Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Chi Yan sent an Imperial Physician to examine me. He suspected I had gone mad, as I spent my days speaking nonsense.

I, too, suspected I might be losing my mind.

Yet, I felt incredibly lucid.

In fact, my mind was becoming clearer by the day, to the point where everything that had happened before felt like the true madness.

The Imperial Physician took my pulse. I was terrified he would declare I had a terminal illness, something beyond the reach of medicine.

He checked for a long time, his brow furrowed as he checked again. After confirming it several times, he knelt on the ground to report.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty! It is a pregnancy pulse!”

What?

A pregnancy pulse…

The room immediately erupted into a flurry of excitement. The palace maids and eunuchs all fell to their knees.

Zhi Hong knelt by my side, weeping tears of joy. “Your Majesty, you’ve waited for this. You’ve finally waited long enough!”

Chu Jue stepped forward and asked, “Are you certain there is no mistake?”

“I have checked several times; there is no mistake. It has been over two months. It is indeed a pregnancy pulse.”

The Imperial Physician rose from the floor. “Your Majesty, you have a stagnation of qi in your chest and suffer from excessive worry. I urge Your Majesty to take care of the imperial heir. I shall return and prescribe a fetal stabilization medicine tailored to your symptoms.”

Zhi Hong stepped forward to offer a reward. “Thank you for your hard work, Imperial Physician.”

The physician bowed his head. “I must go and report to His Majesty. I shall take my leave.”

I stood there in a daze for a long while before it finally sank in.

A pregnancy pulse meant that I was carrying a child…

A child?

Chi Yan’s and my child?

I raised a hand to touch my abdomen, finding it hard to believe. Inside me, there was actually a child belonging to Chi Yan and me.

I couldn’t describe the feeling; my mind was just a blur.

This sudden child threw all the thoughts I had finally managed to untangle back into chaos.

But-

I was still happy.

In truth, when Lin Yue was pregnant, I had also hoped that Chi Yan and I would have a child. It was just a pity that there had never been any news until now.

I felt as though this was a sign of hope from the heavens. I had always thought the heavens were unfair, favoring Lin Yue and giving her every advantage.

Now, it had finally given me something too.

I suddenly wanted to see how Chi Yan would react when he found out we were having a child. Would he be as pleasantly surprised as I was?

Perhaps not. My first child was not his first child.

But surely he would be surprised.

He would hold me, touch my belly, and ask, “Xiao Tao, would you like a boy or a girl?”

And I would answer, “A boy or a girl-either is fine.”

Then he would say, “I think so too. As long as it’s our child, I’ll love them whether it’s a boy or a girl.”

I smiled.

I felt a sense of happiness that had been missing for a long time.

“Your Majesty, why are you crying?”

Was I crying?

I touched my face; it was indeed wet.

Zhi Hong came over to wipe away my tears, her own eyes red from crying. “His Majesty will surely be delighted!”

I glanced around, and only Chu Jue’s face was filled with sorrow. The way his brow was knit in a frown looked far too much like Chi Yan.

In an instant, a deep, inexplicable sense of worry rose in my heart.

“Why are you unhappy?” I walked over to question him.

Chu Jue said, “This servant is not unhappy.”

“Then why do you have such an expression? I am pregnant; shouldn’t you be happy?”

Chu Jue lowered his eyes and explained, “This servant is simply so overjoyed that I did not know what expression to face Your Majesty with. I have offended Your Majesty; I deserve to die.”

I glanced at him. “Fine, so you’ve learned how to lie to me too.”

I stepped past him.

He moved to block my path. “Where is Your Majesty going?”

“I am going to see His Majesty. I want to tell him myself.”

He would surely be happy.

I started walking again, and Chu Jue followed behind me. “This servant will accompany you.”

I turned back and snapped at him, “I will go alone!”

I suddenly had a very bad premonition, but I told myself it couldn’t be. Even if Chi Yan no longer loved me, as Zhi Hong said, he still cared for our past together.

Even if that past had faded, the child in my womb was his own flesh and blood.

How could he not be happy?

He couldn’t possibly love Lin Yue so much that he only wanted children with her.

…He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t.

He was the Son of Heaven, with Three Palaces and Six Courtyards.

I quickened my pace, running toward Chi Yan.

I had never realized before that the Phoenix Brocade Palace was so very far from his Hall of Lasting Eminence.