"Your highness, his majesty the emperor and her highness the first princess has come!" Empress Xue Chi's court lady announce from the outside of her hall.
The door slides open and the royal siblings made their entrance. With the help of her court maid, he tried her best to rise into a sitting position. Thanks to the ground Yueguang Hua, which the empress dowager sprinkles on her incense burner, she's feeling somehow better now. Still, she doesn't know how the empress dowager got a hold of it from the emperor, or does the emperor even knows that the spirit herb is gone. Actually, she has the idea that maybe it's the reason why he finally visits her in her hall. To confront her about the missing flower.
"Your highness." The emperor greets while the princess bows silently. She bows to the other two to return the greetings.
Yin Wenyan continues, "We wish to have a word with you for a little while. Is this timing not to your convenience?"
Empress Xue Chi shakes her head. "No. Not at all, your majesty." She looks at her court maid and said, "Hui Yi, please leave for now."
Her court maid, Hui Yi, is a little hesitant about it. Why do they have to come to her hall now of all times? She still needs rest. But in the end, the court maids don't have the power to say that to the royal siblings. "Yes, your highness." She left the hall and waited outside.
"Your majesty, your highness, what brings you here today?" Empress Xue Chi's pale lips stretch into a weak smile.
"We're here to see how you're doing." Prince Yin Wenyan said with his usual gentle face.
Empress Xue Chi lowers her head, "I very much appreciated that your majesty and her highness spare some time to visit me in my hall. I apologize for the inconvenience I caused for your majesty and your highness. There is no need for you to worry. I feel a lot better now and I do not think this is something serious."
"No. This is quite serious, your highness." Princess Yin Xiulan said straightforwardly. "Please answer our questions honestly." Her voice has a hint of authority and warning.
Deep inside, Xue Chi snorted. She knew it, these two won't visit her without any business. She wonders what is it this time. Well, this isn't new to her. Not even the empress dowager or the grand empress dowager who came from the same clan as her (as an adopted child) cares for her. It's even safer to say that the only ones who truly care for her are her personal maids.
With a little smile on her face, she asks, "Please enlighten me what is this all about."
The Princess speaks, "Your illness. What is the cause of it?"
"I do not know. I'm afraid I cannot tell, your highness." She answers calmly.
Princess Yin Xiulan interrogated her further, "You don't know or you can't tell? Which one is it."
She slightly smiles but her eyes don't bear any emotions at all. "Your highness, I am telling you the truth. I cannot tell."
The princess general snorted and asks again in a serious tone, "So you know what caused you to be in this state?"
The empress said it again, "I'm afraid I cannot tell."
This time, Prince Yin Wenyan can't stay silent anymore. He demanded, "This is a royal order. Answer the question, your highness."
Empress Xue Chi closes her eyes and breathes in deeply only to let it out slowly. As she opens her eyes again, she looks at Prince Yin Wenyan with a meaningful look. Yin Wenyan noticed it but he's not sure what the empress meant by that or is there even any meaning behind it.
In a soft voice, the empress keeps on saying the same thing. "I am aware of your authority as the emperor, your highness but still I cannot tell."
"..." Princess Yin Xiulan isn't sure if the empress saw her roll her eyes but if she really did, the fierce princess couldn't care less. She leans closer to her brother's ear and whispered in an audible voice, "We're not going anywhere. Women really are hard to deal with."
Yin Wenyan puffs a laugh and whispered back to her, "You are also a woman yourself."
She shrugs and rolls her eyes again, "I know but I'm different from other women. I'm not a typical beauty."
The prince nods with a slight smile on his lips. "Since we share the same face, I'll agree with that."
"Your majesty." She calls out. "I'm afraid I cannot tell you." Her facial expression this time looks like she's begging for something.
"You can't tell me..." Yin Wenyan is starting to get what she's been meaning to say all this time. He felt so pathetic for not noticing it. The empress actually has to say it five times for him to realize it.
"Ugh... how many times did you say that already?" Princess Yin Xiulan lost the remaining patience she had.
With a serious face, he looks at her straight in the empress' eyes and nods. "Mn. Very well."
In a loud voice, enough for the maids outside the hall, he said, "The empress committed treachery towards me, the emperor. Right here in now, I sentence the empress to confinement into the Department of Justice."
The three of them heard the murmuring of the empress' maids outside the hall. The empress, however, doesn't have a change of expression on her face. She remained silent and calm.
Yin Wenyan walks closer to her and leans on near to her ear and whispers, "You cannot tell me because it is beyond my authority, am I wrong?"
The empress answered in a low voice, "You are not mistaken, your majesty."
Prince Wenyan nods and responded in a soothing voice. "Okay. Don't worry. We got this and we will cover you. Please trust us in this matter. We will do no harm to you."
"Many thanks, your majesty." Empress Xue Chi lowers her head.
"Call, your Lieutenant General in and arrest the empress." He orders.
Princess Yin Xiulan grabs his shoulder and pulls him to face her. With a confused look on her face, she asks, "But if you arrest her, what will we say to the grand empress dowager? She'll surely come to us for her."
He answers, "We got this. I have a plan."
The princess general is still hesitant but she trusts her brother. She unwillingly calls out for his subordinate outside the hall. "Liu Chen, come in!"
Meanwhile, in the Lotus Hall, Yin Renshu looks at his unconscious eunuch intently. They never knew that their Lin-dage had a son. They even forgot what he looked like. It's been seventeen years after all. No one of the triplets can tell if Xu Zhengming bears any resemblance with his late father.
"Lin-dage, rest assured, your son is in our care."  He reached for Xu Zhengming's hand and holds it with both hands. He continues to whisper in the thin air, "Lin-dage, I heard that your son is dying in three months but I won't let him die just like that. I'll do everything I could to save him. Please forgive my selfishness. I won't let you meet him just yet."
Yin Renshu already made up his mind to help his brother find the spirit herb. Little did he know, his brother already found one but unfortunately, the empress dowager got a hold of it. No one knows how did she manage to get that from the prince. At the moment, even Yin Wenyan isn't aware that Yueguang Hua is not with him anymore.
As the emperor holds the other's hand, he noticed a small pouch underneath his sleeves. He subconsciously frees one hand to pick the little thing and examines it. Judging from the quality of the brocade used, it is evident that it is expensive and no commoners can afford to pay a high price just for a small pouch. Even Yin Renshu himself finds it too expensive and chooses to use an ordinary pouch instead. The pouch must be given to him by a noble person. However, the only ones Yin Renshu knows that are close to Xu Zhengming are himself and his brother but neither of them owns such an expensive thing.
"What's this?" Yin Renshu was about to open the pouch but got interrupted with a thought. He remembers that Xu Zhengming often talks to the empress. This must be a token from the empress! He unconsciously becomes irritated for some reason. His eyebrows knitted and his phoenix eyes narrowed.
The emperor snorted. "I told you not to get close to her!" He annoyingly opens the pouch as he says, "You should have told me that you like things like this! I can buy you a much higher quality."
However, his majesty got dumbstruck after seeing what's inside of it. The pouch contains gray ashes, some dried flower petals, and a number of small red gems. "What the hell is this?"
Then he remembered that the empress came from the Xue Clan's Liaodong Xue Sect which is most known for their crafted poisoned weapons, mutating insects, deadly toxins, and antidotes. And most of all, this sect is not a righteous one!
He thought, is this one of their toxins? Whatever it is, it doesn't look like a pleasant present to give.
He clutches the pouch tightly and burns it in his hand. Red flames reflected in his eyes full of suspicions. He watched as his flame devours the little pouch until it reduced to nothing but ashes. Even the red gems turn into a powdered state. After doing so, he rises from his seat and headed to the huge circular window of the hall. He opens his fist and lets the wind carry it away.
Meanwhile, Xu Zhengming's heart rate starts to increase. His veins start to bulge and his breathing goes abnormally deep. His head keeps on turning left and right and seems miserable in his dreams.
Emperor Yin Renshu hurried to his side. He lightly slaps him in the cheek as he calls, "Eunuch Xu? Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
Looking like this, Yin Renshu thinks that it's better to wake him up. He calls again but this time, louder. "Eunuch Xu, wake up."
Then all of a sudden, Xu Zhengming stops moving.
Now, this made the emperor more anxious. He thought, "Is he dead?"
He quickly feels his wrist to check the little eunuch's pulse. He still has a pulse but the rate didn't decrease at all. He gently supported the other into a sitting position. His left arm supports Xu Zhengming's back while the other taps his cheek trying to wake him up. Yin Renshu thought that he has to wake up. He's afraid that if he remained sleeping like this, he won't be able to open his eyes again.
"Eunuch Xu, just what is happening to you? How did you become so sick?" His voice is low yet the concern is evident in his tone.
Then Xu Zhengming indeed opens his eyes slowly. This made Yin Renshu feel like a thorn is pulled from his heart.
"You're finally awake!" He said.
The other didn't say anything. He seems to be still half asleep. His eyes are evidently red and teary. He reached for his own throat and mouthed to the person supporting him. "Water... I need water." His throat feels so dry. It's even worse than the last few mornings. He can't even utter a word properly.
"Water... yes, water." Emperor Yin Renshu assisted him to lean to the headboard of the bed before getting up to get some water from the nightstand. He quickly poured a cup of water and handed it over to Xu Zhengming which the latter immediately consumed. He asked for another cup, and another one, until Yin Renshu lost the count of it. Even after he drunk the whole jar of water in the hall, he just can't get enough. His discomfort didn't subside. It seems water is not enough to quench his thirst.
"Tea... How about tea?"  Yin Renshu turns to look at him.
Xu Zhengning on the other hand didn't say anything. He even looked like he's not listening to the emperor at all. He's just staring at Emperor Yin Renshu with a blank expression. It's like he's not in his normal state.
"Eunuch Xu? What's wrong this time?" He put the cup and jar over the nightstand.
He comes closer to the other. He raised his hand to take Xu Zhengming's temperature but he didn't expect what happened next. Eunuch Xu suddenly pulled him by the wrist, resulting in the emperor losing half of his balance. Without giving his majesty time to recover his lost equilibrium, the eunuch then pushes him on the chest that made the emperor's body fall flat onto the bed.
Xu Zhengming leans closer to him. Their faces are only a mere couple of centimeters away.
His majesty is too surprised with these unpredicted and fast events to make any movements, not even uttering a single word. He's just subconsciously staring at Mingming's eyes which are currently red. His eunuch's breathing is strangely deep and hurried as well.
"What are you---"
Xu Zhengming leans towards him even closer. His warm breath blows on Yin Renshu's earlobe that gave him goosebumps.
"Eunuch Xu..."
Eunuch Xu grabs the other's lapels. His grip is too tight and almost strips open the emperor's black and gold-yellow colored robe.
"Kill... Kill me. Kill me, please." Xu Zhengming said almost whispering. It was the little consciousness left in his person speaking.
Hearing this pained plea, Emperor Yin Renshu's eyes open wider and his pupils shrunk. Disbelief is evident in his majesty's voice, "Eunuch Xu, what are you saying?"
"It hurts..." Xu Zhengming's voice becomes more and more miserable. He really sounds like he's in unbearable pain. "I can't endure it anymore. Kill me!"
His grip on Yin Renshu's wrist tightens even more but the emperor couldn't care less. He's too occupied with the other's strange actions.
"Eunuch Xu---" The emperor doesn't know what to do. He doesn't even know what is happening to him.
The truth is, Xu Zhengming's chest hurts so bad that he finds it hard to breathe. He feels like he's about to pass out any time soon. An instinct similar to that of a wild beast arises within himself as his canine teeth gradually grow longer and sharper. An instinct that longs to satisfy himself that he tries so hard to suppress. However, he doesn't know how much longer can he hold himself.
"Aack! Aaarrrghhh!"
His pain is too much for him to bear that he'd rather die than suffer an agony like this. He felt that it would kill him sooner or later so might as well end his life as soon as possible.
Xu Zhengming coughed a mouthful of blood.
"Just what am I going to do with you?!" Emperor Yin Renshu finally lost his cool. He pushes Xu Zhengming away from him by gripping his eunuch's shoulders. And that's how his majesty saw the other's bloody lips and a pair of fangs.
"This is..."
Xu Zhengming looks more or less like the monsters he fought within the town square.
"I don't... I don't want this. Your majesty---" Tears flow from the edges of his eyes to Yin Renshu's cheeks. Though his eyes are red and similar to that of a vicious creature, fear and helplessness are evident.
"I... I don't want to... hurt you..." He can barely utter a word but still pushes himself further to speak. "Your... majesty..."
Emperor Yin Renshu thought, "Is he really turning into a monster right now?"
The monsters he once fought with are bloodthirsty and desperate to kill innocent people just for blood. Their desperation might be caused by this agonizing pain.
And if they can't quench their thirst they will...
"It's alright." Yin Renshu said in a soothing voice. He pulled Xu Zhengming closer to him again and wrapped his arms to the other into an embrace. Yin Renshu could feel the other's hurried heartbeats inside the eunuch's chest against his own.
"I... stay away! Please..." Xu Zhengming said in between his deep breaths. He is already within his limits. If this continues, he won't be able to control himself.
However, the emperor completely ignores him. He placed his hand on the back of the eunuch's head and pulled him closer to his neck. "Don't hold back." His majesty's tone is calm.
"But..." Xu Zhengming hesitated.
"If you keep on being stubborn then you're dumb and stupid."
"Your majesty!" Xu Zhengming got into distress even more. This is obviously a serious matter but it seems the emperor is taking it lightly!
"This is a royal order." This time, his tone has a hint of authority.
The eunuch couldn't hold himself back any longer. It's like Xu Zhengming totally lost his senses and control of his body.
The emperor gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tight as a pair of sharp canine teeth pierced through his neck. Xu Zhengming's warm breath and moist lips touched his majesty's skin as he sucks the blood to quench his thirst.