"Your Majesty, allow me to check your pulse," Xuan Cheng paused for a moment and stared at the empress, rage, and pity creating a hurricane in her heart.
"You know a thing too?" the empress asked raising her eyebrows, and then she sighed, "Every time someone said those words, my hopes were up, and then I would go straight into the ocean drowning in disappointment, this time I shall have no hopes and no disappointment."
Xuan Cheng opened her lips to assure the sickly empress that this time she will have nothing but euphoria, and that she will recover soon. But she held her back, it was her joy, to let the other person be in the dark until she lights up the world with no hopes attached, it becomes merrier.
She placed her two fingers on her hands and closed her eyes, it was as if her vision could travel beneath the skin and the flesh, she observed how fatal the poison's effect has been.
It was her first time checking a victim of Ocean Fire Poison, and even though it was the symptoms were new to her, she wasn't unfamiliar with it.
'Blood clotting and organ failure are expected, but I didn't know it can consume energy from within, the poison is eating her from inside. No wonder her body is extremely fragile. I need the drop of blood of her son.' Xuan Cheng spoke to herself as she opened her eyes.
"It is hurting you so much, why don't you cry?" she asked because no mere human can stand the pain of being eaten. It was similar to a living man being eaten alive by birds.
"I will die faster If I use up all the energy, I have that's what a voice told me when I was yelling in my dream," she answered with a sadistic smile.
"That voice isn't wrong, it has been hard on you," Xuan Cheng spoke with heartfelt concern, sorrow, agony, and sympathy began to rush in her veins. The auras that she had witnessed in the palace had weakened her. She needed a place to regain her energy before beginning the next-to-impossible treatment.
However, before she could leave, a duty beckoned her—the empress needed to be relieved of the pain that has been tormenting her every minute and every hour, she deserved to have a rest from all the sufferings until she could be completely cured.
Xuan Cheng placed her palm on the forehead of the empress and closed her eyes again, the empress was puzzled but then she wasn't in a condition to object, all she could do was remain patient.
A dusky violet energy emanated from her touch, spiraling gracefully around the empress's form. Yet, this phenomenon remained elusive to the empress's perception, concealed from her senses. Soon, the suffering dispersed replaced by an uncanny calmness.
A tranquil smile adorned her face, the shadow of torture lifted, the burden of endurance disappeared and replaced the mountain of gratefulness, and the empress made sure she was truly freed from the chains of agony before speaking, "What did you do?" The waves of shock dominated her illuminating face.
"Nothing much… Your Majesty can sleep as soundly as you used to in your mother's embrace. I shall come tonight again." Xuan Cheng stood up and bowed her head in respect, clearly showing that she didn't wish to speak about the miracle she did.
"It is the moon festival in two days, and I heard from my grandmother, that the imperial family celebrates it in the moon palace, where the emperor and empress, as the father and mother of the nation, light the Kongming lanterns and wish for a healthy and prospering empire." Xuan Cheng spoke as she stood there with a fire inside her. A fire to make the empress healthy again.
"Indeed, but I am useless, imperial noble consort has replaced me since I have been sickly before as well." The empress's eyes turned lifeless as she remembered the time when she was actually an empress, fulfilling all her duties. That moment she remembered the emperor doting on her as she was his legal wife, and those were the happiest moments of life that are now in some other hands.
Seeing how melancholy and depressed the empress was, Xuan Cheng stopped speaking further and said, "Allow me to leave for now." She sought her permission. The empress nodded and gave a genuine smile.
The door was slid open again, and Xuan Cheng came out. "Your Highness? Don't you need the boxes?" Huan asked, pointing at the medicine boxes she had been carrying all around.
"Not for now, let's go," Xuan Cheng chuckled inwardly as Huan showed an annoyed face. She was more tired than she could ever be just because of the heavy and loaded boxes filled with priceless treasures.
Just as Xuan Cheng was leaving, her eyes unconsciously looked for that maid with no distress aura. But she was nowhere to be found. She wanted to ask about her, but she stopped herself as her reckless act could invite suspicions.
"The empress will be fine?" Huan asked as she followed her master, approaching the entrance gate of the palace.
"We might even get to taste some luxurious rice cake made by her very hands; I remember my grandmother praising Her Majesty's cooking skills. We can say that we are here at the right time, her moon cakes are famous for being delicate and delicious, as if one is eating a cloud." A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she glanced at Huan, whose mouth watered.
"Ahhh…" Xuan Cheng bumped into a sculpture of muscles in his chest and fell so hard that her blood dripped from the back of her head as she faced the light blue sky. Her eyes were wide open from the shock.
"Your Highness!!!!!!!!!!" Huan placed the boxes down and rushed to help her up. She was too focused on her master that she didn't notice the audacious person who bumped into Xuan Cheng as they had passed the threshold.