The Culinary Chronicles of the Court Physician: The Disgraced Princess Consumes Poison to Create Medicine
The morning after the emperor’s death, Zhen was in the capital.
The city was in turmoil. Some clamored that the solar eclipse had foretold the emperor’s death, while others whispered that the empress would soon ascend the throne as the new ruler.
Turning his back on the uproar, Zhen rounded a street corner. The gritty scent of the back alleys was familiar to him. With the emperor gone, there was no longer any need for him to remain in the harem as a feng shui master.
(There will be no returning to the palace now.)
Only Fei Ling remained like a thorn lodged in his chest, impossible to remove.
Sharp, shrewd, yet fragile—a young woman who harbored hellish poison within her translucent soul. Though cursed by medicine, she continued to mix remedies, fighting to save others.
And yet, she was never pitiful.
The fact that she was not pitiful made it unbearably sorrowful.
She would continue to be medicine itself.
Burning her life away.
Sliding a hand into his outer robe, intending to take a puff from his pipe for distraction, Zhen suddenly remembered the jade pendant.
It was the only thing his mother had left behind. And now, it felt utterly meaningless.
Standing on a bridge, he prepared to cast the pendant away.
“Are you sure you want to throw that away?”
At the sound of a bell-like voice, he turned around.
Seated in a wheelchair, Empress Xin-Hua smiled at him with pure innocence.
A woman of the harem had no business being outside the palace walls, yet Zhen merely raised an eyebrow.
Her tendency to appear wherever she pleased was something he had long known.
“Was it not your mother’s wish? For you to become emperor?”
“How much do you know?”
“Everything. After all, I was the one who advised His Majesty to take in a poison master from the pleasure quarters as a consort, and the one who suggested the construction of the Forbidden Poison Vault.”
For an instant, Zhen’s expression revealed his shock.
So Empress Xin-Hua had been the mastermind behind it all.
He had doubted that the timid Emperor Diao was capable of such bold schemes, but knowing that the empress had been pulling the strings made everything fall into place.
“Just who are you?”
“Hehehe, now, what do you think I am?”
There were those referred to as monsters—emperors of chaos, the clans of Bai-Ze and Qiong-Qi alike. But in the end, they were merely human. Individuals with unique talents, extraordinary skills, or unparalleled brutality.
Yet Empress Xin-Hua possessed an otherworldliness that set her apart.
(If monsters truly existed, they would be like this.)
With a delighted smile, the empress peered into Zhen’s eyes.
“Say, you—”
In the kaleidoscope of iridescent colors, Zhen’s reflection was captured.
“Would you like to become emperor?”
The unexpected proposition left Zhen momentarily speechless.
“…A foolish jest.”
“It’s not a joke. I am completely serious.”
The empress straightened her posture, her confidence unwavering.
Zhen, who would not flinch even if entwined by venomous serpents, instinctively recoiled at her presence.
“I shall welcome you into the court as the crown prince.”
She extended her sleeve. A delicate bell attached to it rang softly, and an overwhelming floral fragrance filled the air.
Too potent, it was akin to the stench of rotting flowers.
“If you obediently follow my orders and prepare my meals, in time, I will make you emperor.”
“…Meals, you say?”
Zhen narrowed his eyes, his mind working rapidly.
“Does this have anything to do with the ongoing skirmishes? I have seen you on the battlefield, despite your claims of being in deep slumber for extended periods. You’ve been secretly visiting the warfront, haven’t you?”
Instead of answering, the empress licked her lips.
“Hehe, but what I truly wish to consume lies elsewhere. Even your father could not grant me that.
It would please me if you could.”
She tempted him, her voice dripping with intrigue.
Unconsciously, Zhen clenched the jade pendant in his hand.
He could hear his mother’s voice, whispering like a curse:
“You must become emperor.”
For her, making him emperor had been the ultimate revenge.
In his violet eyes, dark flames roared to life.
A twisted, venomous smile curled his lips.
Slowly, he parted them to speak.
A fierce gust of wind swept through, carrying his words away.
Only the empress heard them.
And she smiled, dazzling and triumphant.
