Volume 1, Chapter 6: Didn't Your Highness Say I Was Ugly?

"Your Highness, I have not seen my younger sister for a long time. May I go and visit Lady Liu?"

Glancing at the man kneeling on the floor, Chu Linyuan nodded and waved a hand. "Go."

"This servant takes his leave."

Liu Siquan bowed and retreated, though in his heart, he longed to grab his sister and give her a sound thrashing. Before she entered the Eastern Palace, he had urged her repeatedly not to seek favor and to remain cautious and restrained. Why had she brought this upon herself?

Chu Linyuan looked at the memorials on his desk and let out a slow sigh. He ought to be focusing on state affairs, yet he could not help but think of that alluring body. Though her face was marred, her body was still perfectly usable. Thinking that he could return to Lin Qingwan as soon as he finished his work, Chu Linyuan felt his strength return. He curled his lips into a smile and continued to review the documents. His Imperial Father had been unwell lately, shifting a portion of the administrative duties onto him; however, even with such beauty waiting for him, the affairs of the state had to come first.

By the time he finished, the sky had turned dark. Returning to his bedchamber, he saw a wooden tub placed in the room, steam rising and swirling in the air. The woman he had been longing for was soaking in the tub, her face veiled. Her graceful silhouette came into view, causing him to stride toward her without hesitation.

As he reached the tub, Lin Qingwan, startled by his sudden arrival, shrank into the water. She touched the veil on her face to ensure it was still in place and turned her head away. She did not want him to see her in such a wretched state.

Chu Linyuan stripped off his clothes and climbed into the tub.

"Your Highness, I have finished washing. Let me leave first."

She tried her best to put distance between them, but the narrow confines of the tub left Lin Qingwan with nowhere to hide. She could only feel the man drawing ever closer. He grabbed her waist, pulled her into his arms, and tore away the thin veil covering her cheeks. Staring at her swollen face, he said with a serious, heavy tone, "You are a bit ugly."

Hearing Chu Linyuan call her ugly, Lin Qingwan’s eyes widened, and she glared fiercely at the man before her. "Then I am truly guilty of a capital offense for offending Your Highness's eyes. Please let me go and allow me to leave."

The woman tilted her head back in pain, struggling, but she lacked the strength to break free. The tub was too small, and the man’s strength too great; unable to escape, Lin Qingwan could only be pinned in his arms and kissed.

"Don't touch me. Didn't Your Highness say I was ugly?"

"You are not ugly. I like you."

After a long while, the satisfied man carried Lin Qingwan out of the tub. He placed her aside and used a dry towel to wipe her body. Lin Qingwan felt deep pain throughout her frame, and the wounds on her face stung as they came into contact with the water. Too exhausted to move, she could only watch as he tended to her. If that Liu Sisi knew of his actions, there was no telling how she might torment her further.

After drying both her and himself, he wrapped her body in a white cloth. He looked at her red, swollen face, wanting to reach out and touch it but fearing he would cause her pain. He clasped his hands behind his back, his voice cold, yet his eyes held a glimmer of expectation.

"Do you have anything you wish to say to me?"

Why would this woman not lodge a complaint? If she spoke up, he could support her and teach Lady Liu a lesson. Or he could grant her a rank higher than a Lady, ensuring that Lady Liu could never trouble her again.

"I do."

"Speak."

Lin Qingwan thought of her mother, whose whereabouts were unknown, and could not help but plead, "I wish to write a letter to my mother. I beg Your Highness to have someone deliver it."

"Is that all?"

Chu Linyuan, who had been waiting for her to take the initiative to voice her grievances and ask for a status, did not hear what he wanted. Seeing Lin Qingwan’s blank expression, as if she did not understand his deeper meaning, he grew even angrier. He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him with force.

"I am asking, do you not want to ask me for a title? If you want the position of a secondary consort, you will have to wait a while. But anything below that, I can grant you today. With such a rank, no one in this household would dare to harm you again."

Upon hearing Chu Linyuan’s words, Lin Qingwan shook off his hand and turned her face to the other side, not even bothering to spare him a glance. "There is no need. This commoner does not require any title."

Chu Linyuan gripped her neck and pulled her onto the bed with a sweep of his arm. "If you do not want a title, who are you saving your status as an unmarried woman for? Have you not given up yet? Do you still wish to marry Mo Lingxuan?"

What did this have to do with Mo Lingxuan? It was clearly he who would fall for another woman; it was he who had sent her into a sea of flames in her previous life. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she could not speak them. Her rebirth was too bizarre; even if she told him, no one would believe her, and she might be branded a monster or a madwoman.

To Chu Linyuan, Lin Qingwan’s silence seemed like a tacit admission—an admission that she still loved Mo Lingxuan and still wanted to marry him.

"Lin Qingwan, you are dreaming. I will show you right now exactly whose woman you are."

"No, I am injured. Do not touch me."

She tried to push away the man who had inexplicably lost his reason. Over the past two days, his endless demands had left her unable to cope. She had thought that once he left, he would not return, but she had not expected to be dragged into this again.

She did not know how much time had passed. She felt as though she were sinking into the deep sea, then cast into a sea of fire. She could not recall anything; she felt only that her entire body was like molten lava. Her cheeks stung, and every part of her ached to the extreme.

Lying beside her, Chu Linyuan sensed her unusual body temperature and reached out to touch her forehead. He shouted toward the window, "Someone! Fetch the imperial physician!" His voice was laced with unconcealable panic.

He pulled her into his arms, feeling her burning skin—she felt like a furnace in the dead of winter. Chu Linyuan was both angry and perplexed. "Why won't you just soften your heart toward me? Why can't you just forget that man?"

He placed her back on the bed and ordered the maid on night duty outside the door, "Bring me a basin of cold water."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The maid drew water from the well, brought a white towel, and entered. Another maid quickly moved a stool to the bedside and placed the basin on it. As the maid went to soak the towel, Chu Linyuan waved his hand. "I will do it. You may leave."

The two maids bowed and retreated. Exchanging glances outside the door, they both saw the shock in each other’s eyes; they had never seen the Crown Prince personally attend to someone.

As he placed the cold towel on Lin Qingwan’s burning forehead, Chu Linyuan tapped the table. A secret guard appeared from nowhere and knelt on one knee.

"Your Highness."

"Go and urge the Imperial Medical Academy. Bring the physician on duty directly here."

He loved this woman’s body dearly, and since he loved it, he would not deprive himself. Did she think that by falling ill she could escape his favor? She was dreaming.

Thinking that she might have intentionally made herself sick to avoid his affection, Chu Linyuan felt a desire to ignore her condition and continue his intimacy. Less than a cup of tea later, the guard "escorted" the physician on duty to the room.

"Yun Feihang of the Imperial Medical Academy pays his respects to the Crown Prince."

The man knelt and bowed. Having been dragged from his sleep by the guard, who had taken him across rooftops at high speed, the newly arrived Yun Feihang was dizzy and terrified.

Chu Linyuan stepped aside and gestured toward the woman on the bed. "Examine her."

Seeing who was lying in the Crown Prince's bed, Yun Feihang quickly turned his head away and pulled a diagnostic thread from his medical kit. "Your Highness, please have a medical attendant tie this thread to the patient’s wrist." This was the Crown Prince’s woman; he dared not touch her himself. Moreover, the ambiguous air in the room suggested she had only just been intimate.

Once he touched the pulse, he detected abnormalities. He glanced at the medical attendant and bowed to Chu Linyuan. "Your Highness, could you please have everyone leave? This humble servant needs the medical attendant to examine the patient’s body."

Chu Linyuan nodded and stepped outside. "Examine her private parts and see if there are injuries elsewhere. Report the details of her condition to me." With those instructions, he left the room.

When the physician saw the Crown Prince waiting at the door, he quickly said, "The medical attendant is examining her; I will provide a prescription shortly."

Yun Feihang lowered his head, his expression blank, but he felt a sense of admiration inside. As expected of the Crown Prince—the woman’s pulse clearly indicated she had only just begun to experience intimacy and had been subjected to excessive indulgence.

After the medical attendant finished the examination, she opened the door cautiously and hurried to Yun Feihang’s side, whispering the findings with a blushing face. Hearing the description, Yun Feihang felt his ears grow hot and itchy.

He took out paper and brush to write the prescription, but decided it was better to consult the Prince first. "Your Highness, the patient has suffered from excessive physical intimacy, which has harmed her body. The injuries on her face seem to have been treated with a high-quality ointment and are of no concern."

"If she is to recover quickly, Your Highness must exercise restraint. No intimacy for the next seven days."

Seven days? Since he had first tasted her, he had wanted to be with her every second of every hour.

"Is there any way to make her recover faster?"