The Culinary Chronicles of the Court Physician: The Disgraced Princess Consumes Poison to Create Medicine
It was a quiet night.
The surroundings of the detached quarters were so silent that one might even hear the faint sound of a spider swaying a bamboo leaf. Moonlight slipped through the latticed round window, casting its glow into the chamber and softly illuminating the closed eyelids of the sleeping young woman.
What rimmed her lower eyelids was not the shadow of her eyelashes, but dark circles. Just thinking about how many hours of sleep she must have sacrificed to continue making medicine made Zhen sigh. He gazed at her for a while, lost in thought, before finally sitting up and perching on the bedside.
A woman who could only sleep beside a man who was nothing but poison. When he was by her side, something stirred deep within his chest. But it wasn’t love, nor was it passion.
If he had to name it, it was poison.
“…!”
At that moment, Fei Ling let out a small, strangled breath. Her hands reached out as if trying to escape from something, tangling the silk sheets.
She often had these episodes—nightmares that tormented her. The roar of a father consumed by poison, the curses of a mother who resented medicine. These memories haunted her, gnawed at her soul more cruelly than any poison ever could. He suddenly recalled her once saying that she didn’t want to sleep.
“…Fei Ling. Fei Ling.”
He called her name and gently shook her, but she did not wake. Instead, a single tear overflowed and traced down her cheek.
She had probably fallen deep into her dreams, beyond reach. The fact that his voice couldn’t reach her frustrated him to no end, filling him with an unbearable impatience.
“Wake up.”
He silenced her lips with a kiss, swallowing the faint remnants of a sob.
Because she was lost in a nightmare, slipping his tongue in was easy. He entwined their breath together, devouring her whimpers whole.
“Nnh…!”
Her throat arched as if drowning, quivering from the lack of air.
Let her drown in poison—Zhen deepened the kiss, resembling a predator sinking its fangs into its prey’s throat to end its life. When he traced the roof of her mouth with the tip of his tongue, her delicate body gave a faint jolt.
“…What are you doing?”
At last, she woke. Her green eyes fluttered open.
“Hah… What do you think?”
When he responded with a mischievous question, Fei Ling averted her gaze. Then, touching the tear that had trailed down her cheek, she seemed to understand and let out a sigh.
“Another nightmare… But still—”
“Did you think I’d wake you gently? Too bad for you.”
He didn’t tell her that she hadn’t woken no matter how much he called her name.
He pinned her down again, stealing another kiss like a bite.
“I’m already awake.”
She protested between ragged breaths. Perhaps the poison was starting to take effect—her hands, pushing weakly against his chest, had no strength.
“That’s exactly why. Fall asleep again—this time, so deeply that you won’t even dream.”
He ran his fingers through her hair, gently lifting it, and covered her ears. So that the only sound she could hear was the melding of their poisons. So that she could sink deep—deep enough that the curses haunting her could never reach her again.
Gradually, her green eyes grew hazy, and, as if fainting, she slipped into unconsciousness.
When he pulled away, a thin silver thread clung to their lips, stretching between them before finally snapping. It resembled a spider’s silk.
“Goodnight.”
His voice, at that moment, was so gentle it seemed impossible to believe it belonged to the same man who had devoured her with such hunger.
