The Culinary Chronicles of the Court
Physician: The Disgraced Princess Consumes Poison to Create Medicine
The warmth of the room melted into her body, making her realize for the first time how thoroughly chilled she had been. The charcoal in the brazier burned steadily, occasionally crackling as a dry piece burst, producing a strangely comforting melody.
Xin Hua lay in the cradle, sleeping peacefully.
“Something must have happened. It’s not like you to be this down.”
Golden tea was poured into a cup, releasing the rich fragrance of jasmine. It was a scent different from that of plum blossoms. Bringing the teacup to her lips, Fei Ling let out a faint breath.
It felt as though she was taking a breath for the first time in a long while.
She pondered what to say but felt guilty realizing there was nothing she could put into words. Noticing this, Xue Mei consort’s lips curled into a soft smile.
“I won’t ask you to force yourself to talk. Keeping things hidden is part of a flower’s charm. I only wanted to share tea with you. Sometimes, that alone is enough to loosen what binds us.”
Fei Ling bit her lip, then let it go, allowing a quiet confession to slip out.
“…I no longer know what I should do.”
“What you should do, huh?”
Xue Mei consort lifted the corner of her crimson lips, reminiscent of a red plum blossom.
“What is it that you want to do?”
It was a question she had never thought to ask herself. Fei Ling blinked in surprise.
“Ever since I was a child, I’ve been told to be like a flower, and I have been bound by those words. But… I’ve never once wished not to be a flower.”
She elegantly lifted the red silk of her sleeves in a dance-like motion and smiled radiantly. Then, her gaze shifted toward Xiao Ling, who was attending to them as a servant.
“Xiao Ling, if I recall, you once wanted to attend the National Academy and study like a man, didn’t you?”
“Yes, that is true. My family believed that women had no need to read or study. My elder brother found his studies burdensome, but I… I envied him. Now, thanks to Xue Mei consort, I have books to study, and I am very grateful.”
“You’re admirable. Just reading makes me sleepy.”
Xiao Ling lowered her head, humbled.
“But I love to dance. When I dance, I am beautiful, am I not?”
Xue Mei consort held her head high with dignified pride.
Fei Ling had only seen her perform once, but that single time had been breathtaking beyond words. Her quiet dances were like flower buds waiting for spring, while her fierce performances resembled a flurry of blossoms carried by the wind. The title Dancing Flower Consort was not merely for show.
“Yet flowers must inevitably face winter. That is why, if there is someone who will love you even as you wither in the cold, you can bloom again in spring.”
For Xue Mei consort, that person was surely Yin Chun.
She was not only a flower to be loved—she was a flower that loved. She loved only one man, the newborn life she had brought into the world, and the art of dance.
She loved.
“…You’re dazzling.”
Fei Ling murmured in admiration, lowering her frost-colored lashes.
“Oh? Is that so? But you, my dear, are like a flower that blooms alone in the wrong season. You are a rare and precious medicine, and though that can be painful… it is also something to be proud of.”
The word proud settled quietly in her heart.
“You saved my life twice. Without you, I would never have met Xin Hua. Xiao Ling, too, owes her future to you.”
“That is true. If Xue Mei consort had perished that day… I would have thrown myself from the high tower of the Winter Palace.”
Fei Ling had never thought of it as saving them. She had only done what needed to be done.
“You should take pride in yourself. Even if the path was laid before you by others, you are the one who has walked it.”
And yet, the weight of their gratitude made her realize something.
To save others is to be saved.
Fei Ling held onto Xue Mei consort’s words, and her tense green eyes softened just slightly.
(No matter how far I go, I am medicine. Just as a plum bud cannot bloom into a peony.)
The late emperor once declared:
“Consume poison, and let it become medicine. But never spit it out.”
Yet he had broken that vow. His mother, the White Zephyr, had also succumbed to poison in the end.
Poison can be transformed into medicine.
But if one fails to control it, poison remains poison.
Fei Ling had crossed paths with many people affected by both earthly and heavenly toxins. The peasants of Wangqi starved due to earthly poison. The Hao tribe was wiped out by heavenly poison. Some she had been able to save, while others had slipped through her grasp. Those failures continued to weigh on her with regret.
(That is why I vowed to eradicate poison—when I was granted the life that should have been taken from me. Not for the emperor, nor for my mother or father… but for myself.)
She cast away her hesitation.
Her green eyes cleared, like the tranquil Sea of Serenity beneath the moon.
“Thank you. Your words have lifted the fog from my heart.”
“Oh? I’m glad to hear that.”
Xue Mei consort smiled, the very image of a blooming plum blossom.
Leaving her palace, Fei Ling felt guilty for making Lan Xin worry. She was heading toward her residence when a messenger from the palace came running. He bowed and delivered his report.
“This morning, the necessary medicinal ingredients have been gathered. Please proceed to the imperial kitchen immediately.”
At last, the moment had arrived.
Fei Ling lifted a peacock-shaped hairpin and straightened her back.
“Understood. I will come at once.”
With the resolute gaze of a warrior heading into battle.
