Chapter 106 - Patient Zero (2/2)

The Emperor looked at her for a while, then said, ”Rest well. I'll come back later.”

”No need to.” Lei Xing mumbled back, shuffling further down the bed, out of reach. The Emperor frowned, then sighed again and got up and left.

After he left, Lei Xing got up and with Ah Jin's assistance went to take a warm bath. She found she felt better in the bath and so stayed in for as long as possible. After that, she tried to eat something, but the moment she did, it immediately came back up, sending her into a retching fit which made her insides ache. After that, she weakly went to lie down, and Ah Jin placed ice wrapped in sheets on her head and stomach, to ease the pain and she eventually fell asleep.

In the evening, Lei Xing weakly opened her eyes then closed them as she winced in pain when she moved. She called for water and someone quickly held her up and held a cup to her lips and she eagerly drank and then relaxed back with a sigh.

She then frowned when she realized that she was resting on someone, her eyes flew open to see the Emperor looking down at her. She was too tired to move, so instead, she irritatedly asked, ”Why are you here again?”

The Emperor wrapped his arms around her and asked, ”Why can't I be here?”

Lei Xing sighed in annoyance and bit back, ”I'm contagious. Go somewhere else.”

The Emperor then smiled, ”It's nice of you to worry about me.”

Lei Xing frowned and mumbled, ”Who's worrying about you? I just don't want to deal with the false accusation of sending you to death's door right now.”

The Emperor raised his eyebrows, taken aback by her statement. Then he chuckled and stroked her hair, ”Don't worry, I'm a lot more resilient than most people, so it'll take more than something like this to kill me so you're safe...Also if you were truly contagious, then it's already too late.” The Emperor finished smirking down at her.

Lei Xing rolled her eyes and mumbled, ”It'll shock you.” And closed her eyes.

The Emperor snorted, it seems she was a lot more loose-tongued when ill, and a blatantly ruder too, normally she would at least attempt to hide it. But he did not mind it as she was ill, plus he actually found it funny, and cute too.

”Do you want to eat something?” The Emperor asked but Lei Xing did not respond. After a while of no response, he thought she had gone back to sleep and so moved to lay her back down, when she suddenly hugged his waist. He blinked, a bit shocked but stayed still and swiftly hugged her back.

They stayed like that for a while, then he heard her sniffing and looked down to find tear streaks running down her face. He felt a pang in his heart and frowned, and quickly brought up a hand to wipe the tears and softly asked, ”Does it hurt a lot?”

Lei Xing did not respond. She despised being sick, it always brought unpleasant feelings of loneliness and dependency that she did not want or need. It was the only time where she felt lonely being by herself, and uncomfortable in her solitude. And she always had the nagging urge to run home to her family to be pampered and cared for, ”I want to go home.” She finally mumbled after a while.

The Emperor knit his brows and did not know how to respond and so bluntly said, ”You can't right now.” Then he thought that was not the right approach, ”Um...It's not safe, the palace has the best care available. It's better to stay here...” He paused and frowned in thought and then added, ”Your family may get sick too...and -”

Lei Xing nodded and so he stopped, sighing in relief.

In the end, the family she wanted was not the one he could give, no one could. The Emperor looked at her face and wiped off the tears that kept trickling down from her lowered eyes, he then quietly asked, ”Can't this be your home?”

Lei Xing knit her brows, but before she could respond. The doors opened and she instinctively pushed off the Emperor and almost ended up falling down to the ground. Thankfully, the Emperor reacted quickly and caught her. He looked at her frowning expression and then frowned himself, feeling upset with her response as he rested her back against the headboard.

Xiao Ruo came in along with the head physician and a few other Imperial doctors. They walked up to the bed and bowed in greeting, then the head physician happily informed, ”Your majesty, we have found the cure.”

and Lei Xing skeptically looked at it the Imperial physician in disbelief and mumbled, ”That quick?”

The head physician smugly smiled and explained, ”Your highness, after you take this now, you will instantly feel better. And after a few days of taking this, the spots will clear up as well. You can rest easy now.”

Xiao Ruo then brought the bowl of medicine up to Lei Xing, who knit her brows as she looked at the orange-hued broth in the bowl.

{...Who knew ancient medicine was this quick? But a few hours though...}