“…This is not the first time he has used poison to harm someone.”
After drinking tea, Li Sha, the consort, finally regained her voice and began to speak softly.
The tea was jasmine tea brewed with milk. I thought it would be too painful for her to drink something warm with her tongue still burning, so I handed her the chilled version.
After that, Guaran had immediately fallen asleep. Though Li Sha was worried, his breathing and pulse were calm, so once the exhaustion from detoxifying passed, he should regain consciousness.
“From the way you speak, it seems as though you didn’t give the order,” she said.
“I never ordered it. However, I wished for it… that Snow Plum Concubine would have a stillborn child.”
Li Sha deliberately spoke those words aloud.
“So, you subtly conveyed that wish to him?”
“…I had him bury a bamboo strip with the curse written on it, at the roots of a wishing cherry tree.”
She recalled the curse written with a neat hand. Was that written by Li Sha herself?
“About twenty-five years ago, I think… He was severely burned and collapsed in the forest. Unable to leave him to die, I took him back to my residence. After that, he served me, and continued to poison those who harmed me.”
She paused for a breath before continuing.
“At first, it was a nobleman, I believe. He was still a boy, and when he brought me into a room, he forcibly pinned me down… and scattered me. I couldn’t understand what was happening at the time. It hurt so much, as though I was being torn apart from within. It made me feel sick… and I screamed. The nobleman tried to strangle me to death, but Guaran , hearing my screams, came to my rescue and I survived.”
She spoke quietly, but ripples continued to form in the tea pot, signaling her trembling.
Being scattered like flowers—it was terrifying beyond words.
Fei Ling, a woman like her, could imagine the horror.
“But I couldn’t hold him accountable,” she continued. “His status was higher than mine, from a family with more influence.”
The judicial system often sided with the powerful, especially when it came to women.
Li Sha pressed her lips tightly together throughout, but then, with a sudden release, she spoke with a hint of soft vulnerability, as if a bud blooming.
“Soon after, I was told that the nobleman had died. He coughed up a great deal of blood, sank into the sea of his own vomit, and died in agony.”
She smiled, as though pleased.
“I was relieved. I remember being able to sleep without being plagued by nightmares for the first time in months.”
Perhaps, it should have ended there.
“After that, those who harmed me began to die under mysterious circumstances. My tutor, the coachman who tried to touch me despite my resistance… It gradually escalated, and even the previous Spring Consort lost her life… probably due to the same cause.”
It wasn’t revenge. It was her desire, and the poison was spread because of it.
“You were the only one who could control the poison,” Fei Ling remarked.
“That’s true. But I didn’t stop it.”
Li Sha’s eyes softened, and she spoke with a gentle smile.
“Because that was his love.”
While stroking Guaran ’s hair as he slept peacefully, Li Sha lowered her lashes lovingly.
“No matter how bad it was, I was… happy. Every time I heard rumors of someone being poisoned, I cherished the happiness of being loved. Because, it’s true, I had wished for Spring Consort’s absence.”
Even at this point, Li Sha remained innocent and adorable.
More radiant than any spring flower.
“Please, despise me if you must, as a corrupt and twisted woman.”
That’s why she was so distorted.
“You may bring charges against me if you wish. For poisoning Snow Plum Concubine, for the assassination of the Spring Consort. I will accept the punishment. Gladly.”
It wasn’t a boast. Li Sha would walk to the execution ground without a word of complaint, even if it meant death. Proud of her love, like a flower.
Just as killing was his form of love, she too would be judged by the love that was her punishment.
Fei Ling sighed heavily and shook her head.
“I only seek to stop the poison.”
Not to judge. But neither to forgive.
“However, swear to me. You must never allow him to make poison again. Those who make poison will be poisoned. I won’t help you next time.”
Li Sha blinked repeatedly, then softened her cheek into a smile.
“I swear… because I have finally understood after this.”
She bent down, caressing his nose, which was horrifically burned and almost falling apart. Her hair cascaded like a waterfall.
“As long as he is with me, I need nothing else.”
She didn’t need the title of consort or the Emperor’s child. Having love by her side was the rarest happiness. What Snow Plum Concubine had wished for but could not have, Li Sha already possessed.
Her lips glided across her beloved’s face, and she kissed his throat, as if consuming him.
(Love, huh?)
Fei Ling still couldn’t fully understand. What she didn’t understand was terrifying.
(Ah, I see. I’m afraid of love.)
It was the poison that had destroyed her mother. But it could also turn into medicine, as Li Sha had helped Guaran .
Snow Plum Concubine’s words echoed in her ears: “Try falling in love.” She didn’t even know what the difference between love and infatuation was. She closed her eyes, recalling that she hadn’t slept a wink, and severed the tangled threads of her thoughts.
