, “Do you feel better?”
Yin Xiao did not answer me.
With his head lowered, his eyes dimmed and unreadable, the heavy, ragged gasps he had been suppressing seemed to grow somewhat lighter.
While I was still wondering if this bowl of medicine could take effect so quickly, I saw Yin Xiao wave his hand, signaling me to leave.
I nodded. “Then I will be going.”
As I stood up to leave, I heard a low, indefinable groan slip from Yin Xiao’s throat, a sound that seemed even more agonizing than before.
Looking back in the dim, flickering moonlight, I saw that a layer of distinctly unnatural flush had already spread across Yin Xiao’s face.
Fine beads of sweat covered his brow and forehead, making him look as though he had just walked through a rainstorm.
No matter how calm I tried to be, he was still a child I had raised with my own hands; I simply could not turn around and walk away with a cold heart.
I squatted down and gently brushed the sweat sliding down his cheek. “Your Highness? Yin Xiao? Are you all right?”
The next second, my hand was violently grabbed.
Before I could react, Yin Xiao’s body, which had been retreating and dodging me, surged forward like an overwhelming wave.
Panicking, I tried to pull away, but he pinned me down relentlessly. A sharp pain pierced the front of my neck as I realized this ungrateful wretch was actually biting me!
My most fragile spot was clamped in his jaws like a beast, instantly robbing me of my strength, and I did not even dare to push him away with too much force.
I softly begged him to let go, terrified that he might lose his mind and snap my delicate, fair throat in two.
Yet Yin Xiao showed no intention of stopping.
His biting climbed all the way up, finally stopping right at my lips.
Our lips pressed together, and before I could mentally prepare myself, his tongue forced its way in, kissing me with a frantic intensity as if he meant to swallow me alive.
My mind went completely blank.
It took me a full dozen seconds to process the situation at hand.
Yin Xiao had kissed me.
This was my very first kiss with anyone. The feeling of bashfulness was late in arriving, but the current situation left no room for me to feel shy over such a small kiss.
Yin Xiao was in a completely out-of-control state of lost reason. Panicking, I grabbed at the pitiful scraps of fabric left on my body: “Your Highness, wait! Do not, take a good look at who I am!”
“Teacher.”
Yin Xiao blurted out the word almost instantly, and I froze.
Taking advantage of my weakened struggle, Yin Xiao seized the opening.
Utilizing an absolute disparity in strength, he effortlessly stripped away those pathetic scraps of fabric while murmuring hot breaths against my earlobe: “Teacher, Teacher.”
My body gradually grew bare.
Bare in the sense of having nothing left at all.
His gaze drifted downward, taking it in, and a flush of warmth bloomed across his flushed cheeks, a smile that I did not dare to look at directly.
“Teacher is reacting, too.”
The transition from pure romance to mature romance literature happened a bit too fast.
A few minutes ago, it was my first kiss ever.
A few minutes later, Yin Xiao’s terrifying instrument, scarier than any horror movie, pushed right inside.
I cried without a shred of backbone.
It hurt, it really fucking hurt.
Yin Xiao kissed the back of my neck, letting out a satisfied sigh: “Teacher, relax.”
Twitching in irritation, my eyebrows drew together, and my voice was half-hoarse as I cursed him out: “Why do you not let me stab you and see if you can relax.”
Yin Xiao laughed.
Reaching around from behind, he lightly pinched my cheek and turned me back to exchange another kiss.
For a moment, I did not know whether I should kiss him back or bite him hard.
My face simply flushed crimson, and I was gradually running out of breath.
Yin Xiao released me, and looking at the thin silver thread connecting the tip of my tongue to his, he spat out a curse word.
I blinked, my brows instinctively furrowing: “You are not allowed to say such things.”
The good news: Yin Xiao stopped swearing.
The bad news: He was even more excited than before.
I thought that after releasing twice, Yin Xiao would more or less be finished.
However, having practiced archery and horseback riding since childhood, this brat had astonishingly formidable stamina.
I gradually lost count of the times, and even the strength to push and resist faded away, swaying along with his movements like a boat on the waves.
Though Yin Xiao’s expression had clearly regained some sobriety, he showed no intention of stopping whatsoever.
“Wait a minute,” I propped myself up, speaking with the very last ounce of my strength: “The matter of appointing the crown prince has not been resolved yet. Your Highness, you need to go back.”
He was completely preoccupied with his movements here, so what about the matter of the crown prince?
What about the birthday banquet?
What about the ministers left behind in the palace?
And what if Yin Shu, who remembered we were here, came back?
My workaholic brain remained entirely active; even while engaging in this sort of act, I could not push these concerns out of my mind.
Hearing me finish these words amid sobs and gasps, Yin Xiao was startled as well.
After a brief moment of silence.
He let out a laugh.
I could not explain why, but deep down I instinctively knew, he seemed to be angry.
A few seconds later, his indignant voice rang out as expected: “Teacher still has the leisure to think about these things?”
Soon enough, I was left unable to speak at all.
By the time Yin Xiao released himself for the very last time, I had already cursed that imperial physician more than a hundred times in my heart.
Did they not say he would be fine after drinking the medicine?
He drank the medicine, so where was the medicinal effect?
I was close to tears of frustration, and before Yin Xiao even withdrew, I fell fast asleep.
Or perhaps I had passed out.