As the two of them left the main hall, Zhu Lin also departed shortly after for the room arranged for her at the general's mansion, with the guards she brought waiting outside.
"Your Majesty."
"How is Ah Yan?"
"The imperial physician at the general's mansion is attending to him inside."
Zhu Lin walked in and indeed saw two doctors discussing something. A servant from the general's mansion was holding a bowl, intending to feed Zhong Yan his medicine, but he was being uncooperative.
Zhu Lin walked over. The others immediately knelt to pay their respects, but she stopped them.
"Ah Yan." She looked at the two doctors. "How is the Emperor?"
"Replying to Your Majesty, the Emperor suffered from excessive fright and a sudden surge of anger. He needs rest. I have prescribed a calming herbal decoction. If the medicine is prepared according to this prescription and he rests for half a month, he should recover."
Zhong Yan's illness had come on very suddenly. Logically, his body and soul were perfectly aligned now, and he should not have fallen ill.
Therefore, Zhu Lin had no warning whatsoever. It wasn't until just before dawn this morning that Zhong Yan suddenly developed a high fever and began speaking incoherently.
She had intended to stay by his side and care for him, but coincidentally, the Prime Minister of Azure Dragon Country was arriving today, and she had to meet him.
"Excessive fright?"
Had he been scared?
Zhu Lin recalled his calm demeanor as he drew his bow and shot arrows that day, and thought he hadn't been affected by the incident at all. She hadn't expected him to have bottled it all up. No wonder he had seemed emotionally off these past few days.
"Your Majesty," the servant said, "the Emperor has been unconscious, and we cannot even get him to take his medicine."
Zhu Lin sat by the bedside, looking at his flushed face and unconscious form with a pang of heartache.
"Put the medicine down. All of you, leave."
"Yes."
After everyone had left, Zhu Lin directly fed him the medicine mouth-to-mouth. Then, she carried him to bed, gently comforting him with soft words as she slept with him.
It wasn't until the evening that Zhong Yan slowly woke up.
His body felt sticky. When he woke, his mind was still somewhat hazy. He moved slightly, and the person beside him stirred.
Zhu Lin looked at him with concern. "You're awake. How do you feel?"
"I..." Zhong Yan was startled by his own voice. He had intended to cough lightly to ease his hoarseness, but his throat was so uncomfortable that once he started coughing, he couldn't stop.
Zhu Lin quickly grabbed the water by the bed, feeding him as she patted his back. "Drink slowly, don't choke."
After drinking some water, Zhong Yan's dry, itchy throat felt somewhat relieved, and he felt better.
Zhu Lin put the bowl back and helped him sit up. "How do you feel now?"
"Much better." He felt as though he had had a very long dream, one with both good and bad parts. At first, it was a nightmare that terrified him, and he kept trying to escape, feeling immense pain. He ran frantically, and finally, he felt saved, slowly drifting into slumber.
"What happened to me earlier?"
"I was going to ask you what happened," Zhu Lin said softly, embracing him. "If you didn't want to kill people, you should have told me then. I wouldn't have forced you, nor would I have wanted to see you force yourself."
Zhong Yan thought about the days he had spent agonizing over the person who died by his arrow that day. Later, the body of the Emperor of Azure Dragon Country was brought back. To give him the last vestiges of dignity, Zhu Lin had even specially ordered it to be preserved with ice.
When Zhong Yan saw it once, the emotions that had finally subsided surged again. He couldn't overcome that hurdle, which was why he suffered from excessive fright and fell ill.
Even so, he was still reluctant to admit that he had fallen ill just from killing one person.
He said, "I, I didn't fall ill because I killed someone."
"The doctor said you suffered from excessive fright, not from killing? Then who scared you? Tell me, and I'll kill them."
Zhong Yan: "..."
He casually glanced at Zhu Lin's expression and instantly understood. He abandoned his strange and meaningless pride, or rather, his benevolence, and said, "I, it's just that it was the first time I killed someone with my own hands, and I'm not used to it. It won't happen again."
"From now on, I won't let you kill anyone either."
Zhu Lin had always known that Zhong Yan had no memories, and with his soul merging haphazardly, he would involuntarily fall for her. Ultimately, he couldn't escape the memories and habits of his original body.
In this world, before meeting her, he was just a neglected son of a noble family who rarely left his chambers. He hadn't even killed a chicken, let alone a person. Even if he possessed the ability to kill, he lacked the resolve.
That day, he had been forced into it by her, which was why he had acted.
And she had seen too many sides of Zhong Yan. From the very beginning of the story, according to Yao Zhu, Zhong Yan had orchestrated the Golden Dragon Clan to kill everyone in Canglan Prefecture to take revenge on his parents.
Betrayed by his own parents and born to be a sacrifice, enduring inhumane torment, Zhu Lin couldn't judge who was right or wrong in his final actions.
However, at the beginning of life, human nature is inherently good.
With each rebirth, he was different.
As Zhong Yan listened to her words, he felt inexplicably at ease.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Why are we being formal again?"
Zhong Yan's lips curved into a smile. "Formality is for Your Majesty. Informality is for Ah Lin."
"Oh?" Zhu Lin leaned closer. "Then how do you plan to be informal with me?"
Zhong Yan moved closer as well, gently kissing her lips.
"This humble servant wishes to commit insubordination."
Zhu Lin pushed him away. "You reek of sweat and want to commit insubordination? Haven't you been lying down all day? Aren't you hungry? Get up and bathe. We'll have dinner later."
Zhong Yan, as he rolled out of bed, asked, "After dinner, may this servant attend to you?"
"We'll see how you behave."
—
Eight million taels of silver had bought one corpse and the lives of two hundred and thirty thousand people.
It was like taking something for nothing from Vermilion Bird Country and an unexpected bonus for Azure Dragon Country. Therefore, despite some dissatisfaction on both sides, the outcome was that everyone was happy.
However, many were curious. Azure Dragon Country had been militaristic this year and shouldn't have had the funds. In fact, compared to gold and silver, they would have preferred territorial concessions and reparations.
Zhu Lin was also curious and asked about it.
Prince Qin, who had been stationed at the border for a long time, was more aware of Azure Dragon Country's movements than anyone. He smiled upon hearing the question and said, "Prime Minister Lu presented the amount of his donation as filial piety to the Emperor of Azure Dragon Country. Among all the imperial descendants of Azure Dragon Country, whoever donated the most money would be considered the most filial to the Emperor and would inherit the throne. Azure Dragon Country has five princes and over three hundred royal family members. Each of them emptied their coffers. I heard they managed to scrape together over twenty million taels of silver."
Lu Chongyuan had made those people donate money, and to ensure fairness, he stated that the amounts donated by everyone would not be publicly disclosed. After their 230,000 soldiers and the late Emperor's body were redeemed, the person who donated the most would be announced. As for the surplus money, it would all go to the national treasury.
Those people were desperate to become emperor. It was rumored that two princes had even sold off their concubines to raise more funds.
If they managed to become emperor, it would be all well and good. If not, they might not even have enough to eat in the future.
After all, given the intensity of the competition, the first act of a new emperor would undoubtedly be to purge dissenting factions and consolidate power.
Zhu Lin wasn't concerned with their imperial power struggles. She merely said with a hint of regret, "It seems we asked for too little."
Prince Qin smiled but said nothing.