Unveiled

Ying Yue didn't know how she was able to walk and get to the zither. All she knew was everything in her burned. Her bones seemed to break into tiny pieces and her organs started to feel stabbing pain. She felt like she was burning in hell yet there was a coldness that seeped to her bones, knocking her breath away.

As she sat down to play, she exercised all her restraint to not scream in pain as she moved to strum the zither.

The music was like a torrent of storms and everlasting hell. It was supposed to be a lovely song, but her state morphed it into a song of agony.

Every note sang the deep seethed pain and unbearable torment.

The prince who was listening at the side frowned. He felt like he heard this playing somewhere but can't remember it well.

He had to admit that the song was truly beautiful despite being morbid. When the performance ended he stood up and said, "This prince thinks you play very well. Keep it up. I will listen to you again tomorrow."

As he left, the girl who played suddenly fell down, vomiting a mouthful of blood.

The prince who just left heard it and knew something happened as the maid who was outside sending him off ran back inside hysterically.

Feeling something foreboding, he also made his way inside. There he saw the concubine who played the zither very well earlier, lying on the cold floor trembling with blood around her as well as on her veil.

His frown got deeper when he saw the maid who did nothing but cry beside her clearly petrified.

"Move over!" He commanded as he made his way towards the young lady. As he lifted her, he smelled a fragrance that he long yearned for. With shaking hands, he placed the young woman on the bed.

That flowery and musky scent imprinted its way to his mind. At that moment, a feeling of dread was rising from his chest but at the same time, there was a faint hope.

Lifting his trembling hands towards the veil, he hesitated a bit before decisively taking it off.

At that moment everything seemed to freeze. The girl who had her eyes shut, slowly opened it as she perceived that everything suddenly became so bright as her veil was lifted off.

As those golden orbs came to view, his soul trembled. "It's you! You're still alive." He whispered hoarsely. She was alive. And she made it back to him. She really was just watching from afar.

He seemed to wake up when he heard wailing from the side. "Milady, please hold on. In an hour it will be midnight. Please hold on."

As if seeing the situation for the first time he faced the maid to ask. "Tell me what is happening now!" His commanding voice sounded stern as he felt his heart tore apart seeing how this lady trembled because of pain with her bleeding lips from being bitten too hard.

He was about to lose his mind when he felt a soft but very cold hand held his. "Your highness, I'm okay. Xiao Hua, go and prepare it."

The prince gripped her hand tightly, slowly sitting down beside her. "Tell me what's going on." Not realizing his voice becoming gentle as he begged for an answer.

Ying Yue was about to assure him one more time when she suddenly felt a fishy yet sweet taste in her throat. She used up her remaining strength to face sideways, before vomiting another mouthful of black blood.

The eyes of the prince who was watching at the side darkened. He knew what those black blood meant. So it was true that she was indeed poisoned.

The young maid went back with a towel to help clean up her mistress, but before she could, the black-faced prince beat her to it. "Where is her antidote?" He asked darkly.

"Your highness, there is no antidote. My mistress can only suppress it but can't cure it." The maid was truly frightened out of her wits now.

Seeing the woman stop vomiting then closing her eyes shut, he turned to the maid and asked darkly, "What do you mean?"

"My lady has been suffering from the poison for five years now. Every first of the month it would flare up. She needed to hold on until midnight without any medicines as it would only aggravate her pain. At midnight, she could only take the black lotus to help her suppress it for a month."

Hearing this answer the prince had never felt as devastated as he was now. It was all because of him. He should be the one suffering, not her.

Feeling another round of trembling from the lady on the bed, he let go of all propriety and rubbed her back soothingly.

That night was probably the longest night the fourth prince had. At midnight they fed her the herb but after eating, her trembling got worse, the maid prodded her with needles, letting her bleed out those black blood.

Everything ended at the break of dawn but his heart was still distraught. The room was eerily quiet as the lady finally slept because of the fatigue. All he did was to stare at her, not even daring to close his eyes more than a blink.

At that point, he swore. He would never let this girl go, no matter how much he had to give. She sacrificed a lot for him, throwing away her life for him to live.

Didn't she say he was bound for something great? Then he will reach the pinnacle without a doubt. If it meant keeping her by his side, he can even burn his soul just to make it.

Now that he had her back, he knew, losing her would only break him. From here on out, nothing would stop him from being with her, even if it meant fighting with the will of heavens, he will tie her by his side.