Imperial Physician Wen cleared his throat. “Your Highness, please set her down on the couch first.”

Xuan Yanyu walked to the edge of the couch and sat down, letting Yan Yunning rest against his shoulder. His arm naturally encircled her waist. “This seat finds that the second Miss Yan is not yet wed, and this couch has already been occupied by myself. Should she lie upon it as well, it may be… inconvenient. Let her remain seated like this while you examine her.”

Imperial Physician Wen’s eye twitched.

Ye Jian took a bite of his pastry and looked at his master with an expression that defied description.

Not even in the Xuanzhao Kingdom was there any such reasoning as this — let alone in the Qilan Kingdom.

Xuan Yanyu produced a handkerchief from somewhere and draped it across Yan Yunning’s wrist. He gave a light cough. “Be quick about it. This seat has matters to attend to — do not dawdle.”

Imperial Physician Wen: “……”

Ye Jian: “……”

Imperial Physician Wen stepped forward and pressed his fingertips to the handkerchief over Yan Yunning’s wrist, taking her pulse with careful attention. “Your Highness, if this subject may also examine this young lady’s eyes to confirm something…”

Beneath Xuan Yanyu’s cold, impassive stare, Imperial Physician Wen pursed his lips. “Your Highness, this young lady was originally afflicted by a poison. It is unclear what she took, but something forcibly suppressed it…”

“Get to the point.” The man’s thin lips pressed together.

“This subject will prescribe a medicine. Once the young lady takes it, she will expel the tainted blood. After that, she should make a full recovery.”

“Her body is very weak.”

“Your Highness, that is merely an illusion. Once the medicine drives the tainted blood out all at once, there will be no remaining toxin in her body, and she will be quite all right.”

Xuan Yanyu lowered his gaze to the young woman in his arms. His voice was somewhat hoarse. “What poison did she contract? How long has it been?”

“Your Highness, I fear only the young lady herself can answer that. She has taken something to suppress the poison, which has masked it from this subject’s examination. Therefore, this subject cannot determine what poison she carries.”

Xuan Yanyu’s throat bobbed several times. “Ye Jian, take the medicine back to Taoyuan Village.”

He said this as he rose, gathered Yan Yunning into his arms, and walked out of the inn.

“Understood, Your Highness.” Ye Jian called respectfully after Xuan Yanyu’s retreating back.

“So this is our Crown Princess — she is truly beautiful. She and our Highness are a perfect match. His Majesty Prince Xuan truly has excellent taste.” Imperial Physician Wen smiled warmly and stroked his beard.

Ye Jian pulled a long face. “It’s over. It’s all over. Imperial Physician Wen — it is over.”

Imperial Physician Wen raised his hand and smacked it down on Ye Jian’s shoulder, glaring at him furiously. “I am perfectly fine! What do you mean, it’s over?!”

“Not you — me. When we return, won’t His Majesty Prince Xuan have both me and Ye Chen put to death?!” Ye Jian took a miserable bite of his pastry and chewed it dry.

Imperial Physician Wen’s expression shifted slightly. “That young lady is not the Crown Princess?”

“No, she is the Crown Princess’s younger sister.” Ye Jian’s brow creased deeply, and he lost all appetite for the pastry in his hand.

“There is no need to worry overmuch. As long as Miss Yan remains, the Crown Prince would never take another woman as Crown Princess. No matter how much the Crown Prince may favor this young lady, she would amount to nothing more than an additional side consort. What is there to make such a fuss about?”

Ye Jian let out a long sigh, his expression shifting. “Quickly, quickly — the medicine. Go prepare the medicine quickly. If we’re late, His Highness will be growing impatient waiting.”

He hustled Imperial Physician Wen toward the door. Imperial Physician Wen swayed under the pushing, nearly stumbling. “What’s the rush? Don’t — don’t push this old man.”

……

In her sleep, Yan Yunning felt a suffocating pressure in her chest. She jolted awake and lurched over the side of the bed, retching out a mouthful of black blood.

“Ugh, ugh.” Yan Yunning wiped haphazardly at the corner of her mouth with her sleeve.

She shook her head — not a trace of dizziness. Fafa, the vertigo is gone. My body feels so much better.

Fafa: ? Master, that shouldn’t be right. By all accounts, you should still be vomiting for a few more days.

Yan Yunning slipped on her shoes, poured herself a cup of water, and rinsed her mouth. Where is Xuan Yanyu? Didn’t he come to find me right before I fainted?

Fafa: Master, you fell into a deep coma. I lost contact with the outside world as well. How would I know?

Yan Yunning: ……

Fafa: He is currently looking for Yan Shiyao. He has no time for you.

What happened to my sister? Yan Yunning found a piece of cloth and cleaned up the floor.

Fafa: She was locked in a hidden chamber by Luo Xuan.

What?! What does she want? Yan Yunning’s rosy lips pressed into a line.

Fafa: Master, don’t worry. She won’t harm Yan Shiyao. Her goal is Qi Qingchen.

Yan Yunning exhaled with relief. What’s the storyline here? What does the book say?

Fafa: She wants to marry Qi Qingchen!

Yan Yunning: ……

“Second Miss Yan.” The door was pushed open. Luo Xuan’s red lips curved upward.

Yan Yunning tossed aside the cloth in her hand and looked up at the visitor. “Chieftain Luo, is there something you need?”

“Second Miss Yan, right now Master Xuan is beside himself trying to find your sister.” Luo Xuan giggled. “She is clearly devoted to Qingchen, yet she keeps entangling herself with Master Xuan — isn’t that terribly wicked of her?”

She had looked into Yan Yunning and Yan Shiyao thoroughly. Both were legitimate daughters of the Chancellor’s manor — yet one had grown up basking in her parents’ love, while the other had been sent away to her maternal grandparents’ home as a child, ignored and forgotten. There must be resentment buried in her heart.

The day she fainted, she had come out of Xuan Yanyu’s room — which made it plain that her feelings toward Xuan Yanyu were not ordinary. A little provocation was all it would take, and Yan Yunning would become a tool in her hands.

“Second Miss Yan, if Yan Shiyao truly treated you as a sister, she would never keep entangling herself with Master Xuan knowing full well that you have feelings for him. She clearly does not consider you her sister at all.”

Yan Yunning nearly choked on her own saliva. What was this about her having feelings for Xuan Yanyu?

Feelings for Xuan Yanyu??

Was this not outright slander???

She, Yan Yunning, had feelings for Xuan Yanyu???

What an absolute joke!!!

She was going home — how could she possibly fall for a character in a book? If she ever really fell for someone here before finding her way back, how much would that hurt!

She refused.

Especially Xuan Yanyu! Just thinking about how she would eventually be done away with by him was enough to make her shudder. How could she possibly have feelings for him?

Ridiculous!

Even if she didn’t understand why she had inexplicably been transported into a book, she believed she would find her way back. Just as she had suddenly arrived here, perhaps one day she would just as suddenly return home.

“Second Miss Yan, let us cooperate.” Luo Xuan smiled, alluring and beguiling.

Yan Yunning blinked.

After Luo Xuan left, Yan Yunning lay limply across the round table, her fingertips absently nudging her teacup, her eyes drifting and unfocused.

Fafa, are you certain Luo Xuan won’t harm my sister?

Fafa: Certain.

Yan Yunning dipped a fingertip in a splash of tea and slowly traced a cross on the tabletop. Fafa, her offer is terribly tempting to me.

Fafa: ? Master, are you not worried your sister will stop eating?! Besides, Luo Xuan doesn’t succeed in the book either!

It’s not like my sister can refuse to eat forever. In the book, Luo Xuan fails because Xuan Yanyu rescues my sister, and my sister stops the wedding.

Fafa: So what do you plan to do? In the book, the male lead Qi Qingchen trusts Luo Xuan completely, which is why he lets his guard down and drinks the “tea” she prepares for him — giving her the opening to arrange this wedding.

Fafa: Luo Xuan intended to act first and seek forgiveness later, but the female lead Yan Shiyao stopped her. Master, based on how the plot unfolds, no matter what happens, this wedding is destined to fail.

Yan Yunning blew at her bangs. But what if it succeeds? If it does succeed, even if my sister were willing, Chu Wantang would never allow her to marry Qi Qingchen as a side consort. That would open the door for Xuan Yanyu — and then I would be safe!

Fafa: Master, have you considered that the Qilan Emperor would never allow a common woman to become the principal consort of his most treasured son?

Tch, then that’s for Luo Xuan to sort out. Haven’t you grasped what she means? She is dead set on having Qi Qingchen — there is no way she would let anyone else have the principal consort’s position.

Yan Yunning extended two fingers, pinched up the medicine pouch Luo Xuan had given her, and held it before her eyes to examine.