The Culinary Chronicles of the Court Physician: The Disgraced Princess Consumes Poison to Create Medicine
The sudden death of the emperor plunged the court into a crucible of chaos.
And to make matters worse, he had been struck down by lightning.
There is an old legend known as the Xuanyuan Mirror.
Long ago, a heavy bronze sphere was suspended above the emperor’s throne. If one ascended the throne without the qilin’s blessing, the chain would snap, and the treacherous ruler would be crushed to death. The emperor’s passing was much like the fall of the Xuanyuan Mirror itself.
It was no wonder the courtiers were in a state of panic.
Fei Ling, as the last person to be with the emperor, was temporarily detained as a witness. Though questioned by the officials of the Ministry of Justice, it was an undeniable fact that the emperor had perished due to the lightning strike, so she was released within an hour. Seeing her pale and trembling state, the officials assumed that the emperor’s death had shaken her deeply.
Zhen disappeared immediately after, slipping away across the rooftops.
Upon returning to the secluded quarters, Fei Ling barely managed to climb the steps to her room before collapsing. The dizziness worsened, and the numbness in her limbs persisted. But if that had been all, she could have endured it.
(The emperor has perished, poisoned by Heavenly Venom.)
She still could not accept reality.
Yet, given time, she would have to swallow it.
(The emperor knew. He knew what the antidote was for the forbidden poison that had destroyed the previous emperor.)
Fei Ling bit her lip.
The more she tried to think, the more tangled her thoughts became.
First, she needed to quell her hunger. But the poisons in the secluded quarters—she had already consumed them all before. They could not stave off her hunger.
Fei Ling pulled the hairpin from her hair.
A poisoned hairpin, given to her by Zhen. The sight of the hard poison bead, perhaps due to her hunger, made her mouth water. She wanted to break it and consume it.
(But no, I mustn’t—this is the one thing I cannot destroy.)
As she wrestled with her thoughts, a voice suddenly spoke behind her.
“What are you doing? Just eat it already. You’re starving, aren’t you?”
She turned to see Zhen standing there.
He snatched the poisoned hairpin from her hands and, without hesitation, crushed it. Fei Ling’s eyes widened in shock as she raised her voice.
“Why—why would you do that?”
“Why?” Zhen echoed. “The real question is, why didn’t you use the poison?”
“If I break it, I won’t be able to wear it anymore!”
She shot back, indignant.
Zhen sighed in exasperation.
“This isn’t an ornament—it’s poison. If you had it with you earlier, at least you could have put up some resistance. I gave it to you to be consumed as poison, but if you refuse to use it when it matters…”
Hearing her treasured hairpin being treated merely as poison made Fei Ling feel inexplicably sorrowful. She stubbornly insisted,
“Even so, you gave it to me, didn’t you? That means it’s mine. You had no right to destroy it without asking me first!”
“Ugh, you’re so noisy. Just open your mouth already.”
He grabbed her wrist and pinned her down.
Before she could put up a proper fight, he pressed the poison bead against her lips, fingers forcing it into her mouth. As she tried to bite down in retaliation, Zhen’s gaze darkened with sadistic amusement. His fingertips toyed with her tongue, parting her lips in a way that resembled a kiss. Her throat tensed, and the poison bead slid down.
Inside her, something that had long lain dormant latched onto the poison eagerly, rejoicing. Her pulse pounded, and a feverish breath escaped her lips.
Zhen withdrew his fingers. Gasping for air, Fei Ling managed to whisper,
“Why… are you angry?”
“Because you were reckless. Being alone with the emperor—how foolish can you be?”
Zhen let out a heavy sigh before softly cupping her cheek, as if confirming something.
“He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
Had he ever touched her so gently before?
She had meant to say she was fine. But instead, a different truth spilled from her lips.
“…I was scared.”
She hadn’t planned to tell anyone.
It was over now. But only now, long after the fact, did the fear finally grip her.
As she trembled, Zhen embraced her in silence.
—
Time passed, and the searing hunger subsided.
The poison Zhen had given her had been absorbed.
Her skin, once untouched, now bore the mark of blue wings—spreading wider each time she consumed poison. From her chest to her collarbone, reaching up to her throat.
The more poison she devoured, the more something within her grew. Someday, it felt as if it might tear through her skin and take flight.
“…Who do you truly resent?”
Breaking the silence, Zhen peered into her eyes, searching their depths.
“Even after the emperor’s death, the poison still burns in your gaze. You said you hated the previous emperor—but that was a lie, wasn’t it?”
“It was not a lie,” she replied. “I despised him for breaking his vow to consume all poisons. Worse, he allowed poison to consume him, leading to his tyrannical rule… How could I ever forgive him?”
Even if he had been poisoned, an emperor bore the weight of responsibility.
Being deceived was a crime in itself—such was the nature of an emperor’s duty.
“I hold resentment for the current emperor as well. He destroyed my father, drove my mother to death. No matter how miserable his end, my hatred won’t simply fade away.”
“But that’s not all, is it?”
Zhen had always seen straight through her.
Since the moment they met, he had sensed the wound she least wanted to be touched.
A secret kept is a flower that blooms in shadow. But a secret exposed—would it wither, or would it turn to poison?
If she spoke now, everything might collapse.
The thought terrified her.
Fei Ling pressed her pale lips shut, clinging to silence.
“Spit it out.”
Zhen grasped her chin, coaxing her.
“You once said that with me, you wouldn’t mind spewing poison.”
She was being unraveled. Dragged down.
Poisoned, ensnared, dragged into the depths of hell together.
Or perhaps, she was the one dragging Zhen down with her.
“…The one I truly wanted revenge against—”
Her lips, pressed too tightly, split open. Blood trickled down.
“—was myself.”
