“How could His Majesty be poisoned?” Shen Xihe was bewildered.

At the time, both Emperor Youning and Xiao Huayong were injured, but after the Imperial Physicians diagnosed Xiao Huayong as poisoned, they took turns carefully checking Emperor Youning’s pulse, all confirming that he wasn’t poisoned.

“The crossbow arrows weren’t poisoned. I administered the poison when I went to save him…” Xiao Huayong said with a soft laugh. “Rather than calling it poison, it’s more accurate to call it gu. The reason the Imperial Physicians haven’t diagnosed it yet is because the gu worms haven’t hatched. They’ve only just infiltrated His Majesty’s body and haven’t stirred up trouble yet, so how could they be detected?”

“This guy…” Shen Xihe frowned.

Witchcraft and gu had always been intertwined. Shen Xihe had never dealt with this field, though she had seen brief mentions in leisure books, but nothing detailed. Yet Xiao Huayong wielded these things with ease.

It wasn’t that she considered herself above such things, but rather that Shen Xihe subconsciously didn’t want people close to her getting too involved with these matters, always feeling they could backfire. Perhaps it was ignorance that led to this instinctive wariness of the unknown.

“It’s something Crown Prince Jiachen gave me. These gu worms are like seeds entering the soil, absorbing nutrients from the soil to grow,” Xiao Huayong, sensing Shen Xihe’s aversion, hurriedly explained, concisely describing the gu’s effects.

“He doesn’t want His Majesty to die quickly?” Shen Xihe was somewhat surprised.

“His days are numbered,” Xiao Huayong suddenly said.

“Hm?” Shen Xihe didn’t understand.

“He’s been tormented by illness for ten years,” Xiao Huayong explained. “He doesn’t want His Majesty to pass away quickly and painlessly. Nor does he want to help me easily seize the throne.”

If Emperor Youning were to pass away, Xiao Huayong would naturally succeed to the throne. Not only would Emperor Youning die cleanly without suffering, but Xiao Huayong would also smoothly inherit the throne. After learning that Xiao Huayong wasn’t Emperor Youning’s son, Xiao Juesong only wanted to watch them destroy each other. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t live to see it, but that didn’t stop him from creating such a situation. Even in death, he would have fewer regrets with this satisfaction.

Therefore, he had given Emperor Youning a type of gu. These gu worms would feed on the body’s nutrients, quietly coexisting with Emperor Youning. Once Emperor Youning fell ill and couldn’t provide enough nutrients, they would begin to devour his internal organs.

No physician could discover the cause of illness or detect their presence. At most, they would only sense the imbalance in Emperor Youning’s organs. And these gu worms were extremely small, consuming limited amounts each day. It wouldn’t take Emperor Youning’s life for eight to ten years.

And for five or six years, Emperor Youning wouldn’t even notice. By the time he did notice, it would be too late to save him. His remaining years would be spent taking medicines and struggling daily in excruciating pain that made life unbearable.

Shen Xihe felt somewhat uncomfortable hearing this. She wasn’t a good person, nor was she particularly compassionate. She dealt with people swiftly and decisively, disliking torturing people for pleasure, partly because she didn’t want to waste energy and partly because she didn’t want to give people a chance to retaliate.

Therefore, she disliked this method of slowly torturing someone to death. However, this was merely her personal opinion, and purely about the method itself. As for Xiao Huayong, Shen Xihe didn’t despise him for it.

“Are you certain his days are numbered?”

Now that Xiao Juesong had escaped, such a vicious and ruthless person – if still alive – would make not only Emperor Youning but even her feel uneasy. Currently, Xiao Juesong’s hatred was focused on Emperor Youning, but who knew if he might turn his attention to others once he felt certain Emperor Youning couldn’t escape his deadly trap.

Back then, Prince Qian had also been his enemy. If not for Prince Qian’s military genius, he might have been the one ascending to the throne now.

“Long illness makes one a doctor. Though my long illness hasn’t made me a physician, I can still discern whether someone is beyond hope,” Xiao Huayong reassured her. “Moreover, after I found him, I investigated him. The person treating him has some old connections with Old Man Linghu, making it quite easy to discover the truth about his condition.”

When it came to meticulous planning, Shen Xihe trusted Xiao Huayong. He never failed.

“I never thought you would reveal your ancestry yourself,” Shen Xihe sighed softly.

Smiling gently, Xiao Huayong’s expression remained composed: “By taking this opportunity to make it known, His Majesty will have to act out father-son devotion with me in the future, saving me much trouble.”

His ancestry was a thorn in His Majesty’s heart. Sooner or later, His Majesty would use it to make a big issue. Moreover, he had sensed that His Majesty might suspect he already knew about his ancestry. Rather than hiding and testing each other about it, better to put it in the open.

Whether or not His Majesty concluded that he knew about his ancestry, His Majesty would try his best to make him believe it was all Xiao Juesong’s fabrication.

If His Majesty were to use it, he would certainly try to distance himself from the fratricidal act, so he simply tied the two issues together. From now on, to avoid being labeled a fratricide, His Majesty would have to make everyone accept his ancestry – that he was the legitimate son of the Empress.

“Haven’t you… thought about reclaiming your true identity in the future?” Shen Xihe asked.

Being bound like this meant he would forever be His Majesty’s son.

Xiao Huayong’s eyes, deep as the ocean, silently gazed at Shen Xihe for a moment before laughing: “Youyou, since I was ten, I’ve been roaming everywhere. I’m quite unrestrained by nature, not the elegant and refined person you see. Some things and matters, I view much more lightly than others. Returning to one’s ancestors leaves returning to their roots – these aren’t indispensable to me.”

He didn’t know if he was cold-hearted, but he had never seen his birth parents and felt no attachment or longing for them. In his childhood, he had experienced too much despair and helplessness, countless times hovering at death’s door. No one had reached out to help him then, no one had taken him into their arms.

So, even towards his birth parents, he felt no blood ties.

It didn’t matter whose child he was. To him, he was simply himself, and everything about him belonged only to him.

Of course, things were different now. He had her, and he could belong to her.

He dared not speak these words too directly, fearing it would frighten her with his cold-bloodedness and shatter the concern she had finally developed for him. Yet he didn’t want to deceive her, so he expressed his thoughts indirectly.

He stared at her intently, very anxious and worried.

Though concerned about his noble image in her heart crumbling, he still chose to tell the truth.

Shen Xihe laughed lightly: “Your Highness, you truly lack self-awareness.”

“Hm?” This seemingly random statement made Xiao Huayong’s unease vanish without a trace, and he looked at Shen Xihe with confusion.

His puzzled expression, tinged with self-reflection, made Shen Xihe’s gaze soften, and she couldn’t help but tease him: “Elegant and refined? I’ve never experienced those four words from Your Highness. Your unrestrained nature, however, I see quite clearly.”

In front of her, he was just a rake, yet he had no self-awareness about it!