Chapter 3
Sheng Yanhuan’s eyes widened slightly. Why had the Prince Regent come?
Right, Qi Mohan’s younger sister had gone missing when she was little. Rumor had it she was in the palace. After searching all the palace maids in vain, Qi Mohan had turned his attention to the harem. With the Empress Dowager’s permission, he visited each consort in turn. She wondered whether he had eventually found his sister.
In her previous life, he had indeed visited her shortly before she died, but she had been gravely ill and had no heart to entertain him.
“Why has no one come to welcome the Prince Regent?” The eunuch’s voice was shrill, stabbing at her eardrums.
Sheng Yanhuan bit down on her lower lip.
Everyone said the Prince Regent was as cold as ice and unmatched in beauty. Ever since he had become Prince Regent, countless beauties had tried to approach him, but he had never so much as reacted. If she wanted to catch his attention, she would have to take a dangerous gamble.
She was in the Cold Palace now and had few chances to see him.
Whether he liked her or hated her, she first had to make him remember her.
“I am the Empress. How can you barge in without announcing yourself?”
The young woman’s voice was as weak as a newborn kitten’s, but her words carried authority.
“You...” The eunuch flushed with anger. How dare an Empress in the Cold Palace defy the Prince Regent?
“What? He’s only a prince with a different surname. I am the Empress!”
Qi Mohan’s eyes were as dark as ink. He pulled back the curtain and walked straight into the Empress’s bedchamber.
“A prince with a different surname?”
Qi Mohan narrowed his eyes and approached her step by step. His robe stirred though there was no wind; even after just a few steps, he made it hard to breathe.
His features were extraordinarily handsome, flawless in every way, but his aura was so imposing that no one dared look directly at his face.
Sheng Yanhuan lowered her lashes, concealing the admiration in her eyes.
She immediately pulled the quilt over her chest. “How can you barge into the Empress’s bedchamber?”
She was wearing only her underclothes!
Qi Mohan stared at the Empress buried beneath the quilt, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold smile.
No wonder the Emperor had overcome every obstacle to marry her and make her Empress.
That face really was breathtakingly beautiful.
“Get out!”
Her face was bare of makeup, her lips pale and bloodless, yet nothing could hide her exquisite features. Her bright, round eyes glared at him with an adorably fierce look that held no menace at all.
“Heh.”
“Was I wrong?”
Though Qi Mohan had been granted the title of Prince Qi, he was indeed a prince with a different surname.
The Beiyuan Kingdom had few heirs. The Retired Emperor had nearly a thousand consorts, yet only one son: the current Emperor.
The Retired Emperor had a younger brother and a younger sister.
They were Prince Ning and Princess Yiyang.
Prince Ning had a son, who had died in battle alongside him ten years ago.
Princess Yiyang had married a local wealthy merchant and borne a son and a daughter.
That son was Qi Mohan.
Qi Mohan had been raised by Prince Ning for ten years, returning to his mother’s side only after Prince Ning died in battle.
Qi Mohan was indeed the person with the closest blood ties to the Emperor.
The Beiyuan Kingdom placed the utmost importance on bloodline. Though the Emperor was gravely ill and the Empress Dowager was old, she would never let the kingdom fall into the hands of outsiders. Qi Mohan was the best choice.
As Prince Regent, being called a prince with a different surname was surely a sore point for him.
Qi Mohan’s eyes seemed to smile, but the depths of his gaze sent a chill through her.
His large hand shot toward her with blinding speed.
Sheng Yanhuan tried to retreat, but her frail body couldn’t move even an inch.
“Ugh—”
[Ding! Intimacy +1.]
He had her by the throat.
His hands showed no mercy. She opened her mouth, barely able to draw a breath.
“I am not someone you can criticize.”
Sheng Yanhuan’s face flushed red as she struggled to pry his fingers loose with her small hands.
Her hands were so weak that they couldn’t hurt him at all. Instead, their touch stirred an inexplicable heat within him.
Qi Mohan’s eyes darkened, and he gave a slight curl of his lips, as if sneering.
“Can’t speak, can you?”
“Your Highness, still have more nonsense to say?”
Sheng Yanhuan’s eyes reddened at the corners as she stared fixedly into those abyss-black eyes.
Madman!
“Are you cursing me?”
Qi Mohan loosened his grip slightly, giving her a chance to breathe, but his large hand remained around her delicate neck.
“What do you want to curse me for?”
Sheng Yanhuan seized the chance to take a deep breath.
The stench of rotting wood in the bedchamber mingled with the man’s cold, sharp scent.
Sheng Yanhuan felt like throwing up.
“Ugh—”
She vomited up all the medicine left in her stomach.
It happened so suddenly that Qi Mohan couldn’t dodge in time. A large patch of his chest was soaked with vomit.
The sour smell of medicine quickly spread through the room.
“Ugh—ugh—ugh, cough, cough—”
Sheng Yanhuan dry-heaved several times. Unfortunately, there was nothing left in her stomach, or she would have vomited all over him.
“Sheng Yanhuan!”
Qi Mohan’s face turned livid. He wished he could strangle her to death right then and there.
Sheng Yanhuan wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, then looked up with a smile. Her round eyes glistened with tears, and her face was as fragile and lovely as a white flower.
“What? Your Highness wants to kill me again?”
Qi Mohan’s chest tightened, his anger caught in his throat.
This woman...
“If you don’t want to kill me, then please leave, Your Highness. Don’t disturb my sleep.” Sheng Yanhuan lay back down, paying him no attention.
“You...” Qi Mohan was so furious he was speechless.
He had never met a woman like this...
“Your Highness, the Imperial Physician is here.” Outside, the eunuch was so anxious that sweat covered his forehead. When he saw the physician arrive, it was as if his savior had come.
Why was the Prince Regent in the Empress’s bedchamber? What was going on?
Qi Mohan shot her a cold glance, then swept out with a flourish of his sleeve.
Imperial Physician Li was startled outside.
He wore a black robe embroidered with gold, his hair bound with an ink-jade crown, and his handsome face was almost bewitchingly beautiful. Could that be...
Imperial Physician Li quickly lowered his head and pretended he had seen nothing.
The eunuch glared at him. “Why aren’t you checking on the Empress?”
“Yes.”
Imperial Physician Li and a palace maid went in together.
“Your Highness, Lady Shu is in the bedchamber next door.”
“Mm.”
Qi Mohan was about to step out when a sudden cry came from inside.
“Your Highness, you are three months pregnant. Could it be... the Emperor’s?”
Imperial Physician Li didn’t dare ask.
Three months ago had been the night the Emperor and Empress were to consummate their marriage. The Emperor had hit his head, so how could they have had time to do that?
“Physician, I really...” Sheng Yanhuan wept tears of joy and lowered her head to touch her still-flat belly.
“Your Highness, is this Your Majesty’s child?” Imperial Physician Li studied her complexion, his aged face full of disbelief.
Ever since entering the palace, he had examined the pulses of countless consorts, only to return disappointed every time.
The Beiyuan Kingdom had been short of heirs for a hundred years.
For an ordinary family to have one child was an honor to its ancestors; two called for a thanksgiving offering to Heaven and Earth, while three was unthinkable.
It was even more pronounced in the imperial family. In the past hundred years, apart from the Retired Emperor’s generation, which had three children, every other generation had only one.
However...
The Sheng family was different. Since the founding of Beiyuan, they had the most children of any family in the entire kingdom—and were the only ones.
Madam Sheng had given birth to four sets of twins, for a total of eight children. Sheng Yanhuan was the fifth, and she and her younger brother Sheng Lingchuan were boy-girl twins.
Sheng Yanhuan had two older sisters and two older brothers, as well as one younger brother and two younger sisters.
Both older sisters had been sought in marriage with generous betrothal gifts as soon as they came of age, and each had given birth to a boy and a girl after marriage.
One older brother was a merchant and the other a physician; both had married and had children long ago. Sheng Yanhuan had been sought in marriage by the Emperor as soon as she came of age, while her younger brother was still training in the army and unmarried. Her two younger sisters were a year away from coming of age, and matchmakers were already trampling the Sheng family’s threshold.
The Sheng family had a special constitution. Otherwise, no matter how much the Emperor doted on Sheng Yanhuan, the Empress Dowager would never have allowed her to become Empress.
After all, the Empress Dowager believed that only the daughters of the Meng family were precious enough.
The Meng family was the Empress Dowager’s maiden family.
The current Chancellor, Meng Zheng, was the Empress Dowager’s younger brother.
“Of course it’s Your Majesty’s.” Sheng Yanhuan’s eyes were red. “I studied the rules in the palace every day and never went out. Your Majesty came to visit once, and then...”
Sheng Yanhuan was too embarrassed to continue. She lowered her head and cautiously caressed her belly.
Chunwan was completely stunned!
She was by the Empress’s side every day, so she naturally knew that the Emperor visited the Empress daily. Usually, he would sit for a while after a meal and then leave. Once, though, he stayed for nearly half an hour and sent all the palace maids away.
Could... that have been the time?
Imperial Physician Li considered the matter from every angle and decided to ask the Empress Dowager to make the decision.
Unless the Emperor and Empress had already... before their wedding ceremony,
there was no way the child could be the Emperor’s.
The physician backed toward the door, then suddenly felt a chill run through him and looked up.
The Prince Regent’s face was cold, and his imposing aura filled the space.
The eunuch and palace maids lowered their heads, not daring to say a word.
Once the Emperor died, the Prince Regent would surely ascend the throne. Even if the Emperor didn’t die, the Prince Regent would continue to hold power.
If an additional prince were born, the Prince Regent’s position...
would be in jeopardy.
“Your Highness, I will go inform the Empress Dowager at once.” Imperial Physician Li’s back was drenched in cold sweat as he bowed his head.
The corner of Qi Mohan’s mouth curled into a mocking smile, and his expression grew even colder.
Everyone was terrified, and not one dared raise their head.
“Summon every imperial physician in the Imperial Medical Academy to examine her pulse.”
Imperial Physician Li was startled, then quietly replied, “Yes, Your Highness.”