384: Bargain

Bargain

  The doors opened and Princess Nalan turned to see the Emperor and his entourage storming in. She became immediately furious and launched towards the Emperor, "You! You did this -!"

But the Emperor's eunuchs immediately rushed forward and blocked her, "Get out of my way! You -" She began assaulting them instead but Molin grabbed her from behind and dragged her back, "Nalan, please! Now is not the time. This won't help anything!"

"Get off m-" Princess Nalan suddenly stopped when her eyes landed on Lei Xing, who oddly remained standing at the door, staring at Prince Yi's still form as if frozen. Princess Nalan watched as Lei Xing exchanged a few words with her maid and then the duo silently left the room.

"How did this happen?" The Emperor asked, still scanning Prince Yi's still form, seemingly looking for some sort of foul play or something. 

Meanwhile, the Emperor quietly assessed Prince Yi's still body, looking for any sign of deceit. He had hoped that this would be one of Prince Yi's schemes. And even now despite seeing no signs of life himself, the Emperor still remained unconvinced of his death. 

He did not want to consider the repercussions should Prince Yi really be dead. Apart from the mess with Princess Nalan and Zou, the Emperor was more worried about Doctor Lou's reaction to this news. The old man had made it quite clear that Prince Yi was not to be killed - but then again, he did not kill Prince Yi

Then again, from his experience with that old man, reasoning with him was no easy feat either. The Emperor closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "How did this happen?" He finally asked in a low voice. 

The head physician and the other physicians promptly got on their knees and empathetically echoed, "Your majesty, please spare us!"

"I was told he had stabilized..." The Emperor added in the same monotone voice.

The head physician gulped and then began, "Your majesty...I checked him myself earlier, he even woke up, he was recoveri-"

"Is this what recovery looks like to you?!" The Emperor snapped, clenching his fist to contain his anger and the head physician silently lowered his head.

The Emperor took a deep breath to calm himself, he gave Prince Yi one last look, perhaps trying to will him to live. 

The Emperor's silence made the room's inhabitants further uneasy, one of the physicians seemed unable to stand it and so brought forth a suggestion, "Perhaps some foul play was involved -" The old physician glared at the brave soul and the man quickly swallowed the rest of his words. But it was too late, the words had already been said.

The Emperor finally turned around and looked down at the kneeling physicians with raised eyebrows of disdain, "Who spoke just now?"

The brave physician hesitantly raised his hand and the Emperor continued, "Tell me what you know."

The physician blinked, what he knows? He didn't know anything different from anybody else, but with the Emperor's cold gaze bearing down on him, he had to say something. So he gulped and began, "....S-someone did t-try to poison him. P-perhaps....they came to finish the job...here."

"Is that it?" The Emperor asked with a frown, clearly displeased.

The physician looked at the Emperor's face and then lowered his head and after a quick thought, he added, "He was left alone in the room with the Zou princess and her man-"

"Hey! What do you mean by that statement?!" Molin interjected, rushing forward but he was blocked by the barricade of eunuchs. So he stopped and continued his protest with words instead, "It was your physicians who were coming in and out of here giving him this and that. If anyone did anything to him, it's you people!... After all, he was locked in your prison." He haughtily added, narrowing his eyes at the Emperor and folding his arms in defiance. 

"Where is Princess Nalan?" The Emperor suddenly asked when he noticed her absence. Molin also blinked, taken aback by the question, he spun around and found no one behind him, then he scanned the room, "Where did she go?" He asked, confused. 

It was also at this moment that the Emperor also realized his group was also missing a very important figure. 

***

"Your majesty, you really don't look good." Xiao Ruo said as she worriedly looked at Lei Xing's pale face. Back in the room, Xiao Ruo had noticed the color rapidly draining out of Lei Xing's face. She had asked Lei Xing what was wrong, but instead of answering, Lei Xing said she needed "air" so they left. Once they were outside, her expression seemed better, but still, Xiao Ruo was worried, "Maybe, we should go back inside so the physicians can check on you?"

Lei Xing shook her head. It was unseemly to kick up a fuss within a fuss, and besides, she was alright now. Xiao Ruo pursed her lips, "Then should we return to the Empress's palace first? I can go info-"

"Lei Xing." A voice called from behind and the group turned to find Princess Nalan stepping out of the doors behind them. They were all surprised that she had followed them out and watched as she came over to Lei Xing and stopped, "Why did you run?" She asked. 

Lei Xing knit her eyebrows, "Run? I didn't r-" Lei Xing stopped herself and took a deep breath, she was not going to argue over random nonsense with the bereaved. "Nalan, I'm sorry this happened..." This was all she could muster and she knew it was nowhere enough. 

There were no words to make up for this kind of loss. Not to mention the fact that Princess Nalan had now become a Princess pregnant out of wedlock. Lei Xing had no idea how to resolve this situation now and so could offer nothing more.

As for the reason she exited the room like that, she did not understand it herself. Perhaps she was just stressed, tired, or perhaps it was that stupid head physician's face or more likely the fact that the head physician was in proximity to the Emperor that sent her into a frenzy - No, that didn't make sense either. 

She might be worried about disappointing the Emperor, but in the grand scheme of things, she trusted him enough to know that he wouldn't fault her for her condition. Besides, she knew she had to tell him eventually. It was only a matter of time. Perhaps it was because this was her first time seeing a dead body?

{...No, that's not it either….Then is this guilt? O_O)...Guilt? Guilt for what? I'm not the one that killed him, I'm also not the one that told him to be a crazy person. I was even kind enough to warn him - Frankly, given his track record he should have been killed a long time ago... I'm fine, this has nothing to do with me. It has to be that stupid head physician's face that messed with my mind, tch...}

"What are you thinking about?" Princess Nalan asked, bringing Lei Xing out of her racing thoughts to meet Princess Nalan's scrutinizing gaze. 

Lei Xing blinked, met Princess Nalan's scrutinizing gaze, and then lowered her eyes, "Nothing... I'm not feeling well today-"

"So that's why you ignored my summons earlier - Nevermind, that doesn't matter now. We need to talk." Princess Nalan said, grabbing hold of Lei Xing's arm to pull her along, only for her hand to be swept off by a brave Xiao Ruo, "The Empress is not feeling well right now, she needs res-"

Xiao Ruo's bravery quickly fizzled out when Princess Nalan turned her glare on her. Xiao Ruo held Lei Xing's arm and lowered her head, cowering a bit. 

Lei Xing looked at Xiao Ruo and slightly shook her head in disappointment, then she turned back to Princess Nalan, "Nalan, perhaps tomorrow. I'm really no-"

"No. It has to be now. The situation is already like this and you just want to leave? We need to plan our next steps now before it's too late." Princess Nalan said with urgency. Then she took a calming breath and squared her shoulders, "It will only take a moment." She said and motioned to a corner and then walked to the side railing. Then she turned and waited for Lei Xing to follow, while glaring daggers at her, daring her not to come. 

Lei Xing inwardly groaned, this was the problem when you inserted yourself in the matters of others, you can't just bow out when the going gets tough. 

Even though she was not feeling like herself right now, Lei Xing could still reason that given the situation, it was best to hear Princess Nalan out. At least this way, she could prevent her from doing anything rash. So she sighed and was going to go, only Xiao Ruo continued to cling to her arm, "Your majesty..."

"It's okay, you can stay here." Lei Xing said, patting the little coward's hand and removing it from her arm, then she went over to Princess Nalan. Honestly, she did not know what Princess Nalan did to Xiao Ruo to make her so afraid of her. 

"It's private." Princess Nalan said, looking at the Bi Lo and Bi Lu who had tagged along with Lei Xing. 

Bi Lu cupped his hands and bowed his head, "As per the Emperor's order, we a-"

"Nevermind, it's fine." Princess Nalan irritatedly interjected, then she grabbed Lei Xing's arm, pulled her to a corner, and whispered, "You need to talk to your Emperor."

"About?" Lei Xing asked.

"Why is he doing this? I was - am going to take him away." Princess Nalan corrected with a scowl, "Just talk to your Emperor and explain things clearly." Princess Nalan forcefully said. 

Lei Xing blinked at her, "Nalan, I... don't know what you think but we did not do this." 

"Of course you didn't, he did!" Princess Nalan exclaimed and then took a deep breath, trying to contain herself, "Your Emperor - of course, he wouldn't have kept it from you so you wouldn't be upset, but now I'm telling you. You can get the antidote from him if you truly wanted to. You can force him into it, if he doesn't listen, threaten him with your life, he loves you, doesn't he? You can get the antidote from him, it's not too late!" She fervently said, her fingernails digging into Lei Xing's arm through her sleeves. 

Lei Xing stared at Princess Nalan in utter disbelief.

{...O_O)...Is this girl -? She's in denial...Oh, shit. I don't deal well with fragile...Okay, let's play along, it'll be fine...}

"Um, alright Nalan... I will ta-"

"Nalan, there you are!" Molin's voice halted their discussion and the group turned to find both he and the Emperor, who didn't look too happy right now bounding for them. 

Lei Xing felt relief wash over her when she saw the Emperor. She was going to go towards him but Princess Nalan's refused to let her go, rather her grip tightened. Lei Xing turned to Princess Nalan to reassure her that she would take her "case" up with the Emperor. But before Lei Xing could speak, Princess Nalan mouthed, "I'm sorry."

Lei Xing knit her brows in confusion, but this confusion was quickly cleared up when Princess Nalan suddenly yanked on her arm. In the next instant, Lei Xing found herself spun around, in a chokehold and a knife's tip at her neck.

"Stop! No one move." Princess Nalan said as she dragged Lei Xing a few steps back with her, "Don't even think about it." She warned the Bi Lu and Bi Lo who looked like they were passing attack signals between each other, "This will be embedded into her fragile neck faster than either of you can get to me!" She added for extra measure, dragging Lei Xing to the corner of the railing, making sure to put her back to the building to avoid attacks from behind. 

"Nalan! What are you doing?!" Molin exclaimed, looking about ready to pull his hair out, "This on-"

"Shut up! You said it yourself there was no way out. This is going to get us what we need. You two get back with the rest. Now!" She ordered, talking to the Bi siblings who were still too close for her comfort. When they did not move, she pushed the knife's tip into Lei Xing's neck, drawing blood to show her seriousness. This was no joke. The Bi twins glanced at the Emperor, whose expression got even darker as his eyes trailed the blood down Lei Xing's neck, clenching his fist as he watched it stian her collar. 

"Now!" Princess Nalan repeated.

Surprisingly, Lei Xing was quite calm on the outside. She even gave the Emperor a little signal to relax, she could handle this. Princess Nalan was not actually trying to kill her, no sane person apologizes before killing you.

{...but then again, desperation makes people especially volatile, especially when they're already halfway mad - No, no, not going to think about that. We're friends, she has no reason to kill me - like friends never killed each other bef- Stop it! Focus! We. Can. Discuss. This…}

Lei Xing calmly began, "Nalan, let's lower the weapon. Let me talk to him-"

"No, need. I can do it myself-" Princess Nalan cut her off, "Stop! Stop! Don't move or I'll really kill her! I mean it!" Princess Nalan warned, further pushing the knife's tip and drawing more blood when the Emperor took a step forward. 

The Emperor stopped and then finally spoke, "Do you not want your life anymore?"  2

Princess Nalan was unfazed, she scoffed and retorted, "The question should be do you not want her life anymore? The antidote. Give me the antidote and I will let her go." Princess Nalan stated.

"Antidote?" The Emperor repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"The antidote or she dies!" Princess Nalan stressed, further digging the knife into Lei Xing's neck to show her resolve. She would not be fooled. 

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