Chapter 67: "Don’t Be Distracted in My Arms.

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: "Don’t Be Distracted in My Arms.

"Leave? Why?"

Xie Jinbai looked at her and said, "Don’t you want to know when Li Wanrong was poisoned, why the Empress wanted to harm you, why I had to marry Li Wanrong, and... who my birth mother really is?"

’Of course I do.’

Cui Lingyao said, "Those are secrets of the Royal Family. This subject is not curious."

’The entire world knows the old Emperor has only one legitimate Prince, yet now he’s saying he wasn’t born to the Empress...’

’He might dare to speak, but in her current position, she wouldn’t dare express any desire to listen.’

Xie Jinbai saw right through her little act and scoffed. "Even if you’re not curious, you’re going to listen!"

He was determined to lay bare all the secrets of the past.

"Not long after we were married, I refused to marry Li Wanrong again. The Empress, left with no other options, started pressuring me about having an heir. She said if you showed no signs of pregnancy within a year, she would have Li Wanrong brought into the household."

"Because I had defied her, I felt guilty at the time. I figured a year was more than enough time to get you pregnant, so I agreed."

At this, Xie Jinbai sighed softly. "As it turns out, I miscalculated. But it wasn’t your fault. I just wasn’t trying hard enough."

Cui Lingyao: "..."

’She truly had no idea so much had happened back then.’

’She didn’t know he and the Empress had a one-year agreement.’

’One year.’

’For a young, healthy couple, getting pregnant should have been the most natural thing in the world.’

’But she couldn’t.’

’She didn’t want to conceive, and the system, true to its word, had completely eliminated any possibility of her getting pregnant.’

’No matter how hard he tried, she would never conceive.’

’She...’

The woman before him had a dazed expression, her thoughts clearly elsewhere...

Xie Jinbai was displeased. "Don’t get distracted while you’re in my arms."

He tightened his hold on her waist and leaned in, wanting to kiss her eyes.

Cui Lingyao snapped back to reality and quickly turned her head away. "Your Highness!"

The kiss missed its mark. Now even more displeased, Xie Jinbai raised his eyes to stare at her. "What were you just thinking about?"

’...Who were you thinking about?’

Cui Lingyao placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let go of me first."

Xie Jinbai hesitated for a few breaths, unwilling to let her go.

’It was so hard to finally get her in my arms. What if she runs away again the moment I let go?’

He didn’t release her, but he did ease his grip slightly. His large hand rested on the small of her back, giving it a gentle squeeze as he warned in a low voice, "Don’t get distracted again."

Cui Lingyao, somewhat annoyed, pushed harder against his shoulder.

Xie Jinbai didn’t budge. He stared at her flushed, lively face, suppressing the urge to kiss her, and continued with his story.

"The year was up, and you still weren’t pregnant. The Empress proposed for the third time that I bring Li Wanrong into the household, and I refused once again. This time, surprisingly, the Empress didn’t get angry. She acted magnanimous and kind, not forcing the issue. She only gently advised me to prioritize having an heir and not get too lost in romantic love."

’The Empress held the Phoenix Seal and had controlled the Inner Court for decades. With so much power in her hands, she was an assertive woman whose word was law.’

’Unlike other noblewomen, she never resorted to soft, emotional tactics with her son.’

’Especially when Xie Jinbai was the one who broke the agreement first, yet she didn’t even get angry.’

’After all, the Empress’s father and brothers had great ambitions but little talent. They had long been marginalized at court, and the Marquis Guangping Mansion was in decline.’

’To protect the honor of her maternal family, she was determined to help her niece rise in status.’

’If not as the main wife, then as a concubine.’

’She tried time and again to push Li Wanrong into her son’s rear court, but Xie Jinbai stubbornly held his ground, refusing no matter what.’

’And yet, she could still act magnanimous and kind.’

’Her reaction was strange, to say the least.’

Cui Lingyao was listening intently, and the force of her pushing hand lessened considerably.

Xie Jinbai’s eyes narrowed slightly. He discreetly seized her wrist, locking her in his embrace, and continued slowly, "She sent an Imperial Physician to take your pulse and bestowed many medicinal herbs to help you recuperate and prepare for pregnancy. She even personally requested a statue of the Childbirth Goddess for the mansion, ordering you to worship it sincerely."

Cui Lingyao remembered this.

She had indeed worshipped a Guanyin Statue, carved from Mutton Fat Jade, every morning and evening.

Back then, they had been married for over a year, and she still hadn’t become pregnant.

Not only was the Empress pressuring her, but even her own mother, Marchioness Changping, was anxious and had secretly sought out a folk Divine Doctor to diagnose her.

’To secure your footing after marrying into the Royal Family, you couldn’t rely on the fickle love of a man. Everything was wonderful when you were newlyweds, but once the novelty wore off and that affection faded, you had to rely on your children.’

’In this era, whether you were the matriarch of a great noble house or a farmer’s wife, you spent your entire life praying for a son.’

’The more you had, the better.’

Xie Jinbai was still speaking.

"Even though I didn’t know then that she wasn’t my birth mother, I was always cautious when it came to you. Any gifts from the palace, be they medicinal herbs or precious trinkets, were subjected to countless manual inspections before they were ever allowed near you."

In other words, he had started taking precautions against his own mother even before the Empress had made a move.

It was almost instinctual.

Cui Lingyao’s feelings grew even more complicated.

’He made himself sound so virtuous, as if he had always put her feelings first in everything.’

’While she was single-mindedly using the system to avoid pregnancy, resolute in her refusal to bear a child in this Otherworld, he had made a one-year agreement with the Empress, only to break it.’

’He bore the guilt of defying his mother and shouldered all the pressure about producing an heir by himself.’

’He even took precautions against his own mother.’

’But in the end, didn’t he still marry Li Wanrong?’

Just as she was thinking this, the man before her said, "Guess what my inspections turned up?"

Cui Lingyao froze and shot her gaze up at him.

Their eyes met. A flicker of something passed through Xie Jinbai’s gaze before he deliberately softened it. He said gently, "The first thing we found was Yue Musk. It comes from the Southern Border, is more potent than regular musk, and is extremely difficult to detect... She didn’t want you to get pregnant."

’As his birth mother, no matter how angry she was, she shouldn’t have been against the idea of a legitimate first grandson.’

’But the Empress didn’t want his main wife to conceive.’

’It was truly strange.’

At the time, Xie Jinbai hadn’t considered other possibilities. He assumed that his protectiveness of his wife and his repeated defiance had thoroughly angered the Empress.

’Unwilling to make things difficult for her own son, she had instead aimed her malice directly at his wife.’

"I suppressed the matter of the Yue Musk and pretended not to know. In secret, I had all the items sent from the palace inspected with even greater care. Another year passed like this. You still didn’t get pregnant, and the Empress once again brought up making Li Wanrong my concubine. I refused again."

’She was certainly persistent.’

’By the time they had been married for two years, Li Wanrong was already twenty. She was waiting through the prime of her youth, and still, she waited.’

Listening to this, Cui Lingyao felt a headache coming on his behalf.

Xie Jinbai, however, didn’t seem to have a headache. "This time, perhaps she had lost all her patience. In the painting of the Childbirth Goddess she bestowed, the pigments no longer contained Yue Musk. Instead, they were laced with a rare poison, also from the Southern Border."

He curled his lip slightly, a murderous glint in his eyes.

"She actually poisoned you. After being poisoned, the victim’s whole body would fester with sores, their mouth would break out in ulcers, and their bones would soften until they were paralyzed and helpless. It’s colorless and odorless. Most doctors have never even heard of it. It was only because I have a military medic from the Southern Border in my service that we were able to detect it."